the joy and pain of sports

One of the interesting aspects of being a sports fan is the way our expectations rise and fall with teams' fortunes, especially the relative joy and disappointment that comes when those expectations are or aren't met.

What I'm realizing is that the better your favorite team is, the less you enjoy when they win, and the more it hurts when they don't.

For my entire life, the Philadelphia Phillies have been my favorite team in my favorite sport, and for the past few seasons, they've been among the best teams in baseball. Accordingly, expectations are high, and failing to make the playoffs would be a devastating disappointment. Never mind that prior to their run of division titles starting in 2007, they'd made the playoffs exactly once in the previous 23 years.

Contrast this with any of those 23 years. In 1993, when they went from a last place finish in 1992 to a division title and a National League Championship, it was completely out of the blue, and though their eventual loss in the World Series was devastating, the players on the team that season have engendered a wealth of goodwill that lasts to this day. Even Mitch Williams, run out of town by Curt Schilling after the blown save that broke the hearts of the city, is now a frequent guest on Philadelphia-area sports shows. Just try to watch this clip without getting angry or sad (unless you're from Toronto, in which case you can enjoy this clip while Roy Halladay is on the mound tonight in a Phillies uniform):



Likewise in 2001, when the Phillies made an unexpected run for the NL East title, faltering in the final month of the season and finishing just two games behind the Braves. If the Phillies of 2010 had held the division lead for almost the entire season before blowing it at the last minute, it would be a cause for outrage. Coaches would be fired, players would be shipped out of town, and the pitchfork-wielding masses would gather outside Citizens Bank Park with the name "Cliff Lee" on their tongues. In 2001, it was a pleasant surprise, a memorable ride that fell just short.

Or take 2008, when the Phillies were expected to do well, and won the World Series. For fans like myself, who hadn't even been born the last time a Philadelphia team won a championship (I missed the 76ers 1983 title by six months), and for a franchise like the Phillies, with no World Series titles since 1980, and only one in the previous 125 years, it was elating. And I knew even then that if they did it again the next year (or if they do it this year), it'll never be as good as it was in 2008.



This is a fairly simple equation when you think about it. The more you expect of your team, the worse it feels when they fail, and the less you expect, the better it feels when they exceed expectations.

So imagine the crushing joylessness of being a fan of the New York Yankees, a perennial favorite every year since the mid-'90s, a team that expects to win the World Series every year. Maybe not having won it since 2000 made it better when they won last year, but it has to be tough being invested in the only sports team in North America for whom five championships since 1996 is considered disappointing.

Or maybe I'm just covering up for how much it hurt when the Phillies lost to them last year, and preparing myself for the same possibility this year.