“It will all pay off someday.”
My mother uttered those six words to me shortly after Seattle’s 33-27 overtime loss to Green Bay in the Wild Card round of the NFC Playoffs Jan. 4.
As a lifelong supporter of teams with less-than-stellar résumés, losses like the one that occurred to my NFL team of choice on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field are hard to swallow.
Despite being educated year after year on how to stomach a heartbreaking defeat, it never gets any easier. Human nature tells one that he or she should abandon something that routinely causes such ample amounts of pain and suffering. The mind of a die-hard fan, however, doesn’t work that way.
No matter how much it hurts, I keep coming back. Giving up on the Seahawks would be like having part of me amputated.
Even though I’ve been through an abundance of agony, falling to the Packers was the worst sport-related moment of my life, finishing slightly ahead of the Cubs’ collapse against the Marlins last October and the Blazers’ fourth-quarter meltdown against the Lakers in the 2000 Western Conference Finals.
By now most people have either seen or heard about the guarantee made by Seahawks’ quarterback Matt Hasselbeck after winning the overtime coin toss. After correctly calling heads, the confident signal caller told referee Bernie Kukar “we want the ball and we’re gonna score.”
After years of wallowing in obscurity, it brought a smile to my face to see a Seattle player facing down one of the most pressure-packed moments in franchise history with such confidence.
Obviously, Seattle didn’t score and Green Bay won, causing me to walk around with a glazed-over look on my face for several days. When I closed my eyes, all I could see was Al Harris running down the sideline, ball in hand, finger in the air, ending what seemed to be the start of a promising playoff run.
That’s where my mom came in.
The call she made to let me know that everything was OK seemed crucial to my immediate existence. Several days later, I realized that she was right. I started focusing on how the Seahawks had improved and what positions needed to be upgraded in order to make a run at next year’s Super Bowl.
Impossible dreams like the Seahawks making the Super Bowl are what sports are all about. Investing your heart and soul into a team and experiencing the ups and downs can be a distraction from the daily grind. Finding out your team just signed the top prize in the free agent market or qualified for the playoffs can quickly make one forget about the day’s problems.
Sports can also reinstate a sense of hope into one’s life. Whoever invented the often-overused cliché “there’s always next year” was right on the money. Nothing will prove this statement more than cheering for a perennial loser. As soon as I start to think about how bitter I am over Seattle’s most recent loss, I start counting the months until training camp.
Same goes for Oregon football fans. For anyone who had their 2003 end badly on account of Minnesota, just think about what the Ducks have coming back next year.
For those out there who have been fortunate enough to experience a favorite team winning a championship or making repeated playoff, tournament or bowl appearances, think back to how beautiful those moments were whenever frustration mounts.
For tortured souls like myself who watch helplessly as their team finds a way to screw things up by season’s end, just remember that it won’t be that way forever. One day, a player, a coach or an owner will make a move that sends the team in the right direction.
When that day comes for me, and the Seahawks, Cubs or Blazers hoist a championship trophy high into the air, it will taste oh-so-sweet knowing I stuck through all the losing.
“It will all pay off someday.”
Wise words from a wise woman.