A New (Optimistic) Day Up North
I must say I was a little surprised myself with what I wrote last night after the game. I guess I need to clear up some things.
First off, I believe that there are two types of sports fans: optimistic fans and pessimistic fans. I don't think one is better than the other. Optimistic fans always expect to see the best happen and enjoy the happy times a lot, but are really dissapointed when a season comes crashing down or something bad happens. Pessimistic fans expect the worse. When something good happens they are surprised and happy, and when something bad happens they expected it so things aren't that bad.
You need to know that by no means have I thrown the towel in for this season. I will admit that I am starting to get worried, but I think it is because I was starting to make the transition from a pessimistic fan to an optimistic fan at least for this season.
Sports is my life. I go to school at the University of Wisconsin, in the city of Madison, which Sports Illustrated named the top college sports town in the nation. I love sports in Madison, but my summers in Chicago following the White Sox are always at the top of my list and always will be. For some reason though, I have always been a pessimistic fan. I certainly don't see anything wrong with that, but I have always wished I could be more optimistic. I guess when you grow up in Chicago with the baseball championship droughts that we have, it is easier to be pessmistic rather than optimisitic- always expecting to be golfing on October 1st.
This year has been different. I was up here in Minnesota the weekend after the All-Star break, while the Sox were sweeping the Indians in Cleveland. I went to see the Twins play the Angels and I saw something similar to what I am seeing with the Sox right now. The fans were down, the players looked confused, and the papers were printing nothing but demoralizing headlines. That weekend, I finally decided that there was no way were going to lose the division. I had turned a 180 and was completely optimistic about a team for the first time in my life.
So now I'm feeling that dissapointment that I described above that an optimistic sports fan feels. And I also realize that you real optimistic fans like, whtsox4lfe22, are still optimistic- you don't give up hope until game 162 is over . But I got caught in between because as soon as I got optimistic, the Sox started losing.
I am not giving up though. I still believe in this team and Ozzie, but it is no secret that they are sparkless and confused right now. My emotional outburst last night came from a lot of frustration, which I'm sure was not even 5% of the frustration Freddy Garcia had last night. But I left Minnesota last month reading pessimistic headlines, and I arrived yesterday seeing nothing but, "Sox Will Choke." When you see stuff like that and then witness a game like last night, you are bound to be emotional and worried.
I agree with you guys that we can't give up on this team, so please don't give up on me. I never have been a fair-weather fan and never will be. I love these guys, I love this team. You just need to know that I am a hard-to-please type of fan. I just want to see wins.
It is now Wednesday in Minnesota and we can still win this series with Buerhle and Garland pitching. Go Go White Sox.
I gave it another chance and read. The optimism looks much better on you. I understand why you may be negative but don't you think they hate losing and that they are doing the best that they can! I know that they are! Each team hits a down, this has been ours. As you can see, the powers of positive thinking have picked us up and we look much better in the last 3 games. I appreciate the new positive outlook and as I am in no position to tell you how to think, you can't give up on your team. (On a completely random note, i know some Hoges, do you have cousins? i dont want to throw their names out there on here, but email me if you do!)
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