In all honesty, what happened on Wednesday night doesn’t bother me that much. Certainly not to the point, where pretty much everyone who knows that I love baseball, seemingly needs to give me condolences as if the dog taco died on me or something. I love baseball and all, but it’s still, just the game of baseball in the end. Out of a field of 30, the expectations for championships is slim every year, regardless of the accumulated talent and what so-called experts predict.
Sure, I’m upset by the way the Braves’ season ended in such an embarrassing fashion, but I’ll get over it real fast, if I already haven’t. When the Phillies tied the game, and the Braves subsequently kept failing to score in spite of numerous chances, and the Phillies practically begging the Braves to win, by sending out replacement player after replacement player, I admittedly felt the dread of defeat beginning to seep into my brain, regardless of how much I willed myself to stay positive and hope that the dwindling quality of Braves pitchers could continue to hold the score.
As the tier of quality of pitchers continued to whittle down for the Braves down into the 13th inning, I began to feel acceptance at what was going to happen, if it did happen, which ultimately did happen. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted nothing more than for the Braves to win this game, and give the season one more day of baseball, regardless of the fact that I wouldn’t have been able to have watch it, as I’m yet back up in NOVA this weekend. But I was ready, if and when the Braves lost the game, and the season.
And when the final out was recorded, and I began my somber walk back to the car, I felt as if a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. As much as I love baseball, the season has felt longer than ever, and I was pretty much ready, and relieved now that the season was over. Between three blogs, my own personal research projects, and trying to maintain my reputation as an internet baseball smart guy, there’s a lot of self-appointed writing, posting, and stat research I spend a good deal of time on – on top of all the crap I try to do in my spare time. With the season’s end, a lot of this stuff can take a back seat, if not hit the shelves indefinitely, and that’s a relief.
The shackles I put on myself to dedicate to watching the Braves are released, and I feel that I will have a lot of my free time back in the evenings and weekends. I have a boatload of movies and television shows to watch, and the DVR box isn’t getting any emptier. I won’t feel compelled to check my phone every five minutes during trivia or other social engagements, to which I can attend more of those too.
No more retarded west coast away games.
Less obligation to participate in online baseball chatter.
On a more positive note, I was pleased by the 180 from the fans at the ballpark on Wednesday. Whereas I saw some genuine ugliness from the masses on Tuesday, it was back to promise and dedication from the crowd in the finale. It’s amazing what faith in the pitcher does, and for over six innings, Tim Hudson delivered, and the fans were all over it. But more impressively, was the fact that even after the game went into extra innings, so many fans actually stayed to watch, all the way to the bitter, unhappy ending. But they stayed, and continued to cheer, which has my utmost admiration.
Christ, you’d think I hated baseball or something, by the way I’m feeling so liberated here, but I guess this isn’t something that a lot of non-sports fans would understand truly. I’m already planning next year’s baseball road trips, and although I’m not yet counting down until Opening Day, it’s only a matter of time before I’m pining for baseball again.
But it does feel kind of good to know that at least for the playoffs, I don’t have to care about who wins or who loses. I can’t say that I’ll watch with the same enthusiasm as I were watching the Braves, but if there’s nothing else better for me to do, I’m sure I’ll be able to enjoy watching games where I have no vested interest, and won’t give a shit about the outcome.
Relaxation. I think I’m almost there again.
