Sports: Winning vs. Losing

This article from the Post-Tribune sums up my attitude towards sports very well:

There’s no better Chicagoland team in any sport to root for than Northwestern.

It was exactly five years ago today that I came to this conclusion. It was my senior year at NU, and I was in San Antonio covering the Alamo Bowl for The Daily Northwestern. The Big Ten champion Wildcats (man, I just love typing that) had just been shellacked by Eric Crouch and Nebraska (nope, don’t love typing that) 66-17 in one of the most lopsided bowl games of all time.

But as we walked out of the Alamodome that night, we weren’t commiserating. We were commemorating. We were reflecting on the most fun season we’d ever have as fans. We made it to a bowl — only the fourth in our school’s history. We had an awesome run, winning eight games, including three of the most exciting last-minute victories you could imagine. It was a phenomenal season — one I’ll still talk about when I’m 80.

Meanwhile, the victorious Nebraska fans were miserable. They were actually offended to be in such a piddling bowl against such a piddling opponent. A 9-3 record? A bowl game on Dec. 30? Terrible!

I pity them. See, when wins are harder to come by, they’re far more appreciated. Each game actually means something.

The very same thoughts went through my mind this year as a tracked Notre Dame's fabulous season. It's going to be hard for any future season to top the experience that this season has provide me, from the shellacking of Pittsburgh to the titantic clash of the USC game. Next year will not be the same. I'm going to expect the Irish to be GA Tech and Penn State, let alone Purdue.

Now I realize I'm a bit of an odd duck--I don't even like winning board games. Whom else (whom: technically correct but awkward) do you know willing to play Risk for untold hours with the hope of losing honorably? But it comes down to the same point. In my mind it's more phone to plan how you're going to beat them next time than to actually beat them next time.