O/T: Do you still give a damn?

[gingi79]

With the Rockies win yesterday afternoon, the Braves were eliminated from the playoffs. As a loyal Braves and Jays fan, the baseball season is over as far as I'm concerned. That got me thinking.

Do you really give a rat's behind what happens in sports when your team isn't involved?

Frankly, I could care less who is playing who, the matchups, the manufactured drama. This year especially, there is no underdog to root for, no comeback to herald. The rich got richer and will win another title, another ho-hum season if you root for anyone really. So who cares about the Rockies or the Cards, the Yanks or the Red Sox if you aren't a fan of that team? Am I in the minority here or do other people lose all interest once your team is done?

Hockey is the same way. When the Vancouver Canucks gets eliminated, so does my interest. I know who won every World Series, Super Bowl and Stanley Cup title for at least the last 30 years (Sorry, don't really follow NBA or Soccer) but I only really watched the years the Braves, Jays, Canucks or Dolphins were involved. Otherwise, I had little to no interest in the playoffs and only a passive interest in the Finals. The Super Bowl is an exception as it is a spectecle unto itself and a 1 game takes all format. However, I couldn't care less who won.

The bottom line is I love my teams. When I am emotionally involved, then I know everything going on in the sport. Once my teams season ends, I'd rather watch Golden Girls and Cosby show reruns than playoff games. Am I in the minority or do you to feel disinterested in a sport once your team is eliminated?

[sox83cubs84]

Once (and if) the Cubs and White Sox are eliminated, I still follow the games, picking favorites based on a combination of (a) friends and acquaintances in the game who will be participating and (b) unless (a) takes precedence, rooting against all New York, Boston and Los Angeles entries.

It probably won't happen this fall, but a Colorado/Detroit or Minnesota World Series would please me almost as much as Chicago not getting the 2016 Olympics today.

Dave M.
Chicago area

[coxfan]

My wife and I have travelled so much, that we have been to most MLB cities. We have friends and acquantainces in many of them. For example,I was very well treated in both Philadelphia and New York, being invited to lecture in Philly.So I tend to pull for teams from both. I have good friends in Miami; my daughter lives in Arlington, TX; we go to the White Sox AAA games; we saw the Dodgers a lot in spring training; my colleges ( Georgia and South Carolina) have alumni on various MLB teams, etc.

So I pull for many teams for different reasons. I've loved baseball since 1957, and I've never missed a World Series, even when I lived in Georgia before the Braves came to Atlanta. Those who feel otherwise, and refuse to watch, are only cheating themselves out of enjoyment.

[both-teams-played-hard]

It probably won't happen this fall, but a Colorado/Detroit or Minnesota World Series would please me almost as much as Chicago not getting the 2016 Olympics today.

Why would you be pleased that the Olympics won't be in Chicago in 2016?

[godwulf]

My team has been out of contention since at least July. My interest in the post-season will now rest on whether I really dislike a team that is participating, and want to watch them get beaten. I would watch the Yankees play in the post-season, as long as they were losing. Same with the Giants, when Barry was on the team, and I might watch some games if L.A. was involved and losing. I can't think of any other team that I dislike enough to watch a three-hour game just to see them get spanked.

[ironmanfan]

not only do I give a damn, but I will be at Camden Yards on Sunday to see the Orioles and the Blue Jays finish out the season..........

[TAFKADixie]

As a Pirates fan, it's hard to give a damn when the season is happening, much less after the Buccos are eliminated (usually by the All-Star break).

[suicide_squeeze]

Matt,

I understand your pain. Just make sure you Braves fans get Chipper back next year on the field!!

I am interested, even if my team is out (Dodgers). Hopefully, this year, they won't be until the big dance is over.....we'll see. Colorado tonight, first.

As a baseball fan, the playoffs draw most of my interest. There always seems to be a human interest story that ellicits some deep emotion, and sparks fan interest.

And to me, there is nothing like watching the end of the World Series. It's what every small boy dreams about being a part of....at least it was with me.....and I never get tired of seeing the reactions, and feeling the emotion, of the grown men who reach that dream. I rank it above the Super Bowl.

[sox83cubs84]

Why would you be pleased that the Olympics won't be in Chicago in 2016?

Primarily, because Chicago (and Illinois) didn't deserve it. We have one of the most corrupt big-city governments in the world, possibly the most corrupt state government in the USA, a city with the inability to manage much smaller events properly (a Chicago Marathon in which runners were hospitalized and even died because the city was caught flatfooted on providing enough hydrating stations on an unseasonably warm day, as well as a South Side Irish Parade that turned into an on-street public drinking orgy), and a regional mass transit system that is rider-unfriendly, with 3 entities acting as individual operations allowing very little fare link-up between each other, stations and buses that would look at home in a third world nation, and value cards for buses that can't be fed unless you go to a train station. There's also my own misgivings about the current POTUS, but I won't go into that...this is Game Used Forum, not the Right/Left Dukeout.

Chicago got what it deserved...egg on its face and no games in 2016.

Dave M.
Chicago area

[cohibasmoker]

Primarily, because Chicago (and Illinois) didn't deserve it. We have one of the most corrupt big-city governments in the world, possibly the most corrupt state government in the USA, a city with the inability to manage much smaller events properly (a Chicago Marathon in which runners were hospitalized and even died because the city was caught flatfooted on providing enough hydrating stations on an unseasonably warm day, as well as a South Side Irish Parade that turned into an on-street public drinking orgy), and a regional mass transit system that is rider-unfriendly, with 3 entities acting as individual operations allowing very little fare link-up between each other, stations and buses that would look at home in a third world nation, and value cards for buses that can't be fed unless you go to a train station. There's also my own misgivings about the current POTUS, but I won't go into that...this is Game Used Forum, not the Right/Left Dukeout.

Chicago got what it deserved...egg on its face and no games in 2016.

Dave M.
Chicago area

Dave,

Good for you - your thread said it all.