How Our Favorite Teams Perform Impacts Our Mood

There are many who feel the emphasis on sports is simply way too much and I can see why they feel that way.  However sports can often lift our spirits and unite us like nothing else.  I have been to many events where a touchdown, home run, dunk or goal will result in people high-fiving and hugging total strangers.  Leaving a game at which your team won leaves you with an extra bounce in your step.  Of course there is the other side when losses and negative results drag you down.

I experienced one of the highs of my fandom in June when the New York Knicks won their first NBA Championship since 1973 which was my senior year in high school.  At that time I was a crazed teen-ager who would take his tee-shirts and use a magic marker to write the numbers of my favorite players on them…which did not please my mother.  53 years later I did not ruin any of my tee-shirts but lived and died with every game and moment during a championship run that brought me to tears of joy.

However I am being paid back in misery for the most part since the Knicks ticker-tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes in Manhattan.  The Mets were playing poorly at that time but there was still plenty of games left.  Unfortunately things did not get better and I never had a baseball season to get excited about.

As summer began winding down my family turned its focus to Penn State football which has given us so much excitement and success over the years, falling just two games short of winning a national championship just two years ago.  With a new coach and a roster in which I’m still learning the names of the players, my beloved Nittany Lions have lost their first three conference games and will likely finish with a losing record.  I feel cheated.  Of course I can turn my attention to the Giants but without their starting quarterback I wonder how long before I will toss in the towel on their season.

Well at least the Knicks begin their season next Tuesday when they raise the championship banner at Madison Square Garden.  And there are the Rangers…oh wait a second, their all-everything goalie is hurt and out for the season.

It might be difficult to find someone to hug and celebrate with for a while.