How emotional are you when it comes to sports?

[bork]

I'm usually pretty laid back and don't get emotional about too much. Marquette basketball is really the only sport were I really get emotional. Yelling at the TV, jumping and cheering. And it's the only sport were I'll scream and yell while at the game (at refs, opposing teams, boneheaded plays by MU). And I'll be pissed for the rest of the day after a loss.

 

The Brewers are really the only other team I follow without fail, but I don't live and die by each game. I don't know if it's because of all I've seen in my 25 years of watching them or if it's because the season's so long. I'll cheer, but I don't get all emotional over a loss.

[JimH5]

I get emotional about baseball, certainly with this 2007 Brewers team. I never really get angry about outcomes, just excited when they win, or down in the dumps when they lose. It's taken some time for the Crew to register that much emotional investment on my part, but it was terrific fun this year, even with missing the postseason. Even with nonBrewers games, when there is a spectacular defensive play (Endy Chavez, etc.), I have been known to shout out loud.

 

I don't have any interest at all in College Football, College or Pro Basketball, NASCAR, PGA, Tennis, or the Olympics--so absolutely no emotional impact.

 

With the NFL, I'm pretty much an anti-fan, as I'm unconcerned with the outcomes of games, but get pretty high and mighty with moral reprehension over the way players are broken and tossed aside by the game. I'm pretty much the last guy you want to invite over on Sundays. I'll go off on a rant about how so many ex-players end up living in constant pain and need joint replacements, and spinal fusion surgery, and how so many of the stars of my youth have died premature deaths, and how disposable their lives have been. Nothing you want to hear while you're munching on your wings and chips, shouting over whether or not the ref gave you a fair spot.

[hawing]

For the few sports that I follow most closely (Brewers and UW volleyball, followed by UW men's basketball), I can and do get emotional - though my reaction to Brewers games tends to be less strong if I can distract myself by moderating you folks. (That is not a way of saying that y'all should act up more on the forums or in the chat. http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/smile.gif.) With the Brewers, it helps that the season is so long, and the longest we have to stew over a vexing game (before the next one starts) is a few days, usually more like 24 hours.

 

This season, I noticed a reaction in myself much like the one JimH5 described: excited afer a win, down in the dumps after a loss. I would almost consider it a mild manic depression, but I don't want to trivialize the plight of people with the real condition.

 

I've said for years now, including multiple times on these boards, that if the Brewers ever make the playoffs I'll alternate between extreme nervousness and flat out bawling - either tears of joy or tears of sorrow. I'd also be useless at work and would need to take some leave time. (I had a chunk reserved for October this year. http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/frown.gif) So I imagine a Brewers postseason would really up my emotional ante.

 

I burned out on the NFL long ago, so I am mostly spared the Packer symptoms that many of you display. I am casually interested in UW football, but I wasn't shell shocked by Saturday's game.

 

When Wisconsin lost to Ohio State in basketball at the end of the regular season, I through my T.V. remote against the wall

 

That day was definitely not fun (provided you meant that game in late February when Brian Butch went down with the elbow injury). Besides being the day of the 'big game', it was also my birthday and day two of the big two-day blizzard. We couldn't go anywhere because the city plowed big snow boulders in our driveway. The main thing to do was watch that game, and that was a frustrating end. I took a walk around the block, despite the slick slop, and even that didn't cool me down.

[JimH5]

How long have you been following Badger Volleyball, hawing? I used to live in Delavan in the 90s and play several night a week in rec leagues (back when I was young and could jump). My wife and I became somewhat regular attendees at Badger games during the days when John Cook was coach. He always seemed to be too aloof and distant for my tastes.

 

We actually once traveled with the booster club by bus to Minnesota for a game, and went to an adult skills camp that the players taught. That was about as "into it" as we ever got. I think Laura Abbondante was the setter for some of those years, though my memory escapes me on many other players. . .Arlisa Hagen, Bridget Lowry, Amy Lee. . .I think she was a lefty.

 

Anyway, Badger Volleyball in the field house was a terrific night out. Lots of intensity and great seats if you got there early enough.

[hawing]

I followed UW volleyball casually when I was in school, then resumed after moving back to Madison in 1992. That setter you're thinking of is Laura Abbinante, who I thought was pretty cool (same first name, even). We started going more often in the late 90s. One of my favorite matches ever was when Wisconsin beat Penn State for the first time in program history, on Halloween night 1997. Tons of people wore costumes and the crowd was very amped, not to mention happy at the end.

 

We finally got season tickets in 2000 - and have kept it up since. (Incidentally, season ticket holders pretty much fill up the courtside sections on both sides of the Field House now. The average volleyball crowd is now more than 4000.) In 2000, the Badgers went to the NCAA championship match and a-l-m-o-s-t beat stupid Nebraska, who by then was coached by John Cook, who'd conveniently bolted from Wisconsin the year before. I hold zero fondness for John Cook.

 

The most intense sporting event I've witnessed (to date) was Wisconsin's Final Four-berth-clinching marathon match vs. UCLA - December 9, 2000. If anyone thinks the Field House only went crazy for men's sports, think again. I was definitely emotional that night (thus steering this thread back toward topic).

[brewdude15]

I am definately one who curses after a loss, no matter how important. If it's the Brewers, and they were just blown out, then i just shake my head, and mention all of the things that went wrong in the game to myself. When it comes to any other sport, a loss is very painful. Last night, I couldn't help but droppin a few f-bombs, and punching the couch pillows. On Saturday, I did the same thing, followed by some head-shaking, and a speech to myself. I always get yelled at from my mom because of the language I use, but I just can't help it. It goes the same with playing a video game. If I screw up, I let out some curse words. Sometimes under my breath, sometimes a little too loud. I think it's definately normal, seeing as so many people do it.

[AmyintheSouth]

I called in sick to work the day after the Colts beat the Pats in the playoffs last year.

 

I get pretty emotional. My roommate and I keep a lot of pillows around, which I find useful for throwing, punching, and using to muffle The Official Sound of Rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers (when things are going wrong). And I'm a crier, good or bad. That commercial with the guy talking about how Hank Aaron's home run reminds him of his dad? Every time. I'm not the worst of my friends. And we all wonder why we're still single...

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm fairly emotional as a fan, though not to the point of throwing stuff. I definitely got misty-eyed during Jenkins's nice send-off this September. As for Brewers games, I do verbalize (sometimes loudly) both negative & positive, but not usually profanity-laced tirades, fwiw. I'm pretty sure my upstairs neighbor was very aware that I was... a) Watching last night's SNF game, and b) a Packers fan. On the Pack note, I also teared up during Favre's last game of the 2006 season. I think my heaviest emotions are tied to certain players, as opposed to specific events. That said, I was devastated when we weren't able to get into the postseason when the Cubs tried to hand it to us on a silver platter, and misty-eyed-ness occured then, too. That was heartbreaking.

[hawing]

AmyintheSouth's post makes me think of the first Brewers game I attended. It was either the last game or last home game of 1983. One of the librarians I worked with (I was a page at the time, during high school) and her husband offered to take me. They ordered the tickets way in advance, the Brewers were playing Baltimore, and we were all certain it would be the next big division-winner-deciding game.

 

And it was - when Baltimore won. http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/frown.gif But that's not my point. We sat in the top row of the upper grandstand (I have no idea why, since I don't remember the crowd being huge). We should have brought binoculars to watch the players. But this didn't bother me, because it was my first chance to see the Brewers in person, and that was too cool to let anything get me down.

 

What got to me, though, was looking out onto the field and around the stands, and thinking to myself, "This is where all that excitement took place last year. Right here." That realization brought tears to my eyes (a little, anyway), and every single time I visited County Stadium after that, straight through to September 2000, I'd have the same thought, usually just briefly, and just barely welled up in the same way. Every game.

 

So, Amy and I can have a cry-off when the Brewers next reach that promised land. I'm looking forward to it!

[TheCrew07]

I'm way too over emotional. As a coach, I think it's my greatest weakness. I live and with every single play the kids I coach make and don't make. I should be able to separate myself and be objective, but I just have something inside me that makes me care way too much about the kids and what they do on the field. If I didn't care so much about them, I probably would have quit coaching awhile ago because the time commitment is extreme and the results haven't been close to what I've wanted.

[gypcasino]

Man I thought I was depressed after the Packers loss. But it sure would suck to be a Bills fan right now.

[jason21nl]

Man I thought I was depressed after the Packers loss. But it sure would suck to be a Bills fan right now.

 

see, now I would have flipped out if I was a Bills fan. I would not be able to handle that type of loss

[flosses like fossas]

i find this appropriate here, and didn't see it on my first cursory glances over this thread...

 

mets fans are hurting...

[rluzinski]

The older I get, the faster I can get over a tough loss. Of course, when I was six, I'd cry when the Packers lost, so I had no where to go but up. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

I still am giddy over the wins, however, so I guess it's a win/win these days.

[Glennron]

The main thing to do was watch that game, and that was a frustrating end. I took a walk around the block, despite the slick slop, and even that didn't cool me down.

That's probably a better reaction than me. I had to go to a play right after for my Theatre Appreciation class. I was late for it so I quick ducked in the back, and a couple people gave me dirty looks. I might have felt bad if the Badgers had won.

[kgbaseball]

I'm about as boring as you can get. I don't get excited for most wins, and don't get deflated after losses. I'm the ultimate laid back fan.