McCurley: Getting through sports sadness

Being an avid sports fan, when your favorite team loses, there always comes a sense of sadness or disappointment. That’s just part of the fun, and while the pain might sting, it comes with the territory.

I’ve had my heart broken many times — both by women and sports — but the latter always hurts the most.

I know that the Falcons, Braves, Hawks, and Bulldogs may let me down, but I will love them for life after.

I have no love for someone that walks into my life and rudely walks out, but those teams don’t do that.

Getting over a loss from my favorite sports teams is tough and hard, but I eventually get through it.

Getting over a breakup is much harder, but it gets easier over time. Trust me I’ve learned that the hard way.

I don’t have to travel to Jamaica (with a certain someone) a few months after a breakup to get over a loss. I just get over losses easier. (There’s a story behind the Jamaica part but we won’t get into that.)

Anyway, being a sports fan is fun, but losing is just the bitter part that comes with it. Again, I have had it happen to me many times. Examples are Super Bowl LI, known as “28-3” and the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship game, known as “2nd-and-26.” Those hurt. You can also add in there the 2020 MLB NLCS series and the 2012 SEC Championship game.

I may have touched a nerve there for some, but let’s move on. My point in all of this is that we move on and forget. Time heals all wounds … and hangovers, which is what I was told growing up.

In most cases, your favorite sports team or teams finally push through and capture the title. It’s great.

In other cases, you could still be titleless, especially after blowing a big lead, and in the coming years, two teams in your own division win championships. *Cough, cough* … Falcons.

Either way, fans’ love for their teams is a beautiful thing to watch. It’s what makes the world go round.

Seeing more than 100,000 people cram into a soccer (futbol) stadium in Europe is awesome, even if you don’t care about the sport. It’s great to watch College GameDay every Saturday morning in the fall and see college kids and fans alike wake up at the crack of dawn to rush to the set.

Seeing those moments, even months or years after a big loss, is the reason why we are all fans of something. I don’t know how to describe it, but it feels great to be a part of something larger than yourself.

And when you finally reach the pinnacle of your fandom, seeing your team hoist the trophy, it’s like time freezes. You soak up the moment wherever you might be, and all your problems seem to disappear. It’s like – for a few seconds of moments – that you’re not in reality but you’re in Heaven.

Then after a few moments longer, you’re back on Earth. Sometimes it may not hit you until the next day of the week, but you’ve seen your team achieve greatness, and will always remember that feeling in time.

Bottle that feeling up. You will always know first to think about that feeling rather than the past. It’s cemented into your brain for the rest of your life. And if you’re lucky, you can relive it again and again.

Through the good times and the bad, being a sports fan is worth it. Right now, for me, I am feeling pretty confident a certain team might win a second title in three years and another might get a 3-peat.

Adios.