During the last two months of the season, my husband (a long-suffering Cleveland sports fan) wouldn’t watch Tribe games with me because, well, they were almost guaranteed to lose. Apparently he reached his breaking point sometime during the 11-game losing streak (or maybe the 9-game losing streak. I’m not even sure anymore). Regardless, he wouldn’t watch them and would frequently give me a hard time about my insistence on watching so many losing games.

This afternoon, before he went off to watch the Cleveland Browns play the Cincinnati  Bengals, I asked him why he wanted to watch a football team that was 0-5 and was also on an 11-game losing streak (stretching back to last season) when he wouldn’t watch the Indians with me. His reply was that the Browns only play 16 times a year. “They only lose once a week–not five times a week, dear. So I’m 80% less pathetic than you are.”

The problem with this logic is that 16 vs. 162 games per season makes a single baseball game about 10% as meaningful as a single football game. Such concentrated meaning means that my husband is actually 10 times more pathetic than I. (And yes, I know the Brown finally won a game today. Perhaps both Cleveland sports fans and teams reach their breaking point after 11-game losing streaks.)

 

 

 

 

4 Comments

  • Kevin Urbanek says:

    As a lifelong fan I would never weigh one more than the other. The Indians were my first love. I stopped watching, yet was happy to attend games (enjoyable, and caught a few wins!)

    The die-hard fans are simply optimistic. We continue to believe in our teams.

    I don’t want to lose that.

  • Steve Alex says:

    It’s a classic size vs. frequency debate. LOL

  • Mary Jo says:

    If 16 NFL games are compared to 162 baseball games in W/L stats, today’s oh-thank-God-finally Browns win makes them 10-50 so far this season. Tell your dear hubby THAT one. 😉

  • Christian camlin says:

    I live in KC now where my local Royals experienced a 12 game winning streak in April but sadly still wound up with a better record than my beloved Tribe.Our Chiefs like the Browns are 1-5.Having both my adopted town and my old Hometown both being so miserable in sports is disheartening.But in baseball though I love the game more it’s easier to take.Baseball is as much about the players stories as the game itself.Where in football the only players whose stories we follow are high level skill players.Baseball remain interesting when Alex Gordon scores his 90th run.Or when Billy Butler Drives in his 100th.Or when Shin Soo Choo redeems his season by hitting very well in the 2nd half.Even when guys from other teams do well it adds to the games interest.When RJ Dickey got his 20th win or when Miguel Cabrera clinched the triple crown that was fun to see.Football stat’s have no where near the same meaning.So yeah with Football I stop watching 1-5 teams.But in baseball we can get em tomorrow no matter what happened today.