Sports Futility

There are many sports fans whom have had to deal with futility. Well, my Houston Astros have done next to nothing since their improbable 2005 World Series run. And right now, my Astros are incredibly disappointing, perhaps on pace to be WORSE than the 2011 team! It made me wonder a few things about sports. For one thing- I've better understood the aspect of trading players. I used to think that letting go of great players on bad teams was a way of saying, "our team stinks, so we need to hold on our talent to make our team better." When a team has great players playing for bad teams, I've basically learned to appreciate that individual players can do better with contending teams rather than *try* to make already bad teams better. You sometimes have to let players go and let them reach personal greatness rather than try to float a sinking ship. One single player does not make an entire team. Sure, that player is great for the team, but it takes a total team effort for a team to be great as a whole. So players have to be traded. And also- when a team could use a quality player to fill a certain position, and when they think of one certain player available, don't you want that team to get the help they need if they are trying to make a postseason run? Sad fact of life... you sometimes need to let things go and consider other teams' needs. The sad part about this statement is that many of the players who played for my favorite teams did much better elsewhere than what they COULD have done for MY beloved team. Sad... but that's sports.

Needless to say, seeing the 2012 Astros consistently fail depresses me. In fact, part of what made 2011 such a disappointing year for me was in all kinds of disappointing things around me and in me- including seeing the Astros stumble in game after game last season. This year was going great for the Astros until they kept dropping games. So to every sports fan that had to deal with teams and athletes constantly failing... I feel (and now understand) your pain. I just hope the Astros can be better by leaps and bounds in the future. It is an absolute disgrace how this team went from a World Series team in 2005 to not doing much of anything since. No playoffs since, and there's a snowball's chance in Hell this year's team makes the postseason with their 35-win, 70-something loss record at present. Even the Texans or Rockets... or hell- even the University of Houston Cougars' baseball team or Rice University baseball team could put up a better effort than the 2012 Astros right now. The city of Houston usually makes the list of miserable sports cities commonly. One of these days, I hope Houston will really have MULTIPLE successful teams to make H-Town a greater sports town than it is.

--- Dealing With Sports Futility ---

If you're discussing what to do with teams that consistently fail, consider a few different teams whom have never had any real success until one game.

• I can think of in NCAA Men's Basketball when the Beavers of the non-football school- California Institute of Technology (or Caltech) beat Occidental College 46-45 to end their conference game losing streak of 310 games. It was on February 22, 2011 when the Beavers ended their conference losing streak that has lasted over 26 years.

• The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 after not having won a World Series since 1918. As of the date of this initial blog post, Boston has won the World Series seven times. Their latest triumph was in 2007.

• The Sydney Swans of Australian Rules football haven't won a championship for a while until 2005. They waited 72 years to become champions of Australian Rules Football prior to their 2005 triumph.

What gets me riled up on Facebook is when certain people on Facebook take a loss like it's unacceptable. It is unacceptable to lose; but it's life, and it's sports. Somebody has to win; somebody has to lose. Some people on Facebook just take it like every team should finish undefeated. I don't go on an epic rage on Facebook when my team(s) lose. If anything, I just post something respectful and kind to help provide encouragement for the next game (or the next season if they are out of postseason contention).

If you love something, stick with it and try to work things out. If you love a sports team or an athlete, stay with that team. Don't be just a fair weather fan. Be supportive even in losing efforts.

Advice for Sports Fans of Slumping Teams/Athletes.

Here is a link with some lighthearted advice for when your sports team(s)/athlete(s) are in a slump: Sports Fans, Here's How To Get Through a Losing Streak (Bleacher Report).





If you're a sports fan, how does futility from your favorite team(s) and athlete(s) affect you? How do you deal? Thank you for reading. Hope your team(s) and athlete(s) are doing great.

Thank you for reading!

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