Bad sports seem to follow me everywhere-even to the Emerald Isle.
I recently spent a semester abroad in Galway, Ireland, and like any re-located sports fan, I explored the local sporting market.
During my stay, I attended two Galway United soccer matches, both of which were losses by huge margins. Furthermore, in a stadium that held 5000 people, I could practically count the number of fans on both hands, the majority of them being wasted, further fueling an Irish stereotype that turns out to be hilariously accurate. The reason I returned to watch another match was that I have discovered, unfortunately, that I am attracted to failing sports teams in a purely platonic way, but sometimes I wonder. So what I am trying to say is that no matter where I go, crappy professional sports are there with their arms wide open, Creed style, and I like it. Living in Minnesota has made my self-diagnosis easier, but so far I have nothing. I even bought a Galway United hoodie and wore it religiously in the hopes they unfortunately would somehow turn their abysmal 1-29 into a 4-29; it did not happen.
The reason I hold onto these basement-dwelling franchises is that I like knowing that someday they will be on top, and I can say I was there, that I stood by them through thick and thin. After following their failures for so long, they have become a part of me.
Gopher football will always remind me of my childhood. I won’t remember the camping trips or Disneyland vacations, but rather trips to the Metrodome on Saturday mornings to watch Glen Mason’s boys rip apart the University of Lousiana-Lafayette. I will never forget Rhys Lloyd’s 35-yard kick to beat Wisconsin in 2003-the last time the Gophers took home the Axe.
Minnesota fans are quick to write off struggling programs and I want to cry myself to sleep every time I hear someone say the U of M should get booted from the Big Ten or be relegated to Division I-AA. FCS, FBS, who gives a hoot. There are good things ahead, and I know we have gone down this road before, but the Gophers have their man in new head coach Jerry Kill. Glen Mason may have plunged the Gophers into an abyss of mediocrity, and we do not even need to discuss Tim Brewster’s self-inflicting damage, but Kill has the right attitude for success.
It may be bad press, hurt team morale, or cripple the general hype of the program to say your squad is untalented, but if it is so terrifyingly true, then it needs to be said. And Kill says it… a lot.
It takes a hight amount of energy to support these struggling programs, and us few remaining Gopher faithful know firsthand how rough it can get, but it makes the few bright spots so much more magical. I acted like I had just won the lottery when I heard the Gophers beat Iowa for the second year in a row.
My friends make fun of me for still liking the Gophers, so right now all I can do is sit back and play the waiting game, but soon it will be me who is joyously ramming humble pie down their throats.