remindmeofthe | (no subject)

I have learned a different way to say "I love my team." It goes like this:

I HATE MY TEAM.

'Cos you wouldn't hate 'em unless you loved 'em, right? (I would prefer not to consider the implications of this and what it might mean about me and the Yankees; one trauma at a time, thanks). Well, here's how much I have come to love the Tigers since I began watching them when the season started this year:

I HATE THEM I HATE THEM I HATE THEM and I want to STAMP on them until they are all INJURED and will stop PLAYING for the rest of the season because there is no goddamned POINT.

This team is FUCKED. They were sliding badly before the trade, and since the trade they're different and wrong. Everything terrible is happening. Our starters are either sucking or ruling, and when they rule it doesn't matter because the bullpen is just WAITING to come in and spoil EVERY FUCKING GAME, and do you think that the offense can get any further than first base, maybe second with a good hit? NO THEY CANNOT. And that's just the material stuff. It's hard to explain the other stuff, the stuff that gets to me even worse than mere losing.

What happened? They've had such potential all year, such a solid lineup and capable rotation and the best bullpen among my teams. And they've spent the year teetering, just barely staying decent and respectable, and fleeing in terror whenever the threat of becoming good loomed on the horizon.

Now they've just fallen. Every team slumps, yeah, don't I know it, but this is no slump. I guarantee you right now that this is what we get for the rest of the season: A rotation whose performance is rendered irrelevant by a shitty bullpen, and an offense that has forgotten how to pick its pitchers up.

Today Jeremy Bonderman had an amazing outing. He threw a complete game. He gave up two runs on four hits and three walks. He struck out EIGHT, which I believe is one short of his season high.

And we still didn't win. Our ace was at the top of his game, the bullpen never got near it, and we still didn't win.

If I wanted to upset myself further with a few more miserable paragraphs, I could write about the rumors of dissention on the team. But I'm almost done, save for the point of this whole thing:

I believe that once you pick a team, it's your team, and that's the way it is, so I'm not abandoning the Tigers. That is incomprehensible to me. I wouldn't hate them right now if I didn't love them so much underneath.

But I give up on this season. I'll still keep track of the games, and watch some of them, but I'm not going to recap them here anymore. I haven't done any game recaps this week because each time I think of it, I think of getting into what the Tigers have done and my stomach turns. I'll talk about games that catch my attention for whatever random reason, and news that I find interesting, but for the rest of the season I will put more emphasis on the Red Sox and the Astros.

I love you, Tigers, and I believed hard all season that you could get over .500 and stay there, but now I believe just as strongly that I was wrong. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to put my faith in storage for next season, reorganize my thinking, and find a new way to enjoy you.

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I still think there is something more here than meets the eye regarding their demise. Hopefully its not a bunch of unhappy players.

I've given up on them now as well. I thought for once I'd see them playing meaningful games in September, but once again I am wrong. Should have seen this coming.

But you watch, now that we've given up them, they'll come out and go on some Oakland like run.

shhh, don't say that too loud, what do you think half the point of giving up on them so theatrically is? ;)

I just needed to vent. I am still waiting for the feeling of relief that ought to come after pitching a fit in my journal and unloading what I've been thinking these past few days, but I think I might feel a smidge better. Maybe.

I agree about more than meets the eye. I didn't come even close to flipping out like this when the Astros had that abysmal 15-30 record and I finally decided they weren't going anywhere. I just figured that they sucked this year, so oh well. This feels very different, and not just because the Tigers were so close to being good this year. There's something deeper going on that's making this even worse.

I sure was wrong about the Astros, though, huh?

Oops, sorry, I'll try to keep that more on the down low

Man, I can feel my venting coming soon. I sorta acted on my frustration this afternoon by getting rid of my Tigers layout. But I can feel me going off. I'm a baseball fan at heart so I think that's why it bothers me so much. I've lived with the Lions long enough that even the best of teams will let you down. I think a lot of this boils down to the Percival injury. It seems so strange and random but, it makes some sense when you think about it. And who really knows, maybe the Farns was really great veteran team leader kind of guy.

Well, when you're ready to go off, I'll be there with a few virtual pints.

maybe the Farns was really great veteran team leader kind of guy.

Maybe. The bullpen has fallen apart so quickly since the trade I can hardly believe any of the same guys are still there. It might just be because there are new guys and changes in role, but then it might not be.

Yay we can get virtually drunk together! This is all kind of making me want to have a drunk!Brandon night, but that's so unlike him.

I honestly don't know. Last night I was attributing it to Troy Percival's season ending as well. But who really knows anymore with this team.

Bondo's edging a bit OOC, too; normally after a loss he shoulders the blame, but tonight he's not feeling quite so diplomatic. What are we doing with all this, anyway? And why don't they trust us to generate our OWN drama, dammit? If we're going to use this, we're going to have some edgy characters, and they may well do things they wouldn't usually do.

The 2005 team is hurty and, as you might be able to tell from my retreat into fake!discussion, I don't want to think about it anymore. How soon is next April?

Yeah man, I can see Brandon going off soon. I understand that Brandon's not much of a whiner but I hurt every time he struggles at the plate and I just want him to whine. We should just have a night where the guys all get drunk and become all woe is me to the Farns. Suddenly, he's thankful he's in Atlanta.

I'm just gonna sit here and refill your drinks and feel your pain and shit, because DUDE. I know.

Seven years and counting, and this year they added a first half twist just to keep it from getting boring :-/

I think of getting into what the Tigers have done and my stomach turns.

Man do I know that feeling.

Anyway, I've tried, it's impossible to not care, so let me know when you find that new way to enjoy them. At least you've got your other boys!

I was probably a tad gloaty in your direction once or twice this year, and I am officially SO SORRY. I promise I will not do it again. We will be sisters in the pain of Man Our Teams Hate Us.

Oh, my other boys. Yay. They will help me. Morgan Ensberg will hit me homeruns, Roger Clemens will throw me shutout starts, Papi will give me the At Bat Look of Steel, and the entire Red Sox outfield will terrify me making amazing plays and somehow not hurting themselves. Having more than one team pays off in spades sometimes. You may want to look into it. ;)

Yeah.

i unloaded in my LJ too :| somehow i still don't feel better about it.

Who loses like that? Honestly, who loses like that? And, I don't know. I don't think I'm capable of not following them, and I'll follow them even more when I get back to school in about a month. But they killed a whole lot of hope with this series. Ugh.

Yeah, I can't imagine not following them. I have become very attached in the past few months. I'll just do it without any real expectations any more.