And so they lost.
I didn’t go to a bar, didn’t follow the game online (tho’ I did check early in the second half to see the Badgers up), didn’t even stay up to see how it all turned out.
It is unlikely they will get back even to the Final Four anytime soon.
So, three reactions:
1. The critic-of-the-NCAA side of me is mildly satisfied with the loss, insofar as it makes it easier for me not to pay attention to college sports.
It’s a shitty reaction, I know, and only reinforces the fact that my so-called principled stand against exploitation is weak and requires reinforcement.
(See also: TBI and football and hockey.)
2. The fan side is sad.
I noted in the last post that a week away from the game and the game won’t matter; here it is two days out and it doesn’t matter.
Still, a win would have nice, and I would have enjoyed it, however fleetingly.
3. I really don’t like being a fan.
Some of the teams I have rooted for—Badgers (various), Brewers, Packers, Habs—have done well, some have not, and I had a lot of fun rooting for them when they won. Losing could be a bummer, but only of the most minor sort.
And then at some point the teeter tottered and the fun fleeted and the bummedness hunkered down, and I ended up ginning up serious mopes over losses.
That just seemed silly to me, so I stepped back.
This isn’t a critique of sports or any other kind of fandom (in fact, I kinda wish I had some of my old music-and-theater mojo back), and I’m making no point beyond the very small one that, for the most part*, for me, following sports stopped making sense.
*Except for women’s tennis. Yeah, as long as Serena is playing I’ll be paying at least a little bit of attention.
AbsurdBeats 