Choke

September 28: One of the worst days in sports for me | Credit: Associated Press

 March 2011. I was giddy at my MLB teams getting a great shot at reaching the playoffs this year. Atlanta has shrugged off its late 2000s slump and entered the playoffs last year as the promising young squad. Boston, on the other hand, made huge splurges in the offseason by acquiring ace slugger Adrian Gonzalez and all-around standout Carl Crawford. After decades of lambasting the Yankee Empire for using a huge salary to build a strong team, the Red Sox Nation had to be on a similar position now with these luxurious acquisitions. Both Boston and Atlanta rank quite high in analysts’ power rankings.

Everything is good for me. I was thinking to myself that this might potentially be the best sports year in my life. The Green Bay Packers already won the Super Bowl. The Duke Blue Devils are the favorites to win NCAA. Ateneo will be sporting an elite team. Atlanta and Boston might reach the World Series. This only happens once in a blue moon.



April 2011. Both of my teams started slow. As in, really slow. Turtle slow. The Red Sox Nation panicked after seeing their team start the season 0-6. It even reached to 2-10. Concerns of missing the playoffs began to creep up until the Beantown sluggers began catching ample momentum. By the end of April, we were 11-15. Not bad for a team that began with a horrible 2-10. The Braves were playing a similar tune by starting with a 5-8 record. So much for early promise. I was alarmed when checking box scores as if we were already in September.

May and June 2011. Both the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox began their quality onslaught. Atlanta eventually outpaced the Florida Marlins and were in reach with the Philadelphia Phillies. It was during these months when I was very proud of my Braves because we had the best runs allowed record in the whole Major League. Atlanta is always the home for great pitching. When I first rooted for the Braves in the 1990s, they sported arguably the deadliest starting pitching rotation of all-time. The Red Sox, on the other hand, seized the Yankees’ lead in the AL East. Suddenly, the 2-10 record that we once had was an afterthought. Things went back to normal. All is right in the world.

July and August 2011. Boring months except for the All-Star Game and the Home Run Derby. I rooted heavily for Adrian Gonzalez as he posted an impressive start. Unfortunately, Robinson Cano quietly stole the thunder (which is an understatement because he was not that far behind Gonzalez anyway). With his father pitching it, the Yankees slugger defeated the Red Sox prized hitter. Another highlight was Atlanta’s acquisition of Michael Bourn which had ESPN’s Buster Olney praising the move to high heavens. Of course, I was psyched. We needed that extra guy to beat the highly advantaged Phillies. Other than which, I was more excited to draft my fantasy football teams. After all, the Red Sox and the Braves are in very good position to reach the playoffs. I even wrote about it that it was not that close. Of course, I was not paying good attention to the Milwaukee Brewers and Detroit Tigers.

September 2011. Safely perched ahead of competition, right? Both my teams were in very comfortable leads to grab at least the Wild Card spot. I have somehow deemed the NL East pennant quite impossible because the Phillies were just too good. The Red Sox and Yanks were still battling it out, until…

Shit happened.

Both the Red Sox and the Braves were losing games as if they were cellar dweller teams. Easy wins against easy teams became difficult. Just to illustrate my point, the Red Sox never won a series of games in the whole month. They never mustered two straight wins. Yup, even against the lowly Baltimore Orioles. The Atlanta Braves had a slightly better record in the month, but it was still horrific as they were just able to win 1/3 of their games. At first, I could not believe that our comfortable leads would be sliced significantly. But because both the Braves and the Red Sox were performing horribly, I was alarmed as I check daily scoreboards. It was a tough month.

I was a pampered fan. My MLB teams lose a series from time to time but they usually turn it around after some time. And when they turn it around, they would win in streaks. If you actually looked at both the Braves and Red Sox’ schedules, these were achievable because there were weak teams along the way. Instead of taking advantage of these matchups, they even lost their series against these ‘easy’ teams. While Atlanta and Boston floundered, the other teams (namely, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and St. Louis Cardinals) started catching heat.  Seeing this collapse unfold was unbelievable. How could two very competent baseball teams lose a lot in just a matter of weeks? If this started in August, it would have been more believable. It was like someone hexed me. Give me the probability of a playoff run collapse. It does not happen every year. Then with these very comfortable leads heading into the final month (8.5 games!!!), it is highly improbable. You are the top Wild Card team for a reason – you do not lose a lot of games. But the biggest slap on my face was the fact that both my teams were collapsing.

And they completed the collapse in one day.

In the very last game of the season.

This happens only once in a blue moon.

Fustercluck.

And if you noticed how it unfolded, it was very painful. Let’s check the situation the past three days.

Red Sox are facing the worst team in their division – the Baltimore Orioles. The Atlanta Braves are facing the Philadelphia Phillies, who already clinched the division.

September 26, 2011:
In Boston’s game, they had the early lead 2-1 at the 4th inning. In Atlanta’s game, they led 2-0 after 3 innings. Results: Both teams lost. Tampa Bay defeated New York to tie with the Red Sox while the Cards lost in a 10 inning game against the Houston Astros. Braves still hold a game lead.

September 27, 2011:
Atlanta just lost the game at the start of it. This was against the Phillies’ weakest pitcher (Oswalt (9-10)). As for Boston, the Red Sox jumped to an early lead of 7-3 by the mid 6th inning. Sure win? Not at all. They barely escaped their cellar dweller opponents with an 8-7 win. As for St. Louis, they trailed early 5-0. Sure loss? No. They pulled barrage of runs for the 13-6 win. Of course, those evil Yankees* intently lost another game to the Devil Rays. Wild Card leads are gone. If it has to go through the last game, so be it (as if we have a choice).

* - If you are a Yankee fan, you should know that I am just fooling around here. Wait a minute, I should not be explaining myself by now (even if there is a chance that this might be understood literally)… I have suffered too much these past few days.

September 28, 2011:

Credit: Fox Sports

Total fustercluck. St. Louis grabs early lead and did not relinquish it. At least, we were not made to believe we have an outside chance there. Atlanta had the lead for eight innings and we were in the ninth inning with our star rookie closer, Craig Kimbrel (who has an impressive 46 saves this year) in the mound. We are headed for a tiebreaker game against the Cardinals, right? No. Of course, things have to go down badly for one of our most reliable bull pen guy. He gave up a run for the tie. When I received the Scorecenter notification in my iPhone, this was my reaction:

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! There is just one inning left and we cannot even close this game. Aren’t the losses in September not enough of torture?!

The game went into extra innings. (I just got this information from ESPN since I was not watching the game) In the bottom of the 12th inning, Atlanta had the golden opportunity for the winning run. With one out on board, Jason Heyward was in scoring position. He reached third base off a wild pitch. Their reliable hitter, Martin Prado, was in the plate. Of course, things have to go wrong. He grounded out. Inning over.

After some minutes, my phone vibrated. Philly scored a run in the next inning. That run ended our season. What a depressing turn of events. The Atlanta Braves snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

I was already depressed then that the unfortunate events in the Red Sox’s game did not hurt that much. The feeling was more of resignation. This was an effed up baseball season and it does not help if I will just get more frustrated. I do not know if I should be thankful that I was not watching the game unfold in my very eyes. But then, it was also a horrible experience to get notified of bad news while you are in the office. You could at least unleash some emotion when you are at home watching the game (like punching a pillow out of disgust, or in Simmons’ case, walk your dog up to Arizona). If you are outside and you are notified of what was happening, all you can do is keep the emotions inside, keep your composure then proceed working. I have mastered this art of the 5-second scoreboard check through the years. I have not done anything stupid and I still ended up working as normal, but it still hurts a lot whenever such awful defeats happen.

Credit: Boston Herald

As for Boston’s fate, it was fustercluck all over again. They had the early lead against the Orioles (they had the same score as the Braves because that’s how the baseball gods wanted to torture me). The Yankees, on the other hand, had a huge 7-run lead against the Devil Rays. Red Sox, we are heading towards the playoffs, right? No. Rain postponed the Red Sox’s game while the Devil Rays caught up with the seven-run lead. Red Sox eventually lost to Orioles while the Devil Rays won. Season over. This was just not our day.

This was just not our month.

This double collapse would have to rank up high on my worst sports moments. It was highly improbable. It happened on the same day and on the same hour. Last but not the least, it was a long stretch. Bill Simmons uses the term ‘stomach punch’ on fustercluck pivotal game. I think what happened to Atlanta and Boston was way worse because it happened on multiple games. It was like watching a disaster occur in slow motion. And you know what, it was not as if they were aiming at a highly improbable thing (like winning the World Series or even a pivotal game in the playoffs). They were just aiming to maintain their lead and reach the playoffs.

Depressing.

Yup, Barney, I know how it feels | Credit: How I Met Your Mother

Now I know how Barney Stinson felt when he got the countdown for the slap in the first Slapsgiving. The experience that I had was the Double Slap. You knew it was coming, but you are hoping that it does not happen. And just at the exact moment when the countdown ends, you get slapped.

It hurts.

It will be a long six months before we get to see the Braves and the Red Sox revenge their losses. What’s worse is that they might not come out that strong next year. Collapses like this can make or break an organization. It might have an indelible psyche on the players. From a promising season, MLB 2011 Season ended up as a disaster to me.

All in all, I can say that 2011 will never be the best year in sports in my life regardless if Ateneo goes on to win the Men’s Basketball Championship. It would be a mixture of good and bad. After all, Jerry Sloan resigned as Utah’s coach this year. Deron Williams was traded to Jersey City. The NBA Lockout is looming. Smart Gilas was not able to capitalize on Iran’s defeat. And of course, this latest debacle care of Atlanta and Boston. My take in this is never to count your eggs until they are hatched. Potential is just potential. The games have to be played. Anything can happen. And as a fan who has been blessed with championships the past few years, I also need to eat some humble pie. But the most important thing is…

Move on. (And transfer the negative energy this experience brought into a positive one)

NFL Week 4 Picks
Buffalo Bills over CINCINNATI BENGALS. Seems like a trap game with Buffalo over-celebrating their 3-0 start. However, do you really think I believe in the Bengals?

Carolina Panthers over CHICAGO BEARS. This is actually a tough one. When I picked against the Bears with a team not named Green Bay or New Orleans, I was hugely mistaken. For the record, I think Atlanta – the team the Bears defeated earlier – is better than Carolina. Then, Chicago is at home. However, Carolina is performing better than Chicago this season. Matt Forte is the only reliable offensive guy for the Bears right now. Their offensive line sucks as well. Thus, this is my upset special pick of the week.

Tennessee Titans over CLEVELAND BROWNS. Third straight road team pick. This is the inverse of Week 2. However, I believe in the Titans more than the Browns. The Browns’ wins came from the Colts and Dolphins (which they barely won). Titans defeated the Ravens and Broncos. I predict Chris Johnson to explode in this game.

Detroit Lions over DALLAS COWBOYS. Road Team # 4. I really believe in the Lions.

Minnesota Vikings over KANSAS CITY CHIEFS. No one believes in the Chiefs right now. Vikes are also competing quite well (only they never prevailed). They take their first W here. Andohbytheway, Road Team #5.

ST. LOUIS RAMS over Washington Redskins. Another tough upset pick. I initially picked the Redskins because they are still the good bad team right now. However, they lost to their archrivals which had a severely injured quarterback and a depleted core. If they are going to make their opponents kick fieldgoals, I believe the Rams’ Josh Brown is a good kicker. Also, this is a must-win home game for the Rams. Their next opponents are the following: Green Bay, Dallas, New Orleans. Redskins may be #1 right now but you have to realize that they defeated a rusty Giants team and the Arizona Cardinals.

New Orleans Saints over JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS. Another Road Team Pick. But seriously, do you think I’ll pick against the Saints?

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES over San Francisco 49ers. Should be an easy pick, right? No. Vick might play but the 49ers seem to be playing well. Their only loss came from a game they were about to win. They injured Romo, what more on Vick… aww man, these are the moments I do not want to be picking.

HOUSTON TEXANS over Pittsburgh Steelers. I watched parts of the Steelers’ game against the Colts and I must say that the Steelers were disappointing there. However, I am picking against them because of their offensive line – what? They still have an offensive line?

Atlanta Falcons over SEATTLE SEAHAWKS. Falcons are angry birds right now after the loss to Tampa Bay.

New York Giants over ARIZONA CARDINALS. Eli has the momentum and I am not threatened by the Cards

GREEN BAY PACKERS over Denver Broncos. Do you really think I am going to pick against the Packers?

New England Patriots over OAKLAND RAIDERS. Ditto.

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS over Miami Dolphins. San Diego Suuuuuper Chargers! Yeah, they won’t be starting with a bad record this year.

New York Jets over BALTIMORE RAVENS. I like Baltimore as a team. I want them to beat the Steelers every time they face each other. Baltimore was impressive last week and they seem to be the only team who are defending nicely. However, I am going to go with my gut here. I really think the Jets are very good (even if they effed up my Eliminator Challenge last week). The Jets are looking to prove something after a tough loss and after people are starting to doubt their defense. They get better with that. Just ask Tom Brady and the Patriots.

Time for Colts to 'Suck for Luck?'

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS over Indianapolis Colts. I am not picking the Colts until they win a game. I think that they are secretly tanking their games to get Andrew Luck. If I were in their position, it just makes perfect sense. They were losing badly in the first two games. This is because Jersey # 18 is not playing. They relied too much on Peyton through the years. As a result, they had bad draft picks. I am sure they have realized it by now. With Peyton’s career on its final three years, the Colts are preparing for his successor. Luck would be the ideal guy.

If you are following Jim Irsay’s (Indianapolis’ owner) tweets, you will notice that he is mentioning that Peyton will return. I do not believe he will. Jim’s tweets are more on giving interest to the fans as they wait for next season. Colts should suck for Luck. Oh wait, I am a Patriots fan. Why am I saying these? Colts, win games, let Peyton play and barely miss the playoffs.

Last Week’s Record: 10-6
Season Record: 30-11