I admit it...

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

You guys are some tremendous Scotsmen when it comes to national PBP guys. I don't mind Costas, either. Although the 1908 stuff was admittedly insufferable the other night.

Agreed...and even though I was annoyed with Javy myself on the single + putout at 2nd on a ball off the wall, I found Costas' pontification more annoying.

Having said that, he knows his baseball, and he doesn't over-emote.  His voice isn't annoying.  He's fine.

I was annoyed at Javy for the lack of hustle. But whenever he does stuff like that, I just take a minute to think about how salty Chuck probably is at that exact moment, and it kind of evens itself out.

That's from when the Morton Salt warehouse on Elston Ave. collapsed and buried all of those Lexuses, isn't it?

[Wheezer]

You guys are some tremendous Scotsmen when it comes to national PBP guys. I don't mind Costas, either. Although the 1908 stuff was admittedly insufferable the other night.

Agreed...and even though I was annoyed with Javy myself on the single + putout at 2nd on a ball off the wall, I found Costas' pontification more annoying.

Having said that, he knows his baseball, and he doesn't over-emote.  His voice isn't annoying.  He's fine.

I haven't heard him in a long time, but as I mentioned in the Squirtbox, that 2-2-3 idea struck me as appealing in a didn't-think-too-hard-about-it sort of way.

[Oleg]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

[Eli]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

Because people feel various emotions about sports and sometimes they like to talk about what they're feeling and how they're processing.

EDIT: I realize now you were probably talking about TJ's thread, which was dumb, rather than Twitter reactions, etc.

[Oleg]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

Because people feel various emotions about sports and sometimes they like to talk about what they're feeling and how they're processing.

But why project the fatalism?  "I feel angry because of a base hit" seems different than "fuck this team they're done."

[ChuckD]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model

I wrote off the game last night around the 6th. I still had faith that they'd take game 5 with Lester/Hendricks in the pen, but I think I was moving on and preventing further stress to myself by limiting expectations.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

Because people feel various emotions about sports and sometimes they like to talk about what they're feeling and how they're processing.

But why project the fatalism?  "I feel angry because of a base hit" seems different than "fuck this team they're done."

BC let the Twitter World know he was turning the game off, donning his lumberjack pajamas, buttoning up the butt flap, and going to bed.  Fuck him.

[Oleg]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

Because people feel various emotions about sports and sometimes they like to talk about what they're feeling and how they're processing.

EDIT: I realize now you were probably talking about TJ's thread, which was dumb, rather than Twitter reactions, etc.

I think it's everything.

It's SKO and BC Tweeting.  It's TJ's thread (that I didn't see till today).  It's the reaction of the people around me at the UC during game 2 of the Vancouver series in 2010.  Mayeb my scar tissue is strong and I don't care enough?  Shit, I don't know.  Just seems self-defeating.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model

I wrote off the game last night around the 6th. I still had faith that they'd take game 5 with Lester/Hendricks in the pen, but I think I was moving on and preventing further stress to myself by limiting expectations.

Well yeah.  I was resigned to Thursday, telling myself that Cueto would get bombed etc., I did not EXPECT them to win last night after 8 innings.

But Oleg's not simply talking about expressing emotions in real time.  He's talking about consciously writing your team off.  Why the fuck would anyone do that?  It literally makes no sense to me. What's the point of rooting for a team then?

[SKO]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

Because people feel various emotions about sports and sometimes they like to talk about what they're feeling and how they're processing.

But why project the fatalism?  "I feel angry because of a base hit" seems different than "fuck this team they're done."

I consider myself more of group A than group B in this scenario as I tend to hope to the last while bitching relentlessly anyway (I could not imagine being one of those people who just turned off the game before the 9th, for instance) but I think the public projection of fatalism is kind of a defense mechanism, where if they just say aloud "they're done" they can kind of start to remove themselves emotionally from a stressful situation they can't really handle?

[ChuckD]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

Because people feel various emotions about sports and sometimes they like to talk about what they're feeling and how they're processing.

But why project the fatalism?  "I feel angry because of a base hit" seems different than "fuck this team they're done."

BC let the Twitter World know he was turning the game off, donning his lumberjack pajamas, buttoning up the butt flap, and going to bed.  Fuck him.

Like a butterfly flapping its wings in China causing a hurricane halfway round the world, BC flapping his pajamas triggered a comeback a thousand miles away in San Francisco.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

Because people feel various emotions about sports and sometimes they like to talk about what they're feeling and how they're processing.

But why project the fatalism?  "I feel angry because of a base hit" seems different than "fuck this team they're done."

BC let the Twitter World know he was turning the game off, donning his lumberjack pajamas, buttoning up the butt flap, and going to bed.  Fuck him.

Like a butterfly flapping its wings in China causing a hurricane halfway round the world, BC flapping his pajamas triggered a comeback a thousand miles away in San Francisco.

I am Muttleying like a damn idjit right now.

[SKO]

....I resent being lumped in entirely with the Fatalists. Hell I went back and reviewed my entire stream of gameday tweets and not once did I say they were done, god dammit. The most fatalistic thing I said was "this offense is so fucked right now". The rest were the aforementioned "expressing emotions in real time".

[Eli]

....I resent being lumped in entirely with the Fatalists. Hell I went back and reviewed my entire stream of gameday tweets and not once did I say they were done, god dammit. The most fatalistic thing I said was "this offense is so fucked right now". The rest were the aforementioned "expressing emotions in real time".

I understand now that Oleg is talking about two different things -- fatalism vs. real-time ranting and raving. You definitely fall into the latter category, for whatever that's worth. The fatalism stuff is kind of annoying, especially when it's based on "of course the Cubs." I felt a bit of that creep in around the 8th inning last night, but knew better than to let it get too far.

[Oleg]

...I just really don't understand the public fatalism about your favorite team.  Like, what's the point?  I get the annoying 'have faith' Tweets, etc but why the rush to call your favorite team dead?  Do you think it makes you look smarter when they lose?  Do you think you'll get to point to your Tweets as some sort of a 'told you so' moment that, literally, no one will care about?  Is this some weird race to scoop all other fans?

I'm not talking about the fact based criticism...that's all cool.  It's the absolutist nature of "they're done...forever" mentality about a team you've spent teh past 6 months (and a lifetime) rooting for puzzles the shit out of me.  Like will it be so much more painful to just see how it plays out?  Are you just preparing yourself for the scars of disappointment? Does victory feel better once you've written them off?

I'm serious...what's up with that?
Also, asking for a friend.

Because people feel various emotions about sports and sometimes they like to talk about what they're feeling and how they're processing.

But why project the fatalism?  "I feel angry because of a base hit" seems different than "fuck this team they're done."

I consider myself more of group A than group B in this scenario as I tend to hope to the last while bitching relentlessly anyway (I could not imagine being one of those people who just turned off the game before the 9th, for instance) but I think the public projection of fatalism is kind of a defense mechanism, where if they just say aloud "they're done" they can kind of start to remove themselves emotionally from a stressful situation they can't really handle?

I have no idea who's in what camp.  I'm not angry about any of it...anyone can do whatever they want with their fandom whether I understand it or not.  It's just weird.  I was stressed AF last night.  The panic was set in deeply and nicely in the pit of my stomach.  But to be so public about any declaration that the team is done...man, I don't know.

....I resent being lumped in entirely with the Fatalists. Hell I went back and reviewed my entire stream of gameday tweets and not once did I say they were done, god dammit. The most fatalistic thing I said was "this offense is so fucked right now". The rest were the aforementioned "expressing emotions in real time".

Yeah...this is true.  I think I was assuming things that weren't there and annoyed at a strawman.