Cleveland Indians' ushers outside of Progressive Field. From Left to Right: Bill Voit, Peter Miksa, Lou Valazquez, Mike Routa, Rigoberto (``Rigo'') Reveron and Pablo Senquiz.
Haven't we seen this movie before?
Photo Credit: Yahoo Sports
***
In with a bang, out with a whimper.
That pretty much sums up the Cleveland Indians postseason for 2017.
As I was ushering Game 5 of the ALDS between the Indians and New York Yankees at Progressive Field; and as the curtain came crashing down on our historic season, one that saw the Indians winning 22 consecutive games (an American League record), including 102 wins (best in the A.L., second best in franchise history), most of us just looked around to ask, “what just happened.”?
One of the girlfriends of an Indians’ player walked by me with a river of tears rolling down her cheeks, and said, “this was supposed be our year!”
Another relative of an Indians player (who doesn’t speak a word of English) embraced me in a bear hug to say goodbye for the year; his eyes bulging with tears, as if we just lost a family member.
It was nothing less than a funeral procession watching the Yankees celebrate on our home turf, knowing less than a week ago, we were up two games to none over the Bronx Bombers and looking forward to ALCS.
But somehow the bottom fell out of our smooth sailing ship.
Who was to blame?
It depends on who you ask. Some say the Tribe’s staff ace, Corey Kluber, wasn’t disclosing an injury and just wasn’t the same pitcher we witnessed time and again during the regular season.
Another popular gripe that wafted through the air along with the cool breeze, was, “what was Tito [Indians’ manager Terry Francona] thinking starting Trevor Bauer on three days’ rest (Game 1’s sensation) in Game 4 instead of the well-rested flame thrower Danny Salazar or Mike Clevinger?”.
Still others claim lingering injuries to Michael Brantley, Lonnie Chisenhall, Jason Kipnis, Brandon Guyer (season ending surgery), Bradley Zimmer (done for the year), and Edwin Encarnación (sprained ankle in Game 2 of the ALDS), left us with a less than robust hitting machine to counter the Yankees’ rotation.
The injuries, taken together with Jose Ramirez (.100) and Francisco Lindor (.111), managing only two hits apiece in the ALDS, quickly turned our highly anticipated celebration into a nightmare, a nightmare that many of us still have not shaken off.
No truer words were spoken when Joe Walcott (aka "The Barbados Demon"), the welterweight champion of the world from 1901-1904, coined the phrase, "the bigger they are the harder they fall."
With expectations sky high entering the playoffs and with the wind at our backs, most Indians’ fans must have felt like we were tossed off the Terminal Tower (the 52-story, 771-foot, landmark skyscraper located on Public Square in downtown Cleveland) and dropped on our heads.
The worst feeling, at least for me, was going to bed that calamitous night with the feeling of a sharp dagger slashed through the center of my heart.
Nearly a week after sustaining such a crushing first round knockout, I’m just now able to hold down solid food.
So, as I was plunged into the depths of despair, I wondered why sports fans put themselves through such punishment year after bloody year; and why our emotions are dictated by something as trivial as baseball?
For the answer to these questions, I had to seek out some authority.
Dr. Thomas George , who studies the psychology of sports in the school of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan, tells me part of the disappointment that Indians fans are feeling centers on “civic pride,” a concept that stretches back to the 19th century.
"The original league structure of professional baseball in the 1870's," George told me, ''set things up so that each team had specific territorial rights.” "Since there was only one team in the area, that team was a representative of the city and its inhabitants. So, the team became an extension of the people of the city."
The second idea along those same lines, George went on to tell me is, self-identity. "Supporting the local sport team has developed into a component of fans' self-identity."
Dr. George cited studies of fan behavior during the 1970's by Robert Cialdini, a social psychologist, who coined a couple of sports related terms. Cialdini argued that fans would BIRG (bask in reflected glory) after their team won (such as “Yes! We Won,!” “We're Number One!”), but CORF (cast off reflected failure) when their team lost (such as “They’re an Embarrassment!” “They Stunk up the Joint!”).
Other researchers observed that fans BIRF (bask in reflected failure), that is, "real fans'' continue to support the team even when things are not going well, much like the Brooklyn Dodgers losing 10 World Series' (before breaking through in 1955) or the Cleveland Browns having never advanced to the Super Bowl. It’s a badge of honor, in other words, to remain loyal to the team, no matter how many disappointments they suffer, while unleashing total disdain for those who disparage their teams crushing defeats.
Dr. George additionally believes fans support of their team contributes to the success of the team. They fervently believe they are as invested in winning as much as the players themselves, including management.
Dr. George observed that, "the extremely high expectations of winning a World Series after a couple of near wins in recent years just increased the anticipation of greatness. The thrill of winning it all can really set people up for a big fall."
“Finally," George says, "fans may have been feeling "superior" to other fans because of Cleveland's amazing success, and the shocking loss has knocked them off their pedestal. I think this is particularly relevant given the way that Cleveland is often (unfairly) portrayed in the media."
Dr. George contends, like so many other keen observers of MLB, that this was the year that the Indians would FINALLY shed their 69-year World Series championship drought, the longest drought in Major League Baseball. When those lofty expectations weren’t realized, despair and depression, became the order of the day in Northeast, Ohio.
So, how do we move on?
Time heals all pain, Dr. George says.
"Fans are likely very emotional about the loss right now, so rational thought may not be of much use just yet.’’
Dr. George would especially encourage fans to take Dr. Seuss's advice: “Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.”
The sports psychologist’s parting words to me were that "it was easy being an Indian's fan all season, but now it is not so easy. Again, focusing on the joy, excitement and pride the team provided all season will help heal those wounds. It won't go away today or tomorrow, but it will slowly fade over time. The great thing about sports is that there are regular opportunities to regain what was lost. As the old saying goes: There's always next year."
So ends our therapy session for the season.
I hope you found it helpful.
As our breezy fall turns into a harsh winter in the coming weeks ahead, we can take comfort in knowing we’ll mostly likely have the same core of players back next season, with possibly a few new pickups, who will be healthier and raring to go when we take the field at Safeco Field in Seattle on March 29, 2018.
Still, when thinking about baseball in Cleveland and whether we'll ever get to the Promised Land, I can't help but think about these poignant words from American novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald:
"He had come a long way to this
blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.
He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night. "
--"The Great Gatsby"
--Bill Lucey
October 17, 2017
Red Sox fans know how you feel. Deepest sympathies, even though it's only a game.
Posted by: Robert Skole | 10/18/2017 at 03:22 AM
Bill, thank you for helping me find a more soothing perspective of the surprisingly disappointing end to the Tribe's fantastic 2017 season. I will long cherish the highs, and try my best to forget game 5!
Posted by: Mike Gaynier | 10/18/2017 at 10:03 AM