Splash No. 177 - Atlanta Sports
Atlanta Sports
Listen, I’ve had a core piece of my identity mostly tied to disappointment for the majority of my life. Without fail, this part of me was constantly confronted with endless failure and regular letdowns. For months at a time, it could change the trajectory of my week. It was my identity as an Atlanta sports fan.
For those of unacquainted, Atlanta has a rich history of sports teams in the four major sports (Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Hockey). For example, Atlanta is the only city to have two different hockey teams relocate away to different cities. In the other three sports, the teams have managed to stick around for over 150 years worth of seasons combined, with only one championship between them. In that time, our wonderful Atlanta sports teams have developed the reputation of losing leads and disappointing their fans. How can anyone forget the worst day of my life, when the Atlanta Falcons valiantly fought for a 25-point lead over the New England Patriots, only to lose in overtime and set the record for the biggest lead lost in a Super Bowl? Or the time the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks were swept from the Eastern Conference Finals in 2015? Or when the Atlanta Braves blew a 3-1 lead to miss the World Series last year?
And yet, here we stand, standing among the illustrious glow of victory, blessed by the heavenly words “Atlanta Braves, World Series Champions 2021.” For the first time in my lifetime, an Atlanta team is hoisting the trophy. Throughout the series, I could barely bring myself to watch at times, constantly convinced that we’d find a way to lose our leads, even as our baseball boys hit homer after homer. After a lifetime of things going wrong for my team at the last moment, I’m still keeping my eyes peeled for flying pigs while trying to figure out if this is real.
Like any good sports fan, I treat this win as a personal accomplishment, as if wearing my Braves cap regularly or screaming at the TV or frantically texting the family group chat about every run was fueling the team to be better. And that’s what sports are about, right? Being able to find something to believe in, something to connect over, and, sometimes, even something to celebrate. And just as a team could teach me to believe, I wonder if supporting these teams has taught me to temper my expectations, to avoid getting excited, just to avoid the disappointment. This Braves team lost their MVP player early in the season, essentially completely rebuilt the team halfway through the year, and entered the playoffs with the worst record of any playoff team before ending up winning it all. Even as I struggled to believe in their ability to win it all, they kept it going to prove everyone wrong. I’ve never been so happy to be proven wrong.
And now, I like to imagine that a curse has been lifted, that Atlanta sports won’t be so desperate, and that I’ll hold the world to higher expectations. Maybe nothing bad will ever happen again and I’ll have full control over my own happiness from now on. Even if none of that happens, for now, I’m just happy for the city of Atlanta.
Drops of the Week
PLAYLIST - "october 21" - what i listened to in October!
ARTICLE - "The Braves Turned a Lost Season into a Championship" by Neil Paine - you love to see it
POEM - "A Promise" by Jon Sands - a cute poem about dogs and babies!
With each day, we can move closer to a more equitable world. Reminders:
Donate to Help Afghan Refugees Settle in NorCal Mutual Aid Networks
Anti-racism resources
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Triumphantly,
Nikhil