North Arlington All Stars

Realigning my priorities

I'm sure that this is going to come across as whiny and uninteresting to the reader, but I have to get this out.

The Washington Wizards lost Game 4 (of 7) to the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, thus ending their 2007 playoff run. After leading their division for most of the season, late season injuries to Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler really took their toll and despite every effort from players like Antawn Jamison and Antonio Daniels, they lost a lot of late regular season games and finally got swept by the Cavs. So what, right?

Well, I invested a lot of time and energy (and money, actually) in this team this season and I'm so depressed and frankly, I'm pissed.

• TIME: if you told me that I watched all but 3 games this season, I wouldn't be surprised. That's 3 hours of time 2, 3 or 4 times a week. When games were not on TV, my wife and I listened on the radio. We TiVoed the games. We listened in the car when we were out running errands.
• MONEY: not only do I own an Arenas jersey and a Butler jersey, and not only did I buy an Arenas jersey for a friend for Christmas, but I went to 3 or 4 games this season for a minimum of $50/seat.
• EFFORT: At the games, I yelled my throat hoarse. At home, I cheered and screamed at the TV. I was a blog reader and a comment poster. I planned my evening activities around the days and times that the games were on. If I watched, conservatively, 70 of the 82 Wizards' games this season, that's over 200 hours of time spent wanting nothing more than to see those guys succeed.
  

It just seems like a waste to me. My wife wants to impress on me the enjoyment that we got out of all of those hours and the quality time she and I spent together. I understand. But we could have been doing lots of different things with that time and it would have been just as well spent. We could have been working out or watching classic movies or visiting with friends or working on some sort of art or writing project together.

DC United, my other favorite sports team, is off to a 0-3 start. The team this year was predicted to be huge, with tons of offensive talent. Instead, they have been getting embarrassed by average teams. I'm seeing a repeat of my Wizards' season, except now it is the summer coming and I REALLY could be doing something productive. I could garden instead, I could hang out at the pool instead, I could ride my bike instead. I think I probably should, or I'm just going to end up frustrated and, ultimately dissappointed because I invest too much hoping for too much return and I get none.