It happens all the time. You and a friend are witnessing the final moments of team playing for the year. Just as the last out is made or the final whistle is blown or the clock ticks down to zero, you look to your friend and those six words just fly out of each others mouths, with no thought to it. “Well they had a good season.”
Good Season?? How do you have a good season if it doesn’t involve winning in the post season? Isn’t that the point of playing 16 to 162 games every year, to make it to the championship and win?
A championship title is what defines a “good” season. It’s what makes a season worth talking about, worth being a part of. A good season is rewarded. If a team does a good job they are given a trophy. When was the last time Kansas City was given a trophy for going 82-80. Hey You guys had an above par winning percentage… good season. Now if they went 95-67… swept the Yanks in round one, took 5 games to take down the Angels and went to town on St. Louis… they congrats… THAT’S A GOOD SEASON!
Without the sought after championship title, the season is just another season. Nobody looks back on a particular season and talks about how great it was… but they sure do talking about the championships that they won. Kobe doesn’t go around talking about all the years he didn’t win… he talks about the 4 seasons that he did win.
There’s that little, tiny, minuscule part of a season that makes it all worth while; the fact that at the end… you are the only one left. There’s no one else to defeat you because you have proven through a, say it with me now, a “good” season that your team is the best.
After a good season there is a feeling of accomplishment throughout the team and throughout the champagne drenched locker rooms. No team feels accomplished knowing they’ll be setting up tee times for next weekend instead of checking into the hotel across the stadium only to check out on Monday with a grin on their face. (and no it’s not from the hotels hospitality)
It’s nerve racking hearing someone call a season good after there’s nothing to show for it. If all you have at the end of a season is a silent crowd, a handful of free agents, disappointed owners, critical analysts, money in the toilet from heavy hitters and “million dollar arms” that never warmed up, wild card paraphernalia, a rival who’s moving on the playoffs, and no silver, bronze, or gold trophy to show for all the hard work, and someone calls that a “good” season… I never want to see an “ok” season.
Your views are skewed and biased. You are obviously a fan of Boston-area teams and thus are able to say this crap. For teams that are perennially unable to win championships, then it is not all about winning. Take the Tampa Bay Rays of a few years ago, for example, when the goal of Lou Piniealla was to not finish last. He succuuded. They had a great season.
ReplyDeleteThe main issue with what you are saying is that the fact remains that teams with money win championships. If you happen to be lucky and and have a team in a large baseball loving city, then good for you. But in MLB, the bottom five payrolls all finished in last place. It is NOT a sport in which each team has an equal chance. For as long as that is the case, a good season is one in which your team offered its fans an enjoyable experience, whether you win a championship or not.