Levels of Losing

I don't believe in superstitions...or jinxes. But I do believe in being safe. I hadn't posted about the Astros - not for fear of stalling the momentum by doing anything different - just to be safe... Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

An absolutely improbable, exciting, stomach churning run came to an end tonight. From compltely written off on Aug. 15 to the 7th game of the NLCS. Mind boggling. My fear is that with this run ending - so ends the hope of the Hall of Fame for Biggio and Bagwell, but I may just be getting ahead of myself.

I read the Sports Guy (Bill Simmons) alot. Back on May 28, 2002 he wrote an article on the "Levels of Losing".

I think tonight qualifies as a Level III: The Guillotine - Definition: This one combines the devastation of the Broken Axle game with sweeping bitterness and hostility ... your team's hanging tough (..., they might even be winning), but you can feel the inevitable breakdown coming, and you keep waiting for the guillotine to drop, and you just know it's coming -- you know it -- and when it finally comes, you're angry that it happened and you're angry at yourself for contributing to the debilitating karma ... these are the games when people end up whipping their remote controls against a wall or breaking their hands while pounding a coffee table ... too many of these and you'll end up in prison.
Best Example: Game 7 of the '97 World Series (Indians-Marlins), when Cleveland's Jose Mesa gave up the game-tying run in the ninth inning. Every Indians fan knew it was coming. Of course, the '97 World Series never happened, so it's probably a moot point. We need to get that one wiped out of the record books.

Just excruciating. (In case you're wondering - yes, I looked that article up before the game, because I knew this post was coming. Talking about contributing to the debilitating karma...) Excuse me while I go cry myself to sleep.