Why cherish in other team's loss!

Sports are usually means of bringing people together, creating rivalries and causing excitement in life. When it comes to rivalries, why is it nerve racking to support your own favorite team, easier to trash the rival team and unbelievable fun in cherishing the other team's loss.

This past weekend, I watched the much-hyped, much-anticipated OSU-PSU game at a friend's place. Him being from Cleveland had grown up cheering for OSU and me having studied at Penn State was an ardent supporter of the Lions. We trash talked each other through the game and it was fun. For me it was sweeter cos PSU won. He having hosted the party felt miserable. And as you would know it, I rubbed it in. I had thought I would take the high road and cherish my team's victory but it was sweeter cherishing his team's loss.

Atleast the above was an occassion of the two teams going head to head and hence one's victory meant the other's loss. But over the weekend, the baseball division series was also on. Being a Yankee fan, I cherished Sox (not Saux) losing and received a mail today from a friend who is a Boston fan asking me how the Yankees were doing. My reply was simple, we made it to game 5.

That got me thinking. Was just losing with a little more dignity better than losing. Didn't both teams lose. All the money, all the hard work, the entire season all down the drain. It hurts less for me that the Sox lost earlier but what about the players? Did it hurt less? Maybe... Well what the heck, PSU won at least.