Barcelona’s 94th minute winner against Valencia raises an eternal question
Why do we, as fans, torture ourselves?
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By the time the 94th minute ended, Barca were up 1-0 and every Valencia fan in the building was cursing the name of Sergio Busquets. One even tossed a plastic bottle at the celebrating Barcelona players, hitting Lionel Messi in the head.
Heartbreaking. Frustrating. Just plain damn annoying. We can almost sympathize with the bottle thrower’s angst and fury at the moment of decision when they left the thing fly, because we’ve all been there.
As fans of one soccer team or another, we’ve seen our club on the cusp of a big result. We’ve all been able to taste the joy we were certainly set to experience, only to have it ripped away at the very last moment, leaving us to stand there with our hands on our hands wondering what the hell just happened ... or throwing things at other human beings.
That’s because soccer is primarily about defeat and loss, about misery and heartbreak. The vast majority of the time our team loses. More often than not our team fails in the big game, chokes at the big moment, grabs certain defeat from the jaws of victory.
For every rare moment of triumph and joy, there are hundreds of moments like the one suffered by Valencia fans after Diego Alves made one of the saves of the season to deny Neymar, only to have the rebound hammered home by Sergio &#^#%$ Busquets.
Why do we do this to ourselves? Why after these moments of soul crushing defeat to we bother to come back the next week and willingly present ourselves for another beating from the proverbial soccer gods? Why keep buying tickets or turning on our televisions?
BECAUSE WE’RE GULLIBLE, STUPID ASSHOLES!
BECAUSE WE’RE SUCKERS!
Because we need these moments. We need horrible, last minute defeats that make us want to curl up into a ball and weep. We need to have our hearts ripped out of our chest like we’re in that creepy temple in the second Indiana Jones film.
It’s not about building character, it’s about making the inevitable moment when things go right, when Sergio Busquets skies his shot over the crossbar, that much better. Every time you watch things go wrong, that’s just a little more stored up joy that will be ready for release when the moment comes.
Because let's be honest, winning ALL the time gets old real quick. Just look how secretly miserable and joyless fans of clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid really are. Manchester United fans didn't even enjoy wins during the Alex Ferguson era.
Chin up, Valencia fans. Sunday was good for you, because your day will come.
Just keep repeating this to yourself over and over again as you repeatedly stab your Sergio Busquets voodoo doll.
