Lessons in Optimism
Dear Trixie,
Ah, kid. How quickly I’ve disappointed you. Two games I still haven’t written you about and another coming Sunday afternoon. Sorry.
Sounders traveled to San Jose two weekends ago and managed the second-most boring scoreline possible, 1-1. This is doubly frustrating bc Avaya stadium has always been a thorn in the Sounders side. We’ve never won a game away at San Jose (only losses and draws) and our current form nor the on-field talent really seem to matter. I reckon we’ll discuss this in detail another time but San Jose just always seems to have our number. It’s not uncommon for teams have this. For the Seahawks, it seems to be the Rams, for some bizarre reason. Hell, this happens to people too. I can remember my fair share of folks that just plain ol’ bothered me, especially in middle and high school. And, no matter how many hypothetical retorts I might say in the imaginary situations I dreamt up or how often I told myself to not get worked up and let it all roll off my back, they always seemed to get my goat. But, I digress. The midfield looked better still. Though, I suppose in more of a defensive or possessive or holding way, because we’re still missing a linkup between the attacking midfield and our finishers. I hate to wait for a summer signing but I get the feeling that’s the plan from the front office. We can try to blame the change in management at Inter holding Honda and (let’s not forget) the summer signing worked last year, but I hate this strategy. Mostly because the first results are frustrating in the first half of the season and this, in turn, makes the second half of the season more harrowing and contributes to me going gray.
Last Friday we away at Vancouver which fared a more disconcerting result. We lost. Which is one thing. But worse, we looked disconnected. Even when we had the run of play (which was plenty of times). Suffice it to say, we looked terrible in the final third. At this point, we are 6/34 through the season (which reduces to 3/17). This is very nearly 20%. To this point, I haven’t been bothered much to write off results as it’s still very early in the season. But our record is 1 win, 2 losses, 3 ties. That ain’t great… We need to start finding our groove, whatever that groove happens to be. For now, let’s chalk this one up to a bad day. I know sports writers are unfamiliar with the term but, the fact is, people have bad days. Even, world-class professional athletes. Sometimes even collectively. Bad days suck. And it sucks to have bad days. And it sucks that bad days suck and there’s nothing you can do about how much they suck. But the only thing that sucks worse than a bad day is making the next day suck because you let yesterday’s bad day and how much it suck bleed into the next day. You gotta let that go with the night. Wake up the next day and do your damnedest not to let it end up the same. It’s tough. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t struggle with it. But! We got two sleeps and then Sounders play in LA (well, Carson, but who’s counting). Let’s go out there, get 3 points, and a W.
Optimistically Yours,
Uncle Nick
