Painful, Painful

Sunset at Lambeau, in more ways than one.

For some reason I don't understand, in sports, the pain of losing is more painful than the joy of winning is joyous.

The Giants remind me of the Packers last year: hungry, confident, scrabbling hard, not expected to win, and dangerous. The Packers of this year remind me that in most years, there's a team with a burnished and beautiful regular-season record that meets an abrupt and ignominious end in the playoffs. I guess this year it was our turn for that, is all.

On the good side, my old friend Kim and his Raven-fanatic daughter got tickets for the Ravens game yesterday, right at midfield, down near the action. First time they've been. So the Ravens win made me happy, for Kim and Klara's sake.

Photo above by Jack MacDonough, yesterday of course. (Very) large version here.

Mike

P.S. I'm still a little tender, so go easy.

ADDENDUM: In case you're wondering why that field looks so green on January 15th, here's an article about why the fabled Frozen Tundra isn't. Thanks to John Haines for this.

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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Shahar Dumai: "This, of course, is eminent in all our life's dominions. We hate losing more than we like gaining. A Nobel prize was awarded for the research on this subject—the Prospect Theory of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky."

Comments

[Tom Judd]

Well, as a long-time Giants fan, I see this game through a "different lens" (this is a photo site, after all). I agree losing emotions are sharper than winning joys, and we Giants fans have had a lot of experience with that.
You can take solace in your recent Super Bowl, and (until the end) a magnificent season.
We can both take pride in our old-school NFL franchises. Glorious history and high class operations.

[Jim Weekes]

Mike,

I'm a Giants fan, therefore happy today, but have seen enough tough losses in the 55 years I've rooted for them to feel your pain. With their cast and crew the Packers will be in the thick of it for years. Can't agree more about the pain of losses far outweighing the joy of victory.

But............go 49ers?!?

[Mike Johnston]

"But............go 49ers?!?"

Jim,
You're right. Removed.

Mike

[Matt Buedel]

In the large version of that photo, I thought there were weird color artifacts in the reduced version. Then I enlarged. Nope. Blaze orange. Hunters. Lots of them.

[Chris]

I know that it's probably a good idea to bench players at the end of a great regular season with nothing left to play for. Still, one can't help but think that the Pack looked mighty rusty yesterday. It makes you wonder if they sat just a bit *too* long...

[Mike Johnston]

Chris,
I agree. I think that when it comes to the end of a season, the word "resting" should be changed to "rusting." We rusted our players well at the end of the regular season.

Mike

[Geoff Wittig]

I grew up in Buffalo, so I know from football pain. Back in their glory days of the early 1990's, the Bills managed the still unprecedented feat of reaching four consecutive Super Bowls...and losing every single one. The first was especially painful, lost on a missed last second field goal. After that it just got progressively worse.

It's almost a relief nowadays that the Bills haven't made it to the playoffs in a decade. It's not as painful.

[Tom]

In the end the Vikes had as many playoff wins as the Pack this year. (And one less loss.)

[Mike Johnston]

Tom,
Yeah, well, I can hit as many free throws as Shaq, so there.

Mike

[Jason in Hawaii]

As a long-time Vikings fan since, well, birth (born in Duluth), I can't help but feel a little bit of satisfaction at the outcome. Sorry, Mike. I know that feeling of defeat all too well, especially on the (rare) occasions when my team makes it to the big one...

[Jim Bullard]

"For some reason I don't understand, in sports, the pain of losing is more painful than the joy of winning is joyous."

Only if you care Mike and a lot of folks (including me) don't.

[Francisco Cubas]

I grew up admiring Montana's 49ers (this Championship Game brings back painful memories of Leonard Marshall's hit) but it's hard not to root for the Packers. The only small town community-owned team in all the world class sports leagues, playing in a stadium named after a player, with every game sold out since the '60s. That's greater and harder to get than any Superbowl, I guess. And as Jim said, this fine group of players will be ready to win for many years.

Cheer up Mike

[Jack Martin]

Ah, but you'll never understand the pain of being a Bills fan.
I'm really sorry I never had a chance to buy one of the Drive for 5 caps I heard about after our last Super Bowl defeat.

Sad day for the Pack. Almost a Woody Hayes was right day: 3 things can happen when you throw a pass, and 2 of them are bad:)

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Here in Chicago our Bears are often (but not always) considerate enough to get themselves out of the running for a championship early so that we can enjoy our holiday season free of sports anxiety.

[Jed]

Inflicted sports talk is more painful than inflicted music.

[Mark Kinsman]

....or justice to those of us in Chicago ;-)

[njwv]

Root for a team that always loses and you'll see how much more you enjoy the rare win.

[Richard]

If they'd not dropped just three of those passes, they might have won. I feel your loss. They were a great team this year.

NY Giant Fan.

[psu]

Could be worse. Your team could have gone 18-0 until meeting the Giants and losing on a really flukey long pass that was caught by a helmet.

[Stephen Gilbert]

Another view: when my team loses in the playoffs, I often tend to root for the team that beat them -- barring a preexisting hatred, of course -- on the premise that their going all the way, reflects well on my team. Wouldn't it be worse for Packers fans if the Giants are blown out by the 49ers?

[Bryce Lee]

American football is so different than
Canadian football. The fans in the USA are rapid followers; here the games often elicit
nothing more than a yawn.

Mind the name football is also known as soccer here in Canada. Real atheletes not somebody covered in protective gear to the nines.

Like hockey, also a physically brutal sport, the North American version of the Roman coliseum fight to the death.

Reward both parties with glory and money; seemingly the only two things that matter anymore in the current stupid world.

[Bill Bresler]

Stop whining, man. I'm from Detroit. ;)

[MJFerron]

Know what you mean Mike. My New England Patriots beat Mr. Tebow and all the media hype. You wipe the sweat off your brow and wait for the next one. Glory only comes if you go all the way. Anything less is failure.

(Speaking of Denver did you ever see a 500 team get so much press?)

[Mike Johnston]

Mike [MJFerron],
I can understand the Bronco mania among the faithful. They're always looking for a sign, and God obviously really does like Tim Tebow.

It's just that He likes Tom Brady even better.

Come to think of it, that seems like it might be the Occam's Razor explanation for Brady's whole career.

Bah-dum-pah.

Mike

[Hugh Crawford]

It's still football season?

[Richard]

Now that the Patriots have won, is God dead again? Or will there be more "I Believe" commercials during the Superbowl? Superstitiously, I believe that commercial brought Denver bad luck. Or might it have been the rabbits' feet in my pocket?

[Paul M]

you lost me at "in sports".

[Joe Kraft]

It's not just the premature ending, it's the ignominious way in which it ended. Six fumbles as a team all year, three in one game. Fumbles on the way to a critically needed score. Flat-footed on jump balls. Finley looking at his empty hands (again), and shaking his head (Does he think his hands are going to turn to toast and he'll see the face of Jesus there? What is he looking for?).

I thought there was a good chance they'd lose, but that they got just so thoroughly whipped, in the playoffs, makes this the kind of loss that forces you to question everything that came before. Gah

[Steve Jacob]

To a non sports fan, the mood swings of sports followers is bad enough, but the effect en-masse is hideous. My local pub may as well be an offshoot of the Arsenal FC supporters club. I have to check the results every Saturday to make sure they won before daring to venture through the door, otherwise I may as well be at a wake.

The upside is if they win I almost certainly get a couple of free drinks and a late night lock-in ;)

But there is enough competition in my working environment between different egos for me to have any energy left for winners and losers in my private life, especially when it's voluntary.

[James B]

Mike,

while knowing very little about American football, I can feel your sadness.

Can we strike a deal? I'll support the Green Bay Packers if you support the England rugby team. No previous knowledge necessary on either side. We've got the Six Nations' tournament coming up. Here's the dates for your diary:

http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/matchcentre/match-centre_fixtures-results.php

We can predict solid but boring wins against Scotland and Italy, but Wales, France and Ireland are likely to be edge-of-seat watching.

;)

James B

[paul richardson]

I feel your pain. Hopefully Brady will avenge the loss (and ours from 2007) in three weeks time.

[FootballHater]

I don't like football. I guess I can't run for President.

[Mike Johnston]

Go England Rugby Team!!

[g]

Mike

[James B]

Thanks Mike,

oddly, in order to support the England rugby team, you have to be able to sing the words of the old negro spiritual "Swing low, sweet chariot". I really have no idea why that is, but Eric Clapton is a fan.

There's only one result that matters. Beating the French. It's been that way since 1067, via Crecy, Agincourt and Waterloo.

Go Packers!

;)

James B

[Karl]

As a native Chicagoan but casual Bears fan, I'm afraid I've become a turncoat, quietly rooting for the Packers. I too appreciate the small town David vs. Goliath makeup of the organization and its amazing ability to develop great quarterbacks while Chicago keeps the revolving door spinning.

[MM]

I see three helpful lessons for photographers from the Packers' loss:

1. Mike pointed out this one: the Packers were rusty. Regular, sustained, even intense activity and concentration is the surest way to guarantee success, whether the pursuit is flying a plane, taking photographs, or playing football. Last year the Packers barely sneaked into the playoffs, they didn't get a week off, and they got a formidable flow going, just as the Giants seem to have going right now. This year the Packers had a week off (their QB had two weeks off) and when they finally played on Sunday, things that should have come naturally to them didn't happen at all.

2. The Packers had too much time to think about the game and might have actually overplanned / overprepared for it. The three weeks between the Packers' quarterback's starts -- including watching his understudy outshine his personal best the Sunday he sat out a game -- probably did him no favors. Similarly, if a photographer pores too long over shot lists and checklists before a shoot, things that should come effortlessly and instinctively can become wooden and labored. Overthinking can be at least as paralyzing to a photographer as underthinking.

3. Some days you just don't have it. Aaron Rodgers looks like he'll be one of the great quarterbacks of our time, but on Sunday he just looked out of it. (Handily, Kirk Tuck addressed in his blog yesterday the occurrence of this phenomenon in photography.) Anyone, in any pursuit, can make the same preparations, take the same route, encounter roughly the same conditions-- and end up with very different results on different days. As far as I know, science can't currently explain this (biorhythms, anyone?) but eventually I'll bet it will and we'll each chart our personal activities accordingly.

All of this is not to take away from the Giants, who won the game as much as the Packers lost it. But the Packers did have only two bad games all season despite playing several tough opponents, and the three factors above probably played a role in their fumbling away their biggest game of the year. (We won't discuss the possible effects of the tragedy that befell their offensive coordinator a week before Sunday's game, and we certainly won't discuss their feeble secondary, there being limited lessons for photographers in that.)

[Richard]

Chess is an interesting example - defeat in chess cannot be mitigated by any external factors. Victory in chess means the intellectual crushing of the opponent. Many chess games end in draws because the lure of one cannot bear the risk of suffering the other.

[James B]

Mike,

all you need to know about rugby. “The Greatest Try of All Time”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwCbG4I0QyA

The All Blacks (ie New Zealand) are consistently the world’s best rugby team, and the Barbarians are an “occasional” team put together of international players from different countries. They all wear the same team colours, except their socks which are from their home nation. A few months after that match Phil Bennett who started the move from nearly on his own try-line came to be the speaker at my school’s annual prize-giving, and among others I was one to get a prize that day. I still have the book he presented me (“Ivanhoe”). Despite being Welsh (Welshmen would say “because he is Welsh...”), he was one of the very best fly-halves ever.

I need to do some translation for the American part of the TOP village: “Try” = Touch Down equivalent, and “Hooker” is not what you may think it is.

;)

James B

[John Camp]

I live in Minnesota, and I've never been more than a half-hearted Vikes fan. I hate their organization (not the players) and always have. They've always seemed like the epitome of the cynical big-time sports franchise. As it happens, I live on the banks of the St. Croix River, and right on the other side, is Wisconsin. If I lived a mile further east, I could in good conscience be a Packers fan, which I sorta secretly am, anyway. They're a very easy team to like, and I felt bad when they were beaten by the Giants. And somewhat shocked, to tell the truth.

JC

[Tom Hassler]

Mike -

I feel your pain, but as a die-hard 49ers fan, I admit it only goes so far. Still, I'm glad (I think) we're facing Eli Manning & Co. this week instead of The Pack. That "sunk" feeling has become all too familiar to the Niners faithful over the last, oh, decade or so...

T

[Jeff Hartge]

This is why I don't like football anymore. This is one of the few sports where a team (Buffalo and pre-"Terrell Davis" Denver are the two key examples) can be considered "terrible" despite getting to the Superbowl (because they lost)!!!!!

You should be extremely happy that your team got to play so many playoff games over the past few years. Buffalo hasn't seen a playoff game in 12 years!

It is very likely that you will see more playoff games in the next couple of seasons. You should be thankful for the good season and thinking about next season's prospects. Hope that the front office makes some good moves to plug the current and upcoming holes.

[Matt Stevens]

Yes!
GO NINERS

Matt (lives near SF)

[Ilkka]

It is simple really. Every player and every team, when they get into the game, expect to win. And when they do, they just got what they expected. They knew they were the best team, so it was just natural that they won. No big deal. But to lose. That is totally unexpected. Big embarrassment, especially to lose to a much worse team. And any other team is much worse.