Gophers, you break my heart

I'm a big sports fan. I watch a lot of games that I'm relatively unattached to. My team doesn't have to be playing for me to enjoy the game. I always find someone to root for, and it's usually the underdog. I grew up a Griz fan (University of Montana Grizzlies) and attended countless sporting events. I watched their football team win national titles, and lose national titles (damn you, Randy Moss!) I would literally get so nervous during these games that I squeezed my hands together until my knuckles were white and felt like a cave-ful of bats was flying in my stomach. We'll call this phenomenon Sports Anxiety Syndrome (SAS).

Then I moved to Wisconsin. I remained a Griz fan, but something else happened. I learned to LOVE hockey. I watched Bucky win men's and women's national hockey titles in the same year. I experienced SAS during their playoff games, including a triple overtime 1-0 win that damn near killed me. I'm not kidding; I almost didn't make it. I realized during a fit of SAS that I had become a Wisconsin fan.

Now I live in Minnesota. I've enjoyed watching many sporting events here, both at the professional and college level. While I root for the Gophers (often in vain), I don't know if I could be considered a true fan. Until tonight. I experienced my first episode of Gopher-related SAS tonight in their basketball game against Indiana (ranked 10th).

It would have been a HUGE win for the Gophs, and I wanted it for them so badly. They created turnovers, played awesome defense, and made some great plays. The game should have been theirs, but alas, they beat themselves. Missed freethrows and spotty field-goal and cold three-point shooting were to blame. The lead changed 10 times, I think. My head almost exploded. Today, I am a Gopher fan.

Now if only the pharmaceutical industry could make some sort of expensive drug for SAS sufferers like myself. I can just picture the commercials.