What Being a Football Fan Teaches Me about Moving On | VictorSchueller.com

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“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”  ~Mary Engelbreit

Before 1989, I couldn’t care less about the sport of football.  That was until my dad was watching the Green Bay Packers in our family room, and I climbed into the chair next to him and started watching games.  That year, they had an exciting season, winning several games by three or fewer points.  I was hooked…For life, it seems.

Fast forward to recent history, and, well, I have a hard time watching games.  🙂  The highs get high for me, and the lows get low for me.  I guess you would say I’m a typical fan (short for “fanatic,” of course), and while I don’t parade around in more than the occasional Green Bay Packers sweatshirt in the colder months, I am still a very close follower of the team and very staunch supporter.  I started to realize that I was watching games and going through a huge swing of emotions (as many fans do).  The breaking point was when I was watching a game on a Sunday afternoon, from beginning to finish, only to see the team squander away a lead and eventually lose a game because of missed opportunities to claim victory.  I couldn’t help but think I wasted an entire afternoon, just to end up being disappointed after it all ended.

After that game, I decided it was better for me, emotionally and physically, to just do whatever I wanted on Sunday afternoons, and then, after finding out whether they won or lost, watch the highlights from the game.  This seemed to work out very well, because I could swallow the disappointment of losing quickly and move on, without the huge, three-hour emotional investment.

That’s my routine for Sunday afternoon games, but I still enjoy sitting down and catching a prime-time evening game when the Packers are playing.  I seem to handle those better for some reason.

Last night, the Packers lost their prime-time matchup with the Seattle Seahawks.  Ultimately, they lost the game on a very controversial call made by the referees.  You can read about how it went down here, if you wish.

I processed my disbelief in the outcome, and then, something happened — something much different than in other disappointing games before, and believe me, this was near the top when it came to disappointing finishes…

I moved on…

Nothing I could do would change the outcome of the game, so I’ve moved on.

No matter how much I could complain about the way the game ended, it wouldn’t change the score, so I’ve moved on.

No matter how much I shook my head in disbelief, the game was still over, and I knew the sun would come up tomorrow, so I’ve moved on.

No matter how much I could have blamed the referees for the call, the game was already decided, so I’ve moved on.

No matter how many times I watched the replays of the incident, and was convinced that they got the call wrong, the game still ended the same way, so I’ve moved on.

Sometimes we cling too closely to what “should have” happened.  Looking at the responses to the game on social media, there was a lot of that going on…A lot of “They need to…” and “They should have…” and “If only they would have…”  It doesn’t only occur in athletic competitions and controversial finishes; it happens everywhere in life.

We say, “If only I would have done it differently…” or “If only they would have…” or “If only this wouldn’t have happened…”  It’s victim talk, and we’re living in the past!  What can we do about the past, other than reflect on it and learn from it?  Why should we continue to re-live the emotional turmoil that resides within by going over it and over it again and again?

I should have known better anyway.  After losing my mom in a car accident, I lived the “If only…” game for the better part of ten years. I have lots of practice in obsessing over and suffering because of the past.  I learned to move on in that regard, and it’s about time I finally figured it out when it came to a form of entertainment!

Football is a game.  Yeah, it stinks they lost, but what are you going to do?  You can either continue to play the “If only…” card, and suffer, or come to terms with what is, and move on.

I’ll choose to move on.

Go Pack go!  🙂