High Anxiety

I have a good friend who called me this weekend (twice) to talk about two big football games -- the Wisconsin/Michigan State BIG TEN championship game in Indianapolis, and the Giants/Packers game in New York.

 

In both instances, he had called to sound alarms about the condition of his heart and the sanity of his mind, as both games literally went down to the last minute of play.  "I had to get out of the house and go to the grocery store," he said, as a way to get away from the anxiety of the game.  Not surprising, I thought.  Paul is quick to switch channels in the second quarter if the game is not going well, only to tune in later to see if things have improved.  And he usually needs something in his hands during the game just for something to do.  Come on, I thought, it's just a game.  


Yeah, right.

Fortunately -- for him, and his blood pressure -- both the Badgers and Packers won.

Why is it that we get so worked up about something that's supposed to be entertaining, enjoyable and exciting?  I swear, the older I get the more difficult it is to watch sometimes.

To be fair, the better we are in football, the harder it is to enjoy.  In other words, our expectations are higher and the stakes are higher if we lose.  I won't even read the paper or watch sports highlights on ESPN until a week later if we lose.

Last winter, during the Packers incredible journey to the Super Bowl, we had a bunch of friends over for the game.  It was during the Chicago Bears game in Chicago, that things got too intense for one of them, who had to go upstairs and read the newspaper.  Anything to take her mind off the game -- the closer we got to winning the game, the more intense and worried she got.  For Peggy, it was the possibility of taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers for a chance to win the Super Bowl for the second time in 15 years.  Even if we were ahead by two touchdowns, I don't know if she'd feel any better.

I have another friend who can't bear to watch a game live.  So Tom will set the recorder, leave the house, and come back later.  If the Packers he'll rewind and watch it, knowing that we won't lose.  Somehow taking all the risk out of a game just doesn't seem like the right thing to do.  But in this case, it's probably the best thing he can do, because he get's so worked up that you don't know what he'll do.  They way I figure it, a walk through Hixon Forest is probably doing his family more good than harm.  It's just so funny to know that he'll do anything to avoid watching it live.

And then there's my brother-in-law, who lives in Chicago.  He gets so stressed out about the game that he can't even watch the game.   It doesn't matter who the Packers are playing, or even what the score is.  He's convinced that if he tunes in to the game that things will go badly.  I can usually expect a phone call after the game that goes something like this --

"So what happened?  When I checked last" -- he's already checked the score on the internet -- "the Packers were up by eight, 35 to 27 with 2 minutes left.  The next thing I know, we've won 38 to 35.  What the hell happened?"  That's actually a sanitized version (maybe his kids were in the room).

It's a lot of fun to call him when we're up by 21 points -- pleading with him to watch the game.  "What can happen?" I say.  "There's no way we can lose this game.  You should turn it on and enjoy it while you can."  But no way.  He's convinced that bad things are going to happen now that I've told him that we're going to win.  Sure enough, I'll hang up the phone and stare in disbelief as the Packers fumble the ball, the other team recovers and scores a touchdown.  On the ensuing kickoff, the other team will recover the ball and start moving again to score a second touchdown.  Maybe he DOES know something, I'll think before the Packers stop the drive and go on to win.

He's also quick to expect bad things will happen before the game is even played.  He'll find something to complain about (like our defense) and automatically assume that it will lead to our downfall.  He loves to assign blame to coaches, whom he routinely fires throughout the game.  "Bielema's the worst coach in the Big Ten -- they should fire his ass right now!"  I think his problem is that he lives in Chicago, where losing has become a way of life.  Now if he was up in Wisconsin....

The Piece' de Resistance' was when a business associate asked him to go to the Bears/Packers NFC Championship game last January.  I loved it!  Not only was he going to have to watch the Packers, but if they actually lost to the Bears, he'd have to endure all the crap that would be hurdled his way by Chicago's finest fans.  Luckily for him, the Packers knocked Jay Cutler out of the game and hung on to win a great conference championship game.

I must admit that even I have suffered from high anxiety while watching Wisconsin sports.  There was a Monday Night Football Viking / Packers game years ago that went down to the wire.  Back in those days, the Vikings were actually good, and they beat the Packers with a field goal in the closing seconds.  I was so stressed out that I went out at  eleven o'clock at night and started raking leaves.  I had so much energy flowing through my body that I couldn't contain it anymore.  I could have run 5 miles or shoveled my way through 12 inches of snow if it had been falling.

 

I mentioned earlier that the Wisconsin Badgers were playing in the inaugural  BIG TEN Championship game in Indianapolis for a chance to go to the Rose Bowl.  Well, as luck would have it, I wound up missing the game because of an event called the Senate Dance, which my wife and I had been invited to weeks before.  At the time, I had no idea that the Badgers would be playing, since they had yet to beat Illinois and Penn State.

At the start of the dance, and prior to the game, I had mentioned to everyone in our group that I didn't want to know anything about the game -- no scores or indications of who was winning.  Or losing...

While sitting at our table eating dinner, the couple next to me had checked the score of the game on their Blackberry.  Honoring my request, they didn't say a word, but the looks on their faces were driving me nuts.  Did those smiles on their faces mean we were winning?  I thought.

"Well, all I'll say," Kim said, "is that a Big Ten team is winning."


Good God!  How can she say that?  What does that mean? I stabbed my steak, cut off a piece of meat and shoved it into my mouth.  Later, I heard a group of doctors sitting at a table behind us checking on the same game, and moaning "Oh no!!"


THAT doesn't sound good!  I can't believe the Badgers can't beat Michigan State!  Not again!  This is driving me nuts, and depressing me,  I thought, trying to put the game out of my mind.  Grabbing my wife, we hit the dance floor and started to Rumba across the floor.  Within minutes my mind was off the game and concentrating on my struggles to do half moons and the Cuban shuffle.

Around 10:30 p.m., Liz and I decided to head home.  On the way, all I could think was the game is over.  I wonder who won?  It HAS to be the Badgers, there's just no way they aren't the better team.  Great quarterback, great running game and a great defense.  I had made sure the radio wasn't tuned into the game before the dance, so there was no way of knowing the score until I walked into the house.

Once we got home, I turned on the TV and discovered the game was STILL going -- with the Badgers leading 42 to 39.  With less than two minutes remaining, I watched in horror as the Badgers punted to the Spartans' Keshawn Martin, who promptly ran around, through and away from every Badger defender before leaping into the end zone for an apparent touchdown.  "Noooooooo!"  I yelled.  This can't be happening!  I just walked into the house and now I see this?  I can't believe it!  Eric is right.  The Badgers are the worst team ever!

Seconds later, with my heart beating madly in my chest, I listened to a voice (a referee) from the TV say, "Personal foul on Number 32.  Roughing the kicker.  Five yard penalty.  Wisconsin ball. Automatic first down!"  What?  Could this be happing?  Oh my God, we did it!  We are going to win the game!

And with that, the Badgers got the ball back and ran out the clock.  Piece of cake.  Nothing to worry about.  I knew it all along. 


Yeah, right.