Canzano: Mailbag deals with Pac-2 leverage, Oregon-Ohio State, WSU-OSU hoops, MLB to PDX, and more
Your questions, my answers...
I get the best questions in the Monday Mailbag. In the wake of the Super Bowl, I got asked a doozy from a reader who knows I grew up rooting for the San Francisco 49ers.
Q: As a sports fan, how do you process a loss by your team? — @nellfire
The 49ers are my team. I watched the game as a fan on Sunday. And control of the outcome fell into the grip of Patrick Mahomes late in the fourth quarter and overtime. As it was unfolding, I was processing the entire time.
One of my favorite sports movies as a kid was “The Bad News Bears.” The scene at the end of the film when Timmy Lupus says “… just wait till next year!” is something I think about a lot.
Hope is everything in sports, isn’t it?
It’s why fans come back every season. I’ve been around a lot of winning and losing locker rooms in 30 years on the job. I’ve covered nine Super Bowls, five Olympics, and everything in between. Whether it’s the Kentucky Derby or a Final Four or anything else, the margins at the top are thin.
Everyone competing at that level is one pivotal play or possession away from success. It’s what makes winning a championship so special and elusive. The stakes are high and the pressure is apparent. I’m always interested in watching how the losing teams and players respond.
Do they fade away?
Or come back more resilient and determined?
On Sunday evening, as I absorbed the Chiefs 25-22 overtime victory, our 7-year-old daughter, Soji, tugged at my shirt. She was wearing a red 49ers T-shirt and had one of those tiny team decal stickers on her left cheek.
I’ll never forget her eyes or words.
Soji looked up at me and said: “There’s always next year, Dad.”
Timmy Lupus would have loved it.
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Onto the Monday Mailbag…