***Note: I wrote this one yesterday morning for MoreThanAFan.net.
It’s clear that the past few days have not been Cleveland’s idea of a good time. After starting off the
Boston series with a solid win, the Tribe has dropped two straight to the Sox – two straight walk-offs, that is.
A multitude of emotions are often associated with a team loss. See: anger, disappointment, absolute rage. But last night, it seems there was a universal plague of resentment and despair overcoming the tweeting thumbs of Tribe fans.
Now that Twitter has become a simple, instantaneous way to communicate, live-tweeting and discussion of current games is a common, inevitable occurrence. Matt LaPorta struck out (again)? Someone on Twitter is yelling at him (probably me.) Fausto Carmona’s starting today? Someone’s venting their anguish. Grady Sizemore’s on the DL (again)? You can bet I’ll be making a coffee cup joke.
Twitter has become an outlet for fans. We laugh, cry, rejoice, and suffer together, all through the use of 140 characters on a daily basis. But last night, my Twitter timeline seemed to undergo a complete meltdown.
As soon as Jacoby Ellsbury hit the walk-off, my timeline became more emotional than the lovechild of Johnny McEnroe and Tim Tebow.
I read countless, “Better luck next year!”, “The Detroit Tigers are your AL Central champs”, and “This is the end of the season” tweets. Sure, I see them every once in a while from a random tweeter, but last night, they all came at once:
“No parade down Euclid this year.”
“Biggest chokers in baseball.”
“This team had its chance but blew it. I give up.”
“GO BROWNS!”
“This team is leading me to alcoholism.”
Obviously, there were countless more, many of which were less-than repeatable. And don’t get me wrong here, I’ve got no problem admitting that I’m an emotional tweeter. If something goes wrong during a game, you bet I’m going to vent about it. I joined in on the bitter “#LessPainfulThanWatchingTheMets” hashtag game yesterday and I’m sure those who follow me are well-aware of my new endeavor to become a Montreal Expos fan. I’m also not afraid to admit that I am far more of a Negative Nancy than a Positive Patty. Grady’s cup is always half-empty in my eyes. But unless I missed the memo, it seems as if the entire Cleveland Twitter nation was told to throw in the towel last night.
Obviously, the Ubaldo deal has some fans (myself included) blatantly frustrated. Despite the reasoning some people have tried to make with me, I’m still not sold. I still see no purpose of a big-name pitcher if we don’t have the bats to back him up. But that’s not the purpose of this post, so I’ll save it. Point is, we’re all at our wits end with the front office and owners – but what’s done is done (and what wasn’t done, well, wasn’t done.)
I’m not saying any of those tweets are wrong here. Do I think the Tigers are going to win the division? Probably. Do I think the Tribe front office messed up? You bet. Do I think we’re going to be World Series Champs? Absolutely not. And I’m also not saying that everything must be rainbows and butterflies. When it rains, it pours, and right now, it seems there’s a damn tsunami surrounding this team. I want to win as much as anyone else, but why on earth was the meltdown necessary? The walkoffs happened, they sucked, and they pissed us all off. We’re frustrated, because there was so much promise and magic a few months ago. But we’ve been through worse. We know heartbreak, so why is this time any different?
