The thrill of victory...

...the agony of defeat.

Anyone out there that follows sports knows these feelings all too well. I'm sure they could also be translated to other life events, but they do seem to resonate the most for sports.

There is nothing quite like winning...whether you're playing or just watching...whether you're at home on your couch or in a stadium with 17,495 other people. Winning just plain rocks! Losing? Not so much. It truly is agony, but it seems there are varying levels of agony when you lose.

Winning is always good, no matter what. It always energizes and brings joy to all associated with the victory. But losing gets worse when the game is bigger...when the season depends on NOT losing...when you lose to a big rival...all that combined can make you feel like an anvil fell on your head and flattened you on the sidewalk, waiting for one of those cartoon characters to come and scrape you off.

That's sort of how I feel right now. Flattened by an anvil. This is all thanks to the debacle that has been the first round of the NHL playoffs for the Sharks. Actually, I felt the anvil starting to fall a couple of weeks prior to the start of the playoffs, but hoped I'd be able to get out of the way when it hit the ground...hoped that when it finally got close enough to hit me I'd be able to hold up a shiny cup to catch it. Alas, I fear that is not to be.

While there is always hope of a miraculous comeback, the Sharks have not shown me the skill and energy they showed during most of the season, and I can't really envision it happening.

I'm glad I have a ticket to Game 5 tomorrow...it may, after all, be the last home game of the season. I'm glad the home crowd will get to see Torrey Mitchell skate for the first time this season. I'm glad I'm not alone in trying to get out of the way of the anvil. Maybe if it hits multiple people at the same time it won't hurt as much...or maybe it will hurt more because it will bounce off one person's head to another to another to another...

What happened Sharks?
Where did you go?????