December 1, 2019

All In

Going all in has rarely worked out well for me, but I can't seem to stop doing it.

For someone who pretends to be reasonable, I often discredit statistics, probability, and common sense. When I get emotional about something I really want, I throw analytics out the window and revert to a blind faith that I would normally mock when I see it in others.

There is something about the underdog spirit that just takes over me. Maybe it was the movies like The Karate Kid and Rocky that I saw as a kid that forced me to believe that anything can happen. I mean there is no way that Daniel walks into Cobra-Con and takes down Johnny. We might be led to believe that Rocky can take out Mr. T, but Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, forget about. That guy was unstoppable. No betting man would put their money on Balboa, but when he knocks those dudes out and the music swells and we collectively lose our shit, there is no denying the power of going all in on an underdog, because it is always better when you are not expected to win and you do, than it is to cover the spread.

There is no reason to believe that the Raiders should win today.

Even after a three game winning streak and some great play, we laid an egg last week and were humiliated by a mediocre team who kicked our assess on all three phases of the game, and now we are up against the Goliath in our division in their home.

I could look up all the stats that would empirically prove that the Kansas City Chiefs should destroy us in Arrowhead come kick off. We don’t play well in cold weather, they are the better team, we haven’t won there in years, our team is made up of a bunch of rookies, our defense cannot possible keep up with Maholmes and their high powered weapons. The list goes on and on.

We are headed to Cobra-Con with our homemade Mr. Miyagi headband, but god damn it if I don’t feel it in my bones that we could pull this off. That by some miracle we beat these bastard son their home turf and tie up for 1st place in the division.

When we were in college, one night we played this game where we would turn our names into verbs. To Jabiz was to think you can win when there was no chance that you would.

So tonight, I will have trouble sleeping. I will wake up at the crack of dawn and watch my team nervously. Hoping and praying with everything I have that we can pull this off. Just wishing that we compete and play well. That we are not destroyed and embarrassed.

Like I said at the start, going all in has rarely worked out well for me, but it’s the only way I know how to cheer on my team. It’s the only way I know how to live.

Every once in a while you hit on a long shot, the underdog wins and it makes all the disappointment and losing go away.

Let’s go Raider Nation! We got this!

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