sinatra

Last night, the Boston Celtics were leading the Portland Trailblazers by over thirty points at halftime.

On Wednesday night, two days ago, the Boston Celtics were obliterated by the Philadelphia Seventy Sixers by over thirty points.

Go figure. The Sixers are a little better than the Trailblazers but not sixty points better, probably not five points better. So, how does a team go up by thirty one night, and get demolished by thirty on the next?

Does Sinatra croon the answer in That's Life? Sport works as a metaphor for everyday experiences so often, so maybe that is just the way it is. Somedays we feel like we cannot fail at anything, and other times we wonder who would want to spend fifteen minutes with us. How much of this rollercoaster is a function of our dealings with others--Trailblazers or Sixers--and how much of it is our own personal wiring and actions.

In basketball, the quality of play will even out. The Celtics probably just had two peculiar games, or perhaps the second game was a reaction to the stinker on Wednesday. And maybe that is the way it is for us, over time our true nature will be apparent--and occasionally we will react to disappointments with behavior that will tend to make us happier. I do think that sometimes a particular state can become so common that there are no efforts to try to change. A dismal sports team may get so used to losing, that they dont bother trying to succeed.