Ever-changing perspectives

Despite all my years of sports watching, I am still somewhat surprised by how the ever-changing situations of sports change your sports-viewing perspective. A sports fan's perspective can change over the course of a season, the course of season’s segment, or even within the span of a single game. The last two Crew home matches, both of which resulted in multi-goal draws, are in my opinion perfect examples of this rapidly changing perspective and its effect on a fan's thoughts about a game’s result. While both of these matches ended even, I left the stadium with two completely different feelings, and it had nothing to do with the bacon burger dog I ate before the Chicago match.

In each match, the Crew fell behind 2-0, falling behind becoming one of this season’s disturbing patterns. Against Chicago it truly felt, from the stands, that the Crew carried a significant amount of the play in the first half yet found themselves behind after 25 minutes thanks to an expected tally from former Dayton Flyer Chris Rolfe and a goal from Calen Carr. Once Chicago got two goals up, I felt that earning one point would be an achievement for this game while understanding that zero points was an extremely likely outcome. Emmanuel Ekpo's first-half goal gave me hope that a draw wasn't impossible. As time counted up too rapidly, zero points looked to be the result until Steven Lenhart's 87th minute impersonation of a wall evened the game. When Kevin Stott blew his whistle for the final time, I felt as if the Crew stole a point. While stealing a point at home is rarely the pre-match wish, this draw felt relatively good. It showed that the Crew could fight from behind, a trait that seems to be necessary as this team continues to dig holes at the start of the match. I'm not sure if the previous three editions of the Crew would have fought back for the point.

Last night it was like watching a rerun. Just 26 minutes into the match, or one minute later than last time (they're getting better!), the Crew once again were facing a 2-0 deficit. And, once again, I immediately thought that one point was the best-case scenario with zero points being a likely result. Even though the Crew had fought back to even against Chicago, doing that time and again seemed too much to ask. Yet, just two minutes after Kansas City's Roger Espinoza decided to get onto the summary sheet under a category different from misconduct, Guillermo Barros Schelotto caught the Wizards napping on a free kick, providing hope to the Crew fans in attendance. And then, with the quick strike efficiency of an Arena Football League team, the Crew were up 3-2 on goals from Alejandro Moreno and Chad Marshall. And, in that short burst, my thoughts went from "Great, a stupid loss," to "Wow, maybe we can draw," to "OK, let’s push ahead," to "Son of a bitch, we should take all three points."

With a half time lead, my thoughts turned to taking all three points. Unfortunately, Josh Wolff's equalizer in the 75th minute on an ugly play meant that a win was not to be. Unlike the Chicago match, I was ticked. After 26 minutes I though one point would be amazing and if a draw was offered there I likely would have accepted quickly. After 74 minutes I thought three points would be fantastic. After 90 minutes I decided that one point sucked, and it felt like two points lost. It's amazing how the game’s situation can completely change your perspective, even in the same game.

Two matches, two draws, yet two different feelings when leaving. Such is the life of a soccer fan, I suspect.