Feeling burnt out.

[tdawg87]

Disclaimer for @Lou, @st1ckboy and others, this will be a tl;dr. You're welcome.

Anywho, so I woke up this morning after last night's elimination and immediately began pondering things for a while; my feelings about the team, the players, the ownership, the future, etc...I have just become so dispassionate and detached. Apathetic, even. 

I don't know if it's my regular depressive feelings or something else entirely, but as of right this second, I just don't care about the Angels. 

Now please don't think I'm giving up as a fan: This is my team until I die. I won't ever stop rooting for them to win. And even now I'm still going to check the box score even though it means absolutely fuck all. 

I'm just...burnt out. All the negativity here (some of it justified), all the arguing and discussions about prospects or who we should sign this off-season. It's all become banal to me. It's the same damn thing every year. 

At what point does this change? Is anyone else burnt out on all this? Being an Angels fan feels like a chore to me now. I feel stuck in purgatory trying to talk to all the unbaptized babies who have hot takes about Pujols.

Ultimately, I will always be an Angels fan. You can call me a "fairweather" fan or whatever, I don't care about real fans or fake fans and never have. I just can't continue putting so much effort into loving a team that frustrates me so much. 

I'm burnt out. End of rant. Have some boobs:

[UndertheHalo]

Meh. You’ll be excited when they do something in the offseaon a month or so from now.  The Angels are basically an abusive friend.  Your depression is normal imo.  

Edited September 27, 2020 by UndertheHalo

[Stradling]

I understand completely.  I am not at that point and because I lived through some really, really ugly times as a fan, I am fine.  The negativity bugs the hell out of me, obviously.  But the social aspect of talking about the Angels is addictive.  For every asshat we have on here we know there is someone who understands the game at a high level.  Focus on the people who understand the game.  Find the beauty that is there.  It is still the best sport and it is the closest thing you can have to a love affair, that isn’t an actual love affair.  Sure it hurts, sure it sucks at time, and obviously it can be frustrating, but that is what makes it amazing. 

[tdawg87]

9 minutes ago, Stradling said:

and it is the closest thing you can have to a love affair

I didn't come here to be attacked.

[tdawg87]

Btw I've been through ugly times, too. My first venture into Angels baseball was during the 90's...

If I were older, I probably would have jumped off a cliff. Fuck that decade in the ass. 

[UndertheHalo]

5 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

I didn't come here to be attacked.

The one, main thing that happens on AW is that one is attacked.  

[Angelsjunky]

Cycles, my man. Sort of like a man-period. Also, a lot depends upon when you jumped on the train. I jumped on in the early 80s, more hardcore in '87 - so I didn't even really get the pretty good run of 79-86, except in the background. But from 87-99 was brutal. Really, really brutal. 95 was the low point for me as an Angels fan. From 93 on, the team was somewhat interesting: you had homegrown guys like Salmon, Anderson, Edmonds, Erstad, and Glaus. But it was still painful. But imagine jumping on in 61, like some of the old dudes here: that's almost two decades of suckage-to-mediocrity until things got interesting. OK, there was Fergosi, Ryan, and Tanana, but that's like having large junk but ED.

2002 changed everything. After the predictable regression in 2003, Arte bought the team and wanted to turn it into a winner. So we got 04-09, the "Golden Age" of Angels baseball, especially if you count 02. But 2010 and on has also been brutal, although ameliorated by the presence of Trout and the perennial teasing feeling that we were always just a year or two away from being very good.

I'm thinking a lot of folks that are really frustrated started following the team close to 2002, and don't remember the long years (decades) of limp dickness that preceded that glorious year. So if you started in the mid-to-late 90s, you didn't have to wait long for 2002-09, and then you've had to suffer through the last 11 years. But things will come around again. My main concern is less that we haven't won it all since 2002, and more that we haven't turned into the perennial contender that 02-09 implied, and Dipoto/Eppler promised. 

So, yeah: the offseason is here, you (we) get to take a break while we read and write the same posts endlessly. And then spring will come again, with hope and flowers (not that there's anything wrong with that). As I and others have tried to point out, there is reason for optimism next year, especially with a bit of bolstering to the pitching staff. Regardless, the team will score a lot of runs and the pitching won't be as terrible as it was for the first half of this "year." 

 

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Btw I've been through ugly times, too. My first venture into Angels baseball was during the 90's...

If I were older, I probably would have jumped off a cliff. Fuck that decade in the ass. 

I didn’t mean that you weren’t old enough to remember some bad times.  But yes I meant to attack you, you big beautiful bastard.

[Claude]

I feel Great!

[Inside Pitch]

3 minutes ago, RendZone said:

I feel Great!

[Justin]

23 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Find the beauty that is there.  It is still the best sport

Every year that goes by, I believe this more and more. 

Basketball is a game, one that is far more fun to play than watch. Football is an excuse to eat junk food and drink beer on the weekends. Cricket is... something to pretend to like to get Aussie chicks to sleep with you. 

Baseball is beautiful. Even when your favorite team has become a punching bag for the national media... it is still beautiful. Hang in there, @tdawg87. "The worst of times, like the best, are always passing away."

[Claude]

5 minutes ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

I think you’re on a good path tbh. You’ll find that sports are much more enjoyable the more detached you become. 

Yep. I can’t understand how people take it to bed and wake up the next morning with it being the first thing on their mind. 

[tdawg87]

1 minute ago, RendZone said:

Yep. I can’t understand how people take it to bed and wake up the next morning with it being the first thing on their mind. 

You took my post literally. My first thought was getting coffee and taking a shit.

[Claude]

Just now, tdawg87 said:

You took my post literally. My first thought was getting coffee and taking a shit.

Priorities 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

I’ve become that way with sports in general over the last 3 years or so. I’m still excited for the season and can find the silver linings but I just don’t get as invested. It makes no playoffs or disappointing seasons easier to get through.  As far as the Angels go I think coming here has something to do with it because the same discussions make it feel like groundhogs day for the last so many years. 

[tdawg87]

Also I went to bed before the game was over. Didn't find out about being eliminated until after my morning dropoff.

[tdawg87]

Just now, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

I’ve become that way with sports in general over the last 3 years or so. I’m still excited for the season and can find the silver linings but I just don’t get as invested. It makes no playoffs or disappointing seasons easier to get through.  As far as the Angels go I think coming here has something to do with it because the same discussions make it feel like groundhogs day for the last so many years. 

Yes. That.

Fucking hell it's literally the same shit every day. Claude's theme song is I Got You Babe.

[Claude]

1 minute ago, tdawg87 said:

Also I went to bed before the game was over. Didn't find out about being eliminated until after my morning dropoff.

It’s ok to be upset and feeling down with the team. It’s warranted. This long playoff drought for a team that has consistently spent money is mind boggling. I believe they’re trying but a whole lot of sh*t went wrong the past decade. 

[eligrba]

All of this simply means you care. Your invested and you care. Congratulations, you are an Angel’s fan.

[tdawg87]

1 minute ago, Game 6 said:

Lakers are winning.

Not a basketball fan.

[Keener]

I have similar feelings about all of sports right now. 

I was so ready for some good, after so much negative since covid shut down the world back in march.

So instead, my penguins get bounced by the worst team in the playoffs, who were a mercy throw-in.  Then the angels can't even make it in as a mercy throw-in.  And i dont even know where to start about being a lions fan.  

At this point, covid shutting down everything except korean baseball and cornhole (sponsored by johnsonville sausages) was preferable to the multi-levelled shitshow i put myself through instead.  So, I hear you, tdawg.

[Angels 1961]

I love this game and this team. I've been an Angel fan since December 1960. Many up and downs, many seasons of below 500 baseball. Have not missed many games and used to listen to games on 710 am radio KMPC. Last night I was frustrated with outcome and season. Tonight I'm watching game hoping they beat the hated Dodgers. Watching young kids play Adell, Jam Jones. Ward and of course Jared Walsh, what a great story he has been. Looking forward to off season and spring training. Life goes by quickly hopefully I will see halos win a title again someday. How about Soto 10 years in minors and got his first big league hit. Jo Adell I truly believe will be a very special player. I remember so many conversations with my dad, my son friends about this game. Going to games with family and friends walking into the stadium, standing in line for a beer. I cherish those moments I had with this game and team. I was at game 5 in 1986 playoff game with Red Sox, did not go to game in 1987 after halos lose in that series. This game will break your heart but what a great feeling when Angels have a walk off. 

[St1ck]

Just rub some dirt on it and get back out there.

[Tank]

After a lot of years of passionately following every bit of Angels info I could find, and always heading into spring training thinking maybe this will be the year, I had just settled into thinking maybe it’s time to just relax and enjoy whatever I can. And then 2002 happened. 
 

As others mentioned, you learn to temper things as you get older because it helps you keep your sanity.

Now at 60, I don’t get too high or too low with how they’re playing. There are other things more important, but I hope I see another championship before I pass.

enjoy what you can and don’t stress over the rest of it.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Tank

[T.G.]

The longer this year went on without baseball, the less interested I became in this year. Not being able to go to games, just killed it for me. Watching it on TV just didn't do it for me. The fake fan noise, the crazy rules, etc., just didn't make it enjoyable. I tried to watch, but I ended up doing something else or watching something else most of the time.

The negative crap in this forum got old reallly, really fast. 

So... I sort of took the year off. You could say I opted out.

I'll be back, but I just didn't care that much this year. I got used to not having baseball and the thought of the Angels getting to the postseason without being able to attend games just made me apathetic.

Again, I'll be back. But right at this moment, baseball doesn't mean much to me.

I'm just tired of the pandemic and all that goes along with it.