Questions I Can't Answer

Let me start his off by saying that this year of sports will only be complete when the Indians get swept in the World Series, and the Steelers lose by 4 touchdowns in the Super Bowl.

Seriously, look at the year my teams have had:

Ohio State football: rolls through the regular season, gets whomped (completely and totally, the actual whomping may have been illegal in a few states) by Florida in the National Title Game.

Ohio State basketball: have a good-if-not-great season, have thrilling tournament victories, and then can't hit a shot to save their life in the championship game against Florida.

Cleveland Cavaliers: have a good-if-sleepwalked-through regular season, sleepwalk through two playoff rounds, dominate Detroit, and then never get a complete game together in a sweet at the hands of the Spurs.

At this point in time, I'm checking to make sure the Avs didn't get swept in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (after I check to make sure the NHL still exists)

So, this begs a few questions:

1. Is it better to make the championship game/series and get blown out, or to not make it at all?




My inclination here is to say it's better to make the championship game/series. If you can't be #1, #2 isn't a bad place to be. But it hurts more this way.

It hurts more this year to get swept by the Spurs than it hurt last year to squander away victory in the second round against Detroit. It hurt more to lose to Florida in 1997 than it did to lose to Seattle in the first round the year they won 100 million regular season games. No loss in the Wild Card or Division Round has felt as bad as the losses for the Steelers in the AFC Title games, or in Super Bowl XXX.

At the same time, it hurt a lot less to get whomped by Florida this year than it hurt all those years the Cooper-lead Buckeyes choked away a shot at a National Title by losing to Michigan or Michigan State.

So, I guess this question is up for debate, but totally leaning towards better to get there. At least you can talk some smak to 28 other teams (or whatever)




2. Is it better to get whomped in a championship series/game or lose a nailbiter?




I can directly compare two things here: The 2007 NBA Finals (Cavs swept handily by Spurs) against the 1997 World Series (Indians lose a heartbreaking game seven to the Marlins).

And I can say without a doubt that the 1997 World Series hurt more, was more devastating, and just without a doubt sucked more. But, I think there are some other factors to consider that keep this question from being answered:


• This Cavs team is young, ahead of schedule, has a bright future, and should be back. That Indians team was nearing the end of their window of opportunity, never got back, and had the "veteran " experience edge over Florida.


• The Spurs are a team built the right way, and have been there before, and handle business properly (for the most part, cheap shots by Bowen and Horry not withstanding). The Marlins bought that championship, then fire sold it away, and for the most part felt like a completely undeserving franchise and fanbase.


• Baseball has always been my first love. Basketball has always been at best third, though I'm not sure if the Cavs rank higher than the Steelers, for reasons of my hometown being attached to one and not the other



So, I'm leaning towards saying it's better to get whomped, but I'm not able to say for sure.

So, two questions, no real answers. Anybody got any thoughts?