It's nearing the end of September right now, and that means my brain is about 80% CAL football and 20% everything else (i.e. work, friends, family, life in general, etc.). Pathetic? Maybe. It's actually something I constantly struggle with - letting my sports teams determine my emotional state. During the 90's, it was the Chicago Bulls. I was a die-hard MJ fan, and I couldn't handle watching him lose. Luckily, he didn't lose very often. When he came back from his first retirement and lost to the Orlando Magic team (Shaq & Penny) that year in the 2nd round of playoffs, I felt the pain for the first time. and by 'the pain', i mean the emotional letdown I so often suffer from.

Ever since MJ's retirement, I've been a die-hard Lakers fan, and now, obviously a CAL football fan. These two teams are probably the only teams that I REALLY care about. I'm not a huge fan of MLB or NFL. For the past few years, the Lakers and the Golden Bears have been a significant source of excitement and joy in my life. I mean, who can forget the game where Kobe made the buzzer beater vs the Phoenix Suns to jump to a 3-1 lead in their 2006 playoffs match? Or how about the CAL victory against U$C in 3-OT in 2003? Or last year's beatdowns vs Oregon and Texas A&M? Or how about this year's redemption victory vs Tennessee? These games epitomize the reason why I love sports.

Now, I don't struggle because my teams win these huge games. I struggle because they also lose games. HUGE games. I came across this article about CAL's most painful losses.

http://bearsnecessity.com/sports/most-painful-cal-football-memories/

My list would look something like this (all losses, from most recent):

• Arizona 2006 (more in retrospect)
  
• Tennessee 2006
  
• UCLA 2005 - Ayoob was exposed, and our season was over
  
• Texas Tech 2005 - I was more angry than sad
  
• U$C 2004 - the worst feeling EVER. What if, what if, what if

After each of the above, it took more than days to recover. Yes, I'm pathetic, but damn. How I feel after a huge VICTORY far outweighs the after-effects of losses. This week, we're playing Oregon. I'm not gonna go into details explaining why this game so important. All I got to say is that we must win. We will win.

Go Bears