How to cope when your favorite football team stinks

It’s early September and your favorite football team stinks. Now what?

It’s only been two weeks but for many college football teams, your season is already over. The NFL just had their opening week and half the league is facing a do-or-die in Week 2. The numbers aren’t pretty for teams starting 0-2 and making the playoffs.

It’s a harsh reality when you have to look in the mirror and come to terms with your lot in football life. Not every team will be champions. The world of college football needs plenty of

ditch diggers

also-rans too.

For every Alabama, you have a Tennessee.

For every New England Patriots, you have a Buffalo Bills.

For every Ohio State, you have a Rutgers.

For every Green Bay Packers, you have the Detroit Lions.

If your fandom aligns with one of the losers, you may be wondering what do to with yourself for the next three-four months.

Thankfully, I have plenty of experience as a fan of perennial losers. As a Chicago Cub fan, I’ve grown accustomed to my team at the bottom of the standings and with no hope before Memorial Day.

Basically, I’ve seen a lot of teams suck before but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.

Thankfully, the last few years have made up for a lifetime of disappointment. But as a lifetime Chicago Bears fan, I was too young to remember the only great season in franchise history.

As a Chicago sports fan, there have been much more losing than winning that I’m basically an expert fan when it comes to dealing with and accepting failure. It also helps if you can channel your inner-Mr. Brightside and look at things differently so you can still enjoy the team and sport you love.

I’m not going to tell you to stop going to the stadiums on Saturday to tailgate, spend time with friends and family and enjoy the game-day atmosphere. But if you are feeling scorned like an ex-lover and don’t want to invest your time, money and mental health to a team you don’t believe in, having a trial separation is a smart move.

Watching all the games you want on television from the comfort of your favorite seat makes for a great day. Forget about driving to the stadium in time to set up for an 11 a.m. kickoff. Forget about the long lines for the bathroom or the even longer lines to buy a cold drink. Remove all that and you are stripped down to just the games. And when you’re watching at home, you aren’t a prisoner to watching your team give up a 64-yard pass with six seconds left to force overtime where you eventually lose in classic heart-breaking fashion.

Whether you are at the games in person or you’re watching at home, when your team sucks, it’s important to remind yourself that they suck so you don’t trick yourself into thinking they don’t suck.

When you forget your team sucks because they will always invariably show you glimpses of being the team you know they can be, before inevitably ripping your heart out like when you lose to Boise State after leading by 18 at halftime. Don’t fall victim to that emotional trap. Stay strong and remember this is supposed to be joyful and not ruin your day.

So when watching your favorite team stink up the joint, remember to change your viewing patterns and lower your expectations.

Rather than putting all your energy into the final score and who wins and who loses, just accept that a win is not in the cards for your team. That way you’ll never be disappointed. Disappointment lives in expectations. When you have no expectations, you can’t be disappointed.

When you watch your favorite team throw an interception, miss tackles and show a general lack of football awareness, just remember those players are someone’s son. There are real-life human beings underneath those helmets and shoulder pads.

This is why you should root for the player.

We all have our favorites for whatever reason. We want them to be successful and that means we want them to win a lot of games. But when the wins aren’t coming, you can still enjoy and appreciate watching this player. For college, you may only get to watch that player for as little as three years. Cherish the time you have with them because when it’s over, it’s over.

Lift up those players and celebrate their accomplishments and achievements. Wear their jersey. Shout their name when they make a tackle, rip off a long run or make an acrobatic catch in the end zone.

Some of my favorite memories are about singular moments. I don’t remember the score to those games but I remember how those players made me feel.

Keeping an eye on the future and the hope of a better tomorrow will get you through the long fall. Your team will load up on the recruiting trail and bring in four and five-star recruits that will represent the change you want to see in your program. These recruits are worth their 247Sports Composite ranking in gold. In a few years when this class develops, they can win conference titles and compete for a really nice bowl game. Maybe even more.

Enjoy the players, cherish the time you have with your friends, family and perfect strangers when you gather to watch the games.

Just remember it will get better as soon your team fires their coach and replaces all the players with new ones.

Tomorrow will be better but just wait ’til next year.