How to Cope When Your Team Gets Knocked Out of the Playoffs

Being a sports fan is about ups and downs. Unfortunately, there are usually more downs than ups for fans. For the fan that watches every professional sport, there is a better than good chance that one of his teams will be eliminated before winning the championship. Here is how to cope when your team gets knocked out of the playoffs.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Vent your anger and frustration with fellow fans. This is much easier to do if you are close with people that cheer for the same team that you do. If you're not, you can call into sports radio talk shows or go online and post in forums. When a team gets knocked out of the playoffs, fans band together in order to both talk about the disappointment as well as look back upon and the season and speculate about the future of the team.
2. Avoid next day's newspaper as well as any sports programming. Watching Sportscenter the day after your team has been knocked out of the playoffs is nothing short of torture. Don't subject yourself to learning about your team's failures. Take at least one day off from sports.
3. Prepare yourself from harassment from other sports fans. Not everybody that you know cheers for your favorite team. You'll probably receive some hazing from your friends once your team is knocked out of the playoffs. Take it all in stride and remember that sports karma is real. Your friends will experience the same feelings eventually.
4. Avoid watching that particular sport for awhile. Sports simply aren't as fun when you're favorite team has been eliminated. Take a few days off from that sport until you're ready to watch again. If you miss the rest of the playoffs, it's also not a big deal.
5. Do other things during the time that you would normally watch this particular team. If your hockey team has been eliminated during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, for example, enjoy the springtime weather and go outside during the evening games. The point is to simply not think about sports during that time.
6. When you begin watching the rest of the playoffs, begin rooting for another team. You shouldn't go all out since it's not your favorite team but picking one of the remaining teams is a great way to enjoy the remainder of the playoffs. If that team doesn't win it all, you won't feel anything about it since you're not emotionally connected with that team.