I say that because, if you were in the greater Cincinnati area for much of the last thirty years or so, your sports teams have pretty much always let you down.
Except for a good run in the 70s for the Reds (plus a WS sweep in 1991(?)), and an occasional above-500 season for the Bengals, life was bleak for a sports fan in the Tri-State. Sure, Xavier and UC could occasionally be expected to hit the NCAA, but it's the pros, you know, that make or break a town's spirit.
Perhaps this is why I have never liked sports. Perhaps it's why my dad and I don't have much in common. Perhaps it's why I rarely use sports anolgies in my writing. In any case, the past day or so has reminded me of nothing so much as it has the first game of any given season in Cincinnati sports.
The Reds (Bengals, Bearcats, Musketeers, whoever) would lose the first game. My dad, in disgust, would turn off the TV, get up from the easy chair, and wander off to the kitchen with a resigned, "Season's over for the Reds." (Or whoever.)
Cincinnatians are kind of inured to being losers. We have grown to expect it, and to be surprised when we aren't. But always, without fail, at the first sign of weakness, we walk away certain of defeat.
The lesson, of course, is that one game does not a season make. One loss does not a losing season guarantee. This is a season we must not lose, and starting your resignated complacency now is unacceptable.
This diary will undoubtedly scroll from the screen in minutes (I have my display set to 50, and they all go by in about an hour now, it seems.) But let me add one more observation.
Today has, more than even the last few weeks of good exposure for dKos, brought our more new users, as far as I can tell, than any similar period before. Many of them are wandering off to the kitchen certain of defeat. Even some old hands are harshing my mellow. (NOTE: Both Dean defeatists and Dem defeatists--"Kerry can't beat Bush!"--are guilty here. I am wondering where Orrin is . . .)
As for me, I am subdued today but very pleased: We turned out a record number of Democrats last night. Period. Defeatist talk doesn't help the team win any games, people.
(And on the other hand, I thought some of the gloating going on here last night and today is just as shameful. And you'd better believe if Dean had won Iowa and Deanistas had been strutting around rubbing it in, they'd get the same smack-down from me.)