Sport stress

Picking up on something I put on Michele's not too long ago :
"Had nervous breakdown watching Italy vs England rugby"
Why do we do that ? We can't change the result so why do we get stressed over something we can't change ? Sure, if we're in the crowd we can cheer on our team but the players aren't going to hear us when we're shouting at the telly.

So why do we get so worked up about it when we're watching at home ? Maybe it's because we figure we could do better than the professionals. That's the most likely root cause. Especially when rebellion against the state (the other traditional rallying to a cause) doesn't really achieve that much any more.

There's a few times, many years ago, where I have seriously thought "Can I do better ?" And a couple of times where I've thought : "Yes I can" and not out of arrogance too. Think of a combination of how badly England have played in the cricket and a person who came in to the men's team at the halfway point in the season and proceeded to break the team record for the number of wickets taken in a year. Yep - that was me at 16. It had a cost though, I had to slow down during the last few games due to hurting my back. The back injury is still with me 17 years later. (It comes and goes with maintenance and it's mostly ignorable)

The really frustrating thing for me is that with my Big Plan for getting into the England team, I'd had two things blocking me along the way :
1 - no scouting by the Lincolnshire county people. There were a few players of my age in the team (better players than me) who could have gone on to bigger things but my team never, ever got looked at by the county staff. It's probably no coincidence that Lincs have never approached getting out of the Minor Counties like Durham have successfully done.
2 - Beer Monster Mentality at uni. I was the most successful bowler in the nets trial in my first year (only one on the day to get someone out bowled) but never got picked. I reckon there was a connection between me not getting picked and me not socialising with the team selection people. Curious that the fella I bowled out a couple of times in the trial did actually get picked for the team as a batsman, same bloke loved hitting the bar.

As it turns out, I wouldn't have been a help to the England team, even if a few miracles had happened :
Miracle 1 - my bowling speeds up 20mph
Miracle 2 - I grow in height by a foot (I'm 5 foot 8, which is ok but you need to be 6 foot really as a seam bowler to get bounce)
Miracle 3 - my body holds together !

No - 2 years after that trial which effectively ended any chance I had to progress to higher levels in cricket, I suffered a career ending shoulder injury which I'll talk about another time. It's that "Wake Up Call Number 1". I'd like to think I could have done well but when the experience talks instead of the youthful "I CAN TAKE ON THE WORLD !!!!!!", the 3 Miracles above confirm that I'm better off playing at the Non-Serious Fun level instead of the semi-pro level. Cos even though I had a few nasty weapons with my bowling, my lack of pace means I'd have been taken apart without mercy.

I can bat too but my batting is the "useful" and "solid" type, definitely not the spectacular that a semi-pro would look for in an allrounder. Cricket's fun but I think I'd have got bored years ago. I like the mental challenges and variation that come with the job I do, I'd miss that if I was running around a field for a living. Bit like I get bored with doing the same thing over and over again in Warcraft.

Back to the original point before I went all cynical :-) Shouting at the telly when your team plays rubbish does make you feel better sometimes :-)

PS It wasn't really a nervous breakdown. It ended up being far too close a finish than it should have been but rugby isn't a game that lasts long enough to make you really nervous ... No, it has to be England cricket for that.