Optimism running over

If you were to ask me how I feel about sports, I'd definitely tell you the glass isn't half full. It's overflowing.

Some may call me a fool for looking at the sports world through such rose-colored glasses but seeing the small victories and celebrating the achievements that are made, even when a favorite team is bludgeoned, only heightens the experience of the game.

In order to truly enjoy the game, one must take the good with the bad. The sports world is full of grim outcomes and heartbreaking losses.

Need I mention the phrase "wide right" to any Bills fan? What about the devastating overtime loss in the former Gund Arena that brought me to tears last March? I can't even bring myself to type the score or opponent.

Those things hurt the bitter souls of sports fans but to look at the results of those games and wallow in a cesspool of pessimism only deters fans from the joy of the game and hinders the significance of the positives.

So what if the football team is being outscored by the soccer team? As long as the team can make progress from game to game, I'm satisfied. I'd rather follow a team that is improving gradually than sit and watch my favorite team fall and blunder as the season progresses.

Cutting the football team's 0-4 record into two parts aptly displays the improvement that should be appreciated. The team has scored 24 points in the last two games compared to the goose eggs in game one and two. With just 133 yards in part one of the winless season, the offense nearly quadrupled that in the latter part with 516 yards.

If I nearly quadrupled my performance in the classroom in just two weeks, my professors would be perplexed at the quality of my work jumping from that which could be found on a Playdough container to something of Plato's caliber.

While things like unity and communication are not recorded in the box score of a game, watching the team intensely allows one to witness those intangibles improving and eventually leading to success.

I feel success is imminent. I said at the beginning of the year that the football team is going to win four this year. Even though there's only seven games left in the season, I still stand by my prediction and I will until it's no longer a possibility. To believe that something couldn't happen when it is blatantly impossible would truly be foolish.

So unless there are only three games left in the season, I'll keep faith and enjoy watching the glass running over.