Depression leads to pain

By: Jim | June 11th, 2007

“Crew ‘til I die”

(And I hope I get run over by a bus on the way home from the stadium.)

I don’t know if there’s any way I can coherently express the level of anger, frustration, and sadness I’ve reached because of the game yesterday against Houston. Consequently, my postings this week might be a little haphazard.

(Oh, and about last week sorry. It was my busiest week of the year at work and every time I started writing something I never finished it…)

In the past couple of seasons watching Columbus has been sad, depressing. From a perennial playoff contender they’ve descending into one of the worst teams in the league. While they’ve rarely won any silverware (the 2002 Open Cup and the 2004 Supporters Shield being the two trophies we’ve won), until the 2005 season there was always the chance that, were not DC United in our way, we could almost, maybe, possibly win it all. Over the past two-and-a-third seasons we can’t even pretend we might win anything, the fantasy is just too painful.

And painful is what watching the Crew is like now. It’s no longer sad or depressing; it’s a palpable, physical sense of discomfort that overcomes me when I watch them play like they did last evening. The difference between this season and the past two is simple - Columbus have become the sort of team I’ve dreamed that they would become. The pass the ball well, they are creative and even whimsical with the ball to their feet. They can play themselves out of danger without a sense of panic, and they can be almost lyrical when setting up the offense. But they still don’t score. So, while it’s depressing to watch a bunch of incompetent hacks, it’s even worse to watch a bunch of talented guys botch nearly every chance they get. And what’s worse is that when they do score it’s never out of luck or ugly play, it’s out of talent and grace. Schelloto’s pass to Moreno was a thing of beauty; the lucky goals, the ones which are flukes, we have no time for. We leave those to the teams who defeat us.

For the first half we were the better team. And yet we gave up two goals to a team whom we outplayed, and could only get one back. That’s the story of our season. And, for the first time ever, I’m convinced - Sigi must go.