Within the current years I’ve tried to turn into a 162-girl. In case you don’t know what I’m speaking about, being a 162 particular person implies that you care about each single baseball sport that your staff performs. Each sport issues to you, from the inning-byinning trivialities to the broader divisional/post-season context. Some individuals can’t be 162-ers, whether or not they don’t have the time to be totally invested or don’t have the drive. However the diehards who’ve the time and vitality are my 162 individuals.
In my youth, I wasn’t a 162 particular person, however I additionally wasn’t as massive a Sox fan then as I’m now. After I actually bought into baseball a couple of years again, it was in early June, so I’d already missed the primary 40 video games. I didn’t actually know that the Sox had began off that season actually badly after which had gone right into a scorching streak across the time I bought . However I used to be dedicated. Being a 162 particular person additionally means you’ve gotten a really exhausting time turning off a foul sport or pulling your self away from inevitable throwaway video games. I adopted the 28-5 loss nearly all the time, getting an increasing number of flabbergasted each inning, however I nonetheless didn’t look away.
I used to be a 162 woman throughout 2023 and 2024, however this 12 months, when the Sox have been particularly dangerous in Might and I used to be going by means of some stuff that wanted extra consideration, I attempted to not be a 162 woman. I even drafted an article referred to as, “I Can’t Do 162”. I did my greatest to not verify the scores till I knew the sport could be over. However then the Sox would win and I’d be proper again in it. I solely managed to not look after possibly a complete of three days. Consequently, I utterly missed the height of Abraham Toro. Sorry to him.
As I’ve realized, in case you make baseball your favourite sport, or your life, this can be very exhausting to stroll away from it. I simply went to see the film Caught Stealing, and the primary character, who’s an enormous Giants fan, is (spoiler) capable of flip off a pivotal sport on the finish of the film, which is meant to say one thing about how the movie’s occasions have affected him I assume. I suppose solely he might shut off the TV that simply after going what he went by means of, as a result of I believe most of us would nonetheless care. The 162 individuals positively would.
Baseball, and sports activities as an entire, could be addicting. In case you make your self care, the highs are extraordinarily excessive and the lows are extraordinarily low. Attempting to steadiness that out could be tough when your staff is doing badly. And like all dependancy, it may be exhausting to give up, even in case you swear off the staff perpetually after a horrible loss. Sports activities video games are common and being turns into a behavior. Baseball, and the 162 video games, is demanding as a result of there are such a lot of video games to maintain monitor of. However I don’t suppose lots of people would have it some other means.
And now we’re on the precipice of the Sox’s first postseason run in 4 years. If we make it, it’ll be the primary Sox postseason I can actually comply with since I grew to become a 162-girl. I hope my time and effort and fervour and curiosity and blah blah blah will all be rewarded, as a result of I’ve been caring each single sport this season. (Properly, for 159, however hey). And I hope everybody who’s in the identical boat as me can be rewarded too.
