I’m Lodging a Complaint

You read that right. I’m lodging an informal complaint.

It has been a rough week in Jess’s Wide World of Sports. So much so that it feels like the world is conspiring against me to get me to hate sports. First and foremost, the Colorado Rockies got swept out of World Series contention thanks to the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Division Series. Swept! They scored two whopping runs the entire three game series. The Denver Broncos lost to the New York Jets, who haven’t done anything yet this season. Then the Colorado Rapids kept up their hunt for the Anthony Precourt Memorial ISC Wooden Spoon by losing to LAFC, 3-nil. (For those of you unfamiliar with the Wooden Spoon, it’s the trophy given by the Independent Supporters’ Council to the supporters group of the team who finishes last that season. Last year, the San Jose Earthquakes were gracious enough to take it off of our hands.)

But not to be outdone… was Real Madrid. They were totally up for a slice of the “Disappoint Jess” pie; and the whip cream on top was that it was due to a super-last-minute winner. I don’t know what’s going on with my boys in white, but I don’t like it and would really like to see something break loose. And it would be great if they could find the back of their opponents’ net again. (With the way the season is going, I figured some specificity there might be necessary.) How do you play as hard as they have, have the right stats, and still look like you’ve forgotten how to communicate with each other and how to win?!

I don’t know if I need to retract my sentiments about Lopetegui, but I really don’t want that one Asensio fan account to be right about him. I know it takes a while to adapt to a new manager with a new system, but I am frustrated.

“But Jess! Where is your optimism?!”

Well, I got paid a bunch of bananas, literally, for baby-sitting my nieces tonight so that’s good.

Yes, I know, I know – back to the point:

They’re all still my teams — even when they’re losing and even when they’re driving me nuts. Lucky for them, I’m a stubborn optimist. The Rockies have had consecutive play-off appearances for the first time in their history and their pitchers finally figured out the strike-zone consistently. 2019 should be a good season. The Denver Broncos, well, I’m sure they’ll get their quarterback issues figured out soon. As for the Rapids, well, there’s no relegation in MLS so they’ll stay right where they are and maybe Stan Kroenke will finally remember that other soccer team he owns.

As for Real Madrid — I still think they’ll pull it together. Like I mentioned in the roundtable article from August, I think we’ll start to pull it together right before the winter break. As always, something good will come of all of this – but dang it, I’m lodging an informal complaint until it does.