Reflecting on the World Series, which the Texas Rangers lost in seven games, Ross Douthat celebrates the "almost wins" that precipitate true fanhood:
As a rule, it isn’t winning a title that usually cements a fan base’s loyalty to a baseball team. It’s almost winning — having victory within your grasp and then having your heart ripped out at the last moment. World Series titles come and go (just ask a Florida Marlins fan, if you can find one), but devastating near-misses stay with you forever. The pre-2010s Rangers never inspired much passion from the Texas faithful not because they never won, but because they never broke any hearts. They were just lousy-to-mediocre, year after year and decade after decade, with none of the near-misses and epic disasters that bind suffering sports fans to their star-crossed teams.
(Photo: Liverpool fans during the Barclays Premier League match between Stoke City and Liverpool at Britannia Stadium on September 10, 2011 in Stoke on Trent, England. Photo by Scott Heavey/Getty Images.)
The Dish 