When you think about it as a Pats fan the risk/reward calculus is very skewed against joy.
Take Saturday evening's contest. The risk reward calculus is heavily skewed against joy as a Pats fan. The game simply must be won for there to be any level of joy. If the game is not won, Saturday night potential represents a dismal despairing event, which will remembered as such for potentially many years.
Conversely a victory, especially this Saturday night, simply represents a state of relief. Hence our joy risk/reward calculus is low. And since the game is at the moment a very near future event, there is a angst out there right in this moment about the damage this game could do to our joy, very soon.
Now extrapolate out the rest of the playoffs. The risk/reward I suggest to you is even worse in the AFCCG at home if we happen to play the Steelers. Though a victory will bring joy, it is still much more of relief when quantified against the sheer unacceptable option of having the Steelers win a trip to the Super Bowl in Gillette Stadium. Playing the Jags instead would somewhat reduce the risk/reward imbalance slightly.
If you stretch the calculation to the Super Bowl, for many fans just being there makes their year. As a Pats fan the idea being that close, but then still stuck on 5 is very painful. (Just like getting stuck on 3 was painful twice)
So hopefully we win the games so we can all feel relief then turn the page to the draft.
Take Saturday evening's contest. The risk reward calculus is heavily skewed against joy as a Pats fan. The game simply must be won for there to be any level of joy. If the game is not won, Saturday night potential represents a dismal despairing event, which will remembered as such for potentially many years.
Conversely a victory, especially this Saturday night, simply represents a state of relief. Hence our joy risk/reward calculus is low. And since the game is at the moment a very near future event, there is a angst out there right in this moment about the damage this game could do to our joy, very soon.
Now extrapolate out the rest of the playoffs. The risk/reward I suggest to you is even worse in the AFCCG at home if we happen to play the Steelers. Though a victory will bring joy, it is still much more of relief when quantified against the sheer unacceptable option of having the Steelers win a trip to the Super Bowl in Gillette Stadium. Playing the Jags instead would somewhat reduce the risk/reward imbalance slightly.
If you stretch the calculation to the Super Bowl, for many fans just being there makes their year. As a Pats fan the idea being that close, but then still stuck on 5 is very painful. (Just like getting stuck on 3 was painful twice)
So hopefully we win the games so we can all feel relief then turn the page to the draft.
