A joy Alabama will never know

I heard a story from a Cubs fan in New York in November of 2016. I can’t remember who or where exactly. If you heard it too, feel free to remind me on Twitter. Anyway, the guy was parading around Manhattan the day after the Cubs won the World Series in his Cubs hat, as you do. He happened to cross paths with Denzel Washington. Now, Denzel is a bit of an intense dude in real life, a little weird, as actors tend to be. But still, DENZEL.

Apparently, Denzel noticed his Cubs hat, and congratulated him on the Cubs’ historic victory. And then said, “But talk to me when you get to 27.”

But here’s the thing Denzel didn’t know, or at least wouldn’t acknowledge. The Cubs’ one triumph in the past century means more to any Cubs fan than all of the Yankees’ 27 combined. It’s a joy Denzel (I’m sure I can call him Denzel) will never know.

I know just enough about college football to know that Georgia always gets its ass beat by Alabama. Everyone else does, after all. We all saw 2017’s championship game. Seven losses in a row, 10 of the last 13, The Tide racking up national titles like they were coins in Mario Bros.

And it’s likely Alabama will be right back here next year, and will probably win that game for their 17th national championship in 20 years or whatever it is. It’s their thing, and not every receiver will be hurt next time.

And Bama fans will tell you that everything has been corrected when that happens. It’s the life of supporting The Tide, I imagine.

The counterbalance to losing access to real joy is that Bama fans can never get too low, because they know they’ll always be back. That’s the trade-off for fans. You gain a floor on your joy for the price of a ceiling.

But Georgia fans won’t feel that way. The one title makes up for the lack of the rest. They’ll have the one night they got one over on the Big Bad Elephants to win their first national championship n 41 years. They proved it can actually happen, and they’ll look back on last night in a way that Alabama can’t for any of theirs.

Not that every fan of every other school or team wouldn’t trade places with Bama, or the Patriots, or such. But that’s what you sacrifice. There will never be another first time, another singular triumph, unless your team sinks back into the rabble for another couple decades.

Kelee Ringo’s pick-six that iced the game will be replayed in Athens and across Georgia every day for the next year. Alabama has a series of those plays in the memory bank, but none that will rise to that level of euphoria.

Alabama is college football’s aristocracy. But it costs them everything, depending on how you look at it.

Must be Djoking?

It’s going to get worse for Novak Djokovic. Even after getting a circuit court to reinstate his visa yesterday to be able to play in the Australian Open, he’s still at the whim of the country’s Immigration minister.

And stuff like this probably isn’t going to help his cause:

It’s actually hard to imagine why the Australian Open, and in turn the Australian government, is working this hard to keep Djokovic in the tournament. Yes, he has a chance to break the Grand Slam record for most wins and the most wins at a single tournament, and that’s obviously a big story. But the Aussie Open is a big deal no matter who is playing in it and what’s at stake. The country will still pay tons of attention, and it can’t be leaning that heavily on international TV ratings given the middle-of-the-night times it takes place for everyone outside Asia. In fact, after the kerfuffle with Djokovic, it’s likely the tourney will draw better ratings than normal no matter how it turns out.

What should be done is clear. Djoker’s record, and the problems that come with him, can be the French Open’s problem.