COLUMN: When "the clothes" let you down

     “Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify. Because the players are always changing, the team could move to another city…you’re actually rooting for the clothes, when you get right down to it.”

 ­– Jerry Seinfeld

     As I get older, I more frequently ask myself why I bother cheering for my favorite sports teams.

     Some individual games emphasize that question more than others. Saturday night’s game between the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers was definitely one.

     The Twins have put together a break-even season so far, but it is dramatically better than last year’s. They picked up their 59^th win Aug. 13  – matching their entire 2016 season total.

     They have managed to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot, even though the team appeared at the trade deadline to be giving up – sending away their closer, for one.

     So, as we get into the second half of August, each game takes on a bit more weight. And when the Twins give one away (I considered using a more colorful term than “give”), the wounds take a while to heal.

     Such was the case Saturday night. I started watching with the Twins leading the Tigers 11-7 with two innings to go. Detroit scored three in the bottom of the eighth, making it a one-run game.

     The Twins went down meekly in the top of the ninth. When Detroit reliever Shane Greene jumped and pumped his fist after striking out Twins slugger Miguel Sano to end the inning, I might have uttered some distasteful language toward Greene, had my youngest son not been in the room.

     In the bottom of the ninth, you could feel the loss coming, as certainly as you can feel an impending thunderstorm. And sure enough, with a runner on first, Justin Upton launched a no-doubter into the left field seats to win it for the Tigers.

     A seemingly sure win, gone. My evening, ruined. Why?

     I clicked off the TV almost as fast as Upton’s home run left the yard, and sat, in silence, for probably five minutes.

     It was a time of deep reflection, as I tried once again to figure out why, when a bunch of guys I’ve never met play a sport against each other, and one team wins, it can so dramatically affect my mood.

     The Twins played Detroit again Sunday afternoon, and this time Minnesota won. I didn’t see it; I decided I couldn’t do it again.