2023-08-14, 10:35 AM - Word count:
Too many people care about championships, but these interest me very little. Championship teams have money and time, luxuries that do not speak to me. Some other clubs have money, and some have time, but neither is truly enough on its own. I am fascinated by the teams that have little of either, who must continually fight to get more or to justify what little they have. The line of promotion and relegation is the realm of true angst and elation. I am excited to watch the German team fight along this line yet again.
I have seen relegation destroy teams, literally erasing them from existence. I feel bad for the dedicated fans, but the teams staked everything on continued success, which usually leaves them aiming only for mediocrity which must eventually fail them. In the lower division, they lose their money and their support, let down both by the management and by many whose supposed fanaticism was little more than entitlement.
And there are teams who overvalue promotion, putting everything on the field for one season to reach the next league. But then they are like dogs who catch cars, with no plan or ability for the next step. They find themselves relegated again immediately, the previous fervor replaced with a disappointment that cannot imbue a similar push. One must prepare for promotion in the same way one prepares for retirement: knowing it be short and that you may be too frail, even knowing it may never come at all.
I have seen relegation destroy teams, literally erasing them from existence. I feel bad for the dedicated fans, but the teams staked everything on continued success, which usually leaves them aiming only for mediocrity which must eventually fail them. In the lower division, they lose their money and their support, let down both by the management and by many whose supposed fanaticism was little more than entitlement.
And there are teams who overvalue promotion, putting everything on the field for one season to reach the next league. But then they are like dogs who catch cars, with no plan or ability for the next step. They find themselves relegated again immediately, the previous fervor replaced with a disappointment that cannot imbue a similar push. One must prepare for promotion in the same way one prepares for retirement: knowing it be short and that you may be too frail, even knowing it may never come at all.
![[Image: S10.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1073003468945641492/1113501219890155671/S10.png)
