HAPPY DAYS
John Granato: Scientific proof that being a sports fan makes your life better
Mar 15, 2018, 6:49 am
Want to be happier? Be a sports fan. Bob Levey/Getty Images
If you’re reading this you must be a sports fan. I’m a sports fan. Always have been. In the greater scheme of things we aren’t changing the world are we? The academic world looks down its collective nose at us and maybe deservedly so. We’re not exactly curing cancer. But you know what? We’re probably happier than someone who is.
When you break down your life you can do it in seven parts - the days of the week. Let’s assume we all live until the ripe old age of 70. Some of us will live longer, some not, but let’s use that nice round number.
If you live until you’re 70, 10 years of your life is Mondays. That’s 3,650 crappy days. That’s a sad thought. Mondays flat out suck. It’s a scientific fact. If you doubt this you should listen to some of the songs that are dedicated to Mondays: Blue Monday, Manic Monday, Rainy Days and Monday, I don’t like Mondays. These are just a few. There are a lot more.
It’s not even arguable.
Mondays suck.
But not if you’re a sports fan.
For non-sports fans what do they have to look forward to on Mondays? Nothing. If you are a sports fan you’ve got plenty. There are 16 weeks a year that have Monday Night Football and this year there are 26 Rockets and Astros Mondays that don’t fall on MNF nights. There are also five Mondays that are holidays so let’s just say that there are on average around 45 of 52 Mondays a year that there is something to look forward to for sports fans.
Therefore over the course of 70 years there are really only about 490 really crappy days. Of course that’s the most optimistic of scenarios. Are we content when our team plays, win or lose? Are we really happy if our team gets beat? Probably not.
Over their history the Astros have won about 50% of their games. We’ll just have to assume they win at that pace on Mondays as well.
The Rockets are a little better but not much. They’ve played .524 ball over their history. Let’s assume then that the two teams would lose on average 12 of those 26 Monday games. Now we’re down to 33 good and 19 crappy Mondays a year. That’s just over 1,300 crappy Mondays for sports fans who live until they’re 70.
Non-sports fans? They do get those five holidays. They probably read a good book some of those Mondays too. I can’t imagine they go out and have any fun on Mondays. They are above all that. Their work is too important to risk a hangover. Let’s say they have 10 good Mondays a year. That’s 2.940 crappy Mondays in their lives.
That’s a pretty big number and we haven’t even gotten to Tuesday yet. Truth be told, Monday gets a bad rap. Tuesday? There aren’t songs written about Tuesday but it sucks even worse. Granted, you’re closer to the weekend on Tuesday but it’s by far the worst sports day of the week.
Unless you go to a MAC school there’s no football to look forward to and looking at their attendance MAC people aren’t really thrilled about their football either. The Astros and Rockets play about 30 Tuesdays a year. We can assume they’ll lose 14 of those so we’ve got 36 crappy Tuesdays a year or 2,500 total in our 70 years on earth.
Non-sports fan? I’m sure there’s an opera or play or something boring those people enjoy some Tuesdays. We’ll give them five good Tuesdays a year which means they have around 3,300 crappy Tuesdays over their 70 year lives. Another big number.
Same pretty much goes for Wednesday. Hump day. Whatever. Wednesdays suck too. So let’s throw another 2,500 crappy days on the fire for sports fans. Another 3,300 for the other side.
Let’s check in on our scoreboard:
Sports fans Non-sports fans
Crappy Mondays: 1300 2940
Crappy Tuesdays: 2500 3300
Crappy Wednesdays: 2500 3300
____ ____
Total Crappy Days: 6300 9540
We’re up by over 3,200. That’s an ass kicking.
So what about the rest of the days?
In my mind there are very few if any bad days from Thursday through Sunday. If you ever go out on Thursday you know it’s a hot night. It’s the unofficial start of the weekend. You can drink because you know you’ve got an easy day ahead. You can go in hung over or even still drunk.
Not much gets done on Fridays in the business world. Honestly, who puts any effort into Friday’s work day? If you do you’re far too driven. Even nerds who don’t like sports know that. The whole day is spent looking forward to getting out of whatever job you have and getting the weekend started.
The weekend? There’s no such thing as a bad weekend. If you don’t like sports you don’t have anything good to watch but at least you don’t have to go to your boring job where you’re boring everyone talking about work instead of sports. I’m sure you think you’re having fun but the rest of us pity you and your non-sports conversation.
In your non-sports life you didn’t celebrate the Rockets championships in the 90’s or the Astros last year, or the Texans… Did I mention the Astros last year?
You don’t know what a slider is or an off sides means. You think traveling is something you do in a car not what James does every time he drives the lane.
And then there’s that curing cancer thing. Yeah. It’s an important job. But how many days are you trying to find that cure and failing. Days? It’s more like years. Failing time and again. Over and over, year after year.
Even if you do succeed and have a huge breakthrough that’s just one successful day. One day versus all those crappy failed days. Not exactly a great batting average is it?
Yeah you cured cancer but at what price? Your happiness.
Give me a beer, some peanuts and a ballgame over that miserable existence any day.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.