Justin & Eric… And you.

by Eric Stangel

I know the date it started. October 19, 1980. I saw Dan Fouts and Air Coryell destroy the New York Giants on TV. It was the greatest football show I had even seen and while I had watched some games here and there at that time, I didn’t really have a team I could call mine. This was the moment I knew I found my squad. They were exciting. They were powerful. And they looked damn good in those uniforms. The future was bright.

Since then, I can’t say it has been a rollercoaster ride since rollercoasters go up and down. It’s been in a word- traumatic. One singular Super Bowl appearance ending the 1994 season which was decided in the first quarter while I was still on my first plate of nachos. The following years saw awful decisions, draft pick busts, but then a glimmer of hope. Future Hall of Famers and stacked rosters that for whatever cosmic reason couldn’t get it done including a 14-2 team which fumbled a playoff win to the hands of the Tom Brady and the Patriots.

This season my team battled through injuries (mid-way through the season, analytics determined them to be the most injured team in the NFL this season by far) to make it to the playoffs, only to lose their big target deep threat wide receiver Mike Williams in a meaningless regular season game. How the hell could that happen?

No matter, they took a 27-0 lead in a prime time playoff laugher against the Jacksonville Jaguars only to fold and lose 31-30. The text messages flooded in from people I didn’t even know had my number. It was THE low moment in a fandom of low moments. Rock bottom.

I needed help. I decided to discuss my issues with an A.I. therapist I found. This is unedited and the therapist’s responses were instant, so I’m quite sure it wasn’t someone typing on the other end. Perhaps this will help you. Here is our session.