Such is the lot of a True Believer, of a fan who invests so much of his soul in a professional football team, which has 16 chances every year to either stir your soul or break your heart. Such is the burden these fans bear, fans like you, who wear tough losses like a scar and a badge. Who suffer. Who agonize. Who keep coming back.
Who were there, all across a sleepless winter of 1981, replaying Richard Todd’s last-second throw into the arms of a Buffalo defender named Bill Simpson. Who were there, all across the terrible winter of 1987, seeing over and over Mark Gastineau recklessly plowing into Bernie Kosar.