Sports are emotional affairs. This is true for everyone involved. Players, coaches and even fans dedicate themselves to the team, to the game. This fact is often lost on those involved, but most importantly it becomes lost on the fans. Fans often become so involved in the games that they lose something that makes us human, they lose their humanity.

Often, we forget that the players and the coaches are human as well. Part of the reason we love sports is the human element. Nobody would want to watch if everyone was perfect if there were robots playing football or soccer it would lose intrigue. Conversely, the human aspect of the games is often the most frustrating aspect of those involved. Players make mistakes, it’s guaranteed to happen multiple times, in every game, in every sport. But guess what? That’s okay.

There will be a game this year where a player makes a mistake, and some fans will perceive that mistake as the sole reason that the game was lost. It won’t be the only reason. There is so much depth and complexity to every game that none of us could imagine the number of mistakes that were made that we missed or the gaffes that happen at the beginning of the game that seems less consequential because of the point in the game that they occur.

Many things happen throughout a season that can be frustrating to fans. Be frustrated, that is fine — it’s called being human. There are certain things that one should never do when they are overly emotional, especially out of frustration. One of those things is social media. I have seen times when someone has gone on a social media rant because of a game because a player made a mistake. They call the player by name and attack them with their tweets. These are college students. They play a game because they love it. They play the game to be able to put themselves through college.

Imagine if everyone was subject to this same scrutiny. If I was at work, made a mistake, a big mistake, and someone blasted it all over twitter about how incompetent I am and how much I cost my company by messing up, I would be furious. I realize when I mess up. I am incredibly hard on myself. I beat myself up and can’t get out of my head. I promise, any player who makes a mistake in a critical juncture in a game knows that they did just that. They are probably extremely hard on themselves.

If someone has ever been subject to this kind of scrutiny, they know that the last thing they need is someone hurling personal attacks at their intelligence or their skills at them behind the protective wall of the internet. Sports are fun because they are games. This must always be remembered as a fan, that when a team loses a game, it’s exactly that: just a game.

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