Kentucky Football Fans Know How You Felt Watching USA-Portugal World Cup Game

Last Sunday the U.S. Men's National Team "lost" in the closing seconds to the Portuguese side. It was a game the USMNT should have won, and resulted in a level of national frustration that quickly went supernova. Many University of Kentucky  football fans who watched were already familiar with the stages of grief that our USMNT fan brethren were feeling. We know all too well what it's like to lose when victory seems assured. Defeat (or tie) unbelievably snatched from the jaws of victory.

Denial is our catatonic stare at the living room floor. Anger is our remote controls being hurled against the wall. Bargaining is our shameless post-game prayers. Depression is our shotgunning bourbon and Haagen-Dazs. Acceptance is internalizing bad breaks occur and will occur again. Time being a flat circle and all.

When I watched the game with another Kentucky fan we both talked about the similarities of Sunday's result with hair-pulling Kentucky football defeats. There's Wuerffel to Doering. The Bluegrass Miracle. A seven overtime loss to Arkansas. A three overtime loss to Tennessee. Blowing a fourth quarter 18 point lead against Florida. Losing to the eventual National Champion by a time-expiring field goal. Watching second half leads against SEC teams evaporate happens more often than I care to remember. You may tell me UK should have beat the number two team in the country on the road, but I've blocked that from my memory.

So, keep your head up America! Winning is hard against really good teams. Hey, at least both parties have recruiting to look forward to in our times of infinite sadness and remote control conflagration.