Enjoy The Moment

In the middle of October, 1982, Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey" topped the charts, and the Milwaukee Brewers had earned an unlikely spot in the World Series. A local young married couple found themselves in a bit of a heated argument; the wife--7 months pregnant--thought the husband was too concentrated on the Brewers to help make preparations for the coming child. The husband's response was simply, "We can have more kids, but the Brewers might never be this good again."

The man, my father, was correct (if also insensitive). They had more children, albeit with other future spouses, and the Brewers haven't returned to the World Series in the subsequent 33 years. Year 34 ain't looking too great, either.

The point is that most sports fans have to suffer through many more losing seasons than triumphant ones. With 41 major honors, Liverpool Football Club has been far more fortunate than most, even with the on-going league drought. Since last winning England's top tier in 1989-90, Liverpool have won 4 League Cups, 3 FA Cups, 3 Community Shields, the Champions League, a UEFA Cup, and a UEFA Super Cup. It sounds like a lot (and to most clubs it is) but there are a lot of years where the players finished the season empty-handed.

Victory, obviously, isn't guaranteed tomorrow. Even if Manchester City do the unthinkable and win like the favorites that they are, we should still try to enjoy the experience. Since our last trophy four years ago, we've only reached one other final, losing to Chelsea in the 2012 FA Cup. We came tantalizingly close to winning the league two years ago, and came up short in both domestic cup semifinals last year.

Let's, for a moment, think about those failures to finish the job. Trophies were there to be won, but we fell short on each of those last four occasions. However, those cup runs were the most memorable parts of otherwise dour seasons, and I mean that in a good way. I remember the excitement of the Merseyside semifinal in 2012. I remember Sterling's equalizer against Chelsea last year. I remember Coutinho's strike sending us through to a Wembly semi against Blackburn. And I think we'll remember that epic winning streak that got us so close to the league title in the spring of 2014 for a very, very long time.

Of course, tomorrow will be much more memorable if it ends in a Liverpool victory, but until that final whistle blows, I'm just going to try to soak in the experience and enjoy it.