Hold off on the hype train

I should be really thrilled right now. I should be ecstatic. I should be bragging to all of my friends who find themselves in a city other than Los Angeles this fall.

This upcoming season of Angeleno sports, both pro and collegiate, is anticipated to be one of the most eventful in recent memory. A pair of (admittedly mediocre) professional football teams will battle for relevancy and a fanbase this fall. The Los Angeles Angels are thanking the heavens for the creation of the second wildcard spot. The UCLA Bruins will be led by the Rosen one. And in the midst of it all this fall, the reign of Lonzo-mania will commence at Staples Center.

At the center of what will surely be a hectic time for Los Angeles sports are two teams near to my heart, who I fear may be riding hype trains toward derailment: The USC football squad and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Both of these teams currently bear very high championship expectations. They each certainly have compelling elements that would lead many to anticipate successful seasons. And with both teams currently riding abnormally long title droughts, this high bar should be expected from championship-hungry fanbases.

It’s been 29 years since the Dodgers last hoisted the Commissioner’s Trophy. And while USC is the reigning Rose Bowl champion, it’s no secret that the national title trophy is the most coveted hardware within the confines of Heritage Hall — and the Trojans haven’t brought it home since 2004. Even that title was technically stripped after the Reggie Bush scandal.

I’d love to jump on the hype train for both the Dodgers and the Trojans — really. Away from the journalistic setting, I’d love to boast to my friends about the whooping USC has in line for Alabama during next season’s College Football Playoff. However, I’m hesitant to board the train; I’m a victim of sports heartbreak, especially when it comes to my beloved teams underperforming.

When USC kicker Matt Boermeester’s 46-yard field goal split the uprights this past January against Penn State, the Trojans clinched their record-25th Rose Bowl Trophy. USC is the undisputed historical champion of the Grandaddy of Them All, but it’s a 12th national championship trophy that Trojan nation has been longing for for the past 13 years.

The Trojans enter the 2017 regular season with a No. 4 preseason ranking from the opening AP Top 25 Poll. Led by all-world redshirt sophomore quarterback Sam Darnold, USC is projected by many to clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff behind a Heisman-caliber signal caller.

Of course, the hype train is always very real at USC, no matter the outcome of the prior season. Coming off a Rose Bowl victory, it’s apparent that many following the program are calling 2017 a national championship or bust type of campaign. As promising as the team looks, I can’t look past the last time USC had this sort of anticipation: the tumultuous 2012 season.

The Trojans entered 2012 ranked No. 1 nationally, led by star quarterback Matt Barkley — they would go on to finish that season unranked after an underwhelming 7-6 regular season campaign. It was the first time since 1964 that a team opened a season No. 1, but failed to be ranked by the end of the year.

Cases like the 2012 season make me hesitant to snag College Football Playoff tickets to watch my dear Trojans — well, some financial barriers may also contribute to my hesitancy.

Now, about those Dodgers, the boys in blue who captivated the baseball world for an entire summer. Dave Roberts’ team is another that has a hype train I am dying to board, but cannot due to prior experiences.

The Dodgers’ 43-7 run over a 50-game span this summer was the winningest 50-game stretch in Major League since 1912. Los Angeles (87-35) currently holds a monstrous 20-game lead over Colorado (68-56) in the NL West standings. Even more satisfying for Dodgers fans: Los Angeles has a 39-game lead on the San Francisco Giants (50-76). Glorious.

Once again, I’d love to punch my ticket to the World Series this early. The magic at Chavez Ravine is undeniable right now, that’s indisputable. Hasn’t the 3-run bottom of the ninth walk-off become conventional for this Dodger team? Don’t you just expect them to make a dramatic comeback every single night? The magical moments narrated by Joe Davis this season have captivated — and enlarged — the Dodgers’ fanbase. Just the other night my roommate was guaranteeing me a World Series title from the Dodgers.

But I fear that I’ve watched too much baseball, endured too much heartbreak, to join him in his optimistic fandom.

I remember the 2013 season and the 42-8 run the Dodgers underwent during the summer of the Puig. That Dodgers team was a freight train, which included a dominant Clayton Kershaw and fresh-faced Yasiel Puig. However, that mighty train was derailed by an un-hittable Michael Wacha and the Cardinals in the NLCS.

Don’t get me started about those 2008 and 2009 Dodger teams that met their demise against the Phillies in the NLCS in consecutive seasons. Those series have forever tainted my appreciation of Jonathan Broxton as a Dodgers closer.

Fandom is an interesting thing, isn’t it? Your experience of the sports world starts off very subjective: following your team from your town, following your favorite player. But the more you divulge into its depths, the more you gain an objectivity: you take into account other division races, other teams, other players, the league as a whole. You slowly but surely begin to realize where your respective team stands in the food chain; you also gain a broader scope on the ultimate irrelevance the regular season. You realize there is a postseason, and that’s where the dream-making or heart-breaking ultimately takes place.

How I long for the simple days. When my team was going to win the title every year. When the quarterback of my team was going to win the Heisman every year. When my team was going to end their nearly three-decade long championship drought.

So it’s probably best to not corrupt my roommate’s optimism with the complexities and disappointments of devout sports fanaticism.