I worry therefore I am

I had to listen to the last 15 minutes of the Bayern-Real game on the radio as we were driving to my daughter’s game. As Bayern was trying to get that goal to take them to the finals, I only had one thought and I told my wife ” If this happens tomorrow, I probably will die from heart failure” If Roma is up 2-0 tomorrow in the last seconds of the game, I am not sure if my heart would take it.  She laughed since she knows me well or perhaps because that will is better than I think…?

I worry… it is what I do and I am very good at it. People I talk to regularly in life and on social media know this too well. I worry about the worst case scenario, which has really served me well in many aspects of life as it prepares me if the worst happens while the preparation and the thought process usually prevents the worst case scenario from happening. It is a win-win except stress levels.

Not in sports though… a cheap foul or a corner kick and my first thought is that it will come back to haunt us as a goal. A lot of “I knew it!!!” moments even though the majority of the time it is a simple ” That could have been bad…”

This brings us to tomorrow. Another huge game. Somehow I am less worried about tomorrow’s game than I was against Manchester City even though the score now is not as advantageous as the City matchup. A 3-0 would have been overtime against Manchester City whereas it would be Roma’s ticket to the final. A Roma team who believes in miracles having just had one but isn’t that what makes miracles special? They do not keep happening. Otherwise it would not be a miracle but just another Tuesday or Wednesday.

When you look at the first game, the rosters, form, matchups, even though Roma has a chance, it would seem that Liverpool would find a way to get a goal with their attacking power knowing Roma has to come after them in numbers. An early Liverpool goal tomorrow will break the hearts in that stadium and the will of their players going after that second miracle. The second leg against City started as bad as it could have with an early goal given away, fueling the home crowd and a team that was already extremely dangerous. Avoiding such a beginning would be half the battle for Liverpool tomorrow.

So are you worrying about tomorrow as a fan? Have no fear, I am here to take all those worries away and carry them myself.

Here is the gameplan:

• Work throughout the day and try to ignore all notifications, posts, reminders, clicks, beeps…. all of it. Working from home makes it tough but have to use the willpower to ignore all.
• Only a few minutes before kickoff ( to avoid listening to Fox Sports pundits – another blog post or two by itself) get ready to watch the game
• Watch the game on the laptop next to my desktop in my study. No big screen for me. I have watched every Champions League game here and feel that we owe a huge part of this run to my resolve in staying with the laptop
• Kickoff…Worry, rinse, repeat… Even in my worries, I have a good feeling about this game but I worry that it might be misguided…
• Celebrate…. and start worrying about Real Madrid for 3 weeks. By the time the final comes around, I should have another game plan for winning the ultimate goal. In that case, I might frame this laptop with a Liverpool jersey behind it and hang it on the wall of my study. It deserves to be honored I think. 

I will worry that it might fall though… it is what I do