Poor Bastard Of The Moment: Team New Zealand

Haven't done this in a long time.  Feels good to finally find one.

I barely know anything about sailing, so even though I know a lot about the comebacks it's being compared to, I still don't think I can say this with a lot of confidence.  But comparing it to, say, the Boston Red Sox coming back from an 0-3 deficit to the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series seems, at least on the surface, a weak comparison.  I mean, the BoSox had to win four straight.  Oracle Team USA had to win eight straight to win the America's Cup or else lose to Team New Zealand.  By my estimation, eight is twice as much as four.

And sailing?  Shit, baseball seems pretty easy compared to sailing.  In baseball you have a bat and a ball and a glove, but you have your feet and your arms, both of which you've been using all your life.  In sailing you have ... a boat.  I took a sailing class once where you could sail a boat for a weekend.  I wound up not being able to go because I didn't have a ride to the port and I forgot my weekend, but if I did get on the boat, I totally would be overwhelmed.

And another thing: In baseball you have nine guys whose success depends on whether they can do their job well.  In sailing you're all pulling on the same boat, so you have to work together as a team.  I have no idea what's harder: A group of individuals succeeding alone, or a team succeeding together.  (It remains overlooked that the sport of baseball isn't really a "team" sport, but rather a sport of aggregates, where players have little influence on each other's play, so the team wins if each person does his part.)  I guess in sailing the group can cover if one guy isn't doing his job.  But in baseball it's more likely that one person, usually the pitcher, can have an outsized influence over the game compared to his teammates.

All in all, having an eight-point lead, twice, only to cough it up at the end may be The Greatest Collapse In The History Of Recorded Sport.  And so, while prices need to be paid for that, I nevertheless have to feel for those on the butt end of The Greatest Comeback In The History Of Recorded Sport.

For the people comprising Team New Zealand: Poor Bastards.