Hello fellow losers,
There are sports disappointments. And then there is the Masters ticket lottery. A very polite, once a year reminder that I am still not invited.
“Unfortunately, your entry was not selected this year…”
Same email. Same tone. Same result.
At this point I don’t read it. I scan it. I look for the one sentence that confirms what I already knew. Augusta National has once again eluded me.
And I know I’m not alone in this. There are a lot of us. A quiet group that all get the same crushing message year after year.
But it still hits. Especially this week.
Because right now every app is the same:
- Someone walking the course taking pictures at Amen Corner.
- A perfectly framed shot of a sandwich that somehow looks life changing (and I don’t even like mayo).
- Someone saying “pictures don’t do it justice” as if we have another option
Meanwhile we’re all just sitting here preparing for disappointment.
The ritual
Every year follows the same pattern:
- Convince myself this is the year, hope blossoming like the Azaelas during Masters Week.
- Get the email that applications are open and feel something again.
- Submit the application with what I would call reasonable optimism.
- Spend a month or so not thinking about it.
- Get the most predictable email in sports.
Repeat.
It is less of a process and more of a routine at this point.
The Cubs thing
If you grew up a Cubs fan, this will probably feel familiar.
Not now (well, maybe a bit). I mean before 2016. When hope was not based on anything real. It was just there. You carried it because that is what you did.
Every year had the same script. This could be the year. It probably is not. But maybe.
And then it wasn’t. Again and again.
Until one year it was.
That is the part that sticks with you. Not necessarily all the losses. But the idea that even after all of that, something finally broke your way.
I am not saying getting Masters tickets is the same thing.
But I am also not completely ruling it out.
At some point logic stops mattering. You just decide you are going to keep trying.
Why start this
Because this feels like something worth beginning to document.
There is a process here. There is a pattern. There is a very specific kind of optimism that shows up every spring and then disappears on cue in the heat of summer.
Also because I know I am not the only one (right?).
If I am going to keep applying every year, I might as well keep track of it. The good, the bad, and the completely expected.
What this will be
This will follow the process. The application. The wait. The email.
It will probably include a few side notes along the way. Things that feel related. Things that do not.
Mostly it is just a record of the whole thing.
And maybe one day all of us losers will be at The Masters.
And when we are, I want to be able to look back and see how long it took to get there.
Until next time, losers.