I used to (and still do) daydream about what would have happened if Joe Carter doesn’t hit that home run, if Ronde Barber doesn’t intercept that pass, if Robert Horry doesn’t make that three in game 2 of the 2001 Finals, if Scott Stevens doesn’t leave Lindros in a crumpled heap on the ice. I daydream because I can only hope for those things not to have happened in a (better) alternate universe.
But now things are different. I think about the wicked line drive off the bat of Zobrist that hangs just enough to settle easily into Jayson Werth’s glove. In my nightmares, that line drive gets past Werth for extra bases. I think about Levance Fields’ desperation 75 foot heave that clangs off the backboard and ricochets harmlessly to the floor. In my nightmares, that ball goes straight into the hoop.
It’s so much better to imagine the worse case scenario knowing that in reality, the good guys win. As some wise man once said (on this site, no less), it’s easier to write joy and anger.