15 Things Sports Fans Just Need to Accept

You know that feeling where, especially as a sports fan, you just can't help but complain about?

The things that are so uncontrollable and, in a harsh way, just unfair for you to want to accept, yet you still pout like a little kid who doesn't get what he or she wants?

Yeah, we've all been there before.

And just when we want to rip our hair out, throw a beer bottle at the TV or just hit something, we somehow are able to take a deep breath and realize that there are just some things that are always bound to happen.

They may not be easy to accept, yet, because there's nothing any of us can do about them, we just have to try.

So what are those moments that I'm speaking of? Keep reading and share in the frustration that these things in sports every fan just needs to accept.

15. It's OK to Cry After a Tough Loss

There once was a famous line from a certain sports movie that proclaims, "there's no crying in baseball."

Well, guess what? That's definitely outdated.

As much as every adult is supposed to be looked at as such, holding their emotions in check and not allowing tears to fall down their face, sometimes, sports just gets the best of us and it happens.

Rather than try and hide it and cover your face in shame, let those things drop from your eyes, because it's totally cool to be upset about a tough loss that your team just had—just don't make it too much of a habit.

14. Sports Tickets Won't Be Getting Any Cheaper

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

I was having a conversation with a girl the other day who said she was hoping for Seattle Seahawks tickets to go down before trying to buy some.

Without hesitation, I told her, with as much sympathy as possible, that she would be waiting a long time, because it's never happening.

And as much as we can all complain about the price of a sporting event being sky-high and ridiculous for just a single game out, as long as there's a demand for them—which, there always will be—teams are going to jack up the prices almost each and ever year.

Sorry, guys, but until absolutely no one shows up to a stadium, we'll all just keep opening our checkbooks to watch our teams live.

13. A LeBron James-Led Team Will Never Stop Getting Overanalyzed

When you shock the sports world by putting three future Hall of Famers on one team—as the Miami Heat did back in 2010—it's understandable that everyone freaks out and shows interest in what's going on with every single move with the team.

Sure, the reaction and the coverage for four years in South Beach was over-the-top, but that's what you get when LeBron James is leading a team.

And now that James has a new Big Three with the Cleveland Cavaliers, none of us should be shocked to see that every single game is treated as if the NBA Finals, with media outlets and social media blowing up whenever something good or bad happens.

Bron is the most polarizing athlete on the planet, so anything he gets involved with will be overanalyzed and debated—shouldn't we all be used to this by now? He was dubbed "The Chosen One" for a reason.

12. Trades Happen

Even before the 48 hours that L.A. Dodgers fans just endured when they, literally, just saw their entire team get flipped, sports fans still have trouble accepting the fact that trades, in fact, do happen.

And, here's some not-so-breaking-news—they aren't always fair.

We can all pull our hair out, tweet, write nasty Facebook posts and, hell, even try and track down a general manager's email to blast him, but, the fact is, your favorite players will, sometimes, get shipped to another team.

It always sucks more if it happens to be a rival, but, even seeing a guy who you rooted for so long pack his bags is a tough proposition.

Unfortunately, it's nothing that any of us can change.

11. Luck Happens

Cry, complain and argue all you want to, but, in certain instances, luck just isn't on your team's side.

Bill Buckner's grounder. The Immaculate Reception. The Iron Bowl in 2013. These are all examples of instances in sports that went against the odds to happen, somehow, someway, without any reasoning at all.

Sports is unscripted and the best reality TV out there, so stop worrying about how or why things like that happen and accept them—even as pissed off as you are.

One thing to remember about luck, though, is that not every single loss can be blamed on it. While it's easy to say that a team got lucky because they hit a walk-off or a sank a buzzer-beater, those are just things that will always happen, whereas, some of the other examples I gave above are, well, just unlucky.

10. There Will Never Be a Perfect College Football Playoff Format

Want to know what the ultimate college football playoff is? The regular season.

When a team schedules tough opponents rather than cupcake schools and avoid losing more than two games, that's when the college football selection committee will take notice of their resume.

More importantly, no matter if there are four, eight, 16 or 32 teams selected to play in a do-or-die game like NCAA hoops has, there will always be a few teams who feel like they're left out of the party.

So while teams like the Baylor Bears and TCU Horned Frogs have legit beef for not earning the final spot in this year's first playoff, a team like the Ole Miss Rebels—who currently sit at No. 9 and defeated current No. 1 Alabama earlier this year—would be upset that they didn't get a chance to play for a national title in a playoff had the field been expanded to eight teams.

Bottom line, the imperfections of this system is what makes college football so great each and every week, so accept it and drink away your sorrows as responsibly as you can.

9. Athletes Will Always Be Surrounded by Attractive Girls

Sure, you may get told by everyone that you're the second coming of a Jonas brother, but, you know what, you don't play a professional sport.

And because you're busy sharing a 900 square-foot apartment with two other guys and busy browsing the Internet for a new job, all of those attractive girls who you think would be interested in you will continue to be more interested in athletes.

Yes, it's understandable—yet, still frustrating—but it's just something we all have to live with.

8. The Internet Will Make an Athlete More Popular Than They Should Be

Sorry, sports fans, but thanks to the ever-growing "need" for everyone to know everything all the freakin' time, this will never go away.

From Instagram pics to constant updates on Twitter, with either athletes or media folks posting nonstop, there are few things that can be kept secret any longer.

For that reason, fans get the same, usual suspects stuck down their throats day after day.

And if you need proof of this, how many people seem to care more about the new starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns than what's going on with their own team's starter?

Exactly, go ahead and accept it.

Damn you, Internet.

7. Some Players Are, in Fact, Just About the Money

I'm not saying that all athletes play sports just for the money, but, contrary to what they claim to the public, a little extra million bucks each year goes a long way in making a decision on where or how hard they play.

For regular Joe's like you or me, playing a sport for a living would be a dream job, right?

But when a player is either on a team that's underachieving and he's getting paid anyway, or a team that has no chance at winning a title will overspend on a player to obtain them, some dudes just can't resist the dollar signs.

This isn't exactly breaking news, but, rather than complain about guys who aren't loyal to a team or a city, just let it happen and realize some athletes won't change.

6. Oakland Raiders Will Always Make Mistakes with Mark Davis as Owner

Stephen Brashear/Associated Press

"Just win baby."

Those were the words that were once spoken by former Oakland/L.A. Raiders owner Al Davis, whose "Commitment to Excellence" was what helped define him throughout his reign.

Unfortunately, even before his death in 2011, the mottos were more of a joke than anything else, as the Raiders weren't exactly living up to the standards that Davis said.

Even worse, though, since Davis' son, Mark, overtook control of the team in 2011, Oakland has gone just 16-41 in the nearly four seasons since, continuing to make poor coaching hires, bad free-agent moves and draft picks that are serious head-scratchers.

And with the news that Mark Davis has met several times with officials in different cities over the past few months about relocating the team, Raiders fans can fume all they want to, but there's no stopping the Mark Davis demise.

5. There Will Never Be Another Michael Jordan in Your Lifetime

Michael Dwyer/Associated Press

Go ahead and say that Kobe Bryant is better than Michael Jordan, or that LeBron James will, one day, end up having a better impact than MJ, no one will ever, truly believe you.

The way that Jordan transformed both the game itself and the marketing of athletes will never be matched, and his on-court performances and competitive nature will never be seen again.

Sure, Bryant may have similarities and is set to pass No. 23 on the all-time scoring list, but his career hasn't been as revered as Michael's was.

It's natural to compare players and generations, but it's time to leave Michael Jordan's name out of such conversations, because, as much as we all want to see another one like him, it will never happen.

4. Alabama Will Always Contend Under Nick Saban

USA TODAY Sports

After watching this year's Iron Bowl between the Alabama Crimson Tide and their rival Auburn Tigers, I couldn't help but think that Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn had Saban's number.

Following the unthinkable victory that the Tigers had last season, Malzahn had his team leading Saban's Tide by nine points midway through the third quarter in this year's showdown.

Then, it happened.

Alabama rolled off 28 straight points on their way to a 55-44 victory, leaving me with one conclusion—under Saban, Alabama will always be a national-title contender.

So for all of those fans who think that maybe, just one year, the team will have a slip-up and go through some turmoil, it's probably never going to happen.

In a year where they were bringing in a new quarterback, brought in an egomaniac with a new offensive system in Lane Kiffin and had to battle teams in the powerful SEC, the Tide still found themselves in familiar position—atop the rankings as bowl season approaches.

Sorry, Tide haters, Saban reloads, he doesn't restructure—and he has another strong recruiting class coming in next season.

3. Athletes Will Let You Down

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Whether it's making a critical error in a big game, hitting "send" a little bit too early on social media or getting in trouble with the law, athletes will never be the ideal citizens—so stop thinking that they will be.

Rather than be upset or surprised when your favorite player lets his team and his fans down, it's time to assume that it's just going to happen more often than not.

Sure, some of these guys seem invincible, built to be flawless while playing a sport or dealing with the media, but, as we saw with that whole Tiger Woods fiasco years ago, no one is perfect.

It's when you make them out to be that you're going to be most heartbroken when they don't do something right, so it's time to stop assuming that they can do now wrong.

2. Refs Will Sometimes Make a Bad Call

Big game or not, refs or umpires are human and, because of that, are bound to make a mistake once in awhile.

No fan ever wants to hear or accept that—especially if a call goes against their team—but it's the facts.

Even if that official admits their wrongdoing, it takes zero solace in a fan's mind, with the game's outcome already decided.

We can complain or just realize that it's part of sports—I would recommend doing the latter.

1. You'll Never Have a Perfect NCAA Tournament Bracket

In the video above, a professor who is way smarter than I'll ever be at math explains just how difficult predicting the winner's of every single NCAA tournament game really is.

His analysis? It's all but impossible.

Is this really a surprise to anyone reading this right now?

Sure, we all think that we're smarter than the average sports fan and will, somehow, someway, mix a few Cinderella teams will a couple other upsets and bold picks that will wind up giving us the perfect bracket, but it isn't happening.

Even though we all see the $1 billion challenge each year, no one will come close to seeing that money—but, it's certainly fun to try.

My suggestion? Just stick to trying to win your office pool, where you have a much better chance.