That's one reason I envy lifelong or older fans. I never really cared about baseball. I became a baseball and Red Sox fan in 2002 when my father took me to a game he got free tickets to. I fell in love with it all by the end of the game. The consequence of this, though, was that I had no chance to inure myself to disappointment. Yes, the very next season was an awful blow, but they were still in the ALCS. Last season was the first time in my mere decade of fandom that the Sox finished under .500. They'd missed the postseason in my first year as a fan, and a couple times since, but never as badly as 2012. Most fans had years of s***** or mediocre teams to remember and cushion the blow. I had ten straight seasons of, if not great, at least competitive baseball.