Mid-Life Cardinals......errr,...crisis

oaken1

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greetings fellow redbirds fans.

I have been scarce lately because life throws loops and I dont always catch them. I recently turned 52 and for some reason have become obsessed with death and dying. It scares me, to the point of bringing me to tears a few times.... but I am getting past it.
Life has two halves. The half you are born in and the half that you die in. unless I am going to reach 105 I am firmly planted in the half I die in.

that got me thinking about the redbirds and you guys. Many of you have been fans longer than I have even lived...........winning a championship before I die had always been kinda a joke to me before... but now it has become a serious concern. I am surprised at the sense of urgency that I feel for this team to win. win big, win now.

for any of you older fellas whom I may have made light of in the past I apologize. I didnt realize how serious that sense of urgency really was.

with all that TMI ******** out of the way it brings me to this....

are we ready? Is this going to be our time to ride the waves of victory? Will we make it to the big game three times in a row only to bounce off the great wall of mahommes every time we get there?

This season doesnt look highly likely, but what do you think we need to do next off season to add the final touches for a run?? a particular player? Or just a position?

and lastly,...if covid causes issues with this year, say they only play 8 or 10 games, but we manage to sneak in to the playoffs, get lucky in some high flying air it out shows...and somehow pull out a Lombardi in a season that will forever be an asterisk...
would you be cool with it?? Would it satisfy your need for a championship for it to be in a tainted season?

off the cuff Im gonna say hell yeah.... but a clean season would be better.
 

cardpa

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Oaken, you are too young to be thinking about that stuff. As long as you take care of your self, you should have many years to go yet. I'm going to be 65 before too long and I am looking forward to many more fun years. Positive thinking and all the good/great possibilities ahead are where you want to be.

As far as the Cardinals, we had one Super Bowl and I hope another is down the road. Fate will decide that.
 

JeffGollin

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The outbreak should teach us one thing - our sense of "what's real" can be overurned with the ease of flipping of a light switch.

For that reason, I suggest that you take whatever comes and "play it as it lays." Ask yourself how many seasons the Cardinals looked like a playoff shoe-in only to have injuries and other "luck" derail the best of plans.

Maybe this season will be our season and we'll make the playoffs because some Niner, Ram or Seahawk player drops an easy ball.

I'll take it. (The unpredictably of the sport is, to paraphrase Herm Edwards - "Why we play the game"). Consider the alternative.

Sincerely,

An 81-year old Cardinal fan who thinks about living or dying every day of his life.

PS I'll take living every time.
 
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RugbyMuffin

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greetings fellow redbirds fans.

I have been scarce lately because life throws loops and I dont always catch them. I recently turned 52 and for some reason have become obsessed with death and dying. It scares me, to the point of bringing me to tears a few times.... but I am getting past it.

Good man!

Stare right into the face of oblivion until it does not phase you. I went through this early. 12 to 15 years old......I was a strange kid and way too smart (too smart in a bad way I think some times, all hail the pig in poo), but I digress.

What I learned, is not to obsess over your mortality. Life gets you mentally prepared for death or just snatches you away and if you never see it coming or are not awake for it, then well, then that's that. The day I realized I did not want to live forever, was when I realized that eternal youth sounds pretty cool, but eternal life? I saw my grandparents go through hell, and tell me that they "lived too long" near the end. Thus the mental preparation you are given through life to be "prepared". I could go on and on.

At 15, I finally stopped trying to see the issue from afar and got right up in its face. Cried, sleepless nights, crippling nihilism, you know, the works. Its funny, but you almost grieve for your own life, and once you go through the grieving process your life is not as much "gum drops and candy canes" as it once was, but you are more comfortable in your mortality. AKA you get used to having that oblivion/death/end of life/transition back to your stardust roots with you. I got tinnitus 3 years ago, the process was very similar....but at least you can stop thinking about mortality, that ring never goes away, flippin' bastard! LOL.

How did I finally get out of the hole? Easy. It was really simple. I do not believe in any modern day organized religion. I believe sex and death drives us.

Sex? Well that is easy. I am a straight white male, and a good like Selma Hayek looking woman is good motivation to up in the morning.

Death? Jeff Gollin hit the nail right on the head. You life because it sure as hell beat the alternative that is waiting for us all anyway.

Life, ALL LIFE, is beautiful. It takes so much energy and time and balance to produce, that I believe it should be respected always. Yet, it cannot exist without death.

I have a HUGE warning for your Oaken. You may find yourself searching for more information on this kind of thing. It is FASCINATING, but you can go down a rabbit hole. A good rabbit hole, but it goes on and on.

Quatum Physics, the Big Bank, the Even Horizon, the actual AGE of things. It all goes to find our source code as biological machines. Our biological vessels that carry our conscience, and how within that vessel our conscience and thoughts come about. Astrophysics and Quatum physics have A LOT to do with out own beings, how we came to be, what we are, etc., etc.

Then when you realize that pre-mesopotamian cultures, and some after that time, where rooted in astronomy and through that practice of looking at the stars and universe we all came from, created their civilizations mantra's and "religions" you see how some of their beliefs are more rooted in what is physically here in front of us gives more insight on what we are here to do, or why we are here at all.

As I said, extremely fascinating. I could go on, but it starts to get WAY farther out of social norms, and acceptable social norms talked in public.

Its funny, what I was once scared to look into opened up a lot of fascination and interest.

Regardless, be well my friend. You are here now, and regardless that most humans concentrate on the bad that surround us, the beauty of life is all around us. That emotion and passion that has come up through looking at one's mortality, can be used to see the beauty that is life and appreciate it a little more (not that you do not already or any of us do not already).

Next time you go for a hike in the woods you may find it a little different in a good way. Thanks for the topic that I can babble about. Be well.


that got me thinking about the redbirds and you guys. Many of you have been fans longer than I have even lived...........winning a championship before I die had always been kinda a joke to me before... but now it has become a serious concern. I am surprised at the sense of urgency that I feel for this team to win. win big, win now.


Its just football. It is not that big of a deal.

It was after the Superbowl loss that I came to the realization I may never see a championship from the Cardinals. Is what it is, just football, and we got to experience one of the best Superbowls ever!

Plus, when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup later that year? I appreciated how special that was way more.
 

Harry

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Well as one of those old guys, losing is frustrating. Made worse when the team is okay with losing. I’ve never been able to look at a season when the a Cards had the attitude of going all in. It’s ironic they won the championship the year I was born. Since then they were close once. Even then in 1947 they only won the division by 1 game. Kurt Warner got them there by fighting his way through the playoffs. The exciting Cardiac Cards won more games and could have competed for a championship if they'd have been willing to spend money to get a sound defense. They had a handful of good defenders but not enough. They were offered deals that might have made the difference but wouldn’t give up draft picks that were cheaper players. The question always was do they owe it to their long suffering fans to go for it just once?
 

mjb21aztd

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Hope u feel better man

I've been feeling a bit depressed cause my job has ceased operations for a while and getting bored not working i know the feeling

I'm praying for football and nba reopening to atleast pump me up in that way

Good feeling mojo to all in this community :)
 

SissyBoyFloyd

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Death. The horror of nothingness! No thoughts, no feelings, no seeing all the beauty of the world, no reaching out and touching a loved one, no caring, no joy, no happiness. Pure nothingness for all eternity. Oh the horror of it all. Death, the great equalizer. No matter who you are, what you've done, what your have. It all means nothing. Your dead. You don't exist. Just like you have never been born. Pure emptiness for all time. Dark cold nothingness awaits us all forever and ever.

Sleep good my children for the end is near!
 

GuernseyCard

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Death. The horror of nothingness! No thoughts, no feelings, no seeing all the beauty of the world, no reaching out and touching a loved one, no caring, no joy, no happiness. Pure nothingness for all eternity. Oh the horror of it all. Death, the great equalizer. No matter who you are, what you've done, what your have. It all means nothing. Your dead. You don't exist. Just like you have never been born. Pure emptiness for all time. Dark cold nothingness awaits us all forever and ever.

Sleep good my children for the end is near!

Well, I'm a Leap Year baby and still in my Teens.

My only worry is that my parents don't understand me.
 

DumboD

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I've been a Cardinals fan longer than you've been alive. I love the team and follow them through the good and bad seasons, no matter how they turn out. Remember, it's still just a game. I won't feel any better about my life if the Cards win the Super Bowl before I'm done. I hate to see anyone take it so seriously that it interferes with their quality of life. How the team plays is one of those things in life you can't control. But if it will make you a more satisfied individual, then you're certainly entitled to make a Super Bowl as important as you want.
 

40yearfan

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Oaken - as a friend of mine once said, "There is ONE bright spot to turning 50. You know you won't die as a young man."

I believe everyone goes through what you are experiencing now. When you realize you are not immortal and will actually die someday. As you get older, the anxiety will diminish and you will start living your life as if every day might be the last one. Life is fragile and totally unexpected things can happen. The old adage of live, love and make merry applies here. I was going to say if that make merry is make Mary, make sure your wife doesn't find out, but that probably isn't appropriate in this forum.
 

40yearfan

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Death. The horror of nothingness! No thoughts, no feelings, no seeing all the beauty of the world, no reaching out and touching a loved one, no caring, no joy, no happiness. Pure nothingness for all eternity. Oh the horror of it all. Death, the great equalizer. No matter who you are, what you've done, what your have. It all means nothing. Your dead. You don't exist. Just like you have never been born. Pure emptiness for all time. Dark cold nothingness awaits us all forever and ever.

Sleep good my children for the end is near!

Another 20 or 30 years and even that won't be pertinent. As a friend of mine once said, "Give me liberty or give me death." Sadly he got both wishes.
 

MadCardDisease

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Another 20 or 30 years and even that won't be pertinent. As a friend of mine once said, "Give me liberty or give me death." Sadly he got both wishes.

For a second there I thought I was becoming one of the old farts on this board. Thank god 40 is still here! I was worried since you haven't been around lately.

Although the name 40yearfan probably doesn't do you justice anymore. You should probably change your name to 60yearfan at this point.

:thumbup:
 

Cardsfaninlouky

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Oaken - as a friend of mine once said, "There is ONE bright spot to turning 50. You know you won't die as a young man."

I believe everyone goes through what you are experiencing now. When you realize you are not immortal and will actually die someday. As you get older, the anxiety will diminish and you will start living your life as if every day might be the last one. Life is fragile and totally unexpected things can happen. The old adage of live, love and make merry applies here. I was going to say if that make merry is make Mary, make sure your wife doesn't find out, but that probably isn't appropriate in this forum.
I turned 50 this past new yrs eve, I was born 12/31/69. I figured 80 was a good life so I've been half dead for 10 yrs now lol. I did get to see the Cardinals in the SB, something I actually prayed to God for many times as a teenager but it didn't happen for a good while lol. As far as when my time is up on this earth, I just stop thinking about it whenever it enters my mind. I know that sounds rather simplistic but that's what I do & it works for me.
 

Cardsfaninlouky

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Let's just all enjoy life one day at a time, laugh, smile, enjoy family & live every day to the fullest, not thinking about the end.

Maybe, just maybe our Cardinals will bring that Lombardi trophy to Arizona soon?
 

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