One of the worst feelings in life is that of impending doom, the feeling that something bad is about to happen and you can do nothing to stop it. You’re at a crossroads, you still think that you can change an inevitable outcome. But it still happens. After all, that’s how inevitability works.

We come to these moments in our life frequently enough to notice them. But that inescapable dread lingers each time you remember such a moment.

Rivalry week is one such moment. In its aftermath, half of its participants are left pissed off and wondering why they even care. Heartbreak can be a cruel thing.

Michigan

For some of us, rivalry week is a recurring nightmare. There’s no escape from the 365-day experience that these rivalries are. Everywhere you look you are reminded of that day. It happens and happens again. It will happen again.

Not only can you not fight it, you cannot run from it. Fate has come for you, and will come again. The reaper pulls back his hood, revealing his wretched face. It is Ryan Day, and he rears his head back, cackling in delight. You wake up, unable to breathe, drenched in sweat. But he’s still there, cackling like a goddam madman.

Alabama

Who cares.

Minnesota

Just when things got better. Not only was there light at the end of the tunnel, you had reached it! You were there, in the sunlight sobbing in rejoice. PJ Fleck had delivered you from evil.

There was a moment of sunlight. It is now gone. Never has a ten-win season been so dreary. As the snow fell, Jake Coan had one of the best games of his life. The day itself was fitting. The cold, unforgiving landscape of the Big Ten West cares not for your dreams. It cares not for your hopes or your love. It kills, and still it wants. Just when one streak was ended, a new one was born.

Michigan State

For some, the despair has come but has yet to go. State’s game against Maryland was a staunch reminder of what the shape of the program is. Clinging to their bowl hopes, Michigan State found a way to beat a lifeless, terrible Maryland team. At 6-6, the Spartans will go bowling. Wooooo.

There is…

Always next year. No day should ever look as good as tomorrow. Like Jay Gatsby’s green light, there is always hope and longing for a better day, the next day. We’ll run toward that day with hearts full of hope and wonder. 364 days will come with new triumphs and new heartbreaks. Everything will pass until we find ourselves here again, searching for answers.

It is human nature to hope for the best. A healthy human mind assumes that the best is surely ahead of us. And maybe it is. But rivalry week always brings an inescapable feeling of despair. It magnifies everything else in our life for better or worse.

It’s a silly thing, to care about sports so much. Yet, we do it. For no reason other than to pour our emotions into an outlet that feels safe for us. So we’ll sulk in defeat and rejoice in victory. And we’ll certainly win that big game next year. And so it goes.