FC Barcelona La Liga Celebrations: My thoughts on Barcelona's Three-peat

Last night I and a group of friends gathered to celebrate FC Barcelona's three-peat. We discussed how FC Barcelona winning league has become so habitual and how this has accustomed us to taking a prestigious achievement for granted. Most people drink to escape from reality but scotch, in a measured and celebratory occasion, has the opposite effect on me. So last night as I drank a glass of Green Label, I came to a conclusion. La Liga is, depending on time, the hardest title to win and the easiest to win. That in itself, makes it anti-climactic and gives you a hollow feeling when it finally arrives. What creates the hollowness is that our expectation is skewed by individual perceptions of FC Barcelona's chances of winning, in relation to the competition they face, and finite memory. These all collude to generate such a dull feeling.

At the start of the season you might be optimistic and hope your team wins the league. If things go bad maybe pessimism will arise, but for the most part your happy and satisfied with the weekly regiment. The weekly regiment is exciting at a game per game level but, if FC Barcelona keep racking up victories, the weeks fuse into a giant blur of victories. What these victories do is skew your perception, and FC Barcelona become expected to win every time. That is why when FC Barcelona loose, such as Copa Del Rey, it's such a big story, because your perception is shattered and is readjusted when an expected outcome isn't achieved. That's also why later, many were saying Mourinho had the upper hand after stifling FC Barcelona in the first two Clasico's. When something out of the ordinary happens it creates doubt, but continuity builds confidence.

Above all else, what perhaps adds to this view is that Barcelona is expected to win every time unless its RM, because most sides are terribly managed and the fact that its a duopoly controlling this league doesn't add to your expectations. Therefore, fans expect Barcelona to win every game or most and perceive Barcelona's chances of this as very high because the competition faced, is very low. Baring the unusual twist of fate and shabby officiating, for the most part, Barcelona's skills can't be matches by any other team in league. This view of the competition as inferior thus adds even greater credibility to perceiving that this league is FC Barcelona's to loose.

Memory is also a treacherous little thing, if you have plenty its not a problem because you can see the big scope in seconds, if its small all you see is the present. That's the problem, the fact they won it against Levante is not as exciting say if they won it against RM. People are captivated by the moment because memory is fleeting, and unless the occasion contains reference points to associate with it, it'll be forgotten. For example, fans of this Club generally remember beating United in 09 for the Champions League but most don't remember beating Valladolid for the league title last season. No ordinary fan can probably remember against who FC Barcelona won La Liga last season because the competition wasn't seen as a challenge and the perception then was that victory was already FC Barcelona's. Everyone remembers beating United because they perceived, in relation to the competition, that Barcelona's chances weren't very good. Hence when they actually won, their mental constraints towards FC Barcelona were broken and since the name of the opponent was so glorious, it became part of the memory.

Thus since last week the expectation for our clubs third league title was not much because the perception was that we already had this one in the bag, only time stood in our way and it was counting down the inevitable. If your made to wait a week knowing you need 1 point out of 3 games when your record of winning is so good, it just makes it seem inevitable. The fact that your competition for that point is Levante well, like I said, it feels destined!

This thus is what I mean about being the hardest and the easiest to win depending on the time. Hardest because of the effort required...easiest because it gets to a point where its perceived to be guaranteed. It doesn't give you the same excitement as a final, where its one game and in that game your hopes and dreams can be lost. La Liga seems like just another good night’s sleep instead of a dream come true or a hellish nightmare. FC Barcelona's consistent good form against opponents that cannot match it's skills leads us to feel that La Liga is ours from round one. However I for one am glad that the players do not think as fans and that they do win for me, for all of us, and for themselves. If the players actually had the same mental constructs as most of us fans do we wouldn't even have the privilege to be saying, "I feel nothing for their victory." Complacency of that nature in a squad like FC Barcelona, would infect them with the false sense of entitlement that would ensure their demise. Instead we would be writing perhaps how we wish they would have won and analyzing what went wrong.

I don't feel nothing for their victory, in fact I feel joy that they have won it for me their fan and for all of you who love this club as well. I feel proud of their domination of Spain for three years and yet still look so unchallengeable, I feel proud of their tenacity and their never ending quest for glory. What makes me feel the greatest joy as their supporter is the hate and envy that this title brings from others who desire our good fortune. This allows me to appreciate what this team has done and see why I can't neglect something others envy due to its greatness. The reason I feel such way is because when I retrospect and then think of today, this is nothing but a flash in a pan and at any moment this brilliance can be extinguished by anything out of the unexpected. The Copa del Rey loss more than demonstrates why we should appreciate the glory while we can, especially since the uncertainty of a final for the fourth European cup looms so near. I don't want to wake up the day after a potential loss thinking I didn't enjoy my team winning and feel like I took everything for granted. But I do want to wake up the day after the victory thinking I enjoyed every part of the history. In everything I wish FC Barcelona success because I am their fan for life and when they win or loose, part of me shares their glory and their sorrow.

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