Have you ever bought a car or negotiated anything?

At first, you see the original price and you aren’t happy at all. You then send back a lower price, and the company pretends to be upset but ends up lower the price.

There is a pull and tug until eventually, both you and the car dealership are a little unhappy, but the price is technically doable.

That’s what it’s like to watch Illinois football.

At first, you turn it on and are excited about the game. You know what you want to see. You’ve already test-driven the Illini. You know how it feels.

Then they start playing. The results are not what you want; this is the negotiation. You are deciding whether these guys are worthy of your business.

And then they begin to lose, which is the part of the deal that begins to go sour. Nobody is happy.

The fans are mad, and the team is disappointed they let you down. They want to secure the deal but don’t know if that is quite possible.

But they turn it around and secure the deal. This is good, but the back and forth takes its toll.

Opening up Saturday’s game losing to Connecticut of all places was tiring.

This summer, I did an internship in Connecticut,  where I met and trash-talked UConn students. Then, the Illini began to lose to the Huskies.

I promptly turned off the game. I was ready to let my deal with the Illini go sour. It wasn’t worth it. I talked a big game and I could not, in fact, back up.

I have no idea what happened between the time they were losing and when they are winning it.

I had actually completely left the house. When I walked back in the door, Illinois was up and Trevon Sidney was on-screen.

Being a superstitious person, I continued to not watch the game because when I watched it initially, we were losing, and as soon as I turned away, Illinois began to win; therefore, if I wanted anything positive to come from the game, I had to not watch it.

Not to say I had anything to do with the negotiations that brought the Illini to victory, but I didn’t watch and now they are 2-0.

Negotiations can be as simple as fan-team relationships, which are vital and taxing, but in the end they pull out the victory, and everybody’s happy.

@tati_perry14

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