Life is filled with nuance and compromise. Luckily, Kevin Wildes has sorted through it all for our feature, Winners and Losers.

I’m a Red Sox fan, and I was a little happy when they lost.

That shouldn’t make any sense. It only makes sense because deep down in a New Englander’s gut, right next to the pancreas, lies a fondness for losing.

It’s not something I’m necessarily proud of, but I’ll admit it is there. (Also in this category: My Dukakis tattoo.) I don’t know why it’s there. Maybe it’s nostalgia from when I was a kid and my favorite teams were horrible. Maybe it’s because heartbreaking losses are the dips you need on the emotional log flume that makes sports fun. Maybe it’s a government implant.

Whatever the reason, when I sat down to write this blog post I thought: “Let me see what other New England-centric things I’m supposed to hate but I secretly love.” So without further adieu …

Things New Englanders Claim to Hate But Actually Kind of Love

• Losing
• Raking leaves
• Injuries incurred from raking leaves
• Whitey Bulger
• Hard-to-get-at lobster meat
• Having nine L.L. Bean catalogs
• Del’s business plan
• Bess Eaton’s business plan
• Mosquitoes
• Itchy sweaters
• Mariano Rivera
• Shoveling snow
• Breaking a snow shovel
• “Having” to go buy a new snow shovel
• Jellyfish
• Foxboro traffic
• Wearing two different gloves because you somehow lost a glove even though they have a clip
• Wade Boggs on the horse
• Waking up every day and going to that construction job that Ben Affleck had in Good Will Hunting.
• Pumpkin-flavored __________ (Sorry. That one was actually for next week’s column — “Things New Englanders Claim to Like But Actually Kind of Hate.”)
• Tate George’s ponzi scheme
• The seagull that swooped down and stole your lunch
• Getting firewood in slippers
• Black Ice
• The Babe Ruth sale

Related:
A Running Diary of Game 162
Red Sox Nation: F@#$ These Guys

Kevin Wildes is a Coordinating Producer for ESPN. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinwildes.

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