Being a sports fan is a little like gambling.

Before I continue with this, let me just say that I do not have a gambling problem. I don’t even really know how to play poker. GOT IT?

Anyway, back to the analogy. With sports, you win some and you lose…a lot. That’s just the way it is. Your team isn’t going to win the championship – or the pot, if you will – every year. Even a team like the New York Yankees, who have won a whopping 27 World Series titles in their history, won’t win it all every season.

If you’re a particularly loyal fan to a certain team, it’s almost like you’re a gambling addict, especially if this particular team can be categorized as ‘bad’. No matter how many times your team lets you down; you keep coming back to the table and throwing down your chips. You keep getting pumped up in the offseason and counting the days until Opening Day, because for you, this team is worth it.

What makes it worth it? It’s all about the moments. It’s about the moments when your team causes you to jump up and down in excitement, or even cry with happiness. These moments make all of the bad times worth it. They remind you why you invest so much of your time, money, energy and emotion into a group of athletes who play a simple game.

I’ve had a lot of moments like these in my time as a Reds fan, but my defining moment came in late September of 2010. It is the most dramatic memory I have of my team…by far.

I had just started my sophomore year at Tufts University, and for the first time that I can remember, the Reds were actually good. In fact, they were really good. I mean, the anchors on SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight were actually using airtime to talk about the Reds. That NEVER happens! They had a budding star – and soon-to-be 2010 N.L. MVP – in first baseman Joey Votto, greatly improved pitching, and a rock-solid defense anchored by veteran third baseman Scott Rolen, who was arguably the heart and soul of the team.

With the regular season wrapping up, the Reds had a great lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the N.L. Central Division. On the night of September 28, they were playing the Houston Astros in Cincinnati. A win would have clinched the division championship. It would have been the first Reds division title that I can remember (their last came in 1995, and I was too busy being four years old and adorable to pay attention to the Reds. So sue me.)

So what did I do while the game was on? I went to the gym.

Yes, you read that right.

In my defense, I did not have a subscription to MLBTV at the time. So, it would have been difficult for me to find a way to actually watch the game. But it wouldn’t have been THAT difficult. I could have found a sketchy, super illegal website to stream the game from, or simply followed the game pitch-by-pitch by using MLB.com’s “Gamecast” feature.

But no. I figured that lifting weights would be a better use of my time. Silly 2010 me.

Right before I left the Tufts gym, I checked the score on my iPhone and saw that the two teams were tied heading into the bottom of the ninth, with power-hitting Jay Bruce coming up to lead off the inning. There wouldn’t be enough time for me to get back to my dorm room and find a way to catch the at-bat, so I simply tried to stay calm and starting walking (briskly) back to beautiful Hodgdon Hall with my friend and fellow “gym rat” Peter.

I wasn’t 20 feet from the gym exit when I heard my phone ring. The caller ID showed my brother, Joe. In my experience, 99.9% of my phone calls received from Joe during Reds games were happy ones. So, as you can imagine, I liked the odds here. My heart rate increased as I cautiously answered my brother’s call.

What followed is a little blurry. I can’t give you an exact play-by-play because I found myself caught in a haze of joy and excitement. What I do remember is that after my brother told me – or rather screamed to me – that Jay Bruce had hit a walk-off home run to clinch the division championship for the Reds and secure a trip to the playoffs, I lost my damn MIND. Just ask Peter. The poor guy probably thought I was a nutcase. I started jumping up and down and screaming with unbridled joy, right in the middle of campus. Did I care if people thought I was a total weirdo? Hell no!

Breathless, I listened as Joe held up the phone to the TV so I could hear longtime Reds radio announcer Marty Brennaman’s call of Bruce’s big fly. Brennaman’s words were literally music to my ears. After Joe and I reluctantly ended our phone call (I could’ve talked to him for hours that night), I could only think about doing what any diehard Reds fan would do once I got back to my dorm: pull up the highlight of the home run on my computer.

I didn’t waste any time. As soon as I opened my door, I made a beeline for my MacBook and opened the Reds website. My heart rate rose even higher than before as Bruce connected with the first pitch of the ninth inning from Astros reliever Tim Byrdak, sending it over the wall in center field and pumping his fists as soon as he left the batter’s box. The rest of the team mobbed Bruce at home plate, and I would’ve done the same if I were there. As Bruce was sprinting around the bases, I cried tears of joy for the first time in my life as a Reds fan, and I sure am not afraid to admit it. I must have watched that highlight about 27 times that night.

I can surely count more frustrating moments than happy moments in my life related to the Cincinnati Reds. Just that same season, the Philadelphia Phillies swept the Reds in the first round of the postseason. You know what happened in my first-ever Reds playoff game? They got no-hit by Phillies ace Roy Halladay.

But it’s moments like Bruce’s home run on that September night that make it all worthwhile. Moments like that make you realize why you devote so much of yourself to a sports team like the Cincinnati Reds. Given their history and the nature of sports in and of itself, the chances are that this Reds season will end in disappointment. If it does, I will absolutely be devastated, as will my brother.

But will I still tune in on Opening Day 2014, decked out in my Reds gear and sporting an enormous smile? You’re damn right I will.