LOS ANGELES -- Experience testifies it's not a particularly good idea to get bent out of shape by either alarming defeats or elating victories.
Those who get too high after a win or too low following a loss are apt to become emotional wrecks. Those who overreact one way or the other tend to look lame more times than not.
Yet many coaches, players and members of the media never learn the value of patience and perspective. Fans, of course, have license -- minus any liability or shame -- to freak out at the slightest hint of hardship or suggestion of a gained upper hand, and are always at their hysterical worst when the home team/opponent is wheeled into emergency.