Rollercoaster ride? Yep, probably. That seems a reasonably accurate assessment of a season of Himalayan highs and Dead Sea lows.
The highs – two comeback wins against Carlton, the thrashing of Collingwood on Anzac Day, three against-the-odds victories in Perth and Adelaide – were as exhilarating as any I can recall, yet there was always that awful shadow in the background after the Bombers self-reported issues with their supplements program back in February.
Click here for the full coverage of the Essendon supplements scandal
And the lows were terrible, but generally related more to off-field revelations than poor form on the park. The players were amazing until the four-week slump late in the season that said much about the emotional pressure they were under.
Sadly, the booing of Jobe Watson after his admission that he had been administered what he believed to be the contentious anti-obesity drug AOD-9604 became emblematic of the season.
This wasn't the choreographed jeering of pantomime villains like Stephen Milne and Hayden Ballantyne, but something altogether more visceral. The smell of blood brought out the worst in some supporters and mob mentality ruled. It was no longer a pleasure to go to the footy.
In such situations, you tend to fall back on black humour. Accusations that players had been injected with an unknown substance reportedly sourced from Mexico were clearly appalling, but also verged on the ludicrous, and the only sensible response from supporters seemed to be to laugh. It stopped you from crying.
So it was that many supporters who attended the North Melbourne match that followed the revelations wore 'south of the border' garb. Even the cheer squad's run through shouted, Olé. And the sight of two sombreros being waved from behind the goals as a target for Joe Daniher as he lined up for a shot was one of the perverse highlights of the season. Naturally, Joe missed.
The biggest Essendon chat site, BomberBlitz, crashed several times during the course of the saga, and discussion threads on ASADA were shut down on a number of occasions because of the nature of some of the comments.
The credulous, and they were many, were gulled by self-important, self-promoted insiders who pushed the fantasy that all would be well. As this piece is being written, there have been almost 73,000 views and more than 2300 comments since the penalties were handed down. Most contributors, understandably, are shattered.
The media's role in this sorry affair needs scrutiny. In my opinion some reporters crossed the line between journalism and conducting a campaign, with agenda-driven commentary masquerading as news reporting and verging on vendetta. Few have emerged from this with much credit.
And it's a strange world when even a media stakeout becomes a marketing opportunity, with the reporters, cameramen and sound recordists camped outside AFL House in recent days fed a diet of pizza and takeaway in return for appreciative Tweets referencing betting companies and fast-food outlets.
As for the penalties, the long softening-up process ensured they were no great shock, to the point where a draft pick at the end of round one next season feels like a victory. The saddest thing was James Hird's capitulation after all the Supreme Court bluster and despite lawyer Julian Burnside's after-the-fact defence. This was something no Essendon fan had seen before.
Hird's role in the affair, to this fan, was at best dubious, with the most illuminating evidence being the emails exchanged with football manager Danny Corcoran in which he seemed to dismiss internal questioning of the supplements regime as the work of luddites and fuddy-duddies. Still, he remains the best player I have seen in the red and black, and my one-eyed self will count the days until he returns.
As a paid-up Essendon member of 38 years standing, I'll sign up again next season, even though my prevailing emotion now is one of emptiness. Maybe rather than a rollercoaster, this year is better summed up by the lovely phrase the Sherpa people of Nepal have for trekking in the Himalaya – little bit up, little bit down.
