Sports simulate real life situations, or so the argument in favor of athletics goes. Athletes who play sports learn valuable lessons, like work ethic and dealing with adversity. The theory is that they can then apply those lessons to the real world and be better people because of it. 

Well, if that same theory applies to sports fans, then NC State fans should be the most prepared for life of all. 

When I arrived on campus for my freshman year two years ago, the attitude toward NC State athletics was one of tense hope. Fans were proud to call themselves Wolfpack fans, no doubt, but they were never about to predict their team to be a major player once bowl season or the NCAA Tournament rolled around. There was a singular voice beating down on me from all directions, saying, “They’re gonna let us down eventually.”

That was definitely   true in 2013-14, which saw the Wolfpack football team lose eight straight games to end the season and finish 3-9. The NC State baseball team came in with a bevy of future draft picks and were a one-and-done in the ACC Tournament. The women’s basketball team, a top-25 team for most of the season, lost three players to injury late in the season and could never recover to make a run.

Perhaps most crushing of all was the basketball team, which blew a 14-point lead over St. Louis in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, missing 17 free throws along the way.

2013 was a rough year to be an NC State fan, but everything started to change in 2014. The traditional Pack letdown was turning around. Sure, many of the teams had less-than-stellar stretches preceding their big pushes, but wow was it fun to watch them when they were bringing top-shelf athletics to NC State.

Is that scoreboard right? Is NC State really up 35-0 on UNC-Chapel Hill in Keenan Memorial Stadium? You better believe it. Couple that with basketball team’s 58-46 win in February and you have one amazing year against UNC.

There were some incredible moments from 2014-15. What was more fun than watching Wolfpack first baseman Preston Palmeiro fly around the bases on a walk-off Little League home run in the ACC Tournament against Miami? Who didn’t jump and scream like a madman when forward Beejay Anya’s hook shot dropped LSU in the NCAA Tournament?

There were some incredible teams from 2014-15. The Wolfpack swimming and diving teams won the ACC Championship and finished eighth at Nationals. The softball team reached the Super Regionals behind the arms of Emily Weiman and Courtney Mirabella and the bat of Renada Davis. 

There were also the lowlights that remind you why sports can take you so high and so low in the span of a season. There was the 41-0 rout at the hands of the Clemson Tigers in football. There was the tragic return of referee Karl Hess, who had to be the one to call off forward Trevor Lacey’s apparent buzzer-beating three-pointer. And of course, there was the baseball team blowing an 8-1 lead against TCU in the Regionals of the NCAA Tournament. 

These moments hurt, but that’s what makes the 2015-16 season all the more exciting. There are real reasons to believe now that maybe the Wolfpack won’t let you down: The football team has a chance behind quarterback Jacoby Brissett to be a factor in the ACC; national champion wrestler Nick Gwiazdowski returns for another year; the baseball team has a bevy of talent returning and a good recruiting class coming in; the women’s basketball team has a top-25 recruiting class for 2015. 

It will be weird not seeing Wolfpack staples like Weiman and Lacey come back, but the teams return real talent that can compete now.

So if you’re a returning fan of the Wolfpack, prepare for another year of highs and lows with the pendulum swinging more in our favor. If you’re just coming on board like I was two years ago, prepare for an education.