In response to my season preview, a reader, RH Rivera, writes:
i prefer RA. team is more fun to watch. Van Gundy has never won anything either. I care more about watching a fun team that plays hard and makes the postseason regularly than winning a title.
It’s a topic better suited for Scientific American than ESPN TrueHoop but one of great personal interest nonetheless: what drives our passion to view sports?
I’ve always been one to prefer the sense of ‘true contention,’ holding that three seasons of total irrelevance followed by one with serious title chances is a more desirable scenario than four seasons of mid-seeded playoff berths. But with this worldview, haven’t I reduced sports to something extrinsic to its essence, pursuant of a cynical end? Is the point of sports winning or enjoyment?
The latter scenario is probably better for business…until total apathy sets in.
