I've been avoiding my favorite NBA team
Confessions of a miserable fan of a tanking team
My friend from home (Memphis) texted me this week and asked if I was going to the Grizzlies-Nets game at Barclays Center.
I typed back: I don’t know who those people are. Wrong number. Don’t text back.
(No, I didn’t. She is a great person who very casually follows the NBA and has no idea that the Grizzlies are intentionally losing.) And why should I tell her? It would be like telling a Jewish child Santa isn’t real. Okay cool, but why ruin my vibe? It’s not like I was idolizing the dude. I just wanted to have some fun.
The truth is, her text made me confront an uncomfortable reality: I’ve been avoiding the guys. AND LISTEN! I am not going to allow you to let this invalidate my fandom. If anything, it’s a testament to how sick my fandom truly is. I cannot acknowledge this team’s existence right now, because then it would force me to confront the soul-crushing reality that it’s really over.
I’m not an idiot, okay? I didn’t go into this season or even last season, after years of guns and injuries, thinking this team was gonna be raising the Larry O. But it wasn’t like it was impossible. And okay, and even if it probably wouldn’t be this season — why not next?! Maybe we were just one piece away. Or, like our old friend Bruno Caboclo, five years away from being five years away — when Zach Edey turns into Shaq with a three-ball and Ja is the picture of health and prosperity and Jaren is grabbing rebounds like he’s Rodman.
I tweeted once: “Is your mental health directly correlated with the success of your basketball team or are you normal?” Some might think this was a cheeky hyperbole. But sadly no, it isn’t. For those of us who have been irrationally investing emotional stock into a chosen sports team since we were too naive to know any better, those words ring painfully true.
Emotions are why sports are fun! Not gambling, not analytics! The silly, irrational joy or wonder you can feel from watching a group of guys dribble a basketball is too beautiful to pass up. I wouldn’t change this part of my identity even if I did have a choice.
But the downside is that watching them without any hope feels dreadful. I don’t care if it makes me a “bad” fan. I still check in on the guys! And eventually, when this painful moment subsides and the team can really begin a new chapter, I will go back to watching every game. Developmental seasons can be fun, under the right circumstances. I watched 70+ games of GG Jackson and Vince Williams leading a depleted team. I even watched the Jordan Farmar era, or the Russ Smith era, or whichever of the 28 players the injury-plagued Grizzlies employed in the 2015-16 season you wanna devote the era to.
But tanking while the player who was supposed to carry your franchise for the rest of his career dreadfully sits on the bench with an ambiguous injury after you unsuccessfully tried to trade him is kind of as depressing as this thing gets. (I know that it technically isn’t. The Luka trade is. Or better yet, what happened to Tyrese Haliburton last season is, if we really want to get literal with it. I still feel so horrible for him, and still think about how much that must haunt Pacers fans.)
But back to me and my fandom, since that’s why we’ve gathered here today.
As a wise prophet (Taylor Swift) once said, "Wanting was enough. For me, it was enough. To live for the hope of it all…”
Because that’s really what it’s about, isn’t it? That small flicker of hope emanating from a sports team that might look meager to outsiders can keep a fan of that team warm for an entire season. When even that small shred of light is lost, sometimes a girl simply has to choose her mental health and watch the Charlotte Hornets on league pass.
Great read and interesting to see a different perspective as mine. I tend to like sports because of analytics rather than emotion. It's fun to break things down in that way. I have an emotional connection to the Grizzlies as a team, but this I never gained that with this roster.
And I will say that I had a very strong emotional connection to the GnG Core Four era. Before them, it was cool, but guys like SAR, Pau, etc. never really got me too invested. But man, the way the GnG guys played ball got me excited. It was beautiful how they played old school and the most constricting defense in the league. TA is my favorite player of all time, I could watch him play defense for hours. ZBo in the post when the post game was dying out. Marc being the perfect smart skilled two way center who did everything right. Mike growing into a great PG with these misfit vets.
I never felt that same emotional connection with the previous core. Don't get me wrong, I liked Ja, Jaren, Des, DB. It was super exciting when we got the two seed way ahead of schedule and were the hottest most exciting young core in the league. But they couldn't come close to replacing the GnG team for me.
When Jaren was traded, it didn't come close to when we let ZBo and TA walk, even though it was the right basketball move. My first thought was to check the return and dream on the picks. And Jaren was actually my favorite guy to watch on the team.
Being more analytic, I'm just rooting for a loss every game now. We have some nice pieces, but they're mostly all role players. Ced has a shot to be special, but he's most likely not a #1 unless he hits the 95th+ percentile projection.
Another good one.
First, as a fan, you should take a break from teams that make you miserable. I follow too many garbage fires ball clubs and schools to list here and have had to take breaks to keep sane from time to time from all of them after it the enjoyment goes away.
Second, this team is nearly impossible to watch in the fourth quarter. I know what's coming with 5 minutes to go, so when they get down by two scores, it's time to walk away. I enjoy seeing the kids get run outs and I want to see development from GG, but that is usually done by the start of the third.
I hate to watch a zombie team stumble through the rest of the season. I may tune away for a while during the NCAAs. But sooner or later, I'll be back. After all, I have tickets in two weeks and moving them will be like moving Enron stock.