Selected Passages
Selected passages
Fandom can be communal, yes. But sometimes, it's the most private thing in the world Note: Like Avodas Hashem
Hockey fans, in my experience, don't care in the least if you like their sport, if you want to like it. Great, but they're not going to go out of their way to convince you. For pickleball fans, though, it MATTERS. Pickleball fans are like the ten-year-old kid on the diving board asking everybody to watch them.
The Ghostbusters complain that the Team of Evil is cheating and the game should be forfeited, the umpire simply says, "But evil cheats. That's its nature. It does whatever unscrupulous or immoral thing it has to to win. That's why we call them 'evil.'"
But the Court of Nostalgia stinks, because the judges in the Court of Nostalgia never revisit their verdicts.
The single most boring argument in sports: Who's better, LeBron or Jordan? So stupid. So pointless. Such a waste of everyone's time. So let's argue about it. The answer is LeBron. He's significantly taller and stronger than Jordan. He guards every position on the floor. (Basketball Reference lists his position as: "Small Forward Power Forward, Point Guard, Center, and Shooting Guard.) Jordan was a better pure scorer, no question. LeBron is a better three-point shooter, a better passer, a better rebounder. He has won four MVPs and finished in the top five for MVP voting fourteen times. Jordan acolytes drop their mics with the most reductive of all the reductive stats: MJ went 6-0 in NBA Finals. So what? LeBron has won four titles and been in the finals ten times, dragging some truly terrible teams to a silver medal teams that had no business being there at all. (Look at the roster for the 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers, who were swept by the Spurs. It's LeBron and a bunch of dudes who would've gotten cooked in an over-forty YMCA rec league.) The pro-Jordan contingent conveniently forgets all the years Jordan's teams washed out of the playoffs. Jordan was the best to ever do it when he retired, but now the GOAT is LeBron, easy.
There is nothing in the world quite like watching a master do something simple. Some of the greatest thrills of my life have included watching legendary shortstop Ozzie Smith take infield practice.
So I asked my wife, JJ, a TV writer, why she thought TV characters inspire such intense Fandom. "To me it's because of the collaboration," she said. "It's because all those writers pooled all their stories into one character, so the character gets the benefit of a ton of different viewpoints and anecdotes and experiences."
They're just super fun to watch. I was actually thinking this last night: When they lose, I'm this sad Linda holds her finger and thumb a half inch apart]. But when they win, I'm THIS happy [she holds her arms as far apart as they can go]. So it's a great deal for me! Note: How following sports are for me these days
People always talk about how it's the game without a clock, so it's a bit cliché. But it's true: You always have enough time in baseball. That's one of the things that has always separated me from basketball and football. I can't tolerate games that end with dribbling or keep-away, or kneeling. No. All terrible. You should have to win by winning. You should have to win by doing something. That's why baseball is superior. Because no matter what, you can't win until you get the final out. You cannot run out of time. I think that's what makes baseball story rich.
The other day, when the Phillies had that walk-off hit, I said to one of the other Phillies fans: "I had honestly started to think that nothing good could happen." And that applied both to that specific baseball game and to my team in general and in the world, right? I don't ever want to be misunderstood as if l'm saying: "If your baseball team wins, that makes up for horrible things going on in the world." Not true. However, I do think it is important to activate the part of your brain that is happy about something. And to keep that part of your brain active and alive. And even if it's a little bit artificial compared to so many other things, I think it's really important to activate those brain chemicals, really important to remember that sometimes things are fun and exciting. Sometimes, I can feel excited and happy, said Linda