"Fan Fatigue"?

I would apologize for not regularly updating this blog with new posts as I had originally planned, but I know that the only person who cares or reads this blog or even remembers that it exists is me. So screw everyone reading this! Yes, this means you. Aww...wait, that's me. Damnit!

Anyway, Since my last post, Kobe officially got MVP and the Lakers won the Western Conference Semi-Finals and Finals. Now they're waiting on the Celtics/Pistons to finish their series (maybe tonight) to see who their opponent will be. It's looking like the Lakers could beat either one of them right now. Of course, most people outside of the Detroit Metropolitan area thought the same thing in 2004 when Kobe, Shaquille O'neal, Karl Malone, Gary Payton and the rest of the Lakers went into the Finals back then.

Anyway, though, with the Lakers so close to a championship, I'd like to discuss a subject that no one every really talks about. I'm talking about what happens to fans of championship teams. First of all, I'm talking about REAL fans. Not necessarily the ones who buy the expensive tickets. Not the ones that buy all of the paraphernalia that they can get their hands on. And certainly not the ones who root for the Championship team DURING championship runs (Hi Mom). No, I'm talking about the fans who come up with excuses for their bosses so that they can get home early to watch the game. The fans who, at the end of a disappointing season don't say "XYZ Team Sucks!" or "I don't know why I even root for them". But instead face overwhelming adversity (i.e. "My team just traded Pau Gasol FOR Kwame Brown") with underwhelming optimism ("Maybe we can get a big name free agent to come down here in the off season with his salary off the books"). I'm talking about those fans who stay up 'till 1:00 AM to watch their team play on the West Coast, or rush through those last two Final Exams to get home and watch their team play on the East Coast (those 4:00pm tip-off times are a killer!!!) Lowering your G.P.A. by .4 points takes a LOT more dedication than shelling out 3500 dollars a seat on a salary of 8 million a year.

So these fans spend the entire season - and for the NBA, one season takes a LONG time and a lot of energy - rooting for their team. They yearn for victory. They yearn for improvement! There's a constant push to do better, do more, do it again! The fandom becomes a part of their lives. It consumes them to a degree. Every loss, drives the yearning deeper, paradoxically turning fans into even more crazed, truer, ever-more-consumed by the team, uber fans. The rooting becomes a part of life, as essential as oxygen and the purple and gold (or insert team colors here) blood running through their veins. They come to expect it, rely upon it. Then, there comes a point when they don't know how NOT to root for their team. How NOT to yearn for more. How Not to expect something from the team. They need it everyday. So what happens when your team wins the Championship? Sure, you're happy! I mean, you just got exactly what you wanted, right? But there's another feeling. You know that you can't ask for anything more. And so that rooting, that yearning, that hope is gone. Suddenly and sometimes without any warning. And when it goes, it leaves a void that can't really be described in words, but I'll try anyway.

First there is an emptiness, like hunger, but when you're not hungry. Then theres a sense of loss, but not loss like you would feel if a family member dies, more like a puzzled loss, like you can't find your favorite pair of shoes that your grandfather gave to you right before he died and told you "Cherish these always and think of me when you see them". That's followed almost instantaneously by a feeling of shame for even feeling this way in the first place about something as trivial as a game - especially when you weren't playing the game, you don't really feel like that about other things and because your team WON the game! It's all very confusing at first and, I imagine, could cause some people to go insane trying to figure it out.

Now, let me lay it out there for you. I am an LA fan: Dodgers, Sparks, Raiders (before they left and after Al Davis is no longer associated with the team) Avengers, Galaxy, UCLA Football and, of course, the Lakers. Since 1983, those teams have won more than a dozen Championships of various kinds (oddly enough, none in the 90s, during my most formative years) so I am use to my team winning and use to expecting my team to win. And I have plenty of experience with theses feelings. In fact, the whole reason that I'm writing this is because with the Lakers so close to another title, I'm starting to feel it already, just a little bit. If the Lakers were to Lose, I would be full of hope and optimism for next year, even though I'd be sad that they lost. But when they win, I just know that I'll go through this phenomenon for at least a short while.

I don't think that there is a name for this, as most people either don't discuss it, don't even or acknowledge it or don't have this happen to them at all. But I'm sure that I'm not the only one who feels like this. I'd like to name it, but I'm not sure of what to call it. Any suggestions? I'm kind of leaning towards "Fan Fatigue". Though I would also hear an argument for something like "Championship Withdrawal". If you've taken all of the time to actually read this post, please take a couple more seconds and give a suggestion for a name in the comments.

By the way, I promise to have a full Finals analysis and prediction in before the Game one of the Finals next week.