Fanatic

The funny thing about memories is that some are so damn vivid that you can recall exactly where everyone was seated as the moment went down.

It was May 8, 1970.

The final score was on the screen:

New York 113 Los Angeles 99.

The Lakers...with Wilt and West and Baylor had lost.

I remember crying.

I recall my father telling me to basically 'suck it up.'

I was only 5 years old.

Of course, the Lakers won it all in '72-'73 and had a 33-game winning streak and Dad took us to a Braves-Lakers game in the middle of that streak...so I felt a lot better...but that score on the screen...has been forever burned into my memory.

We were watching the 'Nova game last week.

My boy Sam is more of a 'Nova fan than he is of any other team...Yankees included!

"Are you nervous?" I asked before their game with N.C. State.

"Nah, they got this."

Except they didn't. They struggled all game long...and I watched my boy suffer the tension.

The game came down to one final possession...and Ennis missed a wide open 3.

'Nova had lost.

I can't explain the disappointment I felt for my boy...but it was a lot like seeing:

New York 113 Los Angeles 99

I didn't tell Sam to suck it up.

In fact, I didn't get a chance to say anything right away because he left the room.

He returned 15 minutes later. His face was still sour, but he was going to be okay.

We watched the very next game.

"The thing about sports," I told him "is that your team usually doesn't win. It's hard to win. There's nothing you can do about it."

Yet being a fan took a really weird turn a little later in the week.

The Sabres were playing the Coyotes in Buffalo.

When the Coyotes scored to win the game the Buffalo arena erupted in wild cheers of celebration.

Figure that one out.

Folks...wanted their team to lose...so they could be honored as the worst team in the sport...and get the first pick next year.

Weird.

And the debate rages on across the city.

Should a team be cheered for being awful?

"Are you happy the Sabres lost?" I asked my boys.

"It'll be good if they get the first pick," they said. "But I'd rather they actually were cheered for being good."

There's an idea.

Rewarding failure.

Someone has to change that.

But it's the life of a fanatic.

I only get emotionally invested in one team though.

The 27-Time World Champion Greatest Franchise in the History of Organized American Sports.

Do I have to say their name?

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