One of the most captivating elements in sports is the role of spectator, of the fan. For reasons that are tough to pin down, we effortlessly suspend realities: the reality that the outcome of any given game doesn’t matter. The reality that our real-life connections to the players are virtually non-existent. The reality that we toil and scream and churn our stomachs and gnash our teeth ... and this has no effect whatsoever of the outcome of the game.
It’s as if that feeling of helplessness is addictive. A stark departure from our real lives, where making positive inputs should yield positive results (and vice versa), we allow our hopes to be fulfilled or dashed at the whims of people we’ve never met.