Fansided

What do I root for when there’s nothing to root for?

By Andrew Tobolowsky

Nov 23, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Justin Anderson (1) leaps to keep the ball in bounds during the second half against the LA Clippers at the American Airlines Center. The Clippers defeat the Mavericks 124-104. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 23, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Justin Anderson (1) leaps to keep the ball in bounds during the second half against the LA Clippers at the American Airlines Center. The Clippers defeat the Mavericks 124-104. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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How do you root for a bad team? What do you watch, when your team is bad?

You may say that it’s hypocritical for me to have cared so much when LeBron James teamed up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, and not to care very much when Kevin Durant joined the Warriors. For one thing, it’s pretty likely that these Warriors teams are better, maybe significantly better, than those Miami teams were.

Maybe you’re right, although it’s impolite of you to say so. But the real reason I cared so much in the first situation and so little in the second is that my team was really good when the Heat were good and now it’s really bad. Worrying about a superteam when you’re a SuperBad Team, starring Jonah Hill and the inimitable Michael Cera, is like worrying about which billionaire is getting fancier caviar when you’re searching car seats for quarters for that extra value meal.

Read More: The Dallas Mavericks offense is falling apart

I really want to stop talking about tanking, and I can’t stop talking about tanking, but I’ve always thought part of the appeal is that always being on the come up means deferring disappointment as long as possible. Other than when the Mavericks won the championship, the sports happiest I’ve ever been is when they surprisingly defeated the Stockton and Malone Jazz in 2001 in the first round before getting quickly bounced in the second. After that there were expectations, and you usually disappoint those. In the early days of Rome, the Carthaginians had hopes too. When empires begin to fall, all that happens is you get stabbed by a Visigoth.

So I guess what I’m talking about is living in the land of empire after the empire. It not only doesn’t matter to me that much how my own team is doing, it doesn’t matter to me how the good teams are doing. Let the Dubs and Cavs kill each other, what’s it to me and my team? My vision has shrunk to a pinprick – I am very interested in whether Justin Anderson is showing signs of growth, a subject that can be of no concern to fans of any other team. I am navel-gazing, and in my navel mediocre young players have become future champions.

When I look up at the rest of the league, in the skies where they live, I do like what I see – can Russell Westbrook really keep doing this? What will KAT turn into? When will I stop pretending Porzingis isn’t great just because of my immediate distaste for anything that happens in our nation’s biggest media cities?

But I suppose that I watch, if I boil down to the heart of the matter, much less than I used to watch. I don’t watch the standings, because they don’t matter, and I don’t watch the games that determine who’s in them, where. It’s not so bad living behind the boom, and I don’t mind the quiet. I’m sure that one day, another conquest will call.

Or perhaps not.

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