Is it Ok to Root for Your Team to Lose?

I was watching ESPN’s Get Up and they were talking about an interesting question that every sports fan occasionally has to answer.  The question was, “Is it ok to root for your team to lose?” I’m here to tell you the answer is absolutely it is.  If you are a true fan of a team, your number one concern is that your team wins. You want them to win games, but above that, you want them to win championships.  So whatever it takes for your team to bring home trophies is what you ultimately want. And a lot of times, for that to happen, your team must lose. They must lose and have absolutely miserable seasons that make you reluctant to even turn on the tv and watch the games.  That’s because as soon as that dreadful season is over, all of your pain and suffering is rewarded by the draft. Now, this is not as much the case with the MLB because prospects are so hit and miss, but is definitely the case with the NBA and NFL. The more your team sucks, the better of a chance they will obtain a franchise-changing player who will ensure you won’t have to go through such misery again for a while.

As a Charlotte Hornets fan, I’ve endured many, many tough years…especially when they were the Bobcats.  Every year when the draft lottery and the draft rolls around, those are like holidays for Hornets fans. The excitement leading up to the 2012 NBA draft was like no other, because us Hornets (then Bobcats) fans fully expected to get Anthony Davis…until we were robbed of that, but that is another story.  So while the 2011-2012 NBA season was winding down, Bobcats fans had to make the choice: Should we root for a meaningless victory tonight against the Sacramento Kings, or should we root for another loss to get us even closer to receiving a franchise-changing player in Anthony Davis? The choice is pretty simple and it’s the latter one.  Sometimes you must lose the battle in order to win the war. It doesn’t make you any less of a fan.