Stanford fans recently followed a wonderful basketball team with a great coach and excellent players. Stanford's WBB, 2020-21. Now, with a new season, in terms of fan fun, would you prefer that the women's basketball team is truly great or really good? A strange question, you might say? I don't think so.
If you follow a team that you think is truly great, you watch every game with the expectation of victory. You may get pleasure out of your great team's fine execution, which very often will resemble an execution of lesser opponents, but you will not get much pleasure out of the expected win. See, e.g., the 1927 or 1998 Yankees, the 1974-75 or 2014-15 Warriors, the 2013-16 UCONN Huskies. After your great team's victories, the sensation is more relief than joy, and after the team's losses, your sports day, especially at a season's end, can be awful. See, e.g., Stanford 1997-8 and 2000-01. Today, the #7 Cardinal's WBB win over #4 Indiana elicited many negative comments about the team's but few expressions of happiness.
If you, in contrast follow a team that is only really good, or, even better, really not good, you watch every game with no expectation of victory and maybe one of defeat. The unexpected victories are true gifts. The 2021 Giants immediately come to mind. They were supposed to be awful but their core of aging players decided they would be good: so, they were. Of course, if you followed that team closely, you had a wonderful season of over achievement. You hated to see the loss to the Dodgers in the National League Championship series, but you had to admit, the year was for a true fan really good. The Stanford teams that over achieve, even if in only a few games, are a treasure. My own favorite Stanford victory has to be Stanford v. USC in 2007.
However, even the Stanford fan who favors an unpredictable season, with unexpected wins, knows that -- in contrast to great teams or good teams -- a really bad team is not fun. Still, Stanford football in 2021 did beat USC and Oregon..
If you follow a team that you think is truly great, you watch every game with the expectation of victory. You may get pleasure out of your great team's fine execution, which very often will resemble an execution of lesser opponents, but you will not get much pleasure out of the expected win. See, e.g., the 1927 or 1998 Yankees, the 1974-75 or 2014-15 Warriors, the 2013-16 UCONN Huskies. After your great team's victories, the sensation is more relief than joy, and after the team's losses, your sports day, especially at a season's end, can be awful. See, e.g., Stanford 1997-8 and 2000-01. Today, the #7 Cardinal's WBB win over #4 Indiana elicited many negative comments about the team's but few expressions of happiness.
If you, in contrast follow a team that is only really good, or, even better, really not good, you watch every game with no expectation of victory and maybe one of defeat. The unexpected victories are true gifts. The 2021 Giants immediately come to mind. They were supposed to be awful but their core of aging players decided they would be good: so, they were. Of course, if you followed that team closely, you had a wonderful season of over achievement. You hated to see the loss to the Dodgers in the National League Championship series, but you had to admit, the year was for a true fan really good. The Stanford teams that over achieve, even if in only a few games, are a treasure. My own favorite Stanford victory has to be Stanford v. USC in 2007.
However, even the Stanford fan who favors an unpredictable season, with unexpected wins, knows that -- in contrast to great teams or good teams -- a really bad team is not fun. Still, Stanford football in 2021 did beat USC and Oregon..
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