I have had such a warm welcome to posting at BE, I thought I'd ask you a question that I often think about and wish I could discuss. It is this: would you rather be a fan of a team that is on the rise (or at least appears promising), makes the playoffs, and has say around a 10% chance of advancing to the Finals and around a 10% chance of winning it (given they make it to the Finals, so a 1% chance overall) EACH season for 6--8 seasons, OR be a fan of a team that is amazingly good for two years, has aging veterans that clearly won't last long, and will win the championship at least one of the two seasons and advance to the finals both times? What if in the former case there were a 0% chance of winning it all?

My choice is below:

I'd much prefer the former. In fact, I'd prefer it even if they were never going to advance to--let alone win--the Finals. To me it's much more exciting to be in the hunt each year and at least have a chance (mathematically). It makes each game worth following. It's hard to invest attention in a season when you know the team has (essentially) no chance: that's why I quit caring about closely following the Mariners, even though I grew up in Seattle and was always a big fan.

I actually don't care very much whether my team (ie, the Blazers) win the championship. I just want them to be in the playoff race so I can listen to the regular season games and treat them with the excitement that meaningful games provide. What about you?