It's a fantasy that wide receiver James Jones could have returned to the Packers for the 2016 season, and yet fans were still surprised and disappointed when Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday that the Packers informed Jones' agent they wouldn't be bringing him back.
Now, being a fan isn't always an experience steeped in rationality, and fans don't have to think or comport themselves like general managers.
But most fans can mitigate their expectations or desires with the realities of compiling a 52-man roster and managing a salary cap, even if they are not bound by those limitations in the same way.