As we prepare for yet another season of Knicks basketball, it is only natural for the longtime fan to start building up the old coping mechanisms for the inevitable losses to come. My personal favorite is, “At least we have our first-round pick this year!”
Sports fandom does weird things to the human brain, which led SB Nation director (and Knicks fan) Michael Imhoff to seek out Murray State professor Daniel Wann for this helpful video on the psychology behind the attachment we feel toward our favorite teams.
How does it make any sense to invest so much effort into a competition, in which one side is bound to end up disappointed?