There are three scenarios that have me emotionally involved when I’m watching basketball (or any other team sport). One, I’m watching a game of a team I support. Two, I’m watching a game of a team I want to see lose, in particular against a clear-cut underdog. Three, I’m watching a projected lottery team outperform expectations to the extent the analyst elite looks silly. I’ve had all three this week in spades.
On Monday, Bayern Munich got kicked out of the DFB-Pokal by Saarbrücken, who are currently in 15th position in the third league. What made that particularly sweet is that before the game, Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel went on record saying the journey to Saarbrücken will probably be more arduous than the game itself.