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By Ta-Nehisi Coates
On a recent episode of the
Ever since James made the rather idiotic choice to leave
But logic and reasoning largely miss the point here. Is there ever any true logic or reasoning to fandom?
Forgive me for migrating over to football, but I think the point will hold true. I became a
Sports narratives strike me as a kind of modern mythology. We see the players as the gladiators of our cities, as champions for our small nations, and thus, emblematic of something about us. But very little of this is literally true. I don't know that the
More than that, the mythology that fans invest in teams and players is not strictly of their own making. Owners and players peddle it to them, and encourage them in their tribalism. It's not clear to me that the
From that angle, it's easy to see how "The Decision," the subsequent dance party in Miami and the mocking of Dirk Nowitzki would all fit into a narrative of James'
"All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the
James should hope not. The whole point of sports is an escape from "the real world," and he profits from the escapism. I suspect that had the
I don't think there are any objectively "real" reasons for hating LeBron James. But I'm not sure there are any objectively "true" reasons for rooting for any team. Fanaticism is an irrational business rooted in the story. And on that measure, it's hard to not feel some (perhaps illogical) warm feelings for
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Fans, Fanaticism and the Passion of LeBron James