Let’s face it, 99% of fans have irrational thoughts in regards to sports. If we didn’t we’d have nothing to really root for. Why should I watch the NFL this season if I don’t think the Jets will be any good as a Jets fan? Why go to Madison Square Garden to watch my Knicks if I think they’ll be terrible? Why would I ever root for a team that I don’t think is going anywhere? Maybe the Jets will make a run at the Superbowl (like they did in 2009). Perhaps the Knicks will score the eighth seed and make the Finals (like they did in 1999). We have Carmelo Anthony, a top five player in the league and unstoppable offensive threat with Phil Jackson behind the scenes. So why not us?
Those last few lines, those are the irrational thoughts. If someone’s telling you Carmelo is a top five player in the NBA right now, there’s something that goes beyond logic in those thoughts (since he’s clearly not). But at least those thoughts are consistent. You might be wrong in making those assumptions, but it’s what you believe as a sports fan, so there’s nothing really wrong with that. You would be hard pressed not to find a sports fan that didn’t have some bias somewhere. The most recent example I’ve seen was on an internet forum. A Minneosta Timberwolves fan had talked up the greatness of Ricky Rubio and thought that when Kevin Garnett returned Minnesota was suddenly going to turn around and win a lot of games. The first part can be debated. The second part was laughable.
The key word is consistent. That Minnesota Timberwolves fan was obviously wrong about Garnett even before Garnett suited up for his first game back, but at least it’s something he believed to be true and wouldn’t go against it unless visual evidence reared its head. The point of this article is to point out those who take both sides of the coin. The one example I saw today involved Geno Smith and his season crippling fight with a Jets teammate. Articles are using titles such as “Jets Season Doomed”. The premise isn’t wrong. The Jets season can be doomed for sure.
The issue is that these same articles and blogs shit on Geno Smith for pretty much every minute of his two season career. So which is it? Does Geno Smith suck (and thus the Jets season was doomed anyway) or was he good enough that his injury doomed the Jets? Despite arguments being made for both, it can’t be both. It’s logically impossible. You can make arguments for one, but when you argue both you’re not making any sense as a sports fan. Let’s call this the “Taking Both Sides of the Coin” Theory.
The greatest example of this (that I can think of in the moment) involves the Miami Heat from “The Decision” to LeBron’s return to Cleveland. The player specifically in question was Chris Bosh. Here were the two sides of the argument.
Side 1: LeBron is a coward in joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for the Big Three. The Heat are a superteam. It’s not fair. Etc.
Side 2: Chris Bosh sucks. Chris Bosh is overrated.
It is fine to take one of those sides…but so many took both and thus were examples of the “Taking Both Sides of the Coin Theory”. The Heat were a superteam but Chris Bosh sucked? Well which was it?
And yes, I had this same issue come up in the 2015 Finals. In the same breath, I was told how LeBron joined another superteam but Kevin Love sucked. Well…
Which one is it?