This ought to sum up the life of a Philadelphia sports fan. It’s a paragraph from the AP’s coverage of the 76ers’ win over the Seattle Sonics:
Once a leading candidate to earn the most pingpong balls in the draft lottery, the Sixers instead are talking about the playoffs. The postseason is still a long shot, for sure, but thinking about it beats another dreary end to the season — only don’t tell that to Sixers fans who want their team to lose and get that No. 1 pick.
The AP is not making this up. My physical therapist has season tickets to the Sixers, and so I asked him if he thought that the team had improved since trading Allen Iverson. He said something to the effect of: “Yeah, and I’m not happy about it. I’m seeing defense, I’m seeing unselfish play, I’m seeing good decisions . . . and it’s ticking me off!”
I’ll be honest, I understand the logic. Sometimes you gotta tear things down to the ground and rebuild from the foundation if the goal is to get to the top, and small improvements can just fool you into thinking you’re better than you are. But still, it’s funny to hear people complaining about a team that doesn’t even have the decency to lose properly.