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The relationship between fans and their franchise is a tangled web of intricacy. For some, cheering for your favorite team is like a birthright; my parents were fans of this team, therefore I will be. For some, fandom is about geographical allegiance; I grew up in the area, and I’ll forever root for the teams near me. And for some, fandom is about adoption; a favorite player, the look of the jerseys, proximity to a television when the game is on. Why did you choose the teams you chose?
Wherever we come from as fans, we can find ourselves on the right night chanting with twenty-thousand other voices in the arena, hoping to turn the tide of a game. We can sit next to someone on a bus in a Minnesota Timberwolves jersey, and offer them a humble “Naz Reid” with a slight nod as we depart. We can also bring gasoline, matches, and a stack of newspapers into a comment section and make chaos ensue.
Fandom is a special part of society. But this season, something felt off. Combine the weight of preseason expectations, mortgaging part of your future to bet on the present losing fan-favorite players, and numerous no-shows against the worst teams in the league, and we had a volatile concoction that knocked some of the fun out of this franchise.
How does a fan go about regaining that joy? Is that even necessary?
On this week’s episode of the Dunks After Dusk Podcast, we work through five steps of therapy while tackling some of the bigger issues that arose around the team this year.
Episode Timestamps:
00:48 - FIBA Talk
5:58 - “We Run Deep” Jersey Reaction
8:30 - Toxicity Within the Fandom
14:58 - A Fan’s Right to Boo
24:45 - A Karl-Anthony Towns Conversation (recorded before KAT being ranked in the 55th-66th best player in The Athletic’s NBA Tiers - we’d have given him a little more love since being outside of the top fifty feels egregious)
35:05 - “Refs You Suck!” Chants
44:14 - Kevin Love Jersey “Burnings” and Anthony Edwards Setting a New Way Forward
57:06 - Ricky Rubio Well Wishes
To enter into this group therapy session, check out the Dunks After Dusk podcast on Apple and Spotify. We’ll be back next week with a head-to-head battle as we draft and unveil our Mount Rushmore of best Timberwolves jerseys of all-time.
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