‘IT IS NOT EVEN A CHOICE. IT IS A COMPULSION. ADDICTION DOES NOT HAVE RATIONALITY AT ITS HEART’
like it? Flush it down the toilet. Sell it off. Exchange it for something better. Buy a new one.
Over the course of a lifetime of sporting fandom (even for supporters of immensely successful teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Brazil in football and the West Indies and Australia in cricket), there are more moments of disappointment than joy. Every fan recognises this. He recognises, too, that feeling miserable is part of the deal. But riding the misery and sticking with it the real deal. You suddenly cannot choose to support another team. The covenant you have made with a certain team is too hard to break. (Unless you are an oligarch and can buy a team of your own and back it.)
There is only this or nothing. And nothing is so much worse.