The Unnatural Balance Between Fandom and Logical Thinking

When I write I try not to use I's and Me's; my articles aren't about myself. Today, however, I'm going to break my own personal rule, because I feel many of you may relate to this. I'm in a weird place right now, and I'm in said weird place because the New York Jets help put me there.

The term fan comes from "fanatic," best defined as a person with an obsessive interest in and enthusiasm for something, whether it be sports, politics, religion or a number of other activities. Nowhere in that definition do you see the word logic, and you never will.

Fans aren't logical. You aren't supposed to be. What's logical about a massive group of strangers banding together rooting for another group of strangers all wearing the same colored outfit, just because they might be geologically closest to where you were born or maybe because an older family member liked them first? None of it really makes sense when you break it down. But that's kind of the beauty of it.

Sports are an escape. A few hours a week football can help take us away from the doldrums and problems of everyday life, that is, of course, as long as your team is good. Sometimes—strike that—most times, your team isn't. And that takes us to the Jets.

At 2-10, Gang Green has little they can show fans to excite them at this point. The coach is likely gone, the quarterback, too, and the general manager, two years into his tenure, is likely on thin ice as well. This is a franchise starting over—again.

Yet week in and week out I see Jets fans in droves continuing to watch, talk and support (sort of) this team. A lot of them are angry, and rightly so at this point, and most can be irrational at times, which again should surprise no one. But you're all still there. The funny thing about sports is once you're in, you're never really out. Even if you might tell yourself you're done a thousand times, you'll always come back. It's a drug.

There is a large contingent of fans out there who feel the Jets should, for lack of a better word, tank for the remainder of the season, while others feel the complete opposite way. You can see the reasoning to both arguments.

Logically speaking, the best thing for the Jets, probably, would be to lose the rest of their games, finish at 2-14, and get the highest possible draft pick possible. "Suck for the Duck," referring to Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota, is a phrase I've come across recently. This is a franchise that will soon be hitting the reset button, and a high draft pick can play a big role in getting off to a good start in this newly approaching era.

On the other hand, as Jets fanatics, no one wants to see their team lose week in and week out. Not too complicated. Many of us loved watching this team knock the Miami Dolphins out of the postseason picture last season—god only knows how many times they've done that to us in the past—and I'm sure many would've loved to see them do that again on Monday night.

Fandom and logic—two ways of thinking, on the complete opposite sides of the spectrum, yet a pair of things many of us try to balance out on a weekly basis these days. As I type the keys on my laptop writing this piece, I still don't know whether or not I should be rooting for my team to win more games at this point... I mean, how deranged is that? These two ideals are constantly bouncing back-and-forth in my head. I see the pros, and the cons, to both. Which will win out in the end? Your guess is as good as mine. I suppose that's something left up to us, as individuals, to figure out on our own.