Phantom Losing

Via Sully we see THIS ARTICLE re: the comfort of a losing team providing pain and loss without us actually feeling or losing anything:

Teams like the Cubs give people a safe space in which to lose. Fans get the benefits of commiseration without incurring any real costs.

One of my earliest blog posts ever said the same thing, that sports allow men to be emotional (even to the point of tears), without having to deal with anything "real":

Plus, another reason we give ourselves a pass and allow some emotion is that in the end, MOST of these moments don't really matter to us personally. Therefore, they're not so real to us as to be as either sad or happy as they would be in "real life." I get emotional thinking about Jimmy V's speech, but I didn't actually know him, he wasn't a friend of mine. So I can allow some waterworks to flow without having to worry about the floodgates crashing open and my life being turned upside down.

Most people, particularly those who've experienced actual pain and loss, always know it's just a game.