On being passionate

So...the silence was deliberate. All of my friends who are not Cavs fans are secretly laughing behind my back. I will finally say it: the Cavs lost. How could a season so perfect end in such a devastating manner? My pain resulting from the loss inspired me to think about a few things.

I am a black-or-white sort of person. There is no middle ground for me. I either LOVE or HATE something. For example, my friends who knew me during junior high will recall that I was really into the Newsboys, a Christian band. Everything that I bought or planned for fun involved the Newsboys in some way. During the past two years, my new obsession was the Cavaliers. I can rattle off loads of stats- height, rebounds per game, position, points per game, years in the NBA, etc. about each and every Cavalier. My mom jokes that I know what each player is doing every minute of the day. I would say that I invested quite a bit of time in the Cavaliers this year.

After the Cavs lost Game 6 to the Orlando Magic, I began to wonder about my commitment level. I honestly thought to myself, "I will never follow a sports team so closely again." But I found that I couldn't really just forget about something that I love so much. I went shopping at the Beachwood mall the other day, and of course saw all sorts of Cavs merchandise marked down throughout the mall. Naturally, I went over to the kiosk to look. I realized that I was cured when I started talking to the man working there. I said that I just couldn't believe how the season ended, and he just retorted [insert major sarcastic tone] , "Well, it's CLEVELAND." I was morally outraged, but I didn't say anything. I bought a few things (how could I resist 40% off?) and left, brooding during the rest of the trip. My definition of a fan certainly includes loyalty, a quality I rarely come across.

Now we come to the point of this whole post. I might be a little crazy with my Cavaliers fandom. But my experience has taught me an important life lesson. It is better to be a passionate, all-in fan and suffer heartache because of failure or betrayal than to be a mediocre fan who cannot find joy in victories. (even the small ones) I mentioned my carefully-drawn conclusion to my mom. She compared my passion about my interests to a marriage relationship. You cannot just give up when something goes wrong or when you feel betrayed. The real reward is when you stick with something and refuse to throw in the towel. I know that when the Cavs win the championship, I will be one of the happiest fans because I saw the importance of...faith, I guess you could say.

That's all I have...for now. For all you NBA fans, see you in October.

Keep the faith Cleveland.