Tonight the surging Padres open up a three game set with the first place Diamondbacks of Arizona. According to Baseball Prospectus, the Padres are all but eliminated while the D-Backs cling to a 3 game lead over the faltering San Francisco Giants.
Ethical Dilemmas
It was mentioned on twitter that it might be preferred to see the Padres get swept by Arizona on account of the detrimental effects that the San Francisco Giants would absorb under this scenario. So do we root for our Hometown 9 to lose this weekend just to savor Giant failure?
Will Leitch, the creator of Deadspin, wrote a book called God Save The Fan in which he opines on the ethics of fans rooting against their own team to improve upon draft position. You'll have to purchase the book to get the full rationale but, in short, he's against it. As a fan you have one responsibility... to cheer for your team to win!
I am in agreement with Leitch. To wit, I rooted for the Chargers to win their final game last year even though there was nothing to be gained but pride. A loss however would have bumped the Chargers up in the drafting queue. Forget that. Wins are what matter.
But what about rooting against the Padres to win a series... or to get swept for that matter? Is this ethically acceptable? I do not believe it is.
However it pains me to say that I would not be opposed to the Padres getting swept this weekend if it meant that the San Francisco Giants would get screwed because of it. I will not actively root against the Padres tonight or on any night and it is my hope to see positive gains from the young players moving forward . . .
But it's nice to have silver-linings available as August comes to a close.
What about the other option: rooting for your favorite team not to make incremental improvements to appease fans or to "save face" during an offseason preceding what is sure to be a down year during a long rebuilding process? I root for the Padres to win because I'm a Padres fan. But I do not care for them to frivolously throw away money on stop gaps that will cost them money in the short term and draft picks in the long term, all under the guise of improving the team in a meaningful manner.
ReplyDeleteAccept your fate and use your resources to improve the infrastructure of the franchise instead of dressing up a pig in lipstick. That's what's kept the Royals the Royals and, conversely, why the Devil Rays are now the Rays.
How very 2% of you.
ReplyDeleteThey are my back-up team. And Jonah Keri IS a dreamboat.
ReplyDelete