one of the most interesting phenomenons regarding human nature towards sports is the act of rooting for your personal most hated team to lose. or rather, when watching a sports game, that you're rooting for the team you hate MORE to lose. or rooting for the team that just knocked your team out of the playoffs to lose. instead of rooting for the team you like more to win.

well, i'm here to tell you, STOPPIT.

to be quite frank, it's childish.

why?

no longer do you care about the enjoyment of the game.

you're exhibiting the desire that "if i can't have my team get a championship, neither will you."

and quite frankly, this desire is satanic in nature.

ever since Satan fell from heaven, he has sought to replace God. he also has genuinely sought that if he can't stay in heaven and must suffer, all other humans(who i guess he believes are even less righteous than he was, and even less of a creature than he was) must suffer too.

starting to see why i dislike this attitude so much?

i mean, i could be taking this a bit too far, but i don't believe that.

i'm not saying you have to like the team that just sent your team into the offseason.

or your most hated team.

but grow up already... if you really don't notice, this attitude detracts from your enjoyment of the game, b/c it's no longer about a good play or good sportsmanship... it's simply about the end score and whether the team you hate looks terrible.

so you're asking, what's the difference between rooting for the team you want to win vs rooting against the team you want to lose?

your attitude. whether you view plays as awesome b/c the player on your favored team is that talented, or whether you view plays as awesome b/c the player on your hated team looked like a klutz. etc.

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the other interesting phenomenon i guess i would say about sports is when your favorite team gets knocked out, ppl who write about it in online journals completely stop talking about the sport in its entirity. haha. but not me i guess.

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anyways, while i don't exactly like having the heat as the eastern reps as opposed to the pistons, i've kinda gotten over it. to the heat's credit, they've managed to find their offensive stroke, and i think their defense is for real. still don't like the fact that they had to get walker and williams(as both aren't good defenders), but i guess those are just personal pet peeves. that, and riley's brilliant coaching has more-or-less made them a team to beat. plus, i do like dwade and mourning. on the flip side, avery johnson has continued to show just how great of a coach he is. and dallas has continued to show how it is the deepest team in the league right now, plus, i love how dirk's evolving into an all-around player(i've felt this season that dirk had the potential to become the best center offensively if he could master some post-ups, and he's shown it). i also like josh howard.

i do like the matchup of mavericks vs heat. the mavericks smoked the heat in the regular season, but the heat have become that much better now. of course, i'll be hoping the mavericks win, but i'm not going to be that enbittered if the heat win. after all, dwade and mourning are really great.

if i was coaching the mavs, i have a lot of versatility as to how i want to take the heat apart, offensively. i could either put dirk at the 3 pt line since he is so hard to guard, and hopefully draw shaq and mourning out to the 3 pt line. that would free up the middle for terry, harris and howard to slash and do their thing. or, i give the ball to dirk in post and hope he draws fouls with shaq, or if doubled, kicks out to a plethora of 3-pt spot-up shooters. i personally like the 1st more.

heat of course, rely mainly upon their superstars. dallas has improved defensively, but they're not a lockdown defensive team yet. give the ball to shaq and wade, let them create by getting into the middle and then pass. then again, this is the heat's offensive gameplan every game lol.

if mav's improved defense holds up and they don't lose focus(they're prone to mental lapses in some games), i predict that the mavs will win in 6(they'll get all home games, grab the 5th game after they lose focus for 2 games and avery suddenly gets on them, then come home and win it). if not, heat in 6(heat will grab the 1st game showing they are for real, lose the 2nd game at home when avery gets on them, win the remainder)

if mavs win, mvp will be dirk(he will be highly responsible for getting shaq and 'zo to the 3 pt line). if heat win, mvp will be dwyane wade(mavs have slightly better big defenders than perimeter defenders; however, dwyane has not found any real counterdefender to him in the postseason).