Sean Carroll

Chris Kaltwasser says, I'm sorry that the Sixers fell to the Knicks.

I was also disappointed by my Detroit Pistons.

And I appreciated you mentioning the amazing comeback that Detroit had against Orlando in Game 6, where they went into the half down by 22 points, but somehow managed to come back in the second half and completely shut Orlando down.

It's that game that I have a question about for you.

In that game, Detroit didn't just chip away at the lead, they completely obliterated Orlando in one of the most lopsided halves in NBA playoff history.

Which, by the way, they didn't win.

After a completely lackluster first half, I turned the game off again, and this time, however, I later learned that they had no ability to turn things around.

I was at least gratified that I didn't spend the second half watching a group of millionaires thinking more about their summer vacations than repeating their historic performance.

So my question is, would you have turned off a Sixers game if they were down 22 points going into halftime in Game 6?

So the Sixers were down to the Celtics.

I think it was game five, either game five or six.

They won games five, six and seven in their first round series against the Celtics.

And in one of those, they were down by a lot.

And if they had lost the game, they would have lost the series.

They're not down by, it was not nearly as dramatic as Detroit's turnaround against Orlando, though.

And I do think it's a very legitimate question.

And this is why I'm answering it, not because people care about Sixers and Pistons, but because there's a question of sports fandom and how to be a good sports fan if you're rooting for your team, right?

I am very much on the side, I said this before, but I think that modern sports fandom has been contaminated in part, I don't know whether it's because of betting or fantasy sports or just the internet or whatever, but

But too many fans think of themselves as fake general managers rather than as actual fans.

So rather than rooting for the team as it is actually constructed, they spend a huge amount of time complaining that the team is not how they would have constructed it.