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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-8, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Some fans have now started to root for losses so that the team can get a better draft pick. I can understand the reasoning.
"We get a better draft pick! It's better in the long term!"
As much as I understand it, I just can't bring myself to be happy with a loss. Every time the final seconds of yet another loss tick away, I'm disappointed. Once that game starts, I just want the Bucs to win -- and once that game ends, I want to look back and be proud (even though I had nothing to do with that win -- but that's fandom for you).
Over the past five years, two ultimately meaningless wins still stand out in my mind: last year's overtime win against the Carolina Panthers with the last heroics we will ever see of Josh Freeman in a Buccaneers uniform, and 2009's win against the Green Bay Packers, when an 0-7 team told the NFL that no, they weren't going to be winless this year. The joy of winning a game like that is a big part of why I (and I imagine many others) watch sports.
I want to be able to tell people that the Bucs are going to the Super Bowl just win a game and not have it be an exercise in self-delusion.
I won't tell anyone they're not a real fan for feeling any way about their team's performance. I'm just saying this for my own sake: I can't stand the losses. I will not be happy when the Bucs lose, and I will continue to celebrate any victory that comes the Bucs' way. Because I'm a Bucs fan, dammit, and I want the Bucs to win.