When your team wins, you must devote several hours the next morning to consuming all media you can find. You must watch every highlight, read every column, trash-talk your guts out—all while in a state of pleasant delirium that results in you accomplishing zero actual work at your job. This is part of the ritual.
Playoffs are meant to destroy you, and as such, playoff games should only be played on evenings you have school or work the next morning. This means no Friday or Saturday night playoff games, which don't even feel real because they do not carry the threat of ruination.
A game does not end with the final out or horn or whistle. When your team loses, you perform the bad version of the ritual. You are strung-out and seething, studiously avoiding mention of the game except to engage in commiseration.
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