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Declining interest in Basketball

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DirtyDan

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The Cavs became my passion when Lebron made his decision. It was my introduction to the world of basketball and it broke my heart. Lebron leaving created this emotional investment in seeing this team win a title. I watched religiously during the tanking years (Can't believe Ryan fucking Hollins is semi-relevant in 2019). Going on a rollercoaster with trades, drama, regular season slumps, Blatt fired, and then the pinnacle of that 2016 title.

Main point: I don't love basketball anymore. I have a hard time staying invested in the Cavs and the NBA hasn't been interesting in years.

Does anyone feel the same? The Cavs were my obsession, but now I just rather read about them on RCF rather than watch games. I got my fix and now this connection is fading away.
 
The Cavs became my passion when Lebron made his decision. It was my introduction to the world of basketball and it broke my heart. Lebron leaving created this emotional investment in seeing this team win a title. I watched religiously during the tanking years (Can't believe Ryan fucking Hollins is semi-relevant in 2019). Going on a rollercoaster with trades, drama, regular season slumps, Blatt fired, and then the pinnacle of that 2016 title.

Main point: I don't love basketball anymore. I have a hard time staying invested in the Cavs and the NBA hasn't been interesting in years.

Does anyone feel the same? The Cavs were my obsession, but now I just rather read about them on RCF rather than watch games. I got my fix and now this connection is fading away.
Yea, that's what happens with every passion. Time for something new.
 
Yea, that's what happens with every passion. Time for something new.
Very simple but true post. As you get older you want to try new things and if you are not entertained it is hard to invest thousands of hours into a season . I will say I am pretty excited to watch the Cavs young players. Now one sport that has lost tv ratings over the past 30 years is mlb. The amount of games and length of games is not a great mix for the casual fan going into 2020 and beyond. Yes there are millions of die hard s who are 35 and older who love mlb and it will always be popular in Boston New York and St. Louis, but both attendance and tv rating nationally are on a steady slow decline.
 
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Yea, that's what happens with every passion. Time for something new.
The Browns are my sports passion now and have been since they drafted Mingo (don't remember when that was).

It's because I'm young and haven't noticed this feeling with other interests before. That and Cavs section of the site has seemed really quiet over the last year.
 
The Browns are my sports passion now and have been since they drafted Mingo (don't remember when that was).

It's because I'm young and haven't noticed this feeling with other interests before. That and Cavs section of the site has seemed really quiet over the last year.
Most of the posts are now in the studio. Due to poor quality of the regular forums there probably was not a good amount of new posters there.
 
I think Cavaliers vs. Warriors and the Warriors in general have kind of hurt basketball viewership and interest over the past few seasons. Now that the Cavaliers are rebuilding and the Warriors aren't the powerhouse of the league anymore, I think you'll see interest and viewership pop up, especially since both LA teams are title contenders now.

Chicago, Dallas, and New York being ass for the last few years doesn't help things either.

The NBA is as open next year as it has been in half a decade. The Cavaliers are going to suck and I'm still excited for the season.
 
I'll always be passionate about all Cleveland teams, nothing is ever going to change that.

That being said, I haven't been "passionate" about the NBA as a whole in quite a while.

I haven't watched a non-Cavs game since Bron left again.

I haven't watched an NBA game not involving the Cavs or a potential Cavs playoff opponent in even longer.

That being said, with the league shaking up quite a bit, as @Stark alluded to, I might check it out this coming season.
 
I'll always be passionate about all Cleveland teams, nothing is ever going to change that.

That being said, I haven't been "passionate" about the NBA as a whole in quite a while.

I haven't watched a non-Cavs game since Bron left again.

I haven't watched an NBA game not involving the Cavs or a potential Cavs playoff opponent in even longer.

That being said, with the league shaking up quite a bit, as @Stark alluded to, I might check it out this coming season.
It's hard to enjoy the regular season as is with how long and meaningless it can be. Then add in GS killing playoff basketball.

I'll admit it will be better this year, but it's definitely not going to stay this way. The NBA will always be an arms race and who ever has 3 or more allstars wins.

I'll always love the Cavs. 2010-2018 was just a really fun and intense ride, but those feelings have passed and I'm becoming a deadbeat casual fan.
 
If we can take in some perspective:

This downturn was scheduled years ago. While the NBA world is championing the work David Griffin has done this summer, in Cleveland he created a window of winning that disappeared over a year ago. The return for a few extra considerations during the end of the window prevented the Cavs from trying to win for two seasons. What we are left doing is reloading, yet not winning in order to retain draft considerations. It's rough to experience, and Griffin isn't left holding the bag at all for his decisions.

Enjoy the Browns, it will all be cyclical.
 
If we can take in some perspective:

This downturn was scheduled years ago. While the NBA world is championing the work David Griffin has done this summer, in Cleveland he created a window of winning that disappeared over a year ago. The return for a few extra considerations during the end of the window prevented the Cavs from trying to win for two seasons. What we are left doing is reloading, yet not winning in order to retain draft considerations. It's rough to experience, and Griffin isn't left holding the bag at all for his decisions.

Enjoy the Browns, it will all be cyclical.

I'm just hoping the cycles can mirror each other rather than run parallel. Knock on wood, it looks like that may be the case if the Browns can really take off this year as expected.

Between the Indians, Browns, and Cavs, I just want one team to be able to look forward to the postseason every year haha
 
I’m a middle-aged sports fan now. As @Randolphkeys alluded too, it’s cyclical (even if the Browns cycle is... long) - I learned to enjoy the development of a team from crap to good after the Indians traded Colon to the Expos for Lee, Phillips, Sizemore, and Stevens. Was lucky that each of the first three panned out (even if not for the Indians - also, Stevens doesn’t count). Anyway, with the Cavs, enjoy watching the young guys develop - Cedi has been enjoyable, Sexton really blossomed the last 25 games last year, and let’s see what Garland does.
 
Very simple but true post. As you get older you want to try new things and if you are not entertained it is hard to invest thousands of hours into a season . I will say I am pretty excited to watch the Cavs young players. Now one sport that has lost tv ratings over the past 30 years is mlb. The amount of games and length of games is not a great mix for the casual fan going into 2020 and beyond. Yes there are millions of die hard s who are 35 and older who love mlb and it will always be popular in Boston New York and St. Louis, but both attendance and tv rating nationally are on a steady slow decline.

This is for last season, but Forbes reviewed TV ratings and found this:

"The numbers show that 11 RSNs that host MLB teams rank No. 1 in their market in prime time among all television networks, beating the prime-time average of all other TV networks in their respective designated market area. An additional eleven teams (22 total) rank in the top-3 in prime time. When looking at cable alone, 24 RSNs that host MLB teams rank No. 1 in their market in prime time. Major League Baseball ranks No. 1 in cable prime time in every U.S. MLB market except Miami."

Ratings for national contests have decreased, but that can be said for the NBA too. Baseball's popularity can't be measured on ratings alone or even just MLB attendance - many people attend minor league games on a consistent basis.

This isn't to say baseball doesn't have serious issues - it does - but so do the other sports. We just love to talk about how baseball is supposedly dying.
 
There are bandwagon fans and real fans.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

There was really no bandwagon to watch arguably the worst team in the NBA's history back in 2010. Even now, I still keep tabs on them on RCF.

Life has changed for me where I can't invest much time in watching them and when I do I don't feel the same joy as I did watching Andy and Kyrie. It's been an incredible ride for the last 8 years, but my obsession just isn't there anymore.
 

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