Judy Battista looks at the plight of the fans of losing NFL teams who are torn between cheering their teams for a win, or hoping to lose badly enough to get the first pick in the 2012 draft:
Last weekend was a good one for Chris Joseph. The Miami Dolphins, the team he has rooted for since he was a child and about whom he runs a blog called Fins Nation, had a bye. Joseph was freed. Not from despair that the Dolphins might lose. But from the fear that they might win and ruin everything.
The Dolphins (0-4), who play the Jets on Monday night and are one of three winless teams, are in a race for the bottom of the N.F.L. standings. But with ignominy this autumn comes glory next spring. There, for the team with the worst record and the first overall draft pick, awaits Andrew Luck, considered the best quarterback prospect since Peyton Manning.
While Luck, coveted for his accuracy and intelligence, enjoys his final season at Stanford, he has inadvertently turned beleaguered followers of struggling N.F.L.’s teams on their heads. From Seattle to Miami, rather than root for a win, fans root for him. Their feelings are summed up in a coarse three-word rhyme that has given shape to Twitter feeds, Facebook pages and dozens of Web sites. It implores downtrodden teams, in essence, to play really, really poorly for Luck.
Remember that college stars do not automatically become NFL stars: there was much debate over whether the best quarterback prospect in the 1998 draft was Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf. We know now, but opinions were quite divided then.
