Humans are bizarre creatures. So much of our lives are spent attempting to avoid pain and suffering, and yet we willingly invest staggering portions of our mental health and emotional sanity on baseball teams and players who do not care even the slightest bit in return. Such an investment seems wildly miscalculated, and it would appear to an objective observer as though baseball were the Bernie Madoff of leisure activities: making an investment that gives illusory returns. Nevertheless, millions of fans root tirelessly for their favorite teams, no matter what boneheaded mistakes they may make, on the field and in the front office, day in and day out. Baseball has a tremendous staying power in our hearts and minds, because of the emotional connection it gives us to the sport, as well as to players and fellow fans.

Baseball fans share a special bond with one another that is hard to fathom. Whenever I see a fellow Giant fan, it is almost as if I have met him before, because as Giant fans, we have both gone through events together, shared experiences, even without having been anywhere near each other. Being a baseball fan is a baptism by fire into a worldwide brethren of fans who have all experienced identical traumatic events in the same way. The pain involved in rooting year in and year out only to have a team tear your heart out once again is an experience that only baseball fans can understand, but this unique understanding provides a common ground upon which friendships and relationships can be built.