Newsletter 137: How Championships Can’t Help But Lose Their Luster

I’ve decided to start putting some of the best newsletter essays here on Medium, so more people can read them. You’re still better off just subscribing. This one is from December 2018. I was thinking about this while screaming at the television during the Illinois win over Wisconsin on Wednesday. It’s good to still care.

On Saturday evening, along with more than 70,000 of my sudden closest friends, I watched Atlanta United, my favorite MLS team, win the MLS Cup over the Portland Timbers. I officially was there as a member of the working press — and I did write a piece about the experience — but I would be lying if anybody who saw me there would have thought of me as any sort of journalist. I was cheering for Atlanta United as much as the most diehard supporter, a team I’ve had season tickets for since they came into the league and a team that has taken the league and American soccer by storm. I entered the game through the press entrance, dropped by coat off at my press set and then used my pass to get me into a Mercedes-Benz Stadium club, where I drank vodka tonics and screamed and hugged everyone in sight for the next three hours. This is not particularly professional behavior, I will grant you, and it’s not something I make a habit out of. But I can still squint enough to convince myself it was proper operating procedure. After…