“We are all fans here, and part of being a fan involves the desire to prove that you are as much of a fan as the next fan. From lightning round recall of stats or trivia (‘Favorite actor: Denzel Washington’) to the authenticity of having been born into your allegiances, there are plenty of ways to win in the homosocial arena of the bar or friend-of-a-friend’s living room. But how many of us are willing to further incentivize those till-the-death allegiances — to make a literal, binding, supra-tattoo investment in a sortie of dudes we will never meet?” Grantland