Learning life through hopelessly supporting Tottenham Hotspur and Phoenix Suns for 30 years

I've been a lifelong fan of perennial underdogs in both football （English Premier League) and basketball (NBA) - Tottenham Hotspur and Phoenix Suns.

They are both pretty sound as business entities, sustainable long term, and are usually one of the better teams in their leagues, tried their best within their means, got really really close but never successfully broke through😔.

Over the last 5 years, I saw both teams change their approach dramatically to take the next step.

Tottenham, still with Harry Kane and Son Heung Min dragging them along, hired serial winners Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte to lead them to titles.

Phoenix, with Devin Booker in (and still in) his prime, blew up their short-term draft potential and traded for one of the top 10 players to ever grace the NBA, Kevin Durant and maximum-salaried "Robin" Bradley Beal, hiring ex-championship winning coaches Frank Vogel (champion with LA Lakers) and Mike Buldenhozer (champion with Milwaukee Bucks) to win.

They both proved that radically changing their DNA would fail miserably. Stacking star power with A-list coaches might lead to humiliating failure, not success. Phoenix, especially, played toxic your-turn my-turn isolation ball without any form of team unity nor fight, and became the joke🤡 of the league last season.

Then again, I would like to think that both Tottenham and Phoenix have learnt their lessons by now and are proving it with their actions.

Spurs won🏆 the Europa League last year with Kane long gone and Son as a bit-part contributor in the final run-in, and are trudging along more consistently this season under up-and-coming manager Thomas Frank, no clear stars, just like how they did well under similar conditions with Mauricio Pochettino.

Suns have moved on from Beal, KD and the disinterested😑 championship coaches and pushed the reset button with just one bona fide star Devin Booker and first time head coach Jordan Ott.

They are both playing team ball, staying low-profile but are effectively punching above their weight💪, even if it's still a big unknown if these new iterations will result in tangible trophy wins.

Nonetheless, it's a welcome new dawn for me in terms of being a sports fan. I think I have my teams back😁.

And if you are still reading, never forget your DNA or force yourself to dramatically change to get better. The best way to get better, is to also be true to yourself in the process.

Finally, it is very hard to win. There is only one, or very few winners. Real victory is to become a better version of yourself.

Good luck (final word in the caption below⮟).

May the Son be with you. Photo Credit: TalkSport.com