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Merriam-Webster defines Schadenfreude as the enjoyment obtained from seeing or hearing about the troubles of others.
As sports fans, you probably experience it all the time.
If you root for the Bears, perhaps you experience it when the Packers lose.
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If you root for the Cardinals, you may giggle when a Lincoln Park yuppie slips and faceplants in their own vomit on a Wrigleyville sidewalk.
And if you’re an Illini fan, Juwan Howard getting shitcanned in Ann Arbor likely warmed the cockles of your heart.
Speaking of Ann Arbor.
Native Chicagoan, former Illini commit, signee, and player Morez Johnson Jr. was drafted 9th overall in the 2026 NBA Draft.
A year after Johnson departed Champaign, he became the Dallas Mavericks’ first-round selection.
It was the next step in a journey that took Morez from St. Rita to Thornton to Champaign, Ann Arbor, and now the Metroplex.
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Now Morez’ NBA fate is tied to Dusty May and Cooper Flagg.
Not bad for someone still facing the unjust, vitriolic bile of some Illinois fans.
The palpable emotional incontinence in some Illinois fans’ hatred for Morez makes me ashamed to count myself among them in fandom.
No, I will not just stick to sports. Sports don’t exist in a bubble. They exist in the real world with all the joy and pain of the tangible universe. And the people who participate are just as susceptible to the slings and arrows of time as the average anti-Morez Illinois fan.
You do not own the athletes for whom you cheer.
I think there is a series of constitutional amendments that make it so. And being that ignorant this close to Juneteenth is irony rich enough to get naming rights to a college football stadium in Texas.
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I know it’s hard for some of you to look at a young man like Morez and take leave of your faculties when he has the gall not to do what you want him to do.
When Morez transferred from Illinois, some decided to unleash vile personal attacks on the young man and his family.
You wished him ill will. Not just on the court.
It’s fair to wish his new program failure. They are a conference rival.
But some insults went beyond losing basketball…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/morez-johnson-schadenfreude-pervasive-pall-141918879.html
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Publish date : 2026-06-27 14:19:00
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