It is largely a question of perspective, but also of verbage.
For instance, what a fan would root for changs dramtically if you make that fans perspective either a) 1 game; b) 1 season; c) 5 seasons.
Imagine these three sceanrios:
Scenario 1: team wins first game, loses the next 407 over the next 5 years.
Scenario 2: team loses first game, but wins 40 games first year, then 38, 35, 32, 35 over the next four seasons.
Scenario 3: team loses first game, then wins 25 games first year, then 35, then 45, then 55, then 60 and wins title in Yr 5.
--Well, if your persepctive is 1 game, then you as a "fan", actually want your team to go 1-407, because the 1 win happens in the only time period you care about. The here and now. The "instant gratification". Scenario 2 and 3 suck from your persepctive, because they both involve losing Game 1.
--And if your perspective is 1 season, then you prefer Scenario 2 -- the one where you win 40 games in year 1 but never get any better and wallow about in medicority year after year. But all that is important is that those 40 games are more than the 1 game in Scenario 1, and more than the 25 in Scenario 3. So you're happy with the medicore future. The present is all you comprehend, even though in Yrs 3,4,5 of Scenario #3 you would be happier in the future. But you're not looking ahead.
--Now if your perspective happens to be 5 years however, then Scenario #3 is the clear choice.
Which brings up verbage/or how you frame the "fan" question. If you frame "fan" as "one who roots for his team to win" then all of a sudden these questions arise. Now tweak the definition, define "fan" as "one who wants what's best for his/her team" and all of a sudden the lin/woss/5 year perspective makes perfect sense.
You have a friend named Mandy. She lives with an abusive scum of a boyfriend. Friend #1 roots for her to make it work, and tries to help her cope. Friend #2 roots for her to dump the creep, and tries to convince her to move onto greener pastures where she'll be happier in the end. Which really is the "better" friend? Matter of perspective.