Call it the pursuit of unhappiness.

Listen to sports-talk radio long enough, and the world becomes a dark and depressing place where only failure can hold off the demons and anxieties many callers have about the potential catastrophes awaiting their teams.

When I hear a caller try to find the dark cloud in a home team’s win streak over quality opponents, I switch the station, turn off the radio or put in a CD.

But as sports talk proliferates, it becomes more difficult to tune out the negative voices. A growing number of people will wait on their cell phones for hours to vent their anger, whether local teams are winning or losing.

It is an obsession with consequences. There is a thread running through the apoplectic anger expressed by a sports-talk loudmouth over a defeat in midseason and sports parents attacking one another and heaping abuse on children in what are supposed to be kids’ games.

Imagine, instead, what kind of sports culture we could build if we applied ethical standards to our own fan behavior. Here are a few suggestions:

“Judge others as you would judge yourself. One good thing I did for my son was to continue to play competitive basketball into my mid-40s. Missing free throws or shots a couple of feet from the basket in a recreational league made me less likely to open my mouth when my son made a mistake in a high school game.

“Recognize that the pros will drop passes, commit turnovers or strike out, just as we occasionally do in our jobs and lives. Build civility among fans at the professional level, and it will be less likely that players, coaches and officials at college, high school and Little League levels will get disrespect.

“Play well and hard, then play some more. When I coached Little League baseball and kids’ basketball, I often would replay a loss in my mind. At least until we arrived at Dairy Queen and I realized the kids were having the same great time they had after a win.

This is a good strategy, and one the best professionals – be they golfers or baseball players – adopt after a loss or a bad decision. Forget about it and move on. Do not be consumed by failure.

“Get a grip on reality. How many times have we heard a fan or a talk-show host say he could have thrown that pass, hit that curveball or made the game-winning basket in a professional game? Truth is, the person probably would put himself into a coma just thinking about the reality of a 250-pound professional linebacker coming full speed over the middle.

“Have fun. Let sports bring some joy into your life.

I am thrilled that after all the years of not making the playoffs, my hometown Cleveland Cavaliers are one of the best teams in the East. And we get to watch the most exciting player in the NBA.

Issues such as poverty, homelessness, the state of urban schools and the economic vitality of the region are worth anguishing over and fully committing ourselves to reverse decades of failed policies.

But on a summer night with family and friends at the ballpark, or being a witness to the athletic magic of LeBron James, life is pretty good. Who needs a constant diet of sports-talk cranks telling us how bad things are?