If we win, will we celebrate with dignity?
What if a ''Moracle'' does occur, and Oracle Team USA wins?
What would be our response to a comeback victory for the ages?
Will the reaction be along the lines of the playful red socks campaign which captured the nation in 1995?
Or will it be its dark flipside, 2002's ''Black Hearts'', which exposed a small-minded and bitter inability to accept the success of the great Kiwi sailor Sir Russell Coutts?
That these questions are being asked at all is testament to the way ''cup fever'' has swept the nation.
For months, the build-up to the pre-cup Louis Vuitton campaign seemed nothing more than a clever stunt dreamed up by television types to get their bosses to fly them to exotic harbours around the world to report nothing was happening.
Kiwi sports fans got sore thumbs fast-forwarding through segments on the news as the phony war of testing and court hearings played out in tepid slow motion.
It was not until the regrettable death of sailor Andrew Simpson in the Artemis crash that heads turned towards San Francisco bay - and even then it can be argued this was more of a morbid curiosity than genuine interest.
In the wake of the tragedy, and the subsequent weakening of the Artemis campaign, the Louis Vuitton series never really caught fire, with Team New Zealand's Aotearoa comfortably cruising past Luna Rossa, with barely a ripple of excitement outside yachting circles.
In the past fortnight, that has all changed.
First there was the delicious taste of success.
Now, of course, Team NZ and Oracle are locked in one of the most compelling sporting contests in memory.
As we went out to an 8-1 lead, the nation understandably expected victory to be short and sweet: the cup is coming home!(The believers among us say it still will, despite a U-turn in fortunes which has left all the momentum with the holders).
But what should be acknowledged is that Oracle - complete with New Zealand boat designers and the tactical voodoo of British guru Sir Ben Ainslie - has staged a marvellous comeback.
Team New Zealand has, according to the experts, made some mistakes in some races. Undoubtedly, though, the big difference has been the improvement on board the Oracle boat - both in terms of sheer speed and its teamwork.
With three races called off with our boat in front, including the gut-wrenching abandonment when we led by 1km but the race time limit had expired, an increasing feeling of resignation is creeping across the country.
Radio New Zealand reported crowds at the Auckland waterfront were thinner yesterday. In a New Zealand Herald poll this week 49% of respondents voted for the option: ''Please. Just let it end''.
But this is surely a reflection of the tension rather than diminishing interest.
The sheer numbers of people crowded around TVs for the morning races shows cup fatigue is far from setting in.
Anecdotal reports from Otago businesses suggest companies' computer systems have slowed to a crawl as workers access live streaming of the races.
Let's not abandon hope - we still lead 8-6 on the scoreboard.
That's 8-8 in real terms, given Oracle's penalty for cheating in an earlier regatta.
The smart money says that if the unthinkable happens and Oracle wins a race today to make it 9-8 on the water, team boss Larry Ellison might just dial up his heavyweight legal team and steer the race back into the courtroom.
Given the cup's long history of fattening the wallets of lawyers, this appears a distinct possibility.
But even allowing for the possibility of future legal action, it has been great sporting theatre.
And isn't that what it is supposed to be?But, again, let's not give up.
Dean Barker and his boys can still win - and comfortably.
C'mon Team New Zealand - let today be the day!
