Why are people so crazy about sport?
I happened to read somewhere that David Beckam used to lose a soccer match before he reached his fame status, and was cancelled to eternity by literally everyone. It got to the point that he received death threats, became a caricature for humiliation from both the general public and the press, and even had to be escorted to the next match by the police.
I suddenly realized that I can see the same horrible thing in other places, particularly my country. Here people associate soccer with some weird kind of patriotic pride, especially when my country plays against other countries. When a team wins, they are expected to be lavished with praise from everyone and people go down the street to celebrate for “the pride of the country”. And when a team loses, oftentimes people would blame the loss for the unfairness of the referee, the devilish cheating players from the other side, or anything similar. I’ve seen incidents of foreign players, and even a referee, being cyber-bullied just because my country lost. Some people would go on the Internet to start war with the opposing country before or after a match. There was even one incident when people review-bombed a poll for two best players, one in my country and the other in another country, and people were expected to participate in the review-bombing or else they weren’t considered patriots.
I just can’t understand this strange attitude toward sport. I can understand rooting for your favorite teams and getting upset when they lose, but why make such a big deal about it? A team winning or losing doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. No one is harmed physically or mentally when a team loses, no one is taken hostage, no country is invaded and no freedom is taken. The worst thing to come from it is just some disappointment and bruised ego, and then pretty much everyone can move on. Why take sport so seriously as if it’s an actual military battle?
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Well, a team that you support, sometimes from before you were born, can be considered family.
And you are/feel part of that family.
And if your team/family can’t for the life of them win a competition in like forever, the phrase ”The worst thing to come from it is just some disappointment and bruised ego..” to is the understatement of the decade.
When they finally won it, five years ago, I was crying.
After 17 (se-ven-teen) years of bitterness and humiliation and dread….
Shoot me already (you could have heard me saying those years).
And that is just my local darts team.
@rebbel thanks for the answer. It does help me understand the matter a bit. But I still think there are better ways to deal with the disappointment than going berserk over losses. The Beckham way was just downright cruel and they could have destroyed a talent. The latter way I mentioned is just ridiculous and makes people look like whiny snowflakes who can’t accept reality. People almost seem to forget that the teams they are rooting for or against consist of real human being, who have their own emotion and flaws, and they feel just as bad about losses as their fans. They don’t need the extra stress of having to deal with angry people going crazy.
And also the whole patriotic thing that is associated with sport. This is your family, sure, but your country isn’t under any political threat if your family loses a soccer match or your favorite player isn’t the best player ever lived.
FWIW, it’s not something I can really understand either.
I think sports are often a proxy for war, especially when the competition crosses geopolitical boundaries. This has been a theme in a number of movies, where an athletic competition actually takes on international implications as the outcomes decide the fates of nations.
They are also an outlet for aggressions and a basis for social bonding. I think people watching games can lose themselves in their enthusiasms and dissolve completely into the crowd, as well as taking out their frustrations on their rivals, mostly indirectly.
When other pieces of your identity have been compromised or eroded, maybe wearing team colors and screaming like a wild man alongside other screamers are really important to your sense of yourself.
In the business world, sport metaphors and battle metaphors are about the only kind: “our team,” “strategy,” “competition,” “competitive advantage,” “level the playing field,” etc. This kind of thinking saturates our workplaces and pervades our lives. We are encouraged to see everything in those zero-sum terms.
Recent politics in the U.S. has done all of us, the world, a great disservice by making no distinction between “rival” and “enemy.” Maybe sports can help us bring those ideas back into balance.
I’m speaking speculatively, though. I’m not into sports at all, except that I do like to watch some parts of the Olympics. Then, I root for the athletes I think are the best, regardless of their flag.
Well, I made a bit of a caricature of it, for I personally don’t care for winning or losing, or what have you.
I exaggerated it to drive my point home (or trying to, anyway).
The mechanism is that what I stated, amongst other things, I feel.
It’s the age old clan vs clan thing.
Or pee contest.
Or wiener comparison.
Which, by the way, I would both win…
I think you’ve got it, @rebbel, in simplest terms: tribalism and male rivalry.
Maybe the wonder is that so many people—men included—don’t buy into it, at least not by way of sports.
It is rather appalling how vested people can become in sports. But the requirement for bread AND circuses are clearly fundamental. I think as well as a war substitute, people must have a passion for something regardless of how frivolous. Mass hysteria has always been the deal.
Let’s go Padres!!! Beat the Dodgers!!!
I love baseball (I was at this game and became an Ichiro fan here, even though I was pulling for the A’s)
I love baseball (The greatest play I’ve ever seen a shortstop make—again, against the A’s. I became a Jeter fan here)
I am not much of a sports fan, but there is an aesthetic appeal to some of the athleticism shown, as demonstrated by @Caravanfan ‘s link.
I love baseball
Tony Gwynn is my screensaver on my ipad. My favorite player ever.
If you know anything about Terror Management Theory, you’ll realise it’s about self-esteem.
Being a sports fan is an ego boost. The fans feel they’re part of something bigger and more important.
There’s also the social interaction and community that comes with it. Sports fans can spend an inordinate amount of time analysing, discussing, and arguing about their team and the sport they follow.
It’s basically like nationalism or party politics.
^^ That makes sense. I stumbled on a chat room where a bunch of guys were doing a play by play analysis of that evening’s episode of Jeopardy. Same psychological dynamic, I guess.
EVERYTHING has become an obsession, a fixation, a competition. Even commuter driving has become a competition. Win at all costs! An addiction. A sickness.
Sport is sanctioned violence. It’s a way to be violent that is controlled and generally approved. It’s a way for us to use violence in an acceptable manner.
Having a favorite team or supporting the team from your area is a form of tribalism. You choose a side and use emotions to support it. “My side is better than the other” is the thinking. Tribalism can become very intense for some people. They take the performance of their favorite team very personally.
Edit to add: I just read the thread and saw that I’ve parrotted @Jeruba. Pardon me. And also @rebbel.
@Caravanfan so how would you feel if your favorite team lost? I hope it wouldn’t be like my example.
@LostInParadise I like watching an intense soccer match too, for the same reason. What I’m against is the hysteric attitude toward winning and losing.
@Kropotkin @Jeruba @kritiper Thanks, it makes much more sense when I think about it in tribalism way. Never knew Terror Management Theory is a thing. Yeah, I can see this attitude in other things too, like pop bands. It’s sad that some people just can’t like something in a civil way.
@Jeruba I root for the athletes I think are the best, regardless of their flag.
During the poll incident, some people voted for the other player because they thought he was better than the Vietnamese one. They then got bombarded with hate and got told things like “you’re a traitor” or “move away from Vietnam”. There were also some people who commented something along the line of “I like that other player better, but because I’m a Vietnamese I voted for my country”. This was honestly sad to watch.
Competition. It’s in our genes.
@Mimishu1995 I’ve been a San Diego Padres fan since 1969. I am used to them losing. It’s the rule rather than the exception. I still love the game, and I haven’t lived in San Diego since 1982. I also like many other teams as well, but my heart is with the Friars.
And you guys are taking this way too seriously. It’s just a game, and it’s just for fun.
Humans are storytellers. Narratives and stories are universally important parts of our cultures, and few things can move us like stories do. Sports are like the best kind of stories. They are dramatic, they follow long arcs, and their endings are unwritten until they happen. Fans are often deeply personally invested in these narratives, and I’m not surprised when counter narratives to “we lost” arise.
I don’t understand it either.
I have fun being with my friends to watch my university play football, but if my team loses it’s fine.
I’m just not very competitive. I do like to do well though. If I’m playing a game and lose every time, I’ll get tired of that game after a while.
@Caravanfan I’m so glad you have such a healthy attitude. I wish more people could be like you.
@JLeslie I consider myself very competitive, but I only invest my energy on things that actually matter. I just fail to see how I should get upset over something like that.
@Mimishu1995 Yeah, I vaguely remember a story about someone in some sport being killed because he lost. Like he let down the country and some fan was very upset. I’d have to ask my husband, he might know the story. It was in Latin America. Insane.
@Smashley I looked up his name after seeing your post, and yes that is who I was thinking of. As I read about him it came back to me. Just awful.
I don’t get it, either. Sometimes I’ll get interested in playoffs and championship games, or to see a particularly talented person (or horse) on TV. And Every few years I like to go to baseball games, mostly for the fun of seeing 35,000 people in one place having fun.
But, for the most part, I have little interest in spectator sports. I can’t name any players or coaches on my local pro teams. I don’t know who won any recent championships in baseball, football, basketball or hockey.
But I am immersed in fandom. I accept it. I stopped trying to understand many years ago.
My Ex, who is English, had no interest in professional sports in either country, but because he had to be around men in work situations, he would pick up some knowledge to be able to participate in conversations.
I get it. When we watch professional athletes we pretend we are them.
I’m also competitive and used to be athletic.
@Dutchess_III I don’t pretend I’m a professional athlete. That would really involve hurting myself.
Loll! It’s an imaginary thing! Like when I watch pro volley ball I can feel what it would be to throw yourself after that ball or to spike or block.
@Dutchess_III I know. It gets destructive when you get too attached with your imagination and go harm people, like in my question.
Padres are losing and A’s lost today. I’m going to throw myself off the roof.
Kidding. It’s just a game.
My Dallas Cowboys have been fielding a for shit defensive line for years. A damn pox on sports. Don’t go there with me. : )
Rick is really really into football. I. It consumes him at football season. I hate it.
@Dutchess_III At least football is only once a week. Baseball is every day.
Great question and I don’t know how I missed seeing it till now. I read somewhere (I think it was some random psychology thesis paper) that sports tap into a primeval, biological feeling in humans. A genetic instinct to compete. Our ancestral species competed with rival groups for territory, food and dominance. They also fought with each other for dominance and hierarchy. The thesis also studies how apes and monkeys behave when there is a fight between group members – they scream, cheer and even throw objects at the losers. It was an interesting read and makes perfect sense because we humans become almost ape like in our behavior, when it comes to sports. We cheer, taunt the opponents, sulk when our beloved team loses and on rare occasions, vandalize public property in rage. We also place our sports stars on a pedestal and instantly curse them or even threaten harm to them when they lose ( just like the monkeys in that experiment). The only logical reason for such behavior is – genetic memory. Sports tap into our primeval memories.
People seek escape from the dreary realities of living. It’s almost certainly preferable that people channel their passions toward something not usually associated with destruction.
It’s World Cup and history is repeating itself. This time another referee took a hit.
Maybe I just have to learn to accept that this is the world I live in…
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