What is it about sports that gets fans so wrapped up in it that they'll behave so passionately?

Tribal morality.

I don’t know – I’m one of those that goes nuts and yells obviously I never physically hurt anyone over this though

Passion for the game.

It is a chance to act like a child, relax, and have fun. In a society with so many regulations it is nice to have that freedom.

Having said that I’m not a sports fan at all, but I certainly see the appeal. Except I do not support violence when it comes to this as can happen.

it is a wonderful stress reliever, you know, shouting at the referee, cursing the other team and stuff, after 90 min soccer match in the stadium, you feel like a brand new man, spcially if your team wins (no matter what you are always shoutung something bad at someone) :D

@RedPowerLady, “In a society with so many regulations it is nice to have that freedom.”

Wha? Do you live in Saudi Arabia or something?

It’s not like you can’t do anything out on the streets or in your home that you could do in a sports stadium…

I think those guys that get really crazy into the game are also kind of drunk. When I watch sporting events sober, and something awesome happens, I’ll be like, “Yes! High five!” When I’m drunk, it’s like, “HE-COULD-GO-ALL-THE-WAY! YEAAAAAH! TOUCHDOWN! WOOO!” and I jump into the nearest person’s arms and probably knock over my beer. Once I settled down, I feel bad for committing a party foul but pumped about seeing an awesome play. (I just pretended I was watching the Ravens.) If you know what’s going on, professional sports can have really edge of your seat moments, and a lot of the time something completely unexpected will happen.

@Qingu Oh come on you know what I mean. It’s just not acceptable in society to yell at opposing teams and paint your body when it comes to everyday life. Go to your least favorite supermarket painted up in the colors of your favorite. Yell at the customers. You’ll see what I mean.

But since you are picking on me are you serious? “tribal morality”. Don’t think so.

It’s almost impossible to get passionate with the Rams. Unless it’s passionate anger.

@erichw1504 Watching the Raiders isn’t any better.

@RedPowerLady, “not acceptable” is not the same as “rules and regulations.” And I’ve seen plenty of people on the streets painted up and/or yelling at each other. (Of course, if you yell at random people, that is sort of threatening, and is the kind of thing that should be regulated in my opinion).

It’s tribal morality because there is no actual reason for anyone to support any sports team more than any other, beyond the completely arbitrary fact that they happen to live in a city. Your preference for one team is not based on any rational assessment of the team’s qualities. It’s certainly not based on any sort of payoff or outcome. You’re not even participating in the game. Sports fans get worked up about their teams because they identify their teams as their “tribe,” and we have vestiges of a moral system in our culture where your tribe’s success, however arbitrary, is more important than universal moral principles.

I don’t do costuming or tailgating.

I’m just involved as a spectator(in arena or at home);call it ‘engaged, controlled escape’ . It’s technical, relatively humanely competitive (nothing like the Christians and the Lions and Gladiators’ stuff) and definitely in my genes.

@Qingu You are arguing semantics when I’m sure you understand my point entirely, in fact I am quite sure you do as I have no reason to believe you cannot ‘get it’.

You are making assumptions about tribal people that I do not agree with. I don’t think it is a bad analogy because of how you view sports fans. But because of how you view tribal people.

Early lacrosse was much more than a game or sport. It resolved conflicts and was thought of by many as military training, and being victorious meant bringing home honor and glory.

Have you seen the battle between the two monkey tribes at the beginning of “2001: A Space Odyssey”? Same reason.

@RedPowerLady, well, if you meant that sports is good because it allows you to “let go,” I can agree with that, I guess. I just dispute that our society is really as repressive as you seemed to make it out. :)

Also, what tribal people are you talking about, exactly? I was referring to a broad moral concept (found, for example, in the Hebrew Bible). I’m sure there are exceptions among actual tribes, though there aren’t many of those left.

@Qingu You are arguing semantics when I’m sure you understand my point entirely, in fact I am quite sure you do as I have no reason to believe you cannot ‘get it’.

You are making assumptions about tribal people that I do not agree with. I don’t think it is a bad analogy because of how you view sports fans. But because of how you view tribal people.

…welcome to five minutes ago? :)

@Qingu I don’t know how it posted twice, sorry, my computer is being an arse.

Yes what I mean is it lets you let go. I dont think our society is all that repressive either, just that this phenomenon operates a bit outside the typical “norm”.

I am Native American and am referring to my people as they exist today and in the past. I am also familiar with other tribal cultures to a limited extent. Not however those in the Hebrew Bible.

I’m sure it varies from tribe to tribe, but I know many early American tribes looked at all other tribes as “outsiders” or, in some cases, not “real people.” That’s what I meant by “tribal morality,” and as you can see, it has gotten transfered to a lot of state-level societies, as well as religious movements. The idea of “us” vs. “them” based on nothing more substantial than where one happens to be born, or where one happens to live.

@Qingu There are a lot of misconceptions about how tribes viewed each other. I understand what you mean about the us vs. them mentality as that certainly happens at all levels of society. However I don’t think it refers to tribal morality in any specific way that differs from us today. And I certainly don’t believe it started there. In fact most accounts of tribal times show less violence in those days than in today, including tribal “wars” which were much different than how we characterize disputes today. Anyhow I could probably go on and on but perhaps you get where I am coming from in general.

The behavior I’ve seen at sporting events never seemed very tribal to me.

@RedPowerLady, hm. Depends on how you define “violence.” As I understand it, tribal societies had much more murder than chiefdoms or state-level societies. Also, I’d wager that “tribal morality” has its roots in earlier primate social organizations, since we evolved from them. So I guess I can see how the term could be misinterpreted; I supposed I could have said “us vs. them,” which is rooted in early human social organizations.

@Qingu Unfortunately I think you are falling prey to stereotypes and misconceptions. Murder was often a last resort and was very shunned by most (perhaps all but there are just too many for me to know that) North American tribal societies. As one example in war it was more honorable to count coo than to murder someone. Counting coo refers to getting so close to your enemy that you give them a quick whip.

Tribal life need not be savagery.

totally loving the turn this discussion took – very interesting, thank you

My tribe (any aggregate of people united by ties of descent from a common ancestor, community of customs and traditions, adherence to the same leaders, etc.) is footy mad and they do become quite vocal. Since there is no drinking in this house, violence never breaks out.

The handball incident you referred to was pretty obvious. But it does bring up an interesting situation. I don’t think most athletes call themselves on infractions. I have seen it happen occasionally in cricket and tennis. For the most part though, the theory is that it is the job of the ref and if the ref misses a call, it all evens out in the end.

To answer your question though, I think a lot of it is the pack mentality fueled by alcohol. One person gets violent and the rest follow. And sports are a form of war aren’t they?

@RedPowerLady, actually, it seems like you’re the one falling prey to the “noble savage” stereotype. Like I said, there are probably lots of exceptions, among Native Americans and elsewhere, but for most observed tribal cultures in existence, murder and revenge killings are huge problems and more commonplace than in state-level societies with codified laws against murder. (Edit: I’m differentiating between “murder” within a society and warfare between societies.)

By the way, the native Americans were/are not the only tribal societies. And a number of native Americans did not live in tribes before the Europeans came, but rather had more complex “chiefdoms”; the Aztecs, Maya, and Inca achieved state-level societies (and I think one group in Mississippi did as well). You could probably argue the Iroquois League was chiefdom- or state-level too. By “tribe,” I mean the word in the anthropological sense, a large extended family group without complex political structure.

I have no idea.
I am a huge University of Michigan fan and I have no idea what makes me watch every single game, yell at the TV, and buy team apparel. There are a lot of things I would miss in order to watch a Michigan game.

Whatever “it” is, I’ve got it bad.

@Qingu You can argue with me about my own culture all you would like. However I can assure you I know quite a bit about my own culture and this is not only through formal education but through personal understanding of tribal ways of life (i.e. through living it). You can fall prey to history as it was written by the colonizer if you so choose. There is no need for me to “debate” with you if you choose to ignore my opinion as something worth listening to. I can assure you that I am not supporting stereotypes of Native people. In fact I have given you one clear example, that of counting coo, and you have given no clear examples. It seems to me as if you are generalizing people based on your understanding of what creates a society. I prefer to not to make such sweeping generalization when it comes to this issue of which I am quite educated.

In terms of who the tribal societies are I have quite clearly stated that I am personally speaking of Native American societies. So although,as I also stated previously, I am aware they are not the only tribal societies in existence they are the only ones I care to “debate” over as they are the only ones I can be confident I know factual (yes factual) information about.

Since semantics is somehow part of this argument although I would hope for it not to be. I will say that I refer to tribal people in a general sense and not using your definitions separating tribal people from chiefdoms and such. Tribal people, as I refer to them, means the 500+ nations of Native people in the United States.

Now I will openly admit that I am not up to par with the anthropological terms you are using as I prefer to educate myself based on tribal histories and cultural studies vs. anthropology. So I looked up “chiefdom” to see what you were referring to in particular. Most tribes (again Native American tribes) do not fit this description and I am speaking from personal experience and education (vs. anthropological determination). In fact I found reading the description quite offensive. Not only that but the idea of a chief as the ultimate ruler is a pure stereotype when it comes to most North American tribes. So I’m not sure what your argument in terms of semantics is getting at in particular. Perhaps a miscommunication somewhere in our discussion.

Anthropological ways of categorizing Tribal people have long since been debated by those people. And personally I prefer self-determination. Perhaps we should discuss the issue on a more human level. By this I mean getting rid of anthropological generalizations and getting straight to your point. In which the midst of semantic debates and issues of anthropological categorization, I fear I have lost your point.

I’d assume lack of good sex.

I don’t ‘get’ sports, and I never have. So what if some overpaid musclebound ego in a uniform kicks a homerun through the goal posts during the fifth quarter of the third game of the World Series of Jock Strap Pulling? Like it even matters, ya know?

Open that bottle of wine, I’m going to throw another log on the fire.

Now snooker, that is a real man’s sport. It requires physical fitness, technique, precision and finesse and planning ahead several moves, if not the entire frame. And the audience is civilised and silent.

@RedPowerLady it’s typed as coup, it’s pronounced coo.

this is simply amazing and sooo much better than watching sweaty men in armour grapple each other in the mud

@Psychedelic_Zebra lack of good sex?! are you kidding? I have the best sex life…it goes along with my passion for baseball or life or whatever…you can’t get passionate in one area and not in bed

@RedPowerLady, we’re using the terms “tribe” and “chiefdom” in completely different ways. I’m sorry if you took offense to anything I said, but (1) I wasn’t talking just about native Americans, and (2) I wasn’t talking about “tribes” in the sense that you are using the word.

I was only talking about “tribes” in the very general, anthropological sense—that is, small, extended family groups. I’m not even sure any existing native American groups would qualify as “tribes” in this sense because, however isolated they are, they still are plugged in to the aparatus of the state-level American government to some extent.

@Psychedelic_Zebra Ya thanks, I should have known better. I am in all honesty a horrible speller, I use my spell check like it is going out of style.

@Qingu Thank you for clarifying. I can certainly see where the miscommunication occured.

I was just watching the sports news on sky and I have another thought on the subject, a group of people all cheering for the same team might create a sense of community and togetherness that is lost in todays big cities. A common cause bringing people together.

sometimes people get wrapped up in sports from listening to it when they were kids, or maybe they just like it.