Being a Sports Fans: More Than Just a Game

To the non-sports fan, the emotional investment and intense reactions of sports fans can seem bizarre, over-the-top, and just plain ridiculous. To the die-hard sports fan, not reacting with intense emotion to sporting events seems odd and inconceivable. So why do people get so into sports? Part of it has to do with what our favorite teams represent. When we have a favorite team, part of our identity merges with that team, and so their performance and stature is our performance and stature, too. As renowned author Isaac Asimov put it, "Whomever you root for represents you; when he wins, you win." The result is that our sense of self is tied into the performance of our team. This helps explain why people make an effort to associate themselves with their favorite team when they win and distance themselves with the team after they lose. For example, in a study conducted on several college campuses it was found that more students wore school shirts on Monday mornings after a football win as compared to when the school lost their previous game. Another study found that people used the word "we" more often when describing a team win (as in "we won 24-14") and used distancing words like "they" or the team name when describing a loss (as in "they lost 35-10"). We try to connect ourselves to the team when "we" win, but try to distance ourselves from the team when "they" lose. This is primarily to preserve our sense of self and to display our superiority to ourselves, and, of course, to others as well. There are even implications on an internal, biological level. Research has shown that after winning a match, male athletes show an increase in testosterone levels, while the loser experiences a dip in testosterone. Interestingly enough, the same results were also found in fans watching their favorite team: male fans showed an increase in testosterone levels after watching their team win and a decrease in testosterone levels following a team loss (I have not come across any study of this kind using female participants). Not only can our favorite team's performance affect our sense of self, but it can affect our hormonal balance, as well. So the next time you see some sports fans (or maybe yourself) getting a little too into the game, you now know that there is even more at stake than you might have realized.