I will really never understand sports fans....

[vi5]

Or more accurately sports fans and their team affiliations. I touched upon this in one of the yankees/red sox threads. I'm not a sports fan in the least but I could always at least understand how someone can appreciate a well played game and watch athletes exhibit incredible physical skill and agility.

But why would anyone like a team that is bad or never wins (which logic applied would mean that they do not play the game well) and hate teams that do win (which again would logically indicate that they play the game well)? Especially with the provincial logic that is most often used. I mean I don't like only movies or tv showsthat are filmed in the state where I live...and my favorite authors are not from where I live....and I don't like bands or singers simply because of where they are from. So what exactly is the logic of this same thinking when it comes to sports? Why would people hate the Chicago Bulls when clearly if you like the game of basketball, in their prime they were the absolute best at that sport. Why would people hate the Yankees when their record is unparalleled and they have had what most would agree are some of the best players ever in the history of the sport. And so on and so on.

I know I'll get flamed for raising this question, but I really am genuinely curious. My family are all huge sports fans and have their specific teams that they love and I've just never been able to wrap my head around it. If you love a sport, why wouldn't you love whoever plays that sport best? I've been asking this question for 34 years and never actually get an answer as much as I get defensive animosity from people.

[trotsky]

1. It's called loyalty.

Really not much more to it than that. Sports are really just the modern incarnation of tribal wars, and why would you cheer for the "enemy"?

[vi5]

2. Yeah, but enemy implies that person wants to hurt you....

and ally implies you have some stake in getting that person not to hurt you. If the Yankees win, nobody but the Yankees management and the players will actually get any kind of actual benefit from that, no?

I guess you're right it's just a mind set. But still it perplexes me. And I'm one of the most loyal people you are ever likely to meet.

[soupkitchen]

3. So your kid's baseball team is terrible and he sucks. Do you root

for the team he's playing against because they're better?

[Drifter]

4. Good point ...

Lets argue about favorite colors.

Blue is the best. Anyone who likes Green must be a retard.

See how stupid it sounds. Religion also has the same effect.

Cheers
Drifter

on edit : Humans have a tendency to categorize things into "Them or Us"

[vi5]

11. There is a huuuuuuuge difference there......

1)If my kids team loses and he is sad because they lost and it is a direct reflection on his performance then that is something that directly impacts my life and my existence. If the Yankees win or lose I win or lose nothing.

2)If my kids team loses then it is my job to teach him to put things in perspective and why it should not make him sad and why he should just be happy for the other team that won. The way I see most sports fans behave directly betrays that approach.

[soupkitchen]

15. Another variable that comes into play here is that most sport fans

played sports as a kid. And they learned as a member of team to identify with a team. It always our team vs your team. That is the culture.
So the issue of some fans love a bad team rathar than good teams is so obvious that it should need no explanation. Fans love the teams they with which they identify.
The question of why lovers of sport hate good teams is a bit more interesting of a question. And I would say they don't really. I mean you do get these characters who haven't outgrown their tribalism. And who think they are helping their teams chances by "hating" the other team, but I would say these guys are more sports nuts than sports fans.
The fact that sports fans usually appreciate excellence in their opponent is best argued by pointing out that "great teams" always draw better on the road than "bad teams." Regardless what people said about the Chicago Bulls, they glady parted with their money to see them play.

[soleft]

5. Are you familiar with the writings of Ken Wilber

In his book "Theory of Everything" he talks about different stages of human of evolution, and how they are fluid within each human being. It's not like we graduate from one level and never return to earlier stages.

One of the stages involves tribal mentality, and it can be expressed through sports, or through patriotism and nationalism.

If this aspect of being human has to be expressed, I think it's great if it can be "played out" through either sports participation or supporting a particular team, as opposed to invading other countries.

But it's the same meme, and it's in everyone.

[Braden]

6. why do you like bands that have no commercial appeal?

why are you into music that others tell you is crap?

[vi5]

10. Yes but I don't take it personally....

When that band doesn't make it or if they only sell 10 records. And I don't insult other bands that do.

And there are a multitude of ways any band, music, movie, tv can play out. There are ultimately only 2 outcomes of a game. One team wins, one team loses. Neither way has a direct impact on my life or the life of most people.

[Braden]

18. agreed

but in music you go to a concert with 100 or 20,000 fans and almost all are happy with the outcome. Games are played in front of a mix of lovers and haters. (not that you dont know this)

Its what makes it fun. I dont take trash personally, and I especially dont go to tears over tough losses. what can I say its fun.

diff'rent strokes.

I have seen you get your dander up a bit in the Radiohead threads on occasion. It's about what you really are into.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. It's not that the Red Sox are 'bad'..but that they haven't won it all

the Red Sox have had excellent teams and players ever since I can remember. Their only' 'sin' is not winning the World Series.
I have no problem associating myself with a team that has included Fisk, Yastrzemski, Williams, Boggs, Evans, Nomar, etc... and has such a beautiful and authentic park as its home field.
I'm sorry but what's not to love?

[jarab]

8. I used to get torn in support of unmentioned

regional sports teams.
If they lost I lost too. I was tormented until the next game or the next series or the next season.
After exiting that childish phase, I noticed that others will even lie about certain events that are unfavorable to their team. Their team can do no wrong.
Actually once you stop the blind allegiance to franchises, your (my) enjoyment is much greater. By not being fanatical, one begins to appreciate the good plays be either or both teams in an event, and there is no remorse regardless of the victor.
Not being a fanatical defender/supporter of a team in which you have no interest (such as a child or brother or sister playing) is much healthier than suffereing through the trials of defeat.
I'm better off not being a rabid supporter of the Kentucky Wildcats basketball, when most others around me are. I get twice the enjoyment as I appreciate the excellent play of the opposition, too.

My acquaintances can name every "starting five" of the Wildcats since the NIT scandal - which they conveniently and blindly ignore in their focused allegiance - but they can't remember the names of their representatives or senators. They've written to Adolph Rupp, but never penned a legislator in their life. They call the radio sports talk shows but never an elected person. They go to every game they can, but have never been sighted at a city council meeting. Talk about sick religions !!

Sports fanaticism is not healthy, imo. There are so many more important things to get worked up (over).
...O...

[OneBlueSky]

9. sports loyalties are the little brothers of nationalism . . .

both are based on mindless parochialism, and both can lead to violence if not tempered with reason . . . I'm a Yankees fan, but I also think the Sox are a great team and would be delighted with a Boston/Chicago series, just for the drama of it . . . don't think it will happen, though . . . Yankees in seven . . .

[underpants]

12. What's not to understand?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=283239

[seaglass]

13. Why must it be logical?

That's the reason you're not getting the answer you're looking for, you want a logical reason and do not understand that a lot of sports fans are guided by loyalty and passion, not just sterile technique or number of World Series wins.

[catpower2000]

16. You said it better than I could...

Attempting to get a logical and rational answer for why someone is in love with a sports team and roots for them through thick and thin is like trying to get a logical answer why people love their children, or their favorite flavor of ice cream. You just DO.

I grew up in an Eagles household. At about age 7, I decided I liked the Redskins. I think I liked their uniforms. Then they won the Super Bowl and I was hooked. They've been bad for MANY more years than they've been good, and yet I still have my Redskins sticker on my car and I still root for them. They're just my team. That's the way it is, and they could be bad for the rest of my life, and I'll still love them. And that's the most logical explanation I can give; that is, it's totally illogical. :)

Cat

[HuckleB]

14. It's entertainment.

You pick your team, and you go with it. You cheer when they win, and you criticize them when they lose. You banter gleefully with fans of other teams, because you know it's all a joke, a good time (though a few never learn this lesson).

It's not art. It's not the movies. It's not a concert. It's athletics. It doesn't have to be like other forms of entertainment. It can have its own culture, just as the other forms do.

And if you want to understand fandom at its most obsessive, read Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch."

[geniph]

17. The team loyalty would make more sense to me

if the team, and the players, were actually contractually obligated to remain in the community, as are the Green Bay Packers. With the way things are now, with teams leaving town in the middle of the night and players being traded like pokemon cards, I don't really understand team loyalty much anymore. I wish more communities would do what Green Bay did.

[VermontDem2004]

22. I am not a Green Bay fan

but they do have the best franchise in all sports. Wins, loses doesn't make a franchise good or bad, it is how it is run.

[Cat Atomic]

19. I don't get it either. If the winning city got to annex territory from

the losing city, then the loyalty and jumping up and down might make sense to me. But as it is... I just don't see why I should care who manages to get the little ball into the right spot the most times.

:P

[Rich Hunt]

20. some of the bitterness

...comes from the fact that it is a business, and not all teams are "equal" because of that. Some are willfully blind to the business side, while some only see the business aspect of it.

I've had athletes in the family, and it kind of grates when people over-identify with their team, as if the slobs in the stands are the ones out there competing. "We won so we're better, nyah nyah".

I admire the athleticism, but lots and lots of people drag their personal prejudices and shortcomings into it.

[VermontDem2004]

21. It is called rooting for your team

I will always be a Sun Devils fan even if they go 1-11 for the next 50 years. I hate fans who like a team just because they do win all the time, home town teams usually are people's favorites because they grew up watching the team or go to the games or whatever reason. I hate the Yankees not because they win, but because they seem like the most arrogant team in sports. The Cubs, Red Sox, and Marlins all whipped out champagne and started celebrating after they won their DS. The Yankees just gave a few high fives and jogged off the field after they won.

[WilliamPitt]

23. It is a taming of the passions that used to be present

in ancient wars between city-states. I like sports better than wars between city-states.