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Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
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Love and Honor Offline
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Post: #1
Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
Quote:Data from a new study (pdf) suggests that loss aversion also describes the life of a sports fan. For the study, economists Peter Dolton and George MacKerron of the University of Sussex analyzed data from the Mappiness Project, a survey in which people are randomly pinged on their phones and asked, among other questions, how happy they are at the moment...

As loss aversion predicts, losing makes you feel worse than winning makes you feel better. Maybe, then, you could just choose to root for a consistently good team to avoid the angst? Sorry, frontrunners, but this probably won’t work. The researchers found that wins don’t feel as good when they are expected (as measured by betting odds before a game), but draws and losses feel a lot worse.

https://qz.com/1330113/emotionally-and-e...-we-do-it/

The author's conclusion in the final paragraph makes sense, a sense of community belonging is very much a part of sports and is very appealing. I'd also argue that it's fun to watch sheer greatness (like watching fantastic music), provides us an escape from life, and gives us a sense of pride/glory in victory even if we have nothing to do with it in the grand scheme of things.
07-23-2018 06:18 PM
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HawaiiMongoose Offline
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RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
At the collegiate level there's also the aspect of supporting the student-athletes. If you follow a collegiate sports program closely over a long period, and especially if you attend booster events, you become familiar with individual players and their backgrounds and see how they progress from one season to the next. You watch their skills improve, their confidence grow, and (ideally) their success increase. In some cases you see them struggle to overcome injuries or other setbacks. You come to realize they're just kids who have made a commitment to play for a school (possibly your alma mater, or your hometown team) and consequently are investing enormous time and effort in their sport in exchange for tuition, room, board, and not much else other than the appreciation expressed by fans in the stands. Once you start viewing them as people rather than just players, it makes you not want to let them down.
07-23-2018 06:54 PM
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IWokeUpLikeThis Offline
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RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
It’s all about the thought processes. Live vicariously through a team’s wins and losses and you’ll find yourself miserable. Separate wins/losses from pleasure and connect your satisfaction with just being “part of something” and you’ll be much happier. You can’t control wins/losses but you can control what you get out of the experience.

I have the time of my life at the Jones Convocation Center watching 60+ year old women “dance off” in the stands with a 1-29 team on the court. You have to learn how to make it fun for yourself.
07-24-2018 01:13 AM
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Lord Stanley Offline
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RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
About 10 years ago, thankfully, I was able to separate winning and losing from my enjoyment of sports. Now, outside of probably the first NIU game of the year and the Toledo game, I don't even watch full NIU games, just sort of tune them in and out as I do other things during game time.

I will say this though - I've never had a team I follow and cheer for (NIU, Twins, Wild and Bears) ever win the whole thing while I have been a fan. I'd love to go through that roller coaster and end with a championship. Closest was just after Devon Hester ran back the kickoff in Superbowl XLI, and around the time NIU was selected to the Orange Bowl.
07-24-2018 07:12 AM
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Gamecock Offline
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Post: #5
RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
I get over losses quickly and relish in victories longer.

For me personally my parents went to SC, I grew up in Columbia, I went to SC during their best run in history, I live in Columbia, I have an SC tattoo on my bicep that I see every morning when I'm getting dressed. Sure there are days when it makes me unhappy, even miserable, but I don't think I'll ever be able to "check out" and honestly I wouldn't want to if I could.
07-24-2018 08:32 AM
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Frank the Tank Offline
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RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
I do believe that the community aspect is really what drives sports fandom. At its best, sports fandom is one of the few areas in society that legitimately crosses socioeconomic, political and racial lines. That type of power is very unique within cultures both here in America and across the world.

I'll agree that the losses generally hurt more than the wins feel good, though. The 2005 NCAA Elite Eight game when Illinois came back from being down 15 in the last 4 minutes against Arizona is one of the top two sports moments of my life (the other being Michael Jordan's performance in the last minute of Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals) - that was as euphoric as I have ever been watching a sporting event. Yet, it took me years to come to grips with the fact that Illinois didn't beat UNC in the National Championship Game 9 days later. That was one of the few times in my life outside of the 1990s Bulls dynasty where I had complete 100% conviction that we were going to win it all... and it didn't happen according to plan.

The Bears Super Bowl that Lord Stanley mentions above was slightly different because of the circumstances. When that Devin Hester TD return occurred, I thought that was going to be one of the best days of my life.. but then reality set in. The difference is that I sort of knew in the back of my head that the Bears weren't better than the Colts that year (with Peyton Manning in his prime) despite convincing myself that a team with Rex Grossman at QB would magically come through leading up to that game. So, I came to grips with that loss a little bit better, although it still hurt badly at the time. Of course, the rough thing about being a fan of the team that loses the Super Bowl is that you're literally the only group in the entire country that isn't partying that day. The fans of the Super Bowl winner are obviously having a blast and the neutral viewers can joke about the commercials and halftime show. Meanwhile, the fans of the Super Bowl loser alone are wallowing in sorrow (along with the people whose bets didn't pay off).
07-24-2018 01:48 PM
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NBPirate Offline
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RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
I get college fandom much easier. If you're an alum, you went to that school, watched games in those stadiums, part of your identity is with that institution.

Pro sports is less as that is often transient.
07-24-2018 02:08 PM
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Statefan Offline
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Post: #8
RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
It's no different from love and marriage.
07-24-2018 02:24 PM
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Gamecock Offline
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RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
(07-24-2018 01:48 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I'll agree that the losses generally hurt more than the wins feel good, though. The 2005 NCAA Elite Eight game when Illinois came back from being down 15 in the last 4 minutes against Arizona is one of the top two sports moments of my life (the other being Michael Jordan's performance in the last minute of Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals) - that was as euphoric as I have ever been watching a sporting event. Yet, it took me years to come to grips with the fact that Illinois didn't beat UNC in the National Championship Game 9 days later. That was one of the few times in my life outside of the 1990s Bulls dynasty where I had complete 100% conviction that we were going to win it all... and it didn't happen according to plan.

It's funny, I take wins/losses almost completely differently.

As even the most casual fans could tell you, there have been some HARD years being a SC fan (21 game football losing streak, 40+ year tourney drought, etc) but I've always been able to move on and focus on the positives. I literally cried tears of joy when we beat Florida to go to a Final Four but I can barely remember the semifinal loss to Gonzaga just a few days later. Beating Alabama and winning the SEC East in 2010 will forever be etched in my memory, but I couldn't really tell you much about losing the 2010 SEC title game (and I sat in the 5th row of the endzone). Just a few years later, in 2015, South Carolina went 3-9 and lost to the Citadel in embarrassing fashion, but so much of that season is a complete haze.
07-24-2018 02:27 PM
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Frank the Tank Offline
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RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
(07-24-2018 02:08 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  I get college fandom much easier. If you're an alum, you went to that school, watched games in those stadiums, part of your identity is with that institution.

Pro sports is less as that is often transient.

It depends. For me, I have been watching Chicago pro sports for literally as long as I can remember anything, so it was deeply ingrained in my childhood and teenage years in a way college sports wasn't. It helped that my first sports memories were of the 1985 Bears (the greatest football team of all-time) and Michael Jordan (the greatest athlete of all-time) played for the Bulls from the time I was in kindergarten up through my first two years in college. My parents didn't attend a big sports school, so I liked college sports as a kid simply because I liked watching sports in general, but I wasn't emotionally connected to college sports until I actually attended college. My pro sports loyalties actually run much longer than my college sports fandom.
07-24-2018 02:58 PM
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MissouriStateBears Offline
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RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
Nothing was sweeter in my sports life was the night the Royals won the World Series in 2015. Greatest feeling I ever experienced as a sports fan. Tears, smiles, laughter and joy all in one.
07-24-2018 03:04 PM
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Frank the Tank Offline
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RE: Why are people sports fans when it may make them miserable?
(07-24-2018 02:27 PM)Gamecock Wrote:  
(07-24-2018 01:48 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I'll agree that the losses generally hurt more than the wins feel good, though. The 2005 NCAA Elite Eight game when Illinois came back from being down 15 in the last 4 minutes against Arizona is one of the top two sports moments of my life (the other being Michael Jordan's performance in the last minute of Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals) - that was as euphoric as I have ever been watching a sporting event. Yet, it took me years to come to grips with the fact that Illinois didn't beat UNC in the National Championship Game 9 days later. That was one of the few times in my life outside of the 1990s Bulls dynasty where I had complete 100% conviction that we were going to win it all... and it didn't happen according to plan.

It's funny, I take wins/losses almost completely differently.

As even the most casual fans could tell you, there have been some HARD years being a SC fan (21 game football losing streak, 40+ year tourney drought, etc) but I've always been able to move on and focus on the positives. I literally cried tears of joy when we beat Florida to go to a Final Four but I can barely remember the semifinal loss to Gonzaga just a few days later. Beating Alabama and winning the SEC East in 2010 will forever be etched in my memory, but I couldn't really tell you much about losing the 2010 SEC title game (and I sat in the 5th row of the endzone). Just a few years later, in 2015, South Carolina went 3-9 and lost to the Citadel in embarrassing fashion, but so much of that season is a complete haze.

To be sure, I don't get as emotional about wins and losses as I did when I was younger (when everything was life or death). On the flip side, though, I have a greater sense of my own mortality as I get older along with understanding just how rare it is for your favorite teams to get to the pinnacle and knowing how few opportunities there are. For instance, it has been 32 years since the Bears last won the Super Bowl. In 32 years, I'll be in my 70s, which means there's a very real chance that I'll go the rest of my life without seeing the Bears win another Super Bowl (or Illinois ever winning a national championship in basketball or football, or the Bulls/Blackhawks/White Sox ever winning another championship). Chicagoans are acutely aware of this mortality with the White Sox having had an 88 year World Series championship drought before finally winning in 2005 and the Cubs with the granddaddy of them all with a 108 year World Series championship drought prior to winning in 2016 where multiple generations lived their entire lives without seeing a title for those teams. As a result, it's why losses like the Steve Bartman game in the 2003 NLCS still live on in infamy - fans can never quite get over those types of losses even if there's success later on. I can't tell you how dark it was for my Cub fan friends after that Bartman game - we were all in our 20s and that game pretty much convinced them all that they would die without seeing the Cubs make it to the World Series (much less win it).
(This post was last modified: 07-24-2018 03:12 PM by Frank the Tank.)
07-24-2018 03:09 PM
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