Emotional Investment of Sports

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This thread isn't about American Football or the Steelers. If you are not a fan of the NFL or the Steelers, just substitute the name of your favorite team from whatever sport league they are in when you read this. The point isn't the specific team, but how you feel about sports.

I am a Steelers fan, and since this Super Bowl win was the first in 26 years, it's really the first SB championship that I am old enough to appreciate. Technically, I have been alive for all five Steelers Super Bowls, but I was really too young to remember them. (For the first SB win, I was less than one year old.)

So, the only two Steelers SBs that I have stong memories of are the one they just played, and the one they were in 10 years ago when they lost to Dallas.

It was after their latest SB victory that I've had somewhat of an epiphany. Some things are constants. The wins felt good, and the losses felt bad. When the Steelers lost in the AFC championship game, it felt really bad, and when they lost to Dallas in the Super Bowl, I was really down for several days. Therefore, I expected a SB win to feel really, really good. While I was very happy that they won, there doesn't seem to be an equitable emotional tradeoff. That is to say that the wins don't feel nearly as good as the losses feel bad.

Is this true for most people? Does it make you consider if the emotional investment we make in sports is truly worth it? Reliving the past week, I was really happy the night the Steelers won, and I was really happy on Monday too. By Tuesday it was back to business as usual. However, had the Steelers lost that game, I think that I'd still be bumming about it now. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it to invest yourself emotionally in your favorite team. It's like you're risking the possibility of feeling really good for a short time, for feeling really bad for a long time. That risk-reward ratio seems to be entirely off.

 

I am not into sports really, but my partner is a huge Steelers fan (well she is from Pittsburgh), and she was extremely happy. Her loyalty has paid off

 

To tell you the truth I have no idea how I would react if the Toronto Maple Leafs actually won the Stanley Cup. They have never managed to do so during my life time so it has always seemed inevitable that they would lose. Even when they have lost in the semi-finals I have never really felt bad - my reaction has always been more of a shrug.

Whenever Toronto has won in Baseball, Football or whatever it has been nice but not something that we really got all that excited about - Toronto is definitely a hockey town.

 

I think you are possibly over-analysing the whole thing (Aldeth over-analyse? Never!).

Sometimes, though, I think it depends on the expectations of your team. For example, the NZ All Blacks are generally accepted to have been the best rugby team in the world for most of my life. So we have a reasonable expectation that they will win most games. So, yes, we are more often disappointed rather than elated, especially when we lose World Cup finals.

On the other hand, my local team, North Harbour never wins anything. So they never disappoint, but when they do miraculously win, it is fantastic.

 

I support Chesterfield FC. One of the most nondescript teams in the English leagues. But my passion for them is beyond measure. I feel exhausted every time I come home from a match because so many emotions go through me during a game.
I feel the same about the English football team, although even more so. I always get massive butterflies and tingles in my spine when I watch England, and no exaggeration!

I like cricket too and last Summers Ashes win lists among the most exhilarating sporting occasions I've ever witnessed. Not just because we beat the Aussies (that never happens!!!) because tbecause the games themselves were by far the best I'd ever seen.

I also like rugby union (not so much league). I even didn't go to Chesterfield last weekend so I could watch England VS Wales! (thrashed 'em!). We're the current World champions at this, and that was also a massive sporting occasion in my life. Partly because we beat our old sporting enemy, the Aussies. I wouldn't rank this anywhere near the Ashes win though.

I just love my sports, I live for it. I pour so much of myself in sports it's almost sad .

 

It depends on whom the team wins and on by whom it is defeated. As a fan of Olympiakos, I can't stand defeats by Panathinaikos. There were times that I didn't get out of my house for a couple of days after a defeat but on the other hand some victories over them have given to me some of the happiest moments of my life.

 

Aldeth, maybe your short-lived "high" was affected by the way the Steelers won? Perhaps if they'd executed a masterful, dominating win...or triumphed with last second heroics, it would have been different.

But, in a way, I think there is a discrepancy between the highs and lows for avid fans. When you lose...you have an entire off-season followed by a grueling regular season to stew over your failure. Even if your team is wining in the new season, you'll be secretly plagued with doubts that they'll fold in crunch time (aka 2005 Colts).

When you win, you have a parade...make the headlines...go to Disneyworld...but within a remarkably short period of time the thoughts of victory give way to the anxiety of having to defend the title.

It's not easy being a sports fan.

I grew up spending my summers at Fenway .

 

Woooo! Go Packers!

That's a by-product of expecting them to win. (Believe me, I know. I'm rooting for one of the best/worst teams in the league. ) If you expect them to win and they win, it's good, but not great. If you expect them to win and they lose, it's downright horrible.

For example, one season (about two years ago, IIRC), the Packers weren't expected to get into the playoffs. The Vikings had a slightly better record, and fifteen different things had to happen for the Packers to get in. When they won their last game, it was good, but not great, since it could have been all for naught. Then the station switched over to the Vikings-Cardinals game, and that's where the tension mounted. When that Cardinal caught the touchdown pass, the house exploded. The Packers were in the playoffs despite all odds. TBH, looking back on that I don't think I care that we didn't make it to the Super Bowl that year, because the most important game of the year was that day when the Vikings lost. Winning the Super Bowl would have been almost a let-down by comparison.

Oddly enough, the same thing works for dentists and getting shots. If you remember it going smoothly last time and don't expect any trouble, it'll smart like a m*****-f*****. But if you remember how much it hurt last time and expect the same this time, it'll seem pretty mild by comparison. Expectations can change an experience (a variation of the observer affecting the observed).

 

Hmmm... I've been away for a while, and it seems like perhaps I've chosen my words a little poorly. When I said "emotional investment" I wasn't really saying that you had to be a dyed in the wool fan of a certain team. I'm like that, it appears Barmy is too, and maybe Fel, but that's not what I was really talking about. I'm just talking about a rooting interest in a team.

It can be professional, or it can be the team where you go to school, be that high school or a university, where your rooting interests couldn't be more clear. Everyone has watched competitions in their life, and for a small percentage of said competitions, we have a rooting interest. The current Olympics provide an excellent example - everyone has a rooting interest in the Olympics - namely you're rooting for whoever represents your country.

Now, supposing you have ever had a rooting interest, it is also fair to say that most people remember times when their team won, and remember times when their team lost. And the wins do not feel proportionally as good as the losses feel bad. Even if you look at just the regular season, taking winning a championship out of the equation for a bit, the regular season wins do not feel as good as the losses feel bad.

I do agree that expectations have a lot to do with it as well. If you expect a team to lose, then naturally you won't feel as bad if they do in fact lose, but that's probably because you've started dealing with and preparing for the loss before the game was even played. Conversely, if you expect them to win and they lose, you weren't prepared at all ahead of time.

I don't know how to explain this better. You feel terrible when you lose. I guess we assume that the other team must feel great to win. I guess we also assume that for how lousy we feel, that's how great they must feel. But then it turns out that while they certainly do feel better than you, the high isn't as high as you'd think.

 

I have read about a psychological condition where a person has their ups and downs based on how a favorite team does. Something about glory by proxy (can't really remember). The person is so consumed with the team that his or her actual happiness depends on how the team does.

I've seen this in action. A former coworker was a huge Bears fan. Monday morning was roller coaster. Either he was everyone's bud or he made it a living hell for everyone. Except when the Bears lost to the Packers -- he called in sick. What a nutcase. This was a guy who had no life of his own -- unmarried, his mother was in a home, a sister and nephew lived a few hours away. He didn't own a car (in a rural town) and so didn't get out much. His entire focus was the Bears, all year long. Anytime he spoke about the Bears it was ALWAYS 'we.' The Bears were his team and he was a part of the Bears. Scary.

Other examples are the riots that occur when a team wins or loses a big game -- I've never understood that. Those are people who seem to feed off the glory or shame of the team.

When a team I likes wins, I think 'great.' Then I shut off the TV and go on about my life. When they lose, it's not really a big deal. I'm a Seattle fan, but I didn't lose any sleep over the game.

 

You have a very warped idea of how to 'support' a team. I can only assume you don't hold much stock in your sports.
When you PROPERLY support a team, their success and failure does control your mood to varying degrees. If you don't get upset when you team loses, you're not a proper sports fan.

And 'we' is a term used when talking about the team you support. It's perfectly normal. I don't know one sports fan who doesn't say 'we' when talking about their team. 'We lost to Bristol City at the weekend, can you believe that? gutted mate', 'Have you seen the cup draw? We've got Man Utd!' - everyone does this.

I can understand how non-sports fans can think it strange when people give a lot of themselves into their sports. But that's just being passionate about it, it's not strange, it's how most sports fans are.

Is this how all yanks think, or is it just you .

 

Quite on the contrary -- my wife played Division IA basketball in college, the starting point guard for her last two years. We see games whenever possible. Even she does not have mood swings when her old team does not perform well -- and I'd say she has a lot of personal commitment to her old college team (and she doesn't use 'we' since she's not on the team anymore).

The level of commitment you mention seems a bit unhealthy to me -- my wife has seen fans like that and also does not understand it (I believe the phrase she uses is 'get a life').

There is a perception that British football fans are a bit fanatical. Maybe that's just an unfounded stereotype. Although the high number of fatalities at sporting events in Britain does promote that perception.

 

Ah, the old 'I am a sports fan, everyone else is just over-the-top' chestnut.
If sports don't get you emotional then you're not a proper supporter. Just an arm-chair, nice weather fan.

Maybe British people are just fanatical about sport, but I don't think it's just us. If you seen the way the Indians and Pakistani's go off at cricket games, you'd be amazed. Or, how fanatical the Kiwi's are about their rugby. Brits are no more fanatical than the likes of the Italians, Spanish, Turks and French etc. about football IMO.

And I don't think anybody has been killed at a football match in Britain in my life-time. I think the last one might have been the Hillsborough disaster, but I'm not sure. A few fans have been killed abroad though... Turkey being the main hot-spot. Those guys are madmen. Absolutely madmen.

 

I guess there is a healthy balance somewhere. Some people are clearly far too nutty about their sports, to the detriment of the rest of their lives. And I would agree that many English soccer fans are leaning towards the nutty end of the spectrum. Meanwhile, the rugby season has just started. Go the Blues!

 

In your opinion .
Everyone have interests that take up their time. Some are just more passionate about it than others. Nobody but themselves can say whether ior not it's detrimental in their lives.

Although, saying that, I know of one bloke who has been divorced 7 or 8 times because his wives couldn't handle his obsessive behaviour. He said that from the off, he let them know that they will never be more important in his life than Liverpool FC
People like that go a bit too far, but they are VERY few and far between, and it's their thing I suppose...

 

Ah, the old 'I am a sports fan, everyone else is just namby-pamby wimps that don't support their team' chestnut.

Perhaps the swarming, rabid fans had nothing to do with the disaster at Sheffield in 1989 (94 killed).

 

BA, it's just him. I'm a yank too, and so is Aldeth. I've got nothing against people who just support their team like T2B, but don't delude yourselves by calling yourselves fans. Fanatic is the very root of the term fan, and if you don't get excited over the prospect of a win, then you don't qualify. Though I'm a supporter of a number of AFC teams (Titans because Jeff Fisher is supposedly a distant relative; Steelers for two reasons: their fan base is one of the best, and I've played as the Steelers in Madden '99 to get the experience of the 3-4 defense; Jaguars because I like the name and Mark Brunell -who trained under Favre- and Fred Taylor) I'm only a fan of the Packers. I won't get crushed if the Titans lose to the Texans, but I'll still feel bad if the Packers were to lose to the Steelers.

It's a matter of definition. Fans are fanatical, supporters aren't.

 

I never said that, I just find a bit annoying when people profess to be big fans, when they're clearly not. They might 'like' sport, but that's a lot different to being a supporter. Just like being a fan isn't the same as being a supporter.

And sorry, I got the date wrong with the Hillsborough disaster . I was born Nov '83. But name me something that's happened in Britain since then . There hasn't been any. British fans have been taken over by Italian, Spanish and especially Turkish fans since then.