Why people feel so strongly about sports and teams?
Many people feel happier or sadder about their beloved teams than about most anything.Why?
How do you feel?
Do playing or watching sports help you to release your emotions? How? Is that good for you? Is that healing?
I see people who need money missing a day at work to watch their team play.Others choose their wedding day accordingly to the schedule of their team.Many fight,some even kill.
What have you done?
What's your limit?
What is the place if your favorite sports(which?)in your life and in your family life?
Thank you for sharing your life with me!:)
2006-06-14 23:03:34 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Psychology
Personal stories are most welcome!;)
2006-06-14 23:11:43 · update #1
Oops! It's "of your favorite sports"
2006-06-14 23:30:19 · update #2
Well, whether they should or not would be another interesting question, but the simple fact is they do. I think there are several reasons, mostly involving the nature and depth of a person's support for his or her team. There is a strong community association involved in this. Everyone likes a winner and when your team is playing for a championship, your whole community, however large or small, seems to get behind the team. And why not? A championship victory, particularly of a nationally or internationally popular sport, would serve to lift all boats or even put your town (or country) on the map.
The fact that many people's moods and emotions rise and fall with the fortunes of their favourite team suggest the great personal connection involved. If you love your team enough, their defeat is YOUR defeat, and you're likely to take it as hard (often even harder) than the players themselves. Conversely, when your team wins, YOU win too, and when it comes to winning a championship of some kind, that feeling can be positively euphoric.
How do I feel? Well, as you know, my proud young Buffalo Sabres recently made a great run in the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs, just falling short of the Finals and a chance to bring Buffalo its first major championship trophy ever. I was devastated, dejected but not disappointed. The Sabres gave it their all and played inspiring hockey, notwithstanding a decimated defensive corps, and I am proud of them. Thank you, Sabres!
As to the larger issue of how healthy it is for a person to have his or her emotions (even health) so dramatically affected by the relative performance of a sports team, well, I can definitely see problems here. After all, when you put so much on the line in support of that which you actually have zero control over the outcome of, you're setting yourself up for the potential to be crushed to the point of despondency. This is made worse by the fact you could (literally) do nothing to effect the outcome, pro or con. Yet the reaction is much the same as if it were all your fault. This is very definitely unhealthy.
But in the flipside, sports give us something to take our minds of the humdrum of daily life. They may even help to distract us from something unhappy going on in our lives, thus offering us a chance to escape, even if only for a little while. This can actually be healthy, though it helps if your team wins. ;-)
As for the truly obsessive people out there who risk their jobs, marriages, fortunes, even their lives... well, I don't know what to tell you. It's sheer madness, of course. No sport, no championship, no entertainment or diversion of any kind is as important as all that. But when people lay serious money on the line or have nothing else positive going on in their lives... bad things can and do happen. This is the dark, sad, sinister underbelly of the sports world and it is mostly ignored.
What have I done? Well, I don't gamble on sports. I've never allowed sports to affect my relationships. I've never attacked someone nor been attacked by someone because of sports. And I certainly wouldn't kill (including myself) over the outcome of a sporting event. It's simply not worth all of that. Not to me, anyway.
What's my limit? Well, being from Buffalo, I know all about sporting heartbreaks. Our proud Buffalo Bills went to four straight Super Bowls -- and lost every damned one of them. Of course it hurt, it was embarrassing and we deserved a better fate. But life goes on, of course. To tell you the truth, by that last defeat to hated Dallas (again), I was kinda hoping the Bills would NOT go back to the Super Bowl for awhile. It was something I could do without... thanks all the same. ;-)
I'm not sure as to your closing question, Moon. If you're asking me my favourite sport, it's a toss-up between (ice) hockey (Sabres) and (American) football (Bills). Amongst my family, principally my brothers, those two would also rank at the top (though my oldest brother favours baseball again since his beloved White Sox won the World Series last fall). But again, sure, sports can be important, especially socially, but sports are not the be all and end all. There are for more important things in life and I have never lost sight of that.
Nice question(s). Cheers for asking!
2006-06-16 14:12:38 · answer #1 · answered by MacSteed 7 · 20⤊ 5⤋
Are you looking for negative reactions or positive ones? Yes,injustice towards someone who cannot take up for themselves spurs me on with emotion and usually action to follow. I have also experiences some of the deepest giving, sometimes from strangers, that has invoked tears and thankfulness. One of my strongest reactions, and a pet peeve of mine is arrogance especially when it comes to knowledge. I tend to want to bring people down a notch or two when they assume educational snobbery is a right of theirs. A stay at home mom can be college educated but making a choice for her children. A southern may have an accent and a PhD in physics. And, a disabled person may have what it takes to make limitless achievements. I know someone from each category and my world would not be the same without them or what they have taught me.
2016-03-15 05:15:42 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has a lot to do with the same processes that cult leaders use to control and recruit members. They use what is known as "in-group/ out-group" thinking. Basically pitting us against them. The more you identify as a collective (a team) the less you identify with yourself individually. And thus you are less likely to pursue individual goals and objectives (like work or quality time with a loved one) in favor of "in-group" (team) goals and objectives.
2006-06-15 05:38:37 · answer #3 · answered by amadeusmozart731 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I, too find this phenomenon strange. But, only men enjoy it. The boyfriend of one of my friends, broke up with her, because he's got to watch his football matches. That is just insane!
2006-06-15 00:35:07 · answer #4 · answered by Charm girl 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Becasue they are all about SCORING! That's what men most care about, and most sportsfans are men.
2006-06-14 23:27:01 · answer #5 · answered by submersible 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋