# Why do sports fans feel sad when "their" team loses or happy when "their" team wins? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 26, 2015, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617 "2015-11-26T11:52:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/41 "2015-11-28T22:47:55Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Well, _someone_ didn’t watch Babylon 5, or they would have anticipated the obvious result of the students murdering each other. > > My lack of interest in sports isn’t just because of the tribalism. I can kinda get that. It’s a form of manufactured drama, and I like manufactured drama in other forms, like movies. I root for fictional protagonists as much as anybody. > > The thing is, I require some sort of realism and believability to it. I want the characters to behave in believable ways. Soap operas and the like are ridiculous enough as it is. But in pro sports they don’t make the slightest attempt to hide its artificial nature (aside from pro wrestling, where they have only the barest facade). In any case, I need some kind of mental excuse to pretend that the competition is real, and sports don’t provide one. Are you kidding me? Are you saying professional sports are staged? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/42 "2015-11-28T23:21:21Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Are you saying professional sports are staged? Not in the sense that the results are predetermined. But in every other sense that matters, they’re _highly_ staged. They have very high production values and are carefully tuned to produce the maximal dramatic tension. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/43 "2015-11-28T23:52:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > When suddenly sports journalists could track a team and report results of road trip to other regions then sports became big money, and immediately teams were comprised of the best players found anywhere instead of locally. Well, that’s where it all went wrong, then. IMHO. Though I am someone who doesn’t watch sports. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/44 "2015-11-28T23:56:46Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Not in the sense that the results are predetermined. But in every other sense that matters, they’re _highly_ staged. They have very high production values and are carefully tuned to produce the maximal dramatic tension. Obviously you’ve never watched how sports work in less-than-affluent countries. Here in Peru were football is the “only” sport you get first-division games with fewer than 1000 people in horrible stadiums. For example, every May 1st (labour day in Peru) there is “Mundialito del Porvenir” (mini World Cup of “el Porvenir” an area in the blue-collar district of “La Victoria”), where 16 teams representing local companies play. The teams basically don’t exist for the other 364 days of the year. Players are hired ex profeso for one day. They play on the street and still people love it. [Watch this video-](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5bMvNJQqFQ) and you’ll see the low production values. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/45 "2015-11-29T00:09:44Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > No, I really don’t get this. > > Like, I understand liking sports. Sports are pretty cool, and exciting. > > I get the whole “following them from week to week” aspect, and seeing them improve. I’ve even watched esports, lightly. > > What I don’t get is the team affiliation. Like, whenever I’ve watched sports or esports, it’s interesting to see things play out, and if you watch it enough you get a feel for the people involved. But the thing is, I want to see all of them succeed. I don’t get the attachment to one over the other at all. I mean, yeah, sometimes there’s one guy who’s an unrepentant asshole or there may be some hypothetical scenario where this one player needs to win this tournament to pay for his cancer treatments or whatever, but I like to see two people (or teams) give it their all and whoever succeeds, good for them! But not all of them can succeed. Sports is a competition. Not everyone is going to win – there’s going to be a loser. > [@](#): > > I would seriously have like 90% more fun with sports if it wasn’t for the team rivalries. Team rivalry almost feels damaging to me. There was a story the other day, my undergrad university’s rival had their yearly grudge match football game. One of the fans of one of the teams decided to yell invective at the other team’s marching band and throw a football at one of the bass drums. Broke it, cost a lot of money to replace. People are assholes. And that’s not the majority of sports fans. > [@](#): > > The whole rivalry thing just seems gross to me. Why not be happy when any team wins and learns and grows and enjoy their successes without attaching yourself to just one? (Again, excepting the case where the person in question is a giant asshole or whatever). Because that’s not what sports is about. Competition is a part of it, like it or not. Rivalries are often in good spirit. People like to have something to root for. Part of the fun is cheering when your team wins, getting all excited at the idea of a championship, making signs, wearing team gear, yelling, high-fives, etc. This whole, “yay, everybody wins!” isn’t reality. > [@](#): > > - Despite the fact that the actual people on the teams and in the different marching bands between rivals tend to be good friends, or at least get along well even if they don’t know each other. If you talk to athletes, a lot of them will say that they try to keep it on the field, and not make it personal. And while they may be friends with other people on the other team, on the field/ice/track, whatever, that’s no longer the case. It’s all about the team, not the individual. As Herb Brooks once said, "You’re looking for players whose name on the front of the sweater is more important than the one on the back. I look for these players to play hard, to play smart, and to represent their country.” (Seriously, without competition, would the Miracle On Ice have been nearly as thrilling? No, it wouldn’t have been. Not at all.) And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a Penguins game to watch. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/46 "2015-11-29T03:47:16Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Obviously you’ve never watched how sports work in less-than-affluent countries. Several things: - I was responding to **Leaffan** , who specifically mentioned _professional_ sports. - I wasn’t trying to form a complete explanation for the existence of sports. In fact, I think tribalism alone is a mostly sufficient explanation. But there’s a little more going on than just that, especially in the developed world. - Even the poorest countries are likely to have drama-enhancing features such as distinctive costumes and color commentators. Why do they have someone that yells GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL even though everyone in the stadium saw what happened? Because it increases the excitement. In fact, even if you don’t have any of that, the mere presence of a crowd adds to the excitement. Someone with no access to the game at all except through listening to the crowd can still get a good sense of the ebb and flow of the game. - In developed countries, sports have to compete with other highly polished forms of entertainment, like movies and TV. In less developed areas, there’s less competition and they can get away with lower production values. That doesn’t mean it’s fundamentally different. Even though the local community college production of _Les Mis_ is pretty rough compared to the Broadway or Hollywood versions, it’s still going for the same basic effect. - The clip you posted looked mostly like an excuse to have a fun street fair with the food and other attendant bits. I’m sure people were rooting for “their” company’s team, but I doubt anyone was taking it too seriously. Not quite the same thing as “real” sports, which people get really worked up about. ---
**Author:** ![tarrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@tarrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarrel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/47 "2015-11-29T03:49:07Z")
I will be hot as FISH GREASE if the Giants lose to the Redskins tomorrow ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/48 "2015-11-30T12:15:24Z")
The thing I hate about these sorts of threads is that people don’t seem to realize that, if you don’t understand something, you’re the one who is ignorant. And you don’t get to argue with someone who is trying to explain it to you just becasue you feel differently? Do you want to know, or do you want to brag? You can’t do both. Anyways, the answer, as far as I can tell–both in myself and others–is that sports are more fun to watch when you have someone to root for. You get the fun of friendly competition without actually competing in any way yourself. It’s just vicariousness, the exact same reason we enjoy movies and film where we identify with the characters. The difference is that, in sports, there are no inherent protagonists and antagonists, so we choose our own. Some people like me only mostly do it on a game-by-game basis. Other people pick a team and follow them, and thus that because their protagonist. It’s really not that hard to understand if you compare it with the other forms of entertainment that people enjoy. And I barely watch sports, BTW. I mostly do it for the social aspect. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/49 "2015-11-30T14:49:58Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Sports haven’t been “region vs region” since the 1800s. International sports pretty much are. Additionally, the likes of Yorkshire Cricket Club up to 1992 stipulated that all players had to be born in Yorkshire. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/50 "2015-11-30T15:35:51Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Sports haven’t been “region vs region” since the 1800s. There’s a bunch of [ancient Greek athletes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhellenic_Games) over here who seem pretty keen to disagree with you. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/51 "2015-11-30T15:57:08Z")
Quite simply, a large part of the fun and excitement of sports and games, whether you’re playing them or watching other people playing them, comes from pretending that it matters who wins. (And yes, some people are better at such pretending than others. And yes, some people take it too far, and forget that it doesn’t _really_ matter.) ---
**Author:** ![tarrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@tarrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarrel)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/52 "2015-11-30T20:26:33Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Quite simply, a large part of the fun and excitement of sports and games, whether you’re playing them or watching other people playing them, comes from pretending that it matters who wins. > (And yes, some people are better at such pretending than others. And yes, some people take it too far, and forget that it doesn’t _really_ matter.) I’m annoyed by fans who don’t show no emotion at all after a game ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/53 "2015-11-30T20:48:22Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > International sports pretty much are. > [@gnoitall](#): > > There’s a bunch of [ancient Greek athletes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhellenic_Games) over here who seem pretty keen to disagree with you. What do ancient Greeks have to do with modern day sports? And yes, international sports are clearly region versus region (it’s right there in the name). But that doesn’t matter when we were discussing pro sports leagues like the MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/54 "2015-11-30T21:24:36Z")
> [@tarrel](#): > > I’m annoyed by fans who don’t show no emotion at all after a game So you’re annoyed by fans who show emotion after a game? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/55 "2015-11-30T21:32:23Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Crazy hoo-mans. You’d think they had millions of years of evolution favoring tribalism or something!! Precisely not what’s happening. Even though I’m not interest in sports, I can understand rooting for your friends playing, rooting for your local small amateur team, and even rooting for the national team. But rooting for a bunch of guys who just happen to use the name of the city you live in even though they don’t have any connection to it leaves me puzzled. I’m obviously more familiar with soccer, so, say people from Rennes rooting for the Rennes soccer team, made up with a Senegalese, an Italian, a French guy from Strasbourg, etc… who will next year be replaced by a Croat, a British and an Algerian makes absolutely no sense to me. I could also understand people rooting for a specific player, regardless of what team happened to “buy” him this year, but people don’t generally do that. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/56 "2015-11-30T21:33:38Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Quite simply, a large part of the fun and excitement of sports and games, whether you’re playing them or watching other people playing them, comes from pretending that it matters who wins. Are they just pretending? Some people seem to be truly pissed when their team loses, and overjoyed when it wins. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/57 "2015-11-30T21:40:03Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I’m obviously more familiar with soccer, so, say people from Rennes rooting for the Rennes soccer team, made up with a Senegalese, an Italian, a French guy from Strasbourg, etc… who will next year be replaced by a Croat, a British and an Algerian makes absolutely no sense to me. > > I could also understand people rooting for a specific player, regardless of what team happened to “buy” him this year, but people don’t generally do that. Actually, these last two paragraphs go together for me and make perfect sense. I don’t necessarily develop any long-term loyalty to individual players. But I do develop long-term loyalty to the organization that set up roots in my community/city/region/country and acts as a representative of that area. So even if Smith, Jones and Rodriguez get replaced by White, Matthews and Lopez, the organization is still the Los Angeles Gridlocks, and that’s what I’m rooting for. Because the Gridlocks organization is still trying to bring a championship to Los Angeles even if Smith, Jones and Rodriguez no longer are. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/58 "2015-11-30T21:43:15Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I’m obviously more familiar with soccer, so, say people from Rennes rooting for the Rennes soccer team, made up with a Senegalese, an Italian, a French guy from Strasbourg, etc… who will next year be replaced by a Croat, a British and an Algerian makes absolutely no sense to me. Do you watch movies? What are some of your favourites? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/59 "2015-11-30T21:50:58Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Speaking of which, I believe UK soccer has Premiership competitions, where bad teams are kicked out of leagues as they fail. I think that’s how it works everywhere for soccer. The worst teams of the competition are downgraded to a lower division, to be replaced by the best teams of this lower division that are upgraded. However, since major teams are affluent and can afford the best players in the world, there’s no chance they could do so bad that they’d end up in a lower division (unless the club goes bankrupt). So the major teams are always there. You’re not going to see Liverpool or the Real Madrid kicked out of their first league anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![tarrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@tarrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarrel)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617/60 "2015-11-30T21:52:08Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > So you’re annoyed by fans who show emotion after a game? 😕 I don’t like fans who root for the same team as me saying…“well it was a good game” That makes my blood boil [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-sports-fans-feel-sad-when-their-team-loses-or-happy-when-their-team-wins/738617.md?page=4)