Considering there are more than 330 teams participating in Div. 1 basketball in the NCAA, and using this sport as a limited example, only 1 team will be crowned the National Champion at the end of the season, that leaves many, many fans disappointed. Considering also that in the 25 years I have been a college hoops fan the team I have chosen to follow, the North Carolina Tar Heels has won the championship twice (1993 and 2005). (They had previous to my following them also won championships in 1957 and 1982.) Looking only at the end-of-season result, I have been "disappointed" 23 times - a staggering 92% of the time. This is not a high rate of success. In those 25 years there have been 19 different teams who won those 25 championships (Kentucky(2), UNC(2), Duke (3), Uconn(2), and Florida(2) all had multiple championships), leaving somewhere near (the total number of teams has changed over the years) 300 schools who have not won the championship once in the past 25 years. And yet, I, and so many others, have continued to be loyal to "our" team, and to be a fan. What are we thinking?
Why am I a sports fan?
I could not help thinking this over the past week as I watched the Colts lose to the Chargers in the wild-card game (NFL playoffs), I read about the upset Boston College staged over the Heels @UNC and then watched my CBS Live Scoreboard as the #3 Heels lost on the road to the (now) 13-0 #4 Wake Forest Demon Deacon's. I am not a huge NFL fan, and I was surprised how disappointed I was watching the game. I am a huge college hoops fan, and I was very disappointed and even hurt to read about and watch the UNC losses. I find myself being confused as to why it is that important to me. Nothing in my life, not my family, not my job, not my income (I do not bet on sports), nothing is different because a team I am cheering for won or lost. Nothing.
Sure, when the team I am cheering for wins I feel good about it. I will celebrate, and brag to my firends (especially if they cheer for another team), but the positive benefits are really quite small and they do not last very long. I am infused with a small amount of "fan happyness" for a short period, a couple of hours to a few days, but that is always the extent of it. In fact, after those few days I am already getting caught up in the "what about next year" chatter.
But when the team loses (and, as I have said, every team loses more than they win - at least as far as the championship goes) it seems to hurt a lot more. And that hurt is so much more painful than the "joy" of the victory when they do win. Logically I should stop being a fan, as avoidance of the hurt should outweight the potential joy which is really not that much of a high.
But I don't. I keep cheering. I keep following. I keep rationalizing to myself, 'this is the year', 'the next game will be better', or 'if "we" could only do more of x, y, and z.'. I cling to a thread that my support of the team is actually making an important difference in the team being successful. This group of people, none of whom I have ever met, are needing me to remain positive and keep my faith in them so they can be successful. The illogical arguments are unlimited. But I must continue, for I am a fan. And this is what fans do.
Interesting. It seems I can not even understand myself. No wonder most women are driven crazy by their "sports fan" husbands. I should spend more time thinking about this but I can't. I've got articles to read and besides, we've got Virgina on Thursday and then 2 days later Miami(FL) at home. Heck, the way I see it, by the time we play @Duke on Feb. 11 we can go from being 0-2 in the ACC to 7-2. And, those Dookies are in trouble...they have to play Wake twice this season.
Why am I a sports fan?
I could not help thinking this over the past week as I watched the Colts lose to the Chargers in the wild-card game (NFL playoffs), I read about the upset Boston College staged over the Heels @UNC and then watched my CBS Live Scoreboard as the #3 Heels lost on the road to the (now) 13-0 #4 Wake Forest Demon Deacon's. I am not a huge NFL fan, and I was surprised how disappointed I was watching the game. I am a huge college hoops fan, and I was very disappointed and even hurt to read about and watch the UNC losses. I find myself being confused as to why it is that important to me. Nothing in my life, not my family, not my job, not my income (I do not bet on sports), nothing is different because a team I am cheering for won or lost. Nothing.
Sure, when the team I am cheering for wins I feel good about it. I will celebrate, and brag to my firends (especially if they cheer for another team), but the positive benefits are really quite small and they do not last very long. I am infused with a small amount of "fan happyness" for a short period, a couple of hours to a few days, but that is always the extent of it. In fact, after those few days I am already getting caught up in the "what about next year" chatter.
But when the team loses (and, as I have said, every team loses more than they win - at least as far as the championship goes) it seems to hurt a lot more. And that hurt is so much more painful than the "joy" of the victory when they do win. Logically I should stop being a fan, as avoidance of the hurt should outweight the potential joy which is really not that much of a high.
But I don't. I keep cheering. I keep following. I keep rationalizing to myself, 'this is the year', 'the next game will be better', or 'if "we" could only do more of x, y, and z.'. I cling to a thread that my support of the team is actually making an important difference in the team being successful. This group of people, none of whom I have ever met, are needing me to remain positive and keep my faith in them so they can be successful. The illogical arguments are unlimited. But I must continue, for I am a fan. And this is what fans do.
Interesting. It seems I can not even understand myself. No wonder most women are driven crazy by their "sports fan" husbands. I should spend more time thinking about this but I can't. I've got articles to read and besides, we've got Virgina on Thursday and then 2 days later Miami(FL) at home. Heck, the way I see it, by the time we play @Duke on Feb. 11 we can go from being 0-2 in the ACC to 7-2. And, those Dookies are in trouble...they have to play Wake twice this season.
