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You’re sitting on your couch, elbow deep in a bag of Cheetos with your favorite drink beside you. There’s just five seconds left in the game. 5-4-3-2-1 and bam! You jump as high as you can popping a hole in your ceiling because your team just won the championship. Maybe a couple of tears of joy run down your cheek and life is grand.
But, wait. Did I say your team? Weren’t you on the couch with an orange stain on your shirt? They’re playing 2,000 miles away and have no idea who you are. Why do you care so much?
It’s something that I’ve thought about a lot in recent years and it’s important to recognize why we care so much about sports because it’s deeper than we think.
All my life, all I’ve ever really been into is sports. Didn’t matter which one. Even as an adolescent, all I did was follow all the leagues, teams, or players. From the four major North American sports to soccer, tennis, golf, and anything in between. It’s the competition I love. Sports are the best, and now one of the only real and non – scripted, reality shows that we could ever watch. In each game, fans are, in a way, picking a protagonist and antagonist and watching a story unfold before their eyes.
(Muhammad Hussain / Flikr)
So, how entertaining I find sports is why I love it. But why do I care so much about my favorite teams and players? Why do I care so much if “my team” or “my player” wins or loses? How does that win, or loss change anything in my life?
What I mean by that is, it doesn’t change anything physical in my life. A win or loss doesn’t change my health, it doesn’t affect my family, my career path, or my finances (betting doesn’t count because that’s a choice made outside the actual sport). So, if it has zero effect on our actual physical life, why do we care so much about this stuff?
Well, one of the reasons we care so much is because it’s simply fun. It’s just something that we enjoy following, it makes us happy. It’s a release from the worries of everyday life and that’s a sign that we subconsciously know a win or loss doesn’t really matter. If we truly thought that winning and losing had a serious impact on our life, we wouldn’t be able to use it as a release. It would be something else that adds to our daily stressors and anxieties. It’s genuinly fun for people to go through the highs, the lows and cheer for their favorite teams/players chasing a championship.
What’s more, getting together with friends to watch a game or even watching it alone brings a certain wholesome fun to us. There’s not much negativity that we have to worry about when watching sports, unlike the things the real world offers us.
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But, is that the only reason we care so much about these teams and players? Just because it’s fun?
No. There’s more to it.
The more significant reason why we care so much is that humans are tribalists. We hold value in being part of a group and being loyal to that group. Following our favorite teams or players gives us a sense of community and connectedness to others. We want our tribe to beat other tribes and when they do, we feel like we’ve also achieved success through that. And if they lose, we confide with others in our tribe.
To give an example, we can take a look back at when the Vancouver Canucks were playing in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. Sure, they lost the series, but the loss was only one night. There were six games before that, not to mention the entire playoff run. Once Alex Burrows “slayed the dragon” in the first round beating Chicago, there was a different feeling all around town and it only got stronger after each round the team advanced. When Kevin Bieksa scored in overtime to solidify their spot in the finals, this city was absolutely buzzin!
And to be honest, Vancouver isn’t even my favorite team so I didn’t have the same excitement as most others for them making the finals, but the feeling that I got being in the city was undeniable. It was like everyone was rejuvenated, everyone seemed nicer, more polite, outgoing and just generally in a way better mood which changed the entire atmosphere of the city. And it all had to do with their tribe: The Vancouver Canucks.
(Below: Outside Rogers arena before game 1 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals)
(Beauty Playin Eh’ / Flikr)
The city felt so connected to the team that it gave the people a sense of inexplicable calm and joy that reverberated throughout daily life in Vancouver. From grabbing a muffin at the local coffee shop to standing in line at a urinal, it was just a beautiful time in our city and we have the hockey team to thank for that.
As much beauty and community-connection tribalism can bring, it can also be a destructive force to watch out for if it goes too far. This is where caring so much can go overboard.
An extreme, but real, example of this occurred during the 1994 Fifa World Cup held in the US.
The Columbian national team rose from the bottom of the ranks in previous years to become a strong team entering that tournament. Unfortunately, one of the main reasons for the national team’s success was because tons of money and resources were dumped into the program. Who initiated this and did most of the funding you ask?
Pablo Escobar.
It should go without saying that this obviously has its downside being connected and funded by one of the biggest drug lords the world has ever seen. And what many people thought could only be a false nightmare, became reality on July 2, 1994.
In their second group match Columbian defender, Andres Escobar (unrelated to Pablo), stretched out to block a pass and inadvertently deflected the ball in his own net. Columbia lost that game…by one goal. The loss played a major role in the team being eliminated from the tournament just a few days later.
(R.I.P)
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When Andres returned home to Columbia, he was killed with six shots at point-blank range. Six shots because that’s how many times the announcer yelled “goal!” on the Columbian TV feed when the defender scored on his own side, while the shooter also yelled “goal!” after each blast. If you want the full story, there’s an excellent documentary called “The Two Escobars”, created by the 30 for 30 crew at ESPN.
The feeling of embarrassment and defeat that Pablo Escobar felt because his team was eliminated is what lead to the killing. This is non-sensical tribalism at its finest. Pablo was so devasted and angry that his “tribe” had been eliminated before he expected them to be, that he needed to see consequences, there needed to be repercussions and punishment.
Over a game that a bunch of people try kicking a ball in this rectangle thing with a net.
It’s just that: a game.
I understand that’s an extreme example and that this isn’t something we experience much in North America but we’ve all seen the tribalism go too far, even in our own city. Yes, the 2011 playoffs felt like a magical time, but all that magic deteriorated after the loss was followed by rioters who ruined everything for everyone.
Sports are a very powerful part of our society that can bring a lot of positivity and excitement to our life. With a mix of sensible tribalism and just good ol’ fun, we’ll experience these activities with the utmost enjoyment. It helps us get through our days, it creates a sense of community, worth and it makes us happy which counts for a lot. That being said, we’ve all seen that it can also be unbelievably damaging if we take our tribalism and fanaticism over the edge and take these sports too seriously. We must keep it light, keep it fun and just play on. It’s all just entertainment.