Saturday, January 22, 2005
Becoming a Fan
For many geeks, sports fandom is a great mystery. They can't grasp how anyone could care so deeply about something so inconsequential as a physical contest of skill. They certainly cannot comprehend the dressing up in team paraphernalia, the loathing of the team's rivals, or any of the other accompanying rituals that are attached to team affiliation.
This fall, I formed a new sports attachment, which gave me the chance to sort of observe the process. I have applied to UC Berkeley's MBA program (a topic worthy of its own post, but not today). I had absolutely no prior interest in Berkeley collegiate sports (um, excuse me, "California" collegiate sports), except to the extent that they are local to me, so I hear about them on the news and from co-workers and whatnot.
But once I decided to apply, things started to change. I started, in a word, to care. Cal had an exceptional football season this year, as it turned out; they were consistently ranked in the top 5. And slowly, inexorably, I started to follow the games. I would choose to watch their games rather than other games. I would start to associate feelings, not only with Cal, but with their rivals and their conference.
There are two distinct issues here that are difficult for non-sports folk to understand. The first, of course, is the appeal of sports generally -- how could anyone (or at least anyone who doesn't actually play the sport) be interested in football or hockey or tennis or golf or swimming or whatever else? My recent experience doesn't give any additional insight into that. The closest analogy I can make is to appeal to analogies to any sort of zero-sum competition. Maybe basketball doesn't appeal to you, but can you wrap your head around enjoying a game show like Jeopardy! or, hell, even a Science Olympiad or something like that? I can't do better than that. Beyond that sort of analogy, I'm trying to argue taste, and that doesn't work.
The second issue is, even given the hypothetical interest in competition, what persuades a person that it's worth it to align with one particular side? Why did the act of applying to Berkeley engender in me a desire to see the California football team win its games? I think that the process is like any other allegiance, and in fact is superficially like patriotism. I want the team to succeed because the team symbolizes my school, or my city, or my state, or whatever the nominal basis for the allegiance is), and I have intellectually and emotionally aligned my interests, to some small degree, with the interests of the team, because, well, on some level those interests are my interests.
I will be the first to admit that in the case of professional sports, at least, this is silly. With a few notable exceptions, professional sports are a corporate product that really have little to nothing to do with their host cities (as you can see every time a team threatens to leave its host city). I like to think that the link in collegiate sports is clearer, and I think one could defend a country's national teams on similar grounds. In such cases, the sports side of things is intended, in part, to market the school, to get it in people's minds, and to get people excited about it. It is intended to provide rituals and symbols to bind the people associated with the school together, and in this respect it resembles any sort of religious practice.
So, if you're the sort who would never be caught dead wearing anything symbolic of something as mundane as a college or a city, then I could see that it wouldn't appeal. But if you wore your Gollum T-shirt to your first theatrical viewing of The Return of the King, then maybe you can understand.
For many geeks, sports fandom is a great mystery. They can't grasp how anyone could care so deeply about something so inconsequential as a physical contest of skill. They certainly cannot comprehend the dressing up in team paraphernalia, the loathing of the team's rivals, or any of the other accompanying rituals that are attached to team affiliation.
This fall, I formed a new sports attachment, which gave me the chance to sort of observe the process. I have applied to UC Berkeley's MBA program (a topic worthy of its own post, but not today). I had absolutely no prior interest in Berkeley collegiate sports (um, excuse me, "California" collegiate sports), except to the extent that they are local to me, so I hear about them on the news and from co-workers and whatnot.
But once I decided to apply, things started to change. I started, in a word, to care. Cal had an exceptional football season this year, as it turned out; they were consistently ranked in the top 5. And slowly, inexorably, I started to follow the games. I would choose to watch their games rather than other games. I would start to associate feelings, not only with Cal, but with their rivals and their conference.
There are two distinct issues here that are difficult for non-sports folk to understand. The first, of course, is the appeal of sports generally -- how could anyone (or at least anyone who doesn't actually play the sport) be interested in football or hockey or tennis or golf or swimming or whatever else? My recent experience doesn't give any additional insight into that. The closest analogy I can make is to appeal to analogies to any sort of zero-sum competition. Maybe basketball doesn't appeal to you, but can you wrap your head around enjoying a game show like Jeopardy! or, hell, even a Science Olympiad or something like that? I can't do better than that. Beyond that sort of analogy, I'm trying to argue taste, and that doesn't work.
The second issue is, even given the hypothetical interest in competition, what persuades a person that it's worth it to align with one particular side? Why did the act of applying to Berkeley engender in me a desire to see the California football team win its games? I think that the process is like any other allegiance, and in fact is superficially like patriotism. I want the team to succeed because the team symbolizes my school, or my city, or my state, or whatever the nominal basis for the allegiance is), and I have intellectually and emotionally aligned my interests, to some small degree, with the interests of the team, because, well, on some level those interests are my interests.
I will be the first to admit that in the case of professional sports, at least, this is silly. With a few notable exceptions, professional sports are a corporate product that really have little to nothing to do with their host cities (as you can see every time a team threatens to leave its host city). I like to think that the link in collegiate sports is clearer, and I think one could defend a country's national teams on similar grounds. In such cases, the sports side of things is intended, in part, to market the school, to get it in people's minds, and to get people excited about it. It is intended to provide rituals and symbols to bind the people associated with the school together, and in this respect it resembles any sort of religious practice.
So, if you're the sort who would never be caught dead wearing anything symbolic of something as mundane as a college or a city, then I could see that it wouldn't appeal. But if you wore your Gollum T-shirt to your first theatrical viewing of The Return of the King, then maybe you can understand.
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Okay, the Jeopardy! anology helps me to understand... a bit. However, people rares get as worked up over something like that than they do over something like, for instance, basketball playoffs.
What I don't understand is not merely how one could enjoy a sport, but what is it about sports that drive people to such an intensity of interest. After all, there is a whole section of the paper devoted to sports competition (with, I might add, a tone that lacks the attempts of objective reporting that the other sections strive towards).
Ultimately, what really baffles me is the personal investment that sports fans have in their teams. I remember a particular incident, with you, where I lightly suggested rooting for another team and you, essentially, snapped and said a) shut up and b) I didn't know what I was talking about. You, who are generally a very relaxed person when it comes to differences of opinion, were clearly irritated (and not in the faux "oh shut up!" sort of way).
That's the sort of thing that genuinely puzzles me and I'm really sure that your essay (which I do appeciate) has helped me to grasp that.
What I don't understand is not merely how one could enjoy a sport, but what is it about sports that drive people to such an intensity of interest. After all, there is a whole section of the paper devoted to sports competition (with, I might add, a tone that lacks the attempts of objective reporting that the other sections strive towards).
Ultimately, what really baffles me is the personal investment that sports fans have in their teams. I remember a particular incident, with you, where I lightly suggested rooting for another team and you, essentially, snapped and said a) shut up and b) I didn't know what I was talking about. You, who are generally a very relaxed person when it comes to differences of opinion, were clearly irritated (and not in the faux "oh shut up!" sort of way).
That's the sort of thing that genuinely puzzles me and I'm really sure that your essay (which I do appeciate) has helped me to grasp that.
I have to agree with Andrew. Except, the Jeapardy analogy doesn't help at all. I don't have any emotional investment in who wins jeapordy, even if I am finding the show interesting. In fact, the only time I get personally emotionally involved in a competition or contest is when I am personally involved. Or someone I know is personally involved. But it's because of the person, not the event.
The analogy to patriotism makes some sense. I would like it if we beat Russia in Chess. But even this analogy is a stretch, because as you say, the comparison to patriotism is superficial at best. During the cold war, the chess competitions between us and Russia was a competition where "the other guys" really ARE the "other guys". In our own sports.... hell, we're all American. It's not as if the other city is REALLY our enemy. I don't get emotionally attached to competitions involving people you don't know. In fact, fans give money to these people so that they have something they emotionally attach to.
Hmm. Maybe we as a nation seek sports and create the industry because we're emotionally dependant on such things. Feh.
It seems to me that when one person gets upset because you're rooting for the other side, it indicates at least an emotional expectation on their part that their side SHOULD win. It becomes a superficial acceptance of a right-and-wrong paradigm. In some cases, maybe that feeling is legit. Our side should win. But in sports, is there really any cosmic import to it?
I always root against the popular team wherever I am because it amuses me to see how emotional folks can get over something inconsequential. Ok, so it means I'm toying with peoples' emotions. Call it my own dabbling in the dark-side. ;-)
~kspml
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The analogy to patriotism makes some sense. I would like it if we beat Russia in Chess. But even this analogy is a stretch, because as you say, the comparison to patriotism is superficial at best. During the cold war, the chess competitions between us and Russia was a competition where "the other guys" really ARE the "other guys". In our own sports.... hell, we're all American. It's not as if the other city is REALLY our enemy. I don't get emotionally attached to competitions involving people you don't know. In fact, fans give money to these people so that they have something they emotionally attach to.
Hmm. Maybe we as a nation seek sports and create the industry because we're emotionally dependant on such things. Feh.
It seems to me that when one person gets upset because you're rooting for the other side, it indicates at least an emotional expectation on their part that their side SHOULD win. It becomes a superficial acceptance of a right-and-wrong paradigm. In some cases, maybe that feeling is legit. Our side should win. But in sports, is there really any cosmic import to it?
I always root against the popular team wherever I am because it amuses me to see how emotional folks can get over something inconsequential. Ok, so it means I'm toying with peoples' emotions. Call it my own dabbling in the dark-side. ;-)
~kspml
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