Psychology of a Sports Team Fan

    So my favorite sports team, the Indian cricket team, just made an inglorious exit from another high profile tournament, the ICC T20 World Cup. It caused me a lot of heart burn. At the moment my mind is filled with a lot of masochistic soul-searching inquires like “Why are we not good?”, “Why don’t we ever win anything ? (never mind the Indian team played some of the most exhilarating cricket over the last year)”, “Seriously, what’s wrong with us?”,  “Is it the vegetarian food we eat or the polluted air we breathe or something in our genes?”, “Is it our culture that is not quite suited for reaching the pinnacle at sports?”. Mind you this is T20 format a version of cricket for which I have little respect, yet the agony is real. Not seeing my team play the semifinals felt like being left behind in cricketing civilization, seems like a little overreaction, but trust me it's a spirit that has been expressed amongst fellow comrades. There is something about men and team sports and winning that seems to have an overarching effect on their happiness and outlook.  Interestingly, this effect is independent on the athletic ability of the sports fan; most of the fans are couch potatoes themselves. As a diehard Indian cricket fan for 40 years who experienced many a lows and some highs I wonder why this has such a bearing on my life.  For that matter why are millions of sports fans so addicted to the value of numbers (called scores) that have absolutely no material bearing on their fortunes. 

    What does winning imply? : Winning in individual sports can mean better physical stature and prowess. One could argue that these qualities have some bearing on success in life in general, even though those arguments tend to be far less compelling in comforts of the current-day smart-phone driven world. Maybe 1000-2000 years ago it made a big difference in the era of Roman gladiators and Viking marauders. Nevertheless, if you are strong, you are unlikely to be bullied. If you are fit you can climb 10 flights of stairs when the elevator is broken.  But deriving vicarious pleasure from someone else being strong, fast, and skillful is puzzling. Moreover, these qualities may make sense at an individual level but not so much at a team level. Teams that have higher athletic ability have a better chance at winning; but it is a second order effect in professional sport. Team sporting contests are not determined by combined physiological metrics of the team. The team with faster bowlers doesn’t necessarily win a cricket match; the team with a stronger offensive line doesn’t necessarily win a football game. If that were true matches would be determined by a bunch of well controlled tests in a gym-like environment without needing a sporting contest in a stadium filled with rabid fans.  Winning is determined by who ends up on the right side of a scoring system that is governed by a complex set of rules and regulations that are often documented in a big binder. 

    Winning Criteria : Some of sporting rules and regulations are simply absurd and random, some just openly penalize anyone who is too good, some are made to please crowds, some are just made to make more money for the organization that controls the sport. For example what’s the deal with stalemate in Chess? In cricket the outcome of quintessential random event, coin toss, straightaway increases the odd of winning by 10% in favor of the team that wins the toss. In Baseball if a batter succeeds in hitting a home run he needs to take a break right away. Offside rule in soccer meant now we need high definition cameras from multiple different angles to determine if that goal is indeed legitimate, it pretty much sucked out the spontaneity of celebrating a goal. Cricket boards have implemented the most vulgar rules like field restrictions to tilt the game in batsmen’s favor thus prostituting the game to fill their coffers. A football (American one :)) game is pretty rough by nature; but NFL managed to sneak in a rule called “unnecessary roughness” which could sometimes be the sole determining factor. Basketball games often involve rapid changes (every 25seconds) to the leading team and sometimes it just happens so that the team leading at the time of buzzer is the winner. Tournaments have this special “finals” match crafted primarily for sake the audiences  that overrides everything that happens before that match. Over a season teams tend to peak at different times; so even if a team peaks too early is unfavorably poised to win the tournament compared to a team that peaks later, even if the former team won more matches in the tournament. South African cricket team has been the poster child for agonies resulting from these special matches. Lastly, the complex rules and regulations governing sports are interpreted by humans and boy do sports fans hold grudges on referees. 

    What makes a Team ?:  One one end we have teams such as the national sports teams like Indian cricket team, Brazilian Soccer team and at the other end we have the sporting leagues like EPL, IPL, and NFL.  Fans of national teams are driven by their own sense of patriotism, interestingly this maybe the only display of patriotism you see from these fans; it does not even extend to other sports involving their nation. Affiliation to a national sports team is simply an affiliation to people of your kind. People who speak like you, look like you, or pray like you;  though often all these factors correlate to the geography where one grew up. I guess when people of your kind win it makes one feel good about themself. Interestingly, even people who left their country for greener pastures leading "enviable" lives filled with material success still seem to crave for this self assurance that's completely dependent on 11 total strangers playing a ball game on a different continent.  While it’s not a completely positive association it is amenable to reason. On the other hand the love for sporting teams governed by corporations is much harder to fathom. Why do people living in San Francisco care about the 49ers franchise that’s completely run for the monetary benefit of the owners? Why are people living in Chennai so excited at the SuperKings when there is not even a single player from Tamil Nadu playing in the team let alone from Chennai? Why do College Football fans get into bar fights supporting colleges they haven’t attended?  Why do supporters of teams like Golden State Warriors or Miami Heat take so much pride from winning even if it meant they simply bought their victory with a bunch of money buying the best players in town? Even it means they bought the same people they vociferously rooted against in the previous season. All seems to be fair if it leads to winning. 

    Why it still make sense : In spite of all these oddities and ironies millions of men probably derive a quarter of their life’s fulfillment from the fortunes of their sports team. It doesn’t make them money; it demands time and attention; interferes with their relationships; drains them emotionally; causes more heartburn than joy on average. Yet, men make it a big part of their lives and who they are. Once while I was ranting about my heartbreak resulting from the loss of a cricket match a “learned” friend of mine chided me : “It’s just a sport, get over it.” It seemed like he had the mature high ground; but for the fan it is a lot more than "just a sport". Millions of Indians who cheer Indian cricket team probably can’t tell the difference between mid-on and mid-wicket. They really don’t understand how the sport is to be played; yet the result of the match tends to have a significant effect on their morale and how they feel at work the next day. When Pakistan that has been relegated to the purgatory for close to a decade defied all expectations in the World Cup it lifted the entire nation. When hands down underdog Cameroon beats Argentina in a World Cup match it has rejuvenating effect on the entire African continent. I guess millions of Americans feel better about their own mid life anxieties when Tom Brady wins the Super Bowl at the age 44 against a young superstar Patrick Mahomes. The World all of a sudden seems like a fair place when batting wizard Sachin Tendulkar finally wins a World Cup; Lionel Messi realizes his dream of winning for his home country; Lebron James leads his underdog home team Cavaliers to a NBA victory; Boston Red Sox wins a World Series even if it meant they had to wait 86 years for it.  A college friend aptly described the fan’s relationship to their team in a single word “passion”.  It makes them scream at the top of their lungs; it makes them cry in joy and despair (I have tears in my eyes every time I watch replays of Rishabh Pant scoring the winning runs in a match that happened a year ago.); it makes them armchair philosophers and makes some of them even writers :); it makes them great story tellers. It impels otherwise sedate and sullen people partake in wild victory celebrations, English fans went “mental (word used by my English neighbor)” upon Raheem Sterling scoring a crucial goal against Germany in the Euro Cup.  A person could experience many a rejections in life (college admissions, romantic pursuits, job interviews) owing to their grades, looks, and skills. In contrast their favorite sports team never rejects them. It goes much further, for many of these people their association to their sports team is simply put the most exciting part of their lives.