- Scholarly Source
Vallerand, Robert J., Nikos Ntoumanis, Frederick L. Philippe, Geneviève L. Lavigne, Noémie Carbonneau, Arielle Bonneville, Camille Lagacé-Labonté and Gabrielle Maliha. “On passion and sports fans: A look at football.” Journal of Sports Sciences, 2008, 1279-1282
This source looks at the “Dualistic Model of Passion” and how it affects the behaviours of sports fans.
Sports fans worldwide engage in a variety of different behaviours while supporting their team. Some behaviours are adaptive, like cheering on your team with the fellow fans. Some behaviours are less adaptive, like arguing with other sports fans. Other behaviours are completely maladaptive, like the assassination of a Columbian soccer player by a fan for scoring a goal against his own team. The concept of passion is the main factor in these varying behaviours. There are two types of passion towards activities. This article suggests that “enjoyable activities that are internalized in one’s identity become a passion.” In the context of sports fans, they identify so strongly with their team that cheering for their team is almost like cheering for themselves. The two types of passion are related to the internalization process. The first type is obsessive passion, in which a person has an uncontrollable urge to root for their team. Obsessive passion results from an intense internalization and is related to less adaptive and sometimes maladaptive behaviours. The other type, harmonious passion, results from an autonomous internalization, in which the individual has an urge to root for their team, but has the will power to control it and does not let it take over their lives. Harmonious passion is related to adaptive behaviours. I did not know about these different types of passion and how they influence human behaviours, specifically sports fans.
2. Scholarly Source
Mastromartino, Brandon, et al. “Conceptualizing Sense of Membership in a Sport Fan Community.” Journal of Sport Behavior, vol. 42, no. 3, 2019, p. 332+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://dc153.dawsoncollege.qc.ca:2267/apps/doc/A600161182/AONE?u=west74079&sid=AONE&xid=1fab4e56
This source looks at the benefits of being a member of a sport fan community.
Members of a sport fan community can have multiple benefits that deepen their love for their team. These benefits can be organized into four categories: cognitive, affective, behavioural and place benefits. Cognitive benefits refer to the psychological process of gaining and understanding knowledge. Some cognitive benefits that a member of a sport fan community can receive are gaining knowledge of the culture of the team (language, rituals, etc.), and social connections with others. Affective benefits are the emotions that one feels. Oftentimes these include a boost in self-esteem and a feeling of belonging. These both lead to a sense of value for the fan. Behavioural benefits are social opportunities that the member receives, namely making new friends. Whether it’s watching the game with other fans or tailgating, being a member of a sports fan community basically guarantees that you will make new friends. Finally, the place benefits. These include physical and virtual spaces in which the fans can congregate. These spaces allow a fan to gain more social capital.
3. Non-Scholarly Source
This source explains why being a sports fan is an absolute waste of time.
First of all, the title of this blog is very intriguing. “Why sports are a sad and dangerous waste of time.” The author clearly has some strong feelings against sports and sports fans. He goes on to explain why he finds sports and their fans to be so ridiculous. So many people allow the outcome of a sports game to affect their pride, their happiness, their confidence and their inhibitions. The author does not see why this could be, since the fans are merely watching the game, not partaking in it. He also thinks that the idea of regionalism in sports is absurd. Teams are located in a certain city, but draft players from all around the world. Philadelphia Eagles fans will chant “go Philly” while the vast majority of the team is not from Pennsylvania. I had never really thought about the idea of regionalism in sports, I have always just accepted it. After reading this I agree that it is a bit absurd.
4. Non-Scholarly Source
This source explains the influence that a sports team has on a fan’s identity and brain.
A fan obsesses with a specific sports team because that team is an expression of the fan’s sense of self. Fans often refer to their favourite team as “we,” which is a confusion in the brain between what is the self and what is the team. Personally, I often refer to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Montreal Canadiens as we, subconsciously blurring the line between myself and my favourite teams. Fans mirror the emotions and actions of players and the players have a huge influence on the fan’s self-esteem. Neuroscientists at UCLA say that the mirror neurons in the brain put the fan’s brain in sync with that of the players. Endocrinologists say that the hormones released by the fans watching the game can mirror those of the actual players in the game. When a fan is loyal to a sports team, they live through that team and subconsciously put themselves in the players shoes. This is likely a reason why watching my favourite teams puts me through an emotional rollercoaster.
5. Cultural Artifact
This cultural artifact is a Jerry Seinfeld stand-up skit in which he questions the motives of sports fans.
Jerry Seinfeld has an insightful comedy skit in which he questions the loyalty that sports fans have towards their team. Players are always changing teams, the team can move to another city, so he says that it is basically like cheering for clothes. It is a completely mindless loyalty. It has nothing to do with the players, the coaches, or any other justifiable factor. You can love a player while he’s on your team, but hate him once he gets traded. This is the same player that you were once cheering for, and now you’re booing, all because he is wearing different colours.
6. Experiential Research
When the Philadelphia Eagles won the Superbowl, I was as happy as could be. However, one of my good friends, a Patriots fan, was not. The Eagles had just beaten the Patriots to win the Superbowl and he was speechless. His face was red, he was silent, and he was curled up in a corner. The extent of his frustration was probably greater than the extent of my happiness. Like me, this sport has such an emotional pull on him that when things don’t go his team’s way, he is livid. When you identify so strongly with a team, you feel the same emotions that the players do, whether that be happiness or sadness. Afterwards, when I was questioning why I was so happy that the Eagles won the Superbowl, I questioned why he was so mad that the Patriots didn’t.
Librarian Visit
I went to the Dawson library and met with the librarian Claire Elliott. She helped me find good scholarly and non-scholarly articles on the Dawson library website. She gave me a few tricks to search for the exact thing I was looking for. One of the main tips she gave me is using the words “or” and “and” in my search; “or” for the general ideas (sports or athletes or …) and “and” for the more specific topics (fans and psychology and …). Another trick she showed me is using an asterisk to broaden my search. For example, if I want to look at articles about athletes, I would type in athlete*. This will give me results under the key words athlete, athletes, athletics, and anything that starts with the word athlete. This visit was very beneficial and helped me a lot to refine my research.
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