Being a Fan Makes You Happier and Healthier
Having spent the past week among fellow Caps fans, I am deeply impressed by the spirit of jubilation that is resonating throughout the DC area. While surrounded by hundreds of thousands of happy fans, I began to wonder about the effects of a championship on the surrounding population. And I have great news … being an invested sports fan is good for you!
Research reveals significant mental health benefits to being a sports fan. Associating with a team is linked to higher levels of well-being and general happiness as well as lower levels of loneliness and alienation, according to sports psychology professor Daniel Wann of Murray State University. Wann, author of the book Sport Fans: The Psychology and Social Impact of Spectators, explains that there are two routes to feeling good through sports fandom.
“One would be following a successful team, and the second would simply be identifying with them,” Wann told The Huffington Post. “You can get these well-being benefits even if your team doesn’t do well; we’ve found this with historically unsuccessful teams as well,” he added. “The simple fact is that people are looking for ways to identify with something, to feel a sense of belonging-ness with a group of like-minded individuals,” said Wann. “People might not understand the sports side of things, but my response to that is: Think of, in your own life, what you care about and what you identify with. Sport is what these fans have chosen.”
“Many fans are motivated to root for a particular team because of that identity with a team, with other fans, and with the community,” says Adam Earnhardt, professor and chair of the communications department at Youngstown State University. Being aligned with a team helps us feel included and engaged. Just wearing your team’s jersey can elicit a thumb’s up or other sign of approval from someone you’ve never met before, simply through that shared connection.
Enthusiastic sports fans love their team through thick and thin. However, even the most passionate fans may feel their loyalty tested when things do not go well. Social psychologists have identified two types of reactions that fans have to their team's performance.
The first reaction is referred to as "BIRGing," and it applies to the phenomenon known as “Basking in Reflected Glory.” When your team is winning, you happily savor the shared joy. Research shows that on the day after a win, ardent fans enjoy increased self-esteem, happily declaring "we" won! The closer you identify with a team, the more likely you are to BIRG and the better chance you will wear your team's gear the day after a win.
"CORFing," on the other hand, means "Cut Off Reflected Failure." Your team flopped and now you want to distance yourself from the team and the related feelings of humiliation. Compared to BIRGing, it is “they” lost, not "we." The last thing a CORFer wants to wear the day after a loss is a shirt or hat with “their” logo on it. This is the test of the true versus the fickle fan. The CORFers are the fickle fans and their identification with their team fluctuates with the ratings. True fans, on the other hand, will don their team’s regalia regardless of performance. True fans will feel disappointment, but their team retains its hero status in spite of defeat.
Experts say that, for true fans, mutual anguish over a team’s loss can be yet another form of bonding and that the misery is more tolerable when it is shared with fellow fans. Hans Selve, an endocrinologist who performed pioneering research into stress response, said we cheer on favorite teams for something called euphoric stress, or eustress. Selve described this as a kind of good or positive stress, as opposed to distress, or bad stress. For example, late in the third period of the first game of the Stanley Cup playoff run against the Blue Jackets, Devante Smith-Pelly scored a beautiful goal to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead. But Washington was later called for two more penalties and a tripping infraction with less than five minutes left in the game and Sabres’ forward Andre Burakovsky tied the game to force overtime. Going into overtime, Caps fans were on the edge of their seats, bracing themselves for what became a disappointing defeat. Depending on how well-equipped each fan was to handle the stress they felt going into overtime and how prepared they were to keep the experience in perspective, they either maintained a form of good stress or they allowed it to dissolve into distress. In the end, however, experts claim that the benefits of fandom outweigh the risks for most people.
Another interesting phenomenon that was highlighted throughout the run-up to the Stanley Cup is known as superstitious conditioning. Sports pubs around the DC area were full of devoted Caps fans who claimed that by watching the game at that particular sports bar during a win, they caused the team to win. Therefore, they continued to frequent the same establishment throughout the series. Others claimed the opposite, avoiding a particular place where they saw the Caps lose, claiming they "caused" the team to lose just by being there. Then there are the lucky jerseys, hats, and other spirit wear. For example, I met a woman who said the first thing she did on Friday morning after the Caps won the Stanley Cup was to wash all her family members’ jerseys, which were long overdue for a cleaning.
So the next time someone gives you flack about your epic fandom, let them know that all the rituals, viewing parties, and dirty jerseys are crucial to your mental health. Then invite them to join you. LET’S GO CAPS!!!