Psychologists Look at Involved Fans--and They See a Lot

Whether you live and die with your pro sports team, or are a fair-weather fan caught up in a late rush of championship frenzy, psychologists have an explanation for the attachment felt by different kinds of fans.

Fan fever was running especially strong during the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, particularly in Boston and Chicago. Many of those buying pennants, T-shirts, beer mugs and NFL-sanctioned bed sheets are newcomers, but the die-hards have been there through good times and bad.

Thomas Tutko, a San Jose State psychology professor and expert on emotional involvement with sporting events, sees distinct differences.

“For the fair weather fan, it’s a social thing. Everybody is interested, there is more fun, more partying. There is less of a commitment, though there is a sense of pride in general. Their areas of identification are outside of sports, generally--family, hobby,” Tutko said. “It’s like getting excited with what’s happening in the news. We can all identify with someone winning the lottery, too.”

The feelings of the rabid fan tend to be far different, as is his or her financial investment in terms of season tickets, betting, team paraphernalia, and keeping up on the sports news.

“The die-hard lives and dies with each play. There is a greater commitment because their identity is tied to it,” Tutko said. “It fills a void in their quiet lives of desperation. You have to remember that sports is a hype, and with football, each week you get a charge. The fair weather fan gets his charge from something else.

“The rabid fan may have other areas of interest in life, but it doesn’t bring about the same sense of stimulation. Slowly but surely, they eliminate peripheral things in their lives and sport becomes the critical factor.”

Tutko said there is a danger in becoming too deeply linked to a team.

“Somehow, somebody else is giving you an identity, the control is outside yourself. you are no longer in control of your own happiness or misery, and you lose yourself. The truly die-hard fan sometimes will feel a hollowness. It is hard to cope with this,” he said.

The Academy for the Psychology of Sports International has been studying the phenomenon for 10 years, and has interviewed about 10,000 fans about their interest in six major sports, ranging from football and hockey to auto racing.

Its president, psychologist William Beausay Sr. of Columbus, Ohio, said he has found the real die-hards tend to be “either ex-jocks or are frustrated-ex-jocks who didn’t get the opportunity to play.”

“There is another group of die-hards, where it is the socially accepted thing, working in an office where everybody is for the Bears, or for the Patriots, for example. It meets a kind of camaraderie, even though they haven’t cared less about sports before in their life. The football pool, talking about it, going to events, they develop this tremendous devotion to their team. It’s a basic feeling of security--that we’re in this together with somebody else,” Beausay said.

Academy research has shown that motivations tend to be different for women.

“You’ll discover that a large percentage of the female die-hard is such because of her mate. She personally couldn’t care less, but her mates gets into it, and so does she,” he said.

Beausay said such attachment generally is harmless, but people could be doing things that are more enriching to their own lives.

“They kind of live vicariously. That particular person would be a lot better off going down and playing racquetball,” he said. “There’s no danger in it--there’s just a lot of people who are spectators instead of participants, extracting excitement and purpose from other people’s lives. And the percentage is higher than what you’d think.

“It isn’t just sports fans, all human beings need to have heroes. They want one who is a winner, not a loser.”

Tutko sees some unique attachments on the home turf of the two Super Bowl rivals.

“I cannot but feel that the fans in the Boston are even more tied to nationalism. It’s the area of heritage, the birth of the country, patriotism, the Boston Tea Party. There is no more a dedicated, enthused, committed fan than those of the Celtics.

“The Yankee-Red Sox hatred really grew out of that. New York was the biggest city, but Boston had the heritage and the pride. Look at the name of the team--the Patriots. No other team reflects the heritage of this country.

“Contrast that with Chicago. There is one term that reflects the sport fan in Chicago--desperate. Look at the Cubs.

“Now, after years of desperation, the Bears are feeling good. The Bears really represent the midwestern, Bible belt philosophy--strife, pain, struggle, agony. That’s what they are, a hard, tough, mean football team.”