Recently a Facebook friend posted a meme that talked about getting geared up to allow a professional football team determine your mood for the next four months. Being a Cleveland Browns fan, I’m gearing up for my normal autumnal mood–depressed bewilderment.
But the Facebook post raises a bigger question: what is it about sports that triggers such a strong impulse in the human brain, to the point where huge numbers of people have their moods determined by the outcome of contests? It’s not just an American issue, with all of the professional sports played here; it’s an issue for humanity generally. Most of the people in the world are passionate about some kind of sport–whether it is soccer, or basketball, or cricket, or track, or sumo wrestling, or sailing. And it’s not a recent development, either: over past centuries horse racing, jousting, fencing, caber tossing, and other athletic contests going back to the first Olympic games in the B.C. era show that there is some deep connection between sports and the human psyche. Did people in the Middle Ages get depressed when the knight of their choice was unhorsed in a jousting contest? Probably.
It’s a bit strange when you think about it. It makes sense for the contestants in any athletic event to care about the outcome, obviously, and their parents and friends would, too. But the interest and personal connection extends well beyond that group, to the point where total strangers live and die with their sports teams each year. And the impact on a person as they watch a contest involving a team they care passionately about is vast. Otherwise reasonable, mild-mannered people become mean, angry, foul-mouthed jerks, shouting at their TV sets or berating players if their teams aren’t doing well. It’s as if a form of madness descends when your team is playing.
The connection, once established, is exceptionally strong. Even if your team has been a constant disappointment–like the poor Browns–you still can’t help but watch, and groan, and feel your spirits surge with a rare win, or descend into that state of depressed bewilderment with another loss. It happens every year, and it will happen again in 2023. You’d think rational human beings would be able to adjust their world views to account for this, but they can’t–or at least, I can’t.
So here we go again. The Browns kick off their season at 1 p.m. tomorrow against division opponent and cross-state rival Cincinnati. I can already feel that state of depressed bewilderment lurking out there, ready to descend.
Webner House 