Crowds and sport

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You are not alone there. I know plenty of people are energized by crowds and seem to enjoy being part of a massive throng of humanity. I dread it. I don't know if it is a matter of getting over-stimulated or what, but I just shut down.

I can understand that sports fans vicariously experience the triumphs and defeats of their selected teams, but I've never been able to get invested in it. I think the "empathy" thing is one big reason for my lack of interest. I also can't get into the social function of sports related small talk, so I don't have that incentive to follow sports either.

There has been research on this. I believe the conclusion is that it's a form of tribalism. So, your hypothesis is essentially correct.

Having said that, I am a sports fanatic myself. But, I have a curious detachment from the highs and lows. Yes, I get excited when my team wins or makes a good play and disappointed by losses. Still, it's much weaker in me than in NTs. My football team wins the Super Bowl and everyone is high for months. Me, I'm back to normal by the next day. My team has one great rival, support for whom I consider a character flaw. Still, all of the "hating" we do (at least fans of our teams) is in good humor and is reciprocated in kind. After all, if we didn't have the other team to hate, why bother with the game?

As for crowds, it varies by sport and venue. I went to a pro football game several years ago before the fans were incited to act like raving lunatics and it was pretty orderly. I did dislike the drunk men who cursed two opposing female fans. Now that the games are like rock concerts in the new gold-plated stadium, I won't go. The fans at the baseball games I've gone to have been generally genteel. The soccer game's crowd was too rowdy for me.

I played football in the ninth grade, ever since I can't watch it because the announcers calling the game must've been knocked on the head a lot, because they aren't describing the plays I see happening. Their analysis is poor.

As for sporting events, I don't care for the crowds... Crowds get me nervous. Even air travel is a pain, too many people in too small a space.

That said, I love the second season of hockey (the playoffs!) even though I don't follow the sport. The play is beautiful, all that strategy, technique, geometry and inertia!

I don't understand the tribal following of sports teams, the vicarious lives NTs lead through sports stars, the various shouting, screaming, and frothing about the mouth they do. For a lot of NTs it does not even appear to be a social thing any more than church. It seems to be merely surrounding ones self with others of similar derangement for a false sense of belonging. Maybe it is some kind of emotional release for them, blowing off some emotional steam so they don't explode. A ritualistic endeavor designed to exercise emotions and vent them, and give them something to talk about at the water cooler to show a common bond.

The weird thing is it is taboo to call NTs on their sport obsessions. I remember being warned at work there was an impression my productivity was off because I spent 30 minutes reading the daily paper at my desk. Yet there was no similar concern for the people jawing about sports and their fantasy sports leagues for three times as long daily. Go figure.

There is a reason for my little yellow sticky with bright read letters that says "It's a beautiful world!". It is my polite way of saying "Just effing lovely, ain't it?"

I too enjoy watching some of the best in world perform because of their skill. However when it comes to hockey I am a crazy fan and love going to games and cheering (usually wouldn't do that kind of thing but in a hockey crowd i can manage to let loose). I also refer to the team as we and I agree that fans are not at all part of the team but the fans for "my" team are the craziest in hockey and honestly believe that it does impact the performance. I still don't think that its justified entirely but if it makes people happy then i don't see a problem (unless it gets to a point where they start hurting people and destroying things). I also don't understand why i would be loyal to a team that has players from all over the world and who changes players constantly but I am and love watching hockey.

Team sports were never my thing... and I can't understand why a 22 year old kid who plays a game makes more then a rocket scientist.

For individual sports, I always root for the underdog or the people I know. It's not about winning, it's about personal best and overcoming the odds.

Haha. No, you shoulnd't care and consider yourself the better for it. How much time is wasted rooting for a team or setting up for an up and coming game? You're right about the crowds (music concerts also match this) and I'd consider it a win avoiding the large groups.

Hi, not all NTs are into professional sports, so please don't generalize. I for one am not, and don't give a darn which team wins. I do appreciate and respect athletes and athleticism, probably best exemplified by the olympics, but still don't keep track of any of it. I believe, as another poster suggested, that the sports team concept derives from tribalism, which I view as an evolutionary adaptation that allowed certain tribes to out-compete other tribes for resources. Sports, however, does fill an important need in modern society, it is a relatively healthy outlet for a very basic, primal instinct, that used to be manifested as warfare. I am still appalled, similar to another poster, that professional athletes make far more money than teachers, even though teachers have a far greater impact on the future of society.