In 2018, on Feb. 4 to be exact, I was watching the Super Bowl with my then-boyfriend when the Philadelphia Eagles clinched a win against the New England Patriots ― a team that was widely considered one of the greatest in the history of sports.
We’re both from Philly, and were surrounded by fellow Philadelphians, so I knew emotions were running high. The Eagles were the underdogs, and if you’re a sports fan, then you already know Philly fans are a bit unhinged. But I didn’t expect my now-husband, a person I had seen cry exactly zero times, to burst into tears when the ref called the game. (I’m not making this up; here is proof.)
“I thought of all my best friends, my family — so many people I love have put lifetimes’ worth of money, time and extreme emotion into this team,” my husband recently explained. “I know how much it meant to not only myself but also all of them. I just got overwhelmed by the thought of, ‘Wow, all of us were alive to see the Eagles win a Super Bowl,’ and I completely lost it.”
It turns out he isn’t an anomaly. Sports hysteria is as old as time — people have been sobbing over, shouting at, cheering for and celebrating their favorite teams and athletes since the Olympic Games in ancient Greece.
Sports, like religion, has long been coined “the opiate of the masses,” as Brian Uzzi, a professor of leadership and organizational change at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, told me. To many, it’s much more than a silly game. And particularly high-stakes events like the Super Bowl can bring up very real, very strong feelings.
So if you catch yourself crying (happy tears, hopefully) on Super Bowl Sunday, know you’re in good company. There’s a reason sports can make our emotions go haywire — here’s why.
People get very attached to sports teams.
It’s no secret that sports can trigger some pretty intense emotions. Look at any study that’s evaluated sports fans’ emotions ― or, better yet, go to a game ― and you’ll find that people feel delighted and proud when their team wins and disappointed or downright devastated when it loses.
The main reason people get so worked up watching games is they identify with the team playing. People self-identify with their chosen team because it represents a community or place they care deeply about.
Consequently, when the team performs well, it reflects positively on its fans, and by association, gives them status and prestige, Uzzi said. “Being attached to a sports team is a way for you to increase your status through your affiliation with the team,” he said.
Research shows that the more people identify with a team, the more intense their game-time emotions are. Fans take game outcomes, win or lose, very personally. For example, people may feel like they personally suffered an injustice (i.e., the ref made some lousy calls or the opposing team pulled off dirty plays) when their team loses — but when it wins, their pride and self-esteem soars.
“People identify with them and they identify through them — their sense of self, in part, can be constructed through sport,” said Adam Berg, an associate professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
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Sports bring people together.
There’s also a huge social component to watching sports, and people become more invested in the outcome when they’re surrounded by people who are passionate about the game. Sure, a game can still be drama-packed if you’re watching it alone at home, but experiencing it in real-time with other people builds tension and excitement, Berg said.
Watching a game with others unites people and strengthens their bond, creating a sense of belonging— even if they’re complete strangers. And when an entire community gets behind a team, it intensifies people’s self-identity and attachment to the team, which deepens their emotional responses, Uzzi said.
As Stephanie Preston, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, put it, people feed off of the emotions of others. When we watch sports, we empathize with the players, coaches and other fans.
Research shows that people absorb the emotions of nearby spectators at sporting events; this emotional contagion has been likened to a ripple effect. For example, when the team you’re rooting for scores or completes an amazing play, glee will spread from person to person through high-fives, cheers and hugs — much like the wave in a stadium. “Being in a horde of screaming fans — whether happy or distressed — is contagious,” Preston said.
The stakes of the game matter.
In general, the more high-stakes the game is, the more powerful emotions will be. It’s natural to get more amped up when your favorite team is playing its greatest rival or when it’s the biggest game of the year — à la the Super Bowl.
“People are particularly invested when they are close to #1, making those final championships and near misses even more devastating than coming in 4th,” Preston said.
But even if you’re not the biggest fan of the teams playing, you can still get caught up in the moment. Huge sporting events like the Super Bowl, the World Cup and the Olympics are designed to be exciting and are filled with drama, Berg said. These games are built up through endorsements and commercials, parties and halftime performances, making them inherently more meaningful to people. As a result, our emotions become more profound.
In many ways, watching a game like the Super Bowl is like watching a movie. “It’s something that people will get drawn into,” Berg said. “They’ll get swept up in it even if they’re not aligned with a particular team.”
Many people tune in for the love of the sport or to watch athletes compete at super-high levels. That, in and of itself, can be an awe-inspiring, emotional experience. “That can move people as well even if they don’t have a dog in the fight, so to speak,” Berg said.
