When I was a kid, I loved the WWF wrestler Tatanka. Then, he sold out to the Million Dollar Man, and I legit cried. I was 8.
It made me cry because Vince McMahon and the rest of the people in charge of scripting the narratives wanted me to cry. They were good at their jobs. Likewise, the people running the NFL and scripting the narratives are good at making grown adults cry.
When I was a kid, I loved the WWF wrestler Tatanka. Then, he sold out to the Million Dollar Man, and I legit cried. I was 8.
It's funny. I remember there being a wrestler named Tatanka, but I couldn't place him. So, I googled him, but I still don't remember him, but I definitely remember that there was a wrestler named Tatanka...
Buffalo has two major pro sports teams - Sabres and Bills.
Oops, my bad. Thanks for the correction. They do indeed have an NHL team, one that has never won the Stanley Cup and hasn’t been to the playoffs in over a dozen years. So my overall point about Buffalo being a tortured fan base still stands.
When I was a kid, I loved the WWF wrestler Tatanka. Then, he sold out to the Million Dollar Man, and I legit cried. I was 8.
It made me cry because Vince McMahon and the rest of the people in charge of scripting the narratives wanted me to cry. They were good at their jobs. Likewise, the people running the NFL and scripting the narratives are good at making grown adults cry.
If you watch any sporting event, and you are really into it, the drama builds and builds, and then BANG.. something happens to change the situation instantly. You are going through a huge mood swing psychologically, the crying isn't a "sad" cry, it's just how humans deal with big emotional swings.
There are not too many real life scenarios where you get this kind of rapid high> low, and those that do are usually terribly harrowing. Sport allows for a safe way to experience this.
And I'll tell you what- if any one of those tortured fans lost their job the Buffalo Bills wouldn't care.
I get loving a sports team but losing it over their loss is juvenile at best.
Yeah, you’re right. There are many things in life that are more important than sports. But it matters to people. After all, the word fan is short for fanatic, so by definition a sports fan is excessive in their feelings for their team.
Fandom is an interesting social psychological phenomenon. It becomes part of people’s identity. When someone invests so much time, energy, and money into following a team, it’s only natural that they develop a deep emotional connection with that team. Add to that the fact that the teams someone supports usually represent their hometown, which is another salient part of their identity.
As someone who has followed sports for nearly all my life and who has been a season ticket holder, I can tell you the emotions are strong. I’ve never cried following one of my teams’ playoff losses, but I’ve certainly been upset and “gone home devastated.” I know ultimately it‘s not important, but it still affects me and many others.
And I'll tell you what- if any one of those tortured fans lost their job the Buffalo Bills wouldn't care.
I get loving a sports team but losing it over their loss is juvenile at best.
Fandom is an interesting social psychological phenomenon. It becomes part of people’s identity. When someone invests so much time, energy, and money into following a team, it’s only natural that they develop a deep emotional connection with that team. Add to that the fact that the teams someone supports usually represent their hometown, which is another salient part of their identity.
As someone who has followed sports for nearly all my life and who has been a season ticket holder, I can tell you the emotions are strong. I’ve never cried following one of my teams’ playoff losses, but I’ve certainly been upset and “gone home devastated.” I know ultimately it‘s not important, but it still affects me and many others.
Ascribing sports-team fandom to one's core identity just because those players -- generally from other areas -- were hired by owners proximal to your home, and becoming emotionally invested in their outcome, is almost as bizarre, arbitrary, and irrational as loyalty to and faith in a religion or sect that you were born into.
You have to understand the context. Buffalo is one of the most tortured fan bases in American pro sports. They only have one major pro sport team, and that team has never won the championship despite going to the Super Bowl four years in a row in the early 90’s. More recently, the Chiefs had eliminated them from the playoffs in two of the three previous years. Those games were played at Kansas City. With today’s game being held in Buffalo, their fans thought they could finally beat their rivals. Instead, they lose after their kicker missed a field goal attempt wide right, which is the same way they lost in Super Bowl XXV. So this loss was heartbreaking both in current and historical contexts.
After losing at home in this same round last year, by a much worse margin to a somewhat less-talented team, in a blizzard which is supposed to favor them, I'm not sure why their fans were so confident.
You have to understand the context. Buffalo is one of the most tortured fan bases in American pro sports. They only have one major pro sport team, and that team has never won the championship despite going to the Super Bowl four years in a row in the early 90’s. More recently, the Chiefs had eliminated them from the playoffs in two of the three previous years. Those games were played at Kansas City. With today’s game being held in Buffalo, their fans thought they could finally beat their rivals. Instead, they lose after their kicker missed a field goal attempt wide right, which is the same way they lost in Super Bowl XXV. So this loss was heartbreaking both in current and historical contexts.
And I'll tell you what- if any one of those tortured fans lost their job the Buffalo Bills wouldn't care.
I get loving a sports team but losing it over their loss is juvenile at best.
Agree completely. I left western NY 25 years ago, after having the Bills as my home team for 12 years. I still root for them and that wide right really stung. But the pleasure of rooting for a team with great emotion comes from the knowledge that it really doesn't matter. It's like the emotion associated with watching an excellent movie--when it's all over, none of it was real and you go back to normal life.
Now if you had bet a bunch of money on the Bills, it might be a different story.
Yeah in all seriousness it's absolutely tragic that people (mostly men with respect to sports) are driven to this. And it's not just "Buffalo guy" - it's the people that smash TV's, smash things, fight each other over sports results played by people that ultimately give zero, ZERO f--ks about them and their lives. People that cry over sports results, defend pro athletes cr@ppy behaviour and rejoice in the disgustingly large amounts of $$$ they make for ultimately contributing nothing of actual value to society - these guys wouldn't buy you lunch and yet there they are, miserable at a playoff exit.
So many people living in quiet desperation, their happiness reliant on a sport result? You nailed it - it's a mental health thing 100%.
Yeah in all seriousness it's absolutely tragic that people (mostly men with respect to sports) are driven to this. And it's not just "Buffalo guy" - it's the people that smash TV's, smash things, fight each other over sports results played by people that ultimately give zero, ZERO f--ks about them and their lives. People that cry over sports results, defend pro athletes cr@ppy behaviour and rejoice in the disgustingly large amounts of $ they make for ultimately contributing nothing of actual value to society - these guys wouldn't buy you lunch and yet there they are, miserable at a playoff exit.
So many people living in quiet desperation, their happiness reliant on a sport result? You nailed it - it's a mental health thing 100%.
People have been fighting over sports for years. You think this something new? You had guys that fought in WWII, men that saw real battle, actual life and death situations, and THEY got emotional over sports too. It's part of the human condition.
It's why there's a fine line between being the parent that "just wants everyone to have fun" and they crazed "baseball parent" that treats every little league game like it's game seven of the World Series.
Fandom is an interesting social psychological phenomenon. It becomes part of people’s identity. When someone invests so much time, energy, and money into following a team, it’s only natural that they develop a deep emotional connection with that team. Add to that the fact that the teams someone supports usually represent their hometown, which is another salient part of their identity.
As someone who has followed sports for nearly all my life and who has been a season ticket holder, I can tell you the emotions are strong. I’ve never cried following one of my teams’ playoff losses, but I’ve certainly been upset and “gone home devastated.” I know ultimately it‘s not important, but it still affects me and many others.
Ascribing sports-team fandom to one's core identity just because those players -- generally from other areas -- were hired by owners proximal to your home, and becoming emotionally invested in their outcome, is almost as bizarre, arbitrary, and irrational as loyalty to and faith in a religion or sect that you were born into.
I'm rarely 100% sure of anything, but in this case... I 100% know that I wouldn't find you annoying and irritating if I knew you in my personal life.
Do you enjoy anything? Isn't everything in life bizarre, arbitrary, and irrational?
I mean, it all is right? Like engaging in arguments about fandom psychology with strangers? See... you seem pretty emotionally invested in haughty anonymous comments. That's pretty damn bizarre to me.
After losing at home in this same round last year, by a much worse margin to a somewhat less-talented team, in a blizzard which is supposed to favor them, I'm not sure why their fans were so confident.
They had good reason to be hopeful. The Bills closed the season on a 5-game winning streak which included a win over the Chiefs in Kansas City. And the Chiefs have looked more vulnerable this season than in recent years. Their defense had been strong but their offense hadn’t been as dominant.
You have to understand the context. Buffalo is one of the most tortured fan bases in American pro sports. They only have one major pro sport team, and that team has never won the championship despite going to the Super Bowl four years in a row in the early 90’s. More recently, the Chiefs had eliminated them from the playoffs in two of the three previous years. Those games were played at Kansas City. With today’s game being held in Buffalo, their fans thought they could finally beat their rivals. Instead, they lose after their kicker missed a field goal attempt wide right, which is the same way they lost in Super Bowl XXV. So this loss was heartbreaking both in current and historical contexts.
The Sabres take offense...
None of that is really a convincing argument to me and I was dating a Buffalo girl when Norwood missed that FG.
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