Banner by Kristen Kohler

Sports Fanatic: Uncovered

By Mrudul Nagapurkar

Lionel Messi. Kylian Mbappé, Neymar, Karim Benzema. These names have been household favorites for years but became exceedingly popular in news outlets during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. With the final match drawing in at least 1.5 billion live viewers, this World Cup was the biggest sporting event of 2022, wrapping up a hectic year. Soccer (or, as it is more commonly known, football) is the biggest sport in the world, with approximately 240 million players spread across hundreds of leagues and even more spectators tuning into games to watch their favorite players and teams. Soccer is just one of many sports that influence people’s conversations and social lives. So, how do sports attract so many people? And why do fans have such extreme reactions to their favorite teams’ wins and losses?

While there is no absolute evidence as to when soccer first began, countless ancient games — such as Tlachtli in South America and Cuju in Ancient China — resemble the familiar sport we know today. Soccer became more well-known during the 1800s after the development of radios and, thanks to globalization and the production of different media outlets, spread across dozens of countries to quickly become a fan-favorite with the public. Some fans love the sport because of familial influences, in that they grew up watching a certain team and have been supporting that team ever since. Others might obsess over particular players for their skills and showboating, noting the expertise with which the player maneuvers the soccer ball. But overall, soccer resonates with millions of fans because of its inclusive nature; simple materials and rules make it a straightforward game to pick up in a busy day-to-day schedule. All you need to get started is a field and a ball! 

While personal experiences remain the most obvious reason, there also exists a psychological and biological basis to being a fan. In the mid-1970s, Dr. Robert Cialdini and his team explored the theory of basking in reflected glory (or BIRGing). This theory states that in sports, and other areas of society, people “associate themselves with the successful, the famous, or the celebrated.” The study used college football (although it is observed in all sports) to demonstrate that fans were “more likely to wear clothing that endorsed the football team” and use “we” to describe events of a game. When a team wins, fans have a collective identity, referring to the triumph as their own. However, if a team loses, fans undergo a phenomenon called cutting off reflected failure (CORFing), where they are less likely to support the team and will distance themselves from team association. For example, a soccer fan might throw out a jersey supporting their favorite player if the player misses a penalty kick. Cialdini’s study raised the question of whether there was a biological reason that fans associate themselves with successful people and teams. This question inspired further experiments to explore the physiological correlation between sports fanatic responses and changes to the human body. 

The endocrine system — which works to maintain our body’s chemical balance — is always active, with fluctuating levels of different hormones based on our surroundings and interactions. Around the time of the World Cup final between Brazil and Italy in 1994, researchers conducted a study in which they analyzed 26 saliva samples from Brazilian and Italian male fans before and after the game to perform a testosterone assay. Prior to this event, a study with rhesus monkeys demonstrated that the monkeys who received a reward at the end of each experiment trial had elevated testosterone levels. Similarly, people who earn rewards, or win, have higher testosterone levels, whereas the more losses an individual faces, the lower their testosterone levels. Typically, the nervous and endocrine systems regulate androgen release according to a diurnal pattern of secretion: increasing release during morning hours (between 7-10 a.m.) and steadily declining it through the day. 

During the 1994 World Cup final, Brazil was awarded a penalty kick that led them to win. Amazingly, the effect of testosterone increase in Brazilian fans when their team scored the winning goal “was strong enough to reverse the normal pattern of decline in testosterone levels across the day.” Bernhardt and his team concluded that “success in competition leads to an increase in status and an increase in testosterone” which boosts self-confidence in future competitions and compounds with each win. The study thus corroborated the prior belief that testosterone increased during any intense competition or adrenaline spike, both physical and mental. Such conclusions correlate with those drawn from Cialdini’s original research, supporting his theory about BIRGing’s role in self-esteem maintenance. This idea is further suggested by the lack of Italian fans providing post-game samples once their team lost. Overall, these two studies have led to several others that draw correlations between the biosocial and psychological models of sports competition, self-confidence, and being a fan. 

Another reason why fans eagerly watch sporting events is because as humans, we believe we are playing the game ourselves. Mirror neurons in the brain “help people understand the actions of others and allow people to put themselves ‘into another’s shoes.’” With sports, these neuronal cells lead to fans internalizing a team or player’s actions and experiencing the same emotions as them. Mirror neurons fire at higher rates in experienced fans compared to inexperienced fans as well, since they are part of the brain’s memory retention system. The increased activity of these cells suggests that when we watch others doing what we enjoy, our brain chemistry shifts. For a study conducted by Marco Iacoboni, both experienced and inexperienced fans were asked to watch players throw free throws. Those who had never played basketball before had decreased activity in certain mirror neurons that aimed to repeat actions. This imitation in the brain allows fans to resonate with their chosen players and teams more, which explains why we also feel defeated when our favorite idols lose.

As spectators on the sidelines, we hope that one team wins and another falls. We feel happiness from surges of dopamine (a molecule responsible for pleasure and motivation) with every point scored and, after every missed opportunity, we feel rushes of stress or sadness as our body releases cortisol. Sometimes, the loss leads to less serotonin production as well, which affects overall temperament and leads to the anger and depression that can cause post-game riots and rage. We associate ourselves with the situations that make us happy and try to keep ourselves away from instances we know will ruin our mood, and that is certainly the case while watching sports. Thanks to our remarkable nervous system, we as fans can celebrate our favorite team’s wins or support each other during their losses, thus creating a system of belonging and communication.