What makes a professional sports team?

[mahogany]

Maybe someone that watches NHL hockey can explain the appeal of being a sports fan because honestly, I don't get it. I can understand why people play sports. I can even understand the appeal in watching professional sports (though I think it loses a lot in translation from real life to television). I can even understand the appeal of something

Comments

[randomdreams]

I think it's a grouping thing, tribal-like. It's sure weird, though.

[mahogany]

It is weird, but as far as diversions in our cold dark winters go, I suppose I could think of worse things than being a hockey fan.

[lovejunk]

Been a Canucks fan as long as your husband (OK, some years I'm more bandwagon than others, lol), and I don't have a good explanation for you. Supporting sports teams in general, the whole tribal 'war by proxy' thing explains a little I guess, but Canuck fans are irrationally loyal!

I've been thinking about this too, because recently an American ex-pat friend of mine was miffed because she felt the American anthem was rushed. I personally don't get the point of anthems of any nationality at NHL games. Made sense in the dark ages when you recruited locally, but now, not so much.

Was also really interesting for me during the Olympics last year. For 2 weeks I was rooting for Toews and Keith to be brilliant, and now I'm back to hating both with unreasonable passion! I'm curious if your husband felt the same way.

[mahogany]

But wait, aren't you from Edmonton? Given that we're close to the same age, that would mean you were a Canucks fan, living in Edmonton while the Oilers had the hockey dream team of dream teams. That takes guts!

"Tribal warfare by proxy" - I love it!

[lovejunk]

Born and raised in the lower mainland, but lived in Edmonton for a few years in my early 20s. Was a secret Canuck fans in those years, but I never minded the Oilers, so was happy having them as an adopted team while we were there.

Unless they're actually playing the Canucks, I still cheer for the Oilers over anyone else. Including and especially the Flames, which makes my relatives in Calgary crazy.

[mahogany]

P.S. Dh says that he's never disliked individual players. It's all about the team for him.

[toezontheground]

Yeah, I reckon it is an identity/affiliation choice thing. Doesn't make sense to me, but let's face it - it's not really about rationality, so it won't necessarily make any sense.

A lot of life's passions make us fools don't they? :)

[mahogany]

Totally!

[ohhellsyeah]

Maybe someone that watches NHL hockey can explain the appeal of being a sports fan because honestly, I don't get it.
It's the religion I was raised in. My whole family watches it. My friends watch it. It unites the country. It divides it. That's all I can really say. My earliest memory is watching Hockey Night in Canada with my uncles. It's always been there, it's always been a part of me. Hockey is who I am.

I am incapable of not caring about it. I wish I didn't care so much. But I do.

[mahogany]

My daughter pointed out that the first few lines from "The Hockey Sweater" are printed on our five dollar bills. Like it or not, hockey is a huge part of Canadian culture. I'm not even sure that people can pin down what Canadian culture is, exactly, but whatever it is, hockey is a huge part of it :-)

[blaueteufelin]

I think a lot of it is city or regional pride and identity, and the continuity that any kind of annual, communal ritual or tradition provides. Watching a team play in the same stadium year after year (perhaps going as a kid with family), yelling the same cheers or having a team song, remembering games and seasons past and keeping track of stats, having practically the whole city following the games and sharing in mass euphoria or dejection...that's powerful stuff on a visceral level. It's beyond rationality. It is akin to religion, I think, in that as a species we seem to really find meaning in communal observances and in marking the passage of time in a regular, ritualized way - like a cultural calendar, as opposed to a religious one. I dunno. I think just about anything people can share on a communal level can generate that kind of loyalty - from the mundane to the profound.

[mahogany]

You know, I think you're onto something, actually. This makes a lot of sense.