The Bobcat Nation

profile of obsessed football fans
by kaimen » Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:24 pm

I read an interesting article, where the conclusion to draw is most likely a few fans like Alpha were most likely physically, emotionally, and/or sexually abused as youngsters, and unfortunately, are likely candidates to continue this cycle.

The argument is simple, and the conclusions obvious. First, think about the nature of a fan. The fan is not part of a team, nor are they playing; they are essentially rooting for a jersey. The cause of the allegiance could be the city they are in, former school, etc. That’s it. Unfortunately, ones with incredibly low self esteem need to live vicariously through others. Sports being win/loss competition is trouble for those that can’t handle failure. When a team fails, a well adjusted fan can enjoy the competition and game, then with some effort let the result go. After all, the team they rooted for lost and the players and coaches are hurting, which rationally should arouse sympathy not anger towards the team. Other fans emotionally can’t handle a loss and personally feel like a failure, even though they didn’t play. They don’t have the maturity to handle failure, lash out, and disassociate (e.g., ‘we’ won, or ‘they’ lost when referring to their team).

Summary: adult fans who simply can’t handle a loss have low self esteem, low maturity, and the inability to cope with difficult situations. Severe cases are most likely from physical, mental, or sexual abuse during childhood, though rare cases could be from continual personal failures over a long period of time as an adult. For instance, Alpha says anything less than a NC is unacceptable for him, which is an EXTREME case of low self esteem and self worth. Abuse as a child also breeds characteristics like multiple personalities (screen-names), abusive behavior, need for excessive bragging, and obsession (e.g., thousands upon thousands of posts).

GrizinWashington wrote:From eGriz. I laughed:

profile of obsessed football fans
by kaimen » Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:24 pm

I read an interesting article, where the conclusion to draw is most likely a few fans like Alpha were most likely physically, emotionally, and/or sexually abused as youngsters, and unfortunately, are likely candidates to continue this cycle.

The argument is simple, and the conclusions obvious. First, think about the nature of a fan. The fan is not part of a team, nor are they playing; they are essentially rooting for a jersey. The cause of the allegiance could be the city they are in, former school, etc. That’s it. Unfortunately, ones with incredibly low self esteem need to live vicariously through others. Sports being win/loss competition is trouble for those that can’t handle failure. When a team fails, a well adjusted fan can enjoy the competition and game, then with some effort let the result go. After all, the team they rooted for lost and the players and coaches are hurting, which rationally should arouse sympathy not anger towards the team. Other fans emotionally can’t handle a loss and personally feel like a failure, even though they didn’t play. They don’t have the maturity to handle failure, lash out, and disassociate (e.g., ‘we’ won, or ‘they’ lost when referring to their team).

Summary: adult fans who simply can’t handle a loss have low self esteem, low maturity, and the inability to cope with difficult situations. Severe cases are most likely from physical, mental, or sexual abuse during childhood, though rare cases could be from continual personal failures over a long period of time as an adult. For instance, Alpha says anything less than a NC is unacceptable for him, which is an EXTREME case of low self esteem and self worth. Abuse as a child also breeds characteristics like multiple personalities (screen-names), abusive behavior, need for excessive bragging, and obsession (e.g., thousands upon thousands of posts).