Just How Much Is Sports Fandom Like Religion?

[cbayer]

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/01/just-how-much-is-sports-fandom-like-religion/272631/

JAN 29 2013, 12:47 PM ET
Pro sports teams are like what religion and sociology scholars call "totems"—symbols of greater entities that communities gather around for identity and unity.


Two San Diego fans perform the sacred ceremonial Chargers face-painting ritual before a game in 2011. (AP / Denis Poroy)

The Super Bowl, professional sports' highest holy day, is again upon us. As fans paint their faces and torsos, pile on licensed apparel, and quixotically arrange beer cans in the shape of team logos, the question must, again, be asked: Why exactly do we do this for our teams?

Why, in my own case, do I feel the need to sport a Chargers cap on fall Sundays sitting in front of the television when decades of futility, not to mention common sense, suggests it has little effect on outcome?

The answer—and the secret of fandom—might just be found in a context far removed from professional football.

Almost precisely a century ago, Emile Durkheim pondered along similar lines. Durkheim, a pioneering sociologist, began digging through accounts of "primitive" cultures like the Arunta tribe of Australia, hoping to excavate the ancient source of ties that bind. His conclusion—as revealed in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life—remains as profound and relevant today as it is elegantly simple: Whenever a society (or, here, sports subculture) worships a divine form, it is, in fact, also simultaneously worshipping itself.

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[SheilaT]

1. It's my opinion that sport fandom in this country

IS a secular religion.

I have often thought that if another country wants to invade us, just make the plans and wait patiently until the next time the Redskins are in the Superbowl. You could just march into DC and take it completely over and it would be well after the half-time show that anyone would notice. Honest.

[cbayer]

2. Agree - full of ritual, faith, belief...

and weekly services!

[tblue37]

3. The word "fan" is a shortened form of "fanatic," after all. nti

[LeftishBrit]

4. Very

In the UK, I would say there are far more football-bigots - who hate all supporters of rival football teams - than religious bigots.

[cbayer]

5. Much like the rivalries here. I'm a Red Sox fan and have a visceral

and spontaneous negative response to people who are Yankees fans.

[Fumesucker]

9. I bet they reserve their worst hatred for those who don't care about football though

Try posting on DU that you don't care for sports, it's really an interesting exercise.

[cbayer]

10. Or dogs

[Fumesucker]

11. When we get to the point of stadiums full of people painting themselves to look like their dogs

And rioting when their breed wins/loses the show then you might have some equivalency there.

[cbayer]

13. Good point. I was referring more to the way one would be treated on DU.

[okasha]

6. I think I'm a sports atheist.

I've never even cared about my alma maters' football games--and this is in Texas! Even the Hook 'em Horns smilie doesn't make my heart go pitty-pat.

[cbayer]

7. I am as well, with one exception - The Boston Red Sox.

But my *belief* in them has waned over times.

OTOH, when any of my children were involved in organized sports, I develop a passion not unlike how some feel about their religion.

[dimbear]

8. The religious importance of pelota:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_ballgame

Scroll down to human sacrifice.

[cbayer]

15. Holy moly! Decapitation then using the heads as balls in the game.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

12. At least these fanatics are worshipping something real...

...

[cbayer]

14. Well sort of. The amount of ritual based on superstition is pretty darn high.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

16. No disagreement there!

(spoken as a HUGE college football fan)

[cbayer]

17. I had all kinds of rituals for Red Sox games.

And don't even get me started about my "beliefs" when my son was pitching in high school. I think I actually believed I could influence the game.