Why do people obsess over sports teams to the point of killing each other (literally?

[CyberCubed]

Especially in hispanic countries. You always hear in these stadiums when their favorite "futbol" team is losing or winning, the opposing fans always fight and trample each other at stadiums. Then you hear the news afterward how hundreds (thousands?) of people are killed, trampled to death or brutally injured in sports stadiums.

What the hell is wrong with these people? They treat sports like their religion and literally base their entire lives around their favorites sports team. Is that because the hispanic South American countries don't really have much going for them in their lives that they dedicate themselves to sports because it's all they have?

Like even for us Americans, I can understand having a favorite baseball team, basketball team, or watch the superbowl, etc. I don't really bother, but there are also Americans borderline obsessed with sports they go around getting into brawls at bars over it and start punching each other. Seriously what is wrong with these people.

[Mad Dog McMutt]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Especially in hispanic countries. You always hear in these stadiums when their favorite "futbol" team is losing or winning, the opposing fans always fight and trample each other at stadiums. Then you hear the news afterward how hundreds (thousands?) of people are killed, trampled to death or brutally injured in sports stadiums.

What the hell is wrong with these people? They treat sports like their religion and literally base their entire lives around their favorites sports team. Is that because the hispanic South American countries don't really have much going for them in their lives that they dedicate themselves to sports because it's all they have?

Like even for us Americans, I can understand having a favorite baseball team, basketball team, or watch the superbowl, etc. I don't really bother, but there are also Americans borderline obsessed with sports they go around getting into brawls at bars over it and start punching each other. Seriously what is wrong with these people.

Reminds me of Bat Dad from Southpark. I think a lot of people just want to fight and it gives them a good excuse to do so. Especially when you add alcohol to the mix.

[CyberCubed]

I think it's also because especially in the hispanic speaking countries, many of them are poorly educated and don't have much material possessions. They don't have TV's or computers, so they can't exactly follow movies or TV shows, play videogames, or be part of pop culture.

Essentially sports is all they have, it's their one form of entertaining to escape their dictatorships and to distract from all the crime and drug dealers on every street corner. I keep hearing the Mexican cartels constantly shoot each other up on the streets, sports is the only thing they brings world peace over there.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

They don't have TV's or computers, so they can't exactly follow movies or TV shows, play videogames, or be part of pop culture.

They have.

[CyberCubed]

Many sports fans are chuds with no lives otherwise who also don't follow many other forms of entertainment (like videogames, TV shows, movies or comics/cartoons), so they obsess over sports because it's really "all they have."

Most of these men are from failed marriages, or broken marriages where they hate their wives and they just come home to drink beer all day. So they go out with their buddies to bars to throw peanuts at the TV screen.

[Andrew NDB]

I've heard it said that the sports fans like you describe have a lot in common with the "Gay Pride"/"Free Palestine" kinds of crowds. Both are super in their tribe, both think that through some kind of willful divination, if they just passionately want a thing bad enough, etc., they can somehow make an impact but they cannot. Ever. Not even a little bit.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I've heard it said that the sports fans like you describe have a lot in common with the "Gay Pride"/"Free Palestine" kinds of crowds. Both are super in their tribe, both think that through some kind of willful divination, if they just passionately want a thing bad enough, etc., they can somehow make an impact but they cannot. Ever. Not even a little bit.

What do you mean? The younger populations of Western countries are overwhelmingly Pro-Gay Pride and Pro-Palestine.

Clearly the activism is having an affect, and the young population will be in power someday.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

What do you mean? The younger populations of Western countries are overwhelmingly Pro-Gay Pride and Pro-Palestine.

Clearly the activism is having an affect, and the young population will be in power someday.

I don't think you understood my point at all.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I don't think you understood my point at all.

Well, what I took away from your point is that their passionate advocacy has no impact at all. Zero, none.

Such an egregious falsehood was worth calling out. You underestimate the sheer power of the will.

[ToTheNines]

I quit caring about sports in my mid-20’s. I loved the big 4 leagues since I was a kid. Those guys were my heroes and the epitome of cool.

Then as I started getting old it just felt weird watching mostly baby faced young dudes lol. Also being too busy to keep up with standings and offseason trades and stuff, it just quit being fun when the roster would constantly get shaken up. The Cubs 2016 run was probably the last time I followed anything closely.

But fighting rival fans? Very crazy to hate someone who’s a huge fan of the same sport as you. You very likely have a ton of stuff in common. You just happen to like 2 different teams and/or just live in different cities. Weird behavior.

[IMJ]

I don't think the thread title encompasses the phenomena at all.

I think it's a separate-issue that can be assigned to almost any conflict-of-nonsense, more akin to someone's presentation of material. It used to be the normal SOP on these forums (has gotten better as people left), and it still happens on the internet all the time, let alone face-to-face.

It's similar to the mechanics of grammar school. For example, two friends can talk about their teams and banter back and forth without implied dominance or threat. But two strangers do it and they bring all of their interpersonal bull$#!( with them and it becomes "personal".

e.g., sort of like gaslighting @$$holes. Most of the time you are responding to the fact that you both know they are gaslighting you. Usually what you are actually pushing back on is that the person would gaslight you in the first place, rather than their actual point. And the gaslighter does to take the low-IQ "win" from poking the bear rather than saying anything substantive. There are at least two remaining forum posters here who do it all the time. Everyone here is familiar with it.

And, the psychology maps directly onto "true anger" over sports teams. Someone can perceive that the other person isn't actually defending "the team" but rather assaulting the other person by-intent and it escalates from there. I would have thought this was obvious instead of a conversation actually anchored to "how into their teams people can be".

In short, people fight over "sports teams" because of the disrespect and disregard the low-I.q. aggressor resorts to when kicking off the argument.... see what I did there? Kicking off.... the argument?

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

I quit caring about sports in my mid-20’s. I loved the big 4 leagues since I was a kid.

I can do you one better, I never cared despite my dad's and all my childhood friends' attempts to make me care.

Anyway that reminds me, aren't most team sports kind of pointless in determining who the best is? I mean, if one team wins three matches in a row with a score of 3-2 then loses the fourth with a score of 2-3 to a team that had also won the previous three matches with the same scores, doesn't that basically mean the skill difference between all these teams was ultimately pretty marginal to begin with and the outcome might as well have been random?

[CyberCubed]

It gets worse when the World Cup is going on, or the Superbowl, or the playoffs, many sports fans are clearly mentally ill.

Also don't forget the ones who bet hundreds (or thousands?) of dollars on their favorite team winning and then when they lose the game they get all pissed and angry saying, "I blew $1000 on this game!" lol

Dudebros ruined it for everyone else.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by neatoman

I can do you one better, I never cared despite my dad's and all my childhood friends' attempts to make me care.

Damn, quite the rebellious streak you must have had. Or, perhaps, you were just more mature than all the other boys. You preferred intellectual discourse over savagery.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Powder

Damn, quite the rebellious streak you must have had. Or, perhaps, you were just more mature than all the other boys. You preferred intellectual discourse over savagery.

Kinda, yeah. I loved educational shows as a kid, I couldn't get enough learning about space, physics, evolution, etc.

[CyberCubed]

I was never into sports or wrestling as a kid either. I mean I occasionally saw them on TV since my father had it on from time to time (he's not a big fan either), but I never really cared much.

When I was a kid people were raving about Michael Jordan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, The Undertaker, Derek Jeter, even Tiger Woods etc...I never really cared too much although I understand why people loved them.

[ToTheNines]

[Prowler]

This is why USA should never host another World Cup ever again. It leads to Americans like CyberCubed discovering football(the real one) and asking silly questions

[Barkworm]

Trump sneaking into the winner team photo is an all-time classic World Cup moment though.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Barkworm

Trump sneaking into the winner team photo is an all-time classic World Cup moment though.

Yeah, but he won't be ruler and tyrant forever. He'll be gone in a couple of years or so.

My point still stands. The hydration breaks were a shameless way of splitting matches into 4 quarters like in the NBA in order to get the Americans to watch the sport. Disgusting.