Sports Fanaticism
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The popularity of spectator sports, especially professional sports, in American society is not a new social phenomenon. Barbara Ehrenreich (1998, p. 78) maintains that in Ancient Rome sports fanaticism may actually be the real reason for the fall of Rome, ôAt the height of the Empire, the stadium was the centerpiece of every Roman town. Loyalty to chariot-racing leagues eclipsed all political passions. When the barbarians attacked the gates of the Roman city of Hippo, no one much notices because the groans of the dying soldiers were drowned out by the roar from the stadium.ö Rampant sports mania may have originated in Ancient Rome, but from new multi-billion dollar luxury stadiums and Web broadcasting of sports events the world over to tailgating mania and cheese-head-hat wearing sports fanatics, sports mania is alive and well in contemporary American society.This analysis will discuss the phenomenon of rampant sports mania and sports fanaticism among spectators of professional and collegiate sports in American society. The analysis will provide examples of sports fanaticism as well as the psychological and social reasons for sports mania. A conclusion will address the potential future of sports mania and spectator fanaticism in American society. Writing in the New England Journal of Public Policy, in his article ôI am right; you are dead,ö Wole Soyinka (2005, p. 417) argues that with fanatics a ôàdisposition of mind toward
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nd much of the emotion associated with being a fanatic are illogical. Many fanatics are typical in feeling and admission of the following self-admitted New York YankeesÆ fan, describing what occurs at the start of each baseball season in his world: ôThis means agonizing days and nights listening to my beloved Yankees, rooting for victory lest my spirits be plunged into the blackest despair. Believe me, I know this is irrational, and û in a sport where a good team will lose sixty or seventy games û damned inconvenient. But I canÆt help it,ö (Lowry, 1998, p. 6).
Many observers and psychologists maintain that sports team fanatics are often driven by a number of factors, from wanting to belong to a group or fight for a purpose to engaging in drunken socializing wherein behavior excesses are routinely ignored or even considered par for the course. Others argue that many sports team fanatics are socially ostracized or fail to view mainstream upward mobility as a possibility. As such, they become part of a cultural subgroup of sports team fanatics where they fit in and even excel for behavior that is not tolerated in conventional society. As Lowry (1998, p. 7) argues, ôThere is an ineluctable urge in all sports fanatics that makes
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Romans Americans, York YankeesÆ, Ancient Rome, Knight Indiana, Saint John, Association NCAA, NCAA Football, Friedman McHale, Grove Eklund, Santa Clause, american society, sports mania, sports team, sports fans, collegiate sports, sports american, sports fanaticism, sports team fanatics, phillips 2004, ehrenreich 1998, sports teams, sports american society, american society analysis, fanaticism american society, journal public policy,
Approximate Word count = 1893
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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