Believing in your team.
Offline I was watching the Drake vs. Western Kentucky Basketball game today. They kept showing the Drake fans holding up signs saying "Believe" and "Don't Stop Believing". I'm a sports fan that does not understand this at all. I could understand a sign saying "Wish". Why must many sports fans do this? If you do this type of thing, please answer these questions for me.
Do you think your belief affects the outcome and making it more likely your team will win?
If your team wins does "believing" make you feel better? Do you think your believing caused them win after the fact?
If they lose do you feel really bad? Do you blame yourself for not having enough faith?
If you're a Theist, does your team losing when you believe in them cause you to loose faith in God? How is your "belief" in God differerent than your "belief" in your team?
If you really "believe" in your team why don't you go to a sports book and bet all the money you can on your team?
Do you believe that teams can be cursed?
I found myself rooting for for Western Kentucky not just because they were underdogs but because I wanted the see the Drake fans that "believed" get the ass kicked out of their faith. I felt a lot of satisfaction when Drake lost to a Buzzer Beater in OT. Am I bad?
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I know exactly what you mean. It is god belief. (Don't rock the boat and cross your fingers)
I am a huge Redskins fan, but when they suck, and they do right now, I am not going to sugar coat it. Their owner could put together a winning schoolyard dodge ball team.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
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I agree, being a sports fan is often very irrational. Like being religious. We could have a whole section on irration precepts in sports. I was reading a book call "How everything you know about baseball is wrong". It's about all the irrational concepts that fans and even manager have about strategiest to win, steaks, slumps, etc...
People root for the underdog. We want the most unlikely thing to be true.
But see, the Redskins owners motivation is not necessarity to win. It's to keep the fans from getting too pissed off that they won't be fans anymore. It's not like other businesses where people will change their loyalty based on quality and price. You'll be a Redskins fan even if they suck.
The coach doen't necessarity call plays to win. Coaches coach too conservatively because they don't want to be the blamed by the fans for loosing. He'll be the coach even though the team looses as long as fans like you don't blame him for the looses.
Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success. --Mark Skousen
I think the fact that people expect god to be concerned with their sport team while people are dying all over the planet is the ultimate insult to logic and common decency. How can anyone justify that?
Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible
Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.
God is just like every Sunday couch potato. His entertainment is more important than taking out the trash or mowing the lawn.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
I think it's possible that belief by a large percentage of the audience can influence the game. Humans are very good at reading the body language of others, and as we've all seen from the history of religion, large numbers of people who believe the same thing can have great influence on the outcome of events.
I've been a dart player for years, and my team regularly makes it to the semifinals or finals of the city championship, so I often get the chance to play in front of big crowds. It's pretty intense sometimes. It's just you in front of a bunch of people, and you have to throw this little dart into a one inch by one quarter inch strip, and your team will win. The thing is, I've seen the audience change the games before. When everybody believes that the next guy up is going to hit his mark, it instills the player with a sense of confidence in himself. Confidence does affect the outcome sometimes.
Consider the difference in a cheering fan. If he's, say, a Cubs fan, there's a certain sense of resignation to his cheering. "Come on, dammit! Win just one damn World Series.... please??" Not the most inspiring cheer. On the other hand, consider the fan cheering for say, UCLA, against whatever team they just beat by 41 points. The fan is pretty much certain that his team's going to win. His cheering is easy, relaxed, and excited.
Where I think this could make a difference is in a close matchup. If one team's fans really believes their team is going to win, and the other doesn't, I think the advantage might go slightly to the team with better fans.
I've been watching the Atlanta Braves lose in the post season for many years now, and I'm sure that the fans have something to do with it. Atlanta fans are really shitty. They hardly watch the game because they're too busy chatting on their cell phones and reading the programs and ordering hot dogs. A couple of years ago, I went to a Red Sox/Braves game, and there were probably 15,000 Red Sox fans compared to 25,000 Braves fans. The Red Sox fans out-cheered the Braves fans by probably 20 decibels. You know how the Braves fans reacted? Do you think they used their greater numbers to simply overpower the opposing fans and cheer their own team on with more fervor? Nah. They booed the Red Sox fans.
That, in my opinion, is the epitome of a shitty fan, and it's been that way for over a decade. I'm not saying it's the only factor, or even a major factor, but I do think it has an influence.
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There is something to be said, NFL terms, for the "12th man". But it is not an absolute.
I have been to many Redskins games and the noise that the fans make can, not always, but can be a distraction to the team they are playing. It still is not a given. I have seen great fervor on the fans part only to suffer a loss.
But I am also not into blind obedience. If the Skins suck, they suck. Why should I sugar coat a bad performance just because I like the team I am rooting for?
I have seen the Skins win with a crappy performance. I have seen them lose with a great performance.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
If while screaming and rooting my team on they happen to win, I feel really good afterwards. If they lose, then it is what it is.
My husband on the other hand will get so into the game that he takes it personal when they screw up, he has even said that if he wears the teams "away" colors during a home game it jinxes the team.
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My little hypothesis is more tenuous than I think I've conveyed. If I understand the question correctly, it's not really whether the crowd can alter a game. Clearly it can. The question is, "Can real belief in the audience change the game?"
I think it can, primarily because humans are so bad at hiding their real emotions. If one person can't hide the fact that he really doesn't believe in you when he gives you a pat on the ass and says, "I believe in you, son," how are 50,000 people going to hide it?
I think an audience that is made up of people who really believe in their team will be slightly more effective as a catalyst than one who is cheering out of politeness or desperation.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
It is similar to praying for someone who is sick. If the person who is being prayed for knows this, this can speed healing. But it's really just knowing someone cares about you. The illogical Christians will say this proves devine intervention.
But no one really "believes" in their team. It's just an act. If they really believed, they would bet all their forture with the sports book. Religion is the same thing, no one really "believes", it's just an act. All the world's a stage.
Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success. --Mark Skousen
Well, IIRC, the Templeton Foundation's landmark study that proved prayer is actually slightly bad for you came up with their worst results when people knew they were being prayed for.
Probably performance anxiety.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism