Sports fans love their teams, but sometimes love hurts

By Nathan Palm and Nathan Palm of Osseo High School

Nathan and his dad drove more than 1,200 miles to see the Vikings lose to the Saints in the NFC Championship.

Photo By: Photo courtesy of Nathan Palm

While in New Orleans, Nathan got to meet Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, an athlete he idolizes. The meeting helped Nathan feel closer to one of his heros.

Photo By: Photo Courtesy of Nathan Palm

A win by your favorite team can send your spirits soaring, but a loss can demoralize you.

It’s 3:30 p.m. on the Friday before the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints NFC Championship game, and I’m in the car driving 19½ hours to New Orleans for the game.

The night before my dad and I each spent $405 on tickets for the game, and we’re still trying to grasp the fact that we are about to witness history in the biggest game we’ve ever attended.

Fans live and die with their favorite teams and athletes. At times, it’s even mysterious to me how I have developed such a strong connection with the Vikings.

Fans’ spirits soar and sink with team’s wins and losses

That bond is a two-edged sword. A win by your favorite team can send your spirits soaring, but a loss can demoralize you. Beyond losses, fans can feel a personal connection to players, which is why when scandals like Tiger Woods’ infidelity occur, fans can feel betrayed.

I’ve been a passionate fan of the Vikings since 1999, ever since the team’s infamous loss to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship game – the game that earns teams a spot in the Superbowl.

The feeling of losing after such joyous feelings and high expectations upset me, and formed my desire to follow the team until the day they would avenge the past and win the Superbowl.

I can count the number of games I’ve missed since then on one hand.

With each year I’ve become more enthralled with the Purple, which led to my decision to take the trip of a lifetime down to the Big Easy.

Fans feel part of the team

So what motivated me to drive more than 1,200 miles for one football game?

Todd Wilkinson, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin River Falls, has studied sports psychology and said there are many reasons why people become fans.

Some people take pleasure in the fun or social aspect of getting together with friends or family to watch the games. Others may like it because of the talent of the athletes, rooting for the home team, or watching highly anticipated games because of their importance.

But there are differences in fans’ dedication levels. Bandwagon or fair-weather fans will get excited and follow teams only when they’re playing well.

But hardcore fans get very connected emotionally and dedicate themselves to the team every year, despite its record. These people experience powerful emotions from watching the team and support them through the ecstasy of winning and the agony of defeat.

As a Vikings fan, I’ve experienced many great and unforgettable moments. But as Minnesotans know too well, there have been too many moments when they find a way to break your heart.

When I saw the black and gold confetti fall in the Superdome and heard the riot of celebration from the Saints fans, it was gut-wrenching.

Wilkinson said that my emotional reaction to a sports team’s loss can be explained by something called the social identity theory. “We get some of our self-esteem and well-being by being with a group,” Wilkinson said.

In sports, this is applied to fans being identified with a team, but it’s a general theory that can be applied to everyday life. Another example of this theory in everyday teen life is how being part of a group of friends at school makes you feel part of something and contributes to how you think of yourself as a person.

Why east coast teams have crazier fans

In larger markets teams typically have more history and are an “established entity” in the city, said Wilkinson. These teams often have more hardcore fans because they have a rich fan culture. The culture of a team has a lot to do with the nature of its fans.

Oakland prides itself on its crazed Raiders fans who dress themselves in spikes and skeletons. They intimidate opposing teams from the Blackhole section of the stadium.

The Seattle Seahawks fans call themselves the 12th man, because there are 11 players on the field, and they view themselves as an additional player. As the 12th man, they produce the boisterous crowd noise that plays a factor in the game.

“Who dat?”

I noticed a big difference in the culture of Vikings and Saints fans.

In New Orleans, the streets were flooded everywhere with people who were very outgoing and loved to playfully banter about whose team was better. It was all good-natured until the game started.

At Vikings games, fans don’t heckle the opposing team’s fans much, but it’s a different story in New Orleans.

My dad and I took a verbal beating from the Saints fans for the entire game. It was by no means friendly either. They constantly cursed at us and treated us as if we were part of the team. After every penalty against the Saints — whether it was correct or not — we were the ones accused of being cheaters.

I didn’t acknowledge them throughout the game, because ignoring them was the best way to deal with the situation. But I also realized during the game that I was depending on my team to fight back against the harassment my dad and I received. I needed the Vikings to play better to show the Saints’ fans their words were empty. Their taunting only made me angrier with them and more hopeful the Vikes would beat their precious Saints.

The heckling got so extreme that at times we were fearful of what would happen if the Vikings won the game. The constant taunting and my reaction to it just showed how much all of us had invested in this game. All 71,276 fanatics packed into the Superdome that night were living vicariously through their favorite football team.

Nathan’s 10 minutes with Adrian Peterson

Although people invest themselves to great lengths with their teams, it’s not a two-way relationship. “You identify with the team but you’re not really part of them,” Wilkinson said.

The fan-team relationship is based on observing. “You get a very one-dimensional picture of athletes,” Wilkinson said.

The team’s followers devote themselves to the team, but all they receive in return is player interviews and press conferences. Compare that to the direct contact people have with friends and family, and you can see it lacks two-way communication.

While in New Orleans, I finally got to meet my hero, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. I talked to him for about ten minutes by myself. The cool thing about the experience was being able to finally get a glimpse of who Adrian Peterson is off the field.

Of course you can’t really get to know someone in such a short period of time, but in those few minutes Peterson was humble, signed autographs, took photos with everyone, and even talked to one man’s wife on the phone for a few minutes. Those minutes confirmed everything I’d come to love about my idol.

On the eve of the biggest game of his life, I got to talk to him face to face.

The public image vs. the private man

The problem with lack of communication between fans and athletes is that it can create false images of the athletes. “They want to portray an image the public likes,” said Selena Roberts, the Sports Illustrated reporter who broke the Alex Rodriguez steroid scandal.

The public can’t really know who the players truly are because they form their opinions of them from their few media appearances.

For athletes and fans, these perfect images can backfire.

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, also known as A-Rod, is a prime example of someone whose choices didn’t match his public image. Considered one of the best all-around players in baseball with the largest contract in baseball history – 10 years for $275 million — when people learned of his steroid use, they were deeply hurt and angered by him.

After the scandal, his image was damaged permanently. “(Fans) feel betrayed,” Roberts said. “(Fans) have emotionally invested in an athlete to be a certain way. When you project an image that’s so contradictory, it makes the fans feel like you’re a fraud.”

The relationships between fans and athletes are much different than they were 20 to 30 years ago, Roberts said. Athletes used to live in the same neighborhoods as working people. Today, it’s more common for athletes to live apart from fans.

“Fame and money can be pretty intoxicating for a young player,” Roberts said. “It screws around with their moral compass.”

Athletes start receiving special treatment when they’re fairly young, she said.

The media’s access to athletes has also changed dramatically over the past few decades, Roberts said. When she covered the Vikings in the early ’90s, she had access to players about four days a week.

Now, many superstars will often speak to the media only once or twice a week. The amount of access often varies team to team, she said, but it plays a factor in how many opportunities the public gets to hear from them.

This plays a part in how well fans can really know athletes, she said.

Although superstars can lose the respect of their fans, they can also redeem themselves. Michael Vick, A-Rod, and many others haven proven they can earn back the public’s support by winning games, apologizing sincerely, paying some kind of penance, and more.

Athletes may make many mistakes and seemingly betray devoted fans, but those same fans can be pretty forgiving.

As Roberts said: “America loves a comeback.”