On Why We Prefer Someone Over The Other [Sports]

EUREKA! Yes, for I have made a discovery! I have finally figured out the intricacies of what drives people to follow sports personalities. This goes back down to our upbringing, our society and it’s conventions and ethics. Ok, I might get abstract now, so let me make it easier for you:

Conjure up a scenario, suppose you are watching a game of football between two imperfectly balanced teams. One of them, the undisputed champions for the past 5 years, with the best coach and staff, the best of the sponsors and enormous following.The other, a minnow, new to the game, with little to no support (financial and otherwise) but abundant in talent. Now the minnows are giving the champions a hard time, making them earn that victory, pushing themselves to their limit, relentlessly striving hard and not giving up or succumbing to the pressure.

Suppose you are new to the game. Who would you (as a neutral) support? Whose win would pump up your adrenalin more? Whose loss would make your heart go down the sulking path? Definitely, the minnows. And it’s obvious. All through our childhood, we have been taught to appreciate the one trying to learn, the one who needs encouragement. We ourselves have actually learned most of the things that we do because of the support and encouragement that was given to us when we were amateurs and trying. And hence it’s an upbringing technique that we cultivate within ourselves too.

Now, coming back to sports and sporting personalities. The reason we choose to support someone over the other is the same as explained above. When someone with the capability of bringing about a change on the lines of ending the reign of superiority of someone, emerges all of a sudden, we like that someone. And there are two reasons for this behavior:

1.       When the entire world knows what is going to happen (or who is going to win), there is no excitement, no anticipation. We prefer to see a turnaround or upset that no one predicted not because we have anything against the current best player or that he does not deserve to win. It’ because we all love upsets, turnarounds and surprises. They spice up our lives and makes it more interesting and that is the whole purpose of watching sports, isn’t it? To make our life interesting.

2.        Secondly, an upset would catch everyone’s attention, take everyone by surprise and if you are the one who predicted it, or someone who supported the minnow, you will catch everyone’s attention. People would look up to you as someone with a great insight of the game and admire your perception and judgement. That’s what who we all are, ‘attention seeking, selfish bastards’. The bottom line is, we as humans are born selfish and who we support in sports just gratifies the selfishness within us.

So, if I support Roger Federer in Tennis, it’s because when I started watching the game, it was dominated by personalities like Pete Samprass and Andre Agassi. And Federer came out of the blue and took everyone by surprise with his talent and this caught my eye. The same goes for people who started following the game when Federer was at his best and Nadal emerged as someone with the potential to eventually defeat him. Hence followership is dictated simply on the basis of when did someone genuinely started following the game, it’s as simple as that.

This is a fact, no matter how incongruous it may appear at first, but deep down, knowingly or unknowingly our preferences in sports have developed on the above stated basis. If not, then you are not really a fan of the game and simply project yourself as one to get acceptance within the society (which looks down upon people who do not watch a sport) and blindly (and faking-ly) support someone your friends or others around you support.