Cheering for the Winning Team
Last night, just like millions of other Americans, I watched the Super-Bowl. The game was a phenomenal display of sports history, and the New York Giants’ unexpected victory over the New England Patriots made me proud to be a New Yorker. This made me wonder – why are sports fans so proud when ‘their team’ wins? What did we do to earn this victory?
''Our sports heroes are our warriors,'' Robert Cialdini, a professor of psychology at Arizona State , and author of Influence: Science and Practice said about sports fans. ''This is not some light diversion to be enjoyed for its inherent grace and harmony. The self is centrally involved in the outcome of the event. Whoever you root for represents you.''
Dr. Cialdini pioneered research on fans in the 1970's. He began by documenting that college sports fans were far more likely to wear clothing with their team's logo on the day after victories than after defeats, a phenomenon he called ''basking in reflected glory.''
''It becomes possible to attain some sort of respect and regard not by one's own achievements but by one's connection to individuals of attainment,'' he said.
As Jews, we do the same thing – we’re proud to be associated with all the phenomenal accomplishments that Jewish people have achieved in the areas of scholarship, science, media and business, basking in reflected glory of our people, while we distance ourselves from those Jews who we’re not proud of. The good news is that there are many more famous positive accomplishments by Jewish people than negative ones.
Still, it’s nice to be part of a winning team.
''Our sports heroes are our warriors,'' Robert Cialdini, a professor of psychology at Arizona State , and author of Influence: Science and Practice said about sports fans. ''This is not some light diversion to be enjoyed for its inherent grace and harmony. The self is centrally involved in the outcome of the event. Whoever you root for represents you.''
Dr. Cialdini pioneered research on fans in the 1970's. He began by documenting that college sports fans were far more likely to wear clothing with their team's logo on the day after victories than after defeats, a phenomenon he called ''basking in reflected glory.''
''It becomes possible to attain some sort of respect and regard not by one's own achievements but by one's connection to individuals of attainment,'' he said.
As Jews, we do the same thing – we’re proud to be associated with all the phenomenal accomplishments that Jewish people have achieved in the areas of scholarship, science, media and business, basking in reflected glory of our people, while we distance ourselves from those Jews who we’re not proud of. The good news is that there are many more famous positive accomplishments by Jewish people than negative ones.
Still, it’s nice to be part of a winning team.
Have you ever stopped to think of what happened to all of the "Instant" Victory hats and Jerseys that were made with Patriot Logos and then were never used.
I'm sure that there is an "ecological" as well as a "social conscience" lesson to be learned here
Zvi Shachori
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