James McKinley in the New York Times in 2000 : "It has long been assumed that ardent sports fans derive excitement and a sense of community from rooting for a big-time team. But a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that for some fans, the ties go much deeper.
Some researchers have found that fervent fans become so tied to their teams that they experience hormonal surges and other physiological changes while watching games, much as the athletes do.
The self-esteem of some male and female fans also rises and falls with a game's outcome, with losses affecting their optimism about everything from getting a date to winning at darts, one study showed.
Science is still grappling with many questions about why people form such deep ties to sports teams, and it has not yet rigorously confronted what may be the core question: is avidly rooting for a team good or bad for someone's health? But there are early clues, some of them surprising...
One theory traces the roots of fan psychology to a primitive time when human beings lived in small tribes, and warriors fighting to protect tribes were true genetic representatives of their people, psychologists say.
In modern society, professional and college athletes play a similar role for a city in the stylized war on a playing field, the theory goes. Even though professional athletes are mercenaries in every sense, their exploits may re-create the intense emotions in some fans that tribal warfare might have in their ancestors. It may also be these emotions that have in large part fueled the explosion in the popularity of sports over the last two decades.
''Our sports heroes are our warriors,'' Robert Cialdini, a professor of psychology at Arizona State, 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.'' ..."
We really are social animals. Our biology is linked to those around us in ways we're just coming to understand. I just had a celebratory tail gate party outside eBay with my fellow Red Sox fans, and as the Yankees fans drove by and heckled us we cheered back with palpable glee. This kind of fan activity (which I belittled for a long time) comes with a serious neural payoff, one that explains the persistence and omnipresence of sport around the world. It illuminates much of the human condition, whether it's cricket in India or bullfighting in Andalucia.
This desire for people to associate themselves with winners explains a lot. And I don't doubt that similar dynamics are at play in political campaigns, which seem increasingly modeled on (and described with the language of) sporting events.