4 ms·

> It shocks me how many people buy up the “our” team stuff and don’t realize that a lot of the narrative around interviews and sports-talk and drama are just ad

by asark 7y ago

> It shocks me how many people buy up the “our” team stuff and don’t realize that a lot of the narrative around interviews and sports-talk and drama are just advertising campaigns. I get sports fandom that's fundamentally arbitrary and/or fictional. I mean that's been with us since at least Rome, and probably before. Happens naturally on the school yard, even. I'll gladly join in. It's fun. What I don't get is pro sports fans who don't seem to be "in on the joke", the way, say, your average pro wrestling fan is "in on the joke", so far as the framing narrative of their sport and team being fiction. The kind who will get actually-mad over the stuff, or start fights and spend the night in jail over it. But maybe they're just way better at maintaining kayfabe.

paganel 7y ago
> But maybe they're just way better at maintaining kayfabe. Violence in sports 100% sucks, but I can pretty much say that most of these people do not see it as a joke. Talking about history, here's one very famous and pretty old sports-related rivalry that was not a joke at all, as tens of thousands of people ended up dying [1]: > The Nika riots, or Nika revolt, took place against Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople over the course of a week in 532 AD. They were the most violent riots in the city's history, with nearly half of Constantinople being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed. (...) There were initially four major factional teams of chariot racing, differentiated by the colour of the uniform in which they competed; the colours were also worn by their supporters. These were the Blues, the Greens, the Reds, and the Whites, although by the Byzantine era the only teams with any influence were the Blues and Greens. Emperor Justinian I was a supporter of the Blues. On a more optimistic note sports supporting done right can absolutely give some sort of purpose to one's life (I know these are big words, but that's how I see things), for example if you look at these Aris Thessaloniki supporters chanting and supporting their (basketball) team [2] it's almost impossible not to get hyped up. Or these San Lorenzo fans [3] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcvAOpnnMK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcvAOpnnMK0 [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9RMPBoTAVE&feature=youtu.be&t=16 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9RMPBoTAVE&feature=youtu.be...

by asark 7y ago

paganel 7y ago

> But maybe they're just way better at maintaining kayfabe. Violence in sports 100% sucks, but I can pretty much say that most of these people do not see it as a joke. Talking about history, here's one very famous and pretty old sports-related rivalry that was not a joke at all, as tens of thousands of people ended up dying [1]: > The Nika riots, or Nika revolt, took place against Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople over the course of a week in 532 AD. They were the most violent riots in the city's history, with nearly half of Constantinople being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed. (...) There were initially four major factional teams of chariot racing, differentiated by the colour of the uniform in which they competed; the colours were also worn by their supporters. These were the Blues, the Greens, the Reds, and the Whites, although by the Byzantine era the only teams with any influence were the Blues and Greens. Emperor Justinian I was a supporter of the Blues. On a more optimistic note sports supporting done right can absolutely give some sort of purpose to one's life (I know these are big words, but that's how I see things), for example if you look at these Aris Thessaloniki supporters chanting and supporting their (basketball) team [2] it's almost impossible not to get hyped up. Or these San Lorenzo fans [3] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcvAOpnnMK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcvAOpnnMK0 [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9RMPBoTAVE&feature=youtu.be&t=16 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9RMPBoTAVE&feature=youtu.be...