Religion, Sport, and Othering

By John W. Traphagan

It was interesting watching the wildcard round of the NFL playoffs last
weekend and, in particular, the immature loss of control by the Bengals
at the end of their game. As a long-time Patriots fan (since the early
1970s), Ive seen both ends of fandom. The Pats were pretty miserable
to watch when Joe Kapp was their quarterback, but have been a lot of
fun since #12 took over.

What intrigued me over the weekend was the question of why people
put so much emotion and energy into pulling for a group of grown men
running around throwing a weird-shaped ball. In the end, it really
doesnt matter if the Steelers or Bengals win. Football may be
economically significant in a society that so values money and greed,
but in the greater scheme of things like life and death, it isnt
important at all.

So why do we get so worked up about sports? I think the answer can

be found in the human tendency toward building identities around and
finding security within group membership, as well as the zeal with
which we often engage in othering associated with the identities we
construct for ourselves and ascribe to the members of different groups.

What is othering? Its something humans do regularly. Othering occurs

when individuals identify with a group and then build their identities
around membership in that group on the basis of a sense of superiority
that comes with belonging and the diminishing of outside groups.
Racism is a form of othering, as is nationalism.

For fans of sporting teams, othering is evident when people display

their attitudes about rival teams, such as when they trash talk each
other in the comments sections of sports-related websites. In the case
of Bengals fans, I suppose their sense of superiority comes from the
feeling of being better at suffering than anyone else, much like it did
for Red Sox fans over so many years.

Americans, and many in other countries, flock to their sports teams

with the same kind of zeal we see in fundamentalist Christians and
Muslims, to name just a few. Wearing the yellow and green of the
Packers is a way to construct an identity and, particularly if the team is
successful, to associate oneself with being good at something. Of
course, this is where trash-talk comes from among fans, who have little
to do with the actual on-field success of their team, but who are able to
construct a sense of self as better than other selves around the belief
that we won the Superbowl or World Series, or that we will do so
next year (or the year after...).

The similarities between religion and sport are quite profound. Fans of
sporting teams, like fans religious sects, have their taboos, their
totems, and other symbols that identify them as members of their
group, and as nonmembers of other groups. So the Bruins fan may
wear a hat with a large B on the front of it in much the same way a
Christian wears a necklace with a cross on it. These symbols serve the
purpose of identifying one as belonging to group A (Bruins fans or
Christianity fans) and, by extension, not belonging to group B
(Canadiens fans or Islam fans).

There really isnt much difference. Both whether religion or sport

consist of individuals who have faith in their team and who invest a
great deal of their time, money, emotion and energy in supporting the
group with which they identify. They attend church or football games
on Sundays (and often both), they purchase symbolic objects that
announce their membership to others, and they engage in rituals that
intensify their sense of belonging.

Most of the time, the rivalries in sport and religion remain good-
natured and refrain from descending into intense othering behavior
that can become dangerous and harmful. But at its worst, fans of
sporting teams engage in the kind of othering we see among
fundamentalists, in which those who have beliefs and behaviors
different form ones in-group are demonized, vilified, and in some
cases attacked and killed. The fights that happen between fans of the
Cowboys and the Eagles are no different from the fights that happen
between fundamentalist Christians and Muslims. Both are grounded in
an irrational commitment to the idea that ones in-group is superior to
other groups and, thus, that as an individual one is superior to other
individuals.

And, again, even collective commiseration in the badness of a team

can generate feelings of unity and superiority. I think this is a
significant part of what is going on with fundamentalist Christians in
the U.S., who seem to feel put out by the fact that not everyone agrees
with their particular religious team or brand of religious belief.

Perhaps the zeal with which Americans seem to be able to affiliate with
sporting teams and religious sects is a product of a common theme
running through American society. Im not sure what that theme is, but
Id hypothesize that it is linked to a sense of insecurity that has long
characterized how Americans situate themselves in relation to others
in the world and the misplaced feelings of security (and arrogance)
that arise when one believes he or she belongs to a superior group.

Of one thing I am sure, however. The othering evident in either

religious or sports fandom easily can lead to the kind of violence we
see in religious disagreements, sports rivalries, or even in the vicious
hit by Vontaze Burfict on Antonio Brown. How much of that hit came
from Burficts building a self-identity around I hate Pittsburgh? There
is nothing wrong with being a fan, but there is something wrong when
building ones identity around membership in a group leads to feelings
of superiority and hatred towards those who belong to other groups.