The Ethics Of Bandwagoning In Sports

Bandwagoning is a cultural phenomenon that is good for business, but ethically pathetic, pitiful, and deplorable to what we call sport. Where did the term bandwagon come from? What does it mean? Whenever a particular team does well, more people come. Winning sells tickets, merchandise and sponsorships. That is part of the deal. Sport is a business. A perfect analogy to sports is that sports are like movies. A horrid team that does not win is like a tragedy. The main character dies and everyone is sad at the end and typically people are not going to want to talk about it. A great team is like a great action movie where the main character falls in love and kills the enemy in the process. It will sell and keep peoples’ attention. According
What characteristics make up a true fan? They are not just someone who paints their body in their team’s colors. Just because someone is mental enough to make themself look ridiculous does not mean that they are a true fan. A true fan is someone who has been exposed to their team for as long as they can remember. They have to be exposed to a particular team from an early age and stick by that team even if the team is terrible. What it is supposed to be is “an allegiance or devotion to a particular team that is based on the spectator’s interest in the team that has developed over time.” Fans are supposed to bond with their team with certain psychological factors that include satisfaction (expectations met, self-connection (a person’s identity), intimate connection (the desire to continue a deep relationship to the end), and emotional achievement. The term fan refers here to the emotionally committed "consumer" of sports events. Further into the social aspects of the fan of a successful team, "fanship is empowering, generating passion and pleasure. It provides social prestige and self-esteem, a form of cultural capital that many fans otherwise might not have.” It is not just a matter blending in. It becomes a self-esteem issue. The idea of winning becomes a social issue rather than a competitive issue. Perhaps the best way to describe a true fan is someone who feels that “‘real’ support is not always about being entertained, it is about duty,
Since people do not change, they will not adapt or even attempt to try something new. Americans that say it is boring is just the excuse they make for not being exposed to it from an early age. If those people went to a live game, they would be hooked (and a pro game at that, not a youth game). When a player gets tackled (a soccer tackle is much different from the tackle that us Americans consider a tackle), they fall and pretend to be hurt. The thing is, they’re not pretending the majority of the time. Other aspects of it are quite exciting. But there is a difference to the way fans cheer for their team even here in the United States. Since England is a small country, it does not take fans long to travel from match to match. Now I mention this because of their passion. It is passion that Americans are completely oblivious to. That passion kills. In many examples there are gangs (Bloods and Crips type gangs) called firms that follow the team and riot against the opponent’s fans or firm. They take a love of the game and turn it into violent crimes that involve drugs and the drug trade. This is called hooliganism. That alone is a particular reason why some people die for their “football” team. There is one particular event in sporting history that nearly all of American sports fans are completely unaware of: the Hillsborough Disaster. On April 15, 1989