Being a fan of sports is one of the most enjoyable and popular forms of entertainment in America. According to a February poll from, CNN/USA Today/Gallup around sixty-three percent of Americans classify themselves as sports fans . It is a superb form of entertainment that allows people to break away from the pressures and restraints of their normal day to day lives, and escape into the simplicity of enjoying a game. Some people become so involved in their love of sports they begin to almost live their lives through a particular player or team which they follow. Unfortunately this intense love and passion some fans feels can sometimes manifest itself into destructive and dangerous behavior. This can range anywhere from simply jeering or name calling from the stands, to violence between fans, to full blown riots in the streets of cities, but where does this behavior originally stem from. Clifford Bryant and Robert Horton, authors of School Athletics and Fan Aggression, seem to believe that we are socialized from as early on as High School to be excessively enthusiastic and competitive. They write, “Schools, in fact, often actively strive to develop a kind of “we-they” feeling, a type of “in-group/ out-group” identification, and an intensive type of ethnocentrism” . While it is perfectly healthy to be enthusiastic about sports some people take it to an extreme which can evolve into unpredictable and vicious actions.
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