Why are we so ecstatic when our hero wins?

[winstonplum]

Another slam final, another DVR episode over about eight hours of interruptions with constant text to friends and family to not mention tennis.

Luckily, in the end, for the last two sets, left alone in my living room to knock on wood before every single point, after every stupid possible jinx comment by Mary Carrillo ("Nadal getting ready to bite trophy"-- 2-3 in the fourth? Are you ****ing high, Mary? Have you watched any tennis in the last five years?), pace, mutter, clap, yell, roll on floor with full-pitched neighbor- horrifying scream after DF, etc....

Come on, true Fed fans; why were you floating down the street after he beat Roddick and Soderling? When he beat Muz in '12, like I floated to the supermarket after yesterday's match.

We'll never meet our heroes, they don't know we exist, we don't get any money, recognition, etc. etc. Why are we so damn happy? I've tackled this idea over the years in various threads, but I'm interested to throw it out there explicitly to our dysfunctional family here on TT.

How about one non-troll thread? I don't care why you hate Nadal so much; I've read 30,000 posts of why over the last four years. I'm interested why you were so ecstatic when Federer won, or Nole, or Roddick, Soderling, Muster, Graf, Seles, Hingis, Blake, Agassi, Sampras. Was it because they shared your nationality? They made your country proud? Because of how they played? How they conducted themselves? Because their achievements brought glory to you somehow (refracted over thousand of miles only minimally to your hum-drum life---I think we can all relate there)?


The floor is yours.

 

[CrazyTennisFan]

because we get inspiration from them. If they win we identify with the win and celebrate it
Being Canadian I would love for Raonic to win but if he plays against Nadal or Murray I'd be 50/50. I like players I can relate to.
personally someone who is not naturally talented but successful earns my respect. because the credit goes to him for succeeding not for being born with it!

 

[winstonplum]

because we get inspiration from them. If they win we identify with the win and celebrate it
Being Canadian I would love for Raonic to win but if he plays against Nadal or Murray I'd be 50/50. I like players I can relate to.
personally someone who is not naturally talented but successful earns my respect. because the credit goes to him for succeeding not for being born with it!

I like it.

 

[FedererWinsWimbledon2014]

Another slam final, another DVR episode over about eight hours of interruptions with constant text to friends and family to not mention tennis.

Luckily, in the end, for the last two sets, left alone in my living room to knock on wood before every single point, after every stupid possible jinx comment by Mary Carrillo ("Nadal getting ready to bite trophy"-- 2-3 in the fourth? Are you ****ing high, Mary? Have you watched any tennis in the last five years?), pace, mutter, clap, yell, roll on floor with full-pitched neighbor- horrifying scream after DF, etc....

Come on, true Fed fans; why were you floating down the street after he beat Roddick and Soderling? When he beat Muz in '12, like I floated to the supermarket after yesterday's match.

We'll never meet our heroes, they don't know we exist, we don't get any money, recognition, etc. etc. Why are we so damn happy? I've tackled this idea over the years in various threads, but I'm interested to throw it out there explicitly to our dysfunctional family here on TT.

How about one non-troll thread? I don't care why you hate Nadal so much; I've read 30,000 posts of why over the last four years. I'm interested why you were so ecstatic when Federer won, or Nole, or Roddick, Soderling, Muster, Graf, Seles, Hingis, Blake, Agassi, Sampras. Was it because they shared your nationality? They made your country proud? Because of how they played? How they conducted themselves? Because their achievements brought glory to you somehow (refracted over thousand of miles only minimally to your hum-drum life---I think we can all relate there)?


The floor is yours.

Not true.

It is a habit, the longer you like/follow a player you will become more emotionally attached. people support players like teams.

 

[Noleberic123]

Not true.

It is a habit, the longer you like/follow a player you will become more emotionally attached. people support players like teams.

im confused r u a djokovic or Federer fan?

 

[MichaelNadal]

It validates sticking through as a fan through all the tough moments, getting up early, staying up late, and is considered a victory against all the doubters also.

 

[Sid_Vicious]

I don't know. I haven't had that feeling in a very long time. (Wimbledon 2012)

 

[The Green Mile]

I don't know. I haven't had that feeling in a very long time. (Wimbledon 2012)

:grin::grin:

 

[Noleberic123]

I miss that feeling when djokovic wins a slam ;( it makes me so happy when he does but my hero has mental problems that will take more than boris becker to fix

 

[MichaelNadal]

I miss that feeling when djokovic wins a slam ;( it makes me so happy when he does but my hero has mental problems that will take more than boris becker to fix

He used to never give up like Rafa but lost the eye of the tiger. Once Rafa is 2 sets up on him in a slam, he collapses mentally because he's not up for the effort it would take to come back I don't think. Especially with the way Nadal comes out murdering the ball when he has a 2 set lead.

 

[Deleted member 307496]

Because my favorite player(s) are hard working and train as much as possible to get to where they are at, and it shows that the work pays off.

 

[Noleberic123]

Because my favorite player(s) are hard working and train as much as possible to get to where they are at, and it shows that the work pays off.

and who might ur favourite player be? or player(s)

 

[Deleted member 307496]

and who might ur favourite player be? or player(s)

Andy Murray, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Fernando Gonzalez. I like Federer and Nadal too.

 

[heninfan99]

Because you live vicariously through great athletes.

 

[philipe]

I was thinking of this the other day when I was depressed over Djokovic losing.

It makes no difference to our lives - none.
I would be doing the exact same thing over the last few days had Novak won his 1st RG.

He wouldn't be giving me any of his prize money, I wouldn't get better at tennis.

It's the same with football, when Chelsea lost the UCL final in 2008 I was gutted, gutted too for John Terry - again when they won it in 2012 I was ecstatic but my life was exactly the same.

It's all an illusion.

 

[Noleberic123]

I was thinking of this the other day when I was depressed over Djokovic losing.

It makes no difference to our lives - none.
I would be doing the exact same thing over the last few days had Novak won his 1st RG.

He wouldn't be giving me any of his prize money, I wouldn't get better at tennis.

It's the same with football, when Chelsea lost the UCL final in 2008 I was gutted, gutted too for John Terry - again when they won it in 2012 I was ecstatic but my life was exactly the same.

It's all an illusion.

that's exactly right. the funny thing is that the players don't even know who we are but we seem to care for them more then we care for ourselves. Now I think u should get rid of mourinho because no offense he is ruining Chelsea. and is it true u bought diego costa?

 

[monfed]

It's called living through the success of the player you root for. The rich and successful people are very casual in that they don't root for anyone day n night. Just imagine if you could just free yourself from the clutches of the highs and lows of your player and just focus on becoming better in your own profession, how much you would profit?

The most successsful people I've met aren't fans of anyone, infact they're so focused in their own lives that they see being a fanatic as a detriment to their own career, it weighs them down emotionally so they work on their own jobs/lives. I bet Fed , Nadal and all these top guys aren't really massive fans of any sportsman/musician/movie star or whatever the latest obsession is, they're very career focused and hence are successful.

In short - Why carry excess emotional baggage? Life is hard enough as it is.

 

[philipe]

It's called living through the success of the player you root for. The rich and successful people are very casual in that they don't root for anyone day n night. Just imagine if you could just free yourself from the clutches of the highs and lows of your player and just focus on becoming better in your own profession, how much you would profit?

The most successsful people I've met aren't fans of anyone, infact they're so focused in their own lives that they see being a fanatic as a detriment to their own career, it weighs them down emotionally so they work on their own jobs/lives. I bet Fed , Nadal and all these top guys aren't really massive fans of any sportsman/musician/movie star or whatever the latest obsession is, they're very career focused and hence are successful.

In short - Why carry excess emotional baggage? Life is hard enough as it is.

Very well said, if I've learnt anything from the last few years it's not to take things too seriously , there is a lot more to life - ie your OWN life - to live for.


Mind you I was surprised with myself how ****ed off I got when Rafa won on Sunday.

 

[winstonplum]

It's called living through the success of the player you root for. The rich and successful people are very casual in that they don't root for anyone day n night. Just imagine if you could just free yourself from the clutches of the highs and lows of your player and just focus on becoming better in your own profession, how much you would profit?

The most successsful people I've met aren't fans of anyone, infact they're so focused in their own lives that they see being a fanatic as a detriment to their own career, it weighs them down emotionally so they work on their own jobs/lives. I bet Fed , Nadal and all these top guys aren't really massive fans of any sportsman/musician/movie star or whatever the latest obsession is, they're very career focused and hence are successful.

In short - Why carry excess emotional baggage? Life is hard enough as it is.

Well said, but Rafa seems to have a lot of emotional baggage attached to Real Madrid.

 

[Sentinel]

It's called living through the success of the player you root for. The rich and successful people are very casual in that they don't root for anyone day n night. Just imagine if you could just free yourself from the clutches of the highs and lows of your player and just focus on becoming better in your own profession, how much you would profit?

The most successsful people I've met aren't fans of anyone, infact they're so focused in their own lives that they see being a fanatic as a detriment to their own career, it weighs them down emotionally so they work on their own jobs/lives. I bet Fed , Nadal and all these top guys aren't really massive fans of any sportsman/musician/movie star or whatever the latest obsession is, they're very career focused and hence are successful.

In short - Why carry excess emotional baggage? Life is hard enough as it is.

are you sure, bro?

i thought Fed was a fan of Edberg or Sampras.

Isn't Nadal also a soccer fan. Did he not cry when they won some World Cup or whatever.

 

[Sentinel]

Because you live vicariously through great athletes.

Ah, that explains why i am such a huge Stepanek fan !

 

[philipe]

Nadal did cry when Spain won the world cup in 2010 - but so did every Spaniard !!


As for Real Madrid- I don't think he could give a damn really .. its just for show, coming from the allready rich semi Royal Mallorca family - he has to follow Real(royal) Madrid

 

[pound cat]

Because you live vicariously through great athletes.

and it makes you feel good.

 

[ivan_the_terrible]

From another angle - why are some fans of Hero A so ecstatic when Hero B loses to Hero C?

 

[BeGreat]

Because proximity to power fools people into believing they wield it.

 

[sureshs]

Very well said, if I've learnt anything from the last few years it's not to take things too seriously , there is a lot more to life - ie your OWN life - to live for.

OWN life is usually boring for most people.

Sports and movies are escapism from the boring and harsh realities of life.

 

[yellowoctopus]

I believe that fundamentally most of us have a tendency toward behaviors that are like pack animals. This means that we look for an alpha to follow. The identity and reputation of the pack is represented by the appearance and performance of the alpha, and majority of the pack members will ensure that the alpha is protected and given the best chance to succeed.

Throughout the history, we see this in how people treat Kings, tribal leaders, etc. As the cultures became less monarchical, the focus shifted toward great warriors, leaders of arm forces, politicians, etc. In the modern day, most of us (mostly men) look to sport figures as this idea of an alpha.

My humble opinion, of course.

 

[philipe]

^^ Bloody good post ... this is turning into quite the thread