The number of students wearing UCLA gear today may be less than
it has been any other Monday of this year’s football season,
or at least that’s what sports fan psychologists might
predict.
The science of studying sports fans ““ whether they are the
“full-body-paint-in-the-middle-of-winter” type or the
“fair-weather” type ““ has revealed to
psychologists that there are often very particular ways that fans
act after wins or losses.
And with the Bruins’ heartbreaking 52-14 loss to the
Arizona Wildcats this Saturday, crushing hopes of an undefeated
season, sports fan psychologists nationwide can predict a change in
the student body’s clothing and word choice.
The choice not to wear UCLA gear after a big loss is related to
a concept called “cutting off reflected failure,” or
CORFing. The idea is that fans have a tendency to distance
themselves after a loss, but proudly relate to the team when there
is a win.
“You can have what’s called “˜basking in
reflected glory,’ or “˜BIRGing.’ Basically what
that means is that if I am a fan of the team and they do well, then
that reflects on me,” said Rick Grieve, an associate
professor of psychology at Western Kentucky University who studies
sports fans, in an interview last week.
Grieve said he expected the campus to be “covered in blue
and gold” if the team won. With a loss, he predicted far
fewer would be wearing school apparel.
The way students recount what happened during the game may also
fluctuate depending on the outcome of that game. In a famous study
where fans were asked to describe a game, participants were more
likely to use the pronoun “we” to refer to their
school’s team if the team had won, whereas a loss resulted in
the use of the pronoun “they,” said Christian End,
assistant professor of psychology of Xavier University in Ohio.
But for some of the campus’s most dedicated fans,
Saturday’s loss is just one dip in a hugely successful
season. And the amount to which they relate to the football team
may not vary as much.
Branden Brough has been at UCLA for almost a decade. He started
his undergraduate career in 1996 and now plans on finishing his
doctoral degree in engineering at the end of the school year. He is
also an avid football fan and is most recognizable as the guy in
the front of the student section with a blue afro wig and yellow
hair pick.
“Basically, it’s my escape” Brough said of his
reason for consistently attending football games. “It’s
a great way to blow off steam, and it’s what I’ve been
doing for nearly a decade ““ any way that I can help the
cause.”
For UCLA fans, the season has been a roller coaster of emotions,
as the football team continued to deliver surprising fourth-quarter
comebacks.
“Especially for the people that had been there for a
while, we had suffered with the team; there were disappointments,
failed expectations. … The comebacks were such a triumphant
moment, a wave of joy went over us,” said Brough, who is also
a member of the Den’s executive board.
Many fans say that despite Saturday’s loss, the football
team has gained respect throughout the season and supporting the
team is more important now than ever.
“The fact of the matter is that we’re still 8-1 and
having a successful season. What scares me is people are going to
start jumping off the bandwagon,” Brough said. “Yes, it
hurt to watch, but we’re still doing really well.”
Hard-core fans such as Brough and other members of the Den are
less likely to succumb to the phenomenon associated with
fair-weather fans, psychologists say.
“For those types of fans, identity with the team has been
more important with them all along. Being a UCLA football fan is
extremely important to them and they have a stronger connection
with the team,” End said.
With such a strong connection, fans are also likely to rely on
specific coping mechanisms after a loss, with justifications such
as “the refs must have screwed us over,” or “at
least we have higher academic standards,” End said.
In addition, superstitions play an important role in how avid
fans connect with players on the football field. Although most fans
realize that there is little scientific correlation between what
they do and how players perform, it doesn’t stop them from
participating in certain rituals, psychologists say.
Grieve, who is currently conducting a study of fans and their
superstitions, said that one student at Notre Dame believes that if
he does not have three cans of beer and read certain passages from
the Bible before the of the first quarter, the football team will
lose.
Among UCLA fans, one of the most important superstitions deals
with consistency. Students say that if UCLA is completing passes
and stopping the other team from performing, they will continue
doing whatever it is they were doing. If UCLA starts doing poorly,
the fans have to change the way they are rooting for the team.
Marc Sawyer, a third-year communication studies student and
president of the Den, says he takes the same number of steps from
the main concourse of the Rose Bowl to the entrance of the student
section, tunnel 6. If UCLA loses a game, however, “I’ll
switch it up because I know it didn’t work last time,”
Sawyer said.
Brough, who also participates in the same-step ritual, said he
will not change the number of steps he takes for the Arizona State
game this upcoming Saturday because the ritual only applies to home
games.
“If we lose (to) Arizona State, I might have to change the
number of steps,” Brough said.
Besides not being too worried about superstition for the
upcoming Arizona State game, fans say they will continue practicing
beloved traditions, such as The Dirt from the Den.
A newsletter published for every home game, The Dirt provides
lyrics and insults to be used against the other team in an attempt
to ruin the focus of opposing players.
“You’ve got to give the fans something intelligent
to razz the other team about,” Sawyer said. “For
example, if a member of the other team robbed a U-Mart in Kansas
the other week, you use it against them.”
For the student fans who have continued to come to the football
games over the years, even when UCLA was unranked and ill-favored,
they say it is about loyalty, not about a win or loss.
The concept of a community is a key factor in the study of
sports fan psychology and is what engenders BIRGing and CORFing,
psychologists say.
“A lot of it stems from a desire to belong to something
that is larger than (oneself). One of the reasons people identify
with sports teams is that it gives them a group of like-minded
individuals and enhances self-esteem,” Grieve said. “If
I can make connections with people, then, even if we lose, we can
commiserate together.”
Fans coming to the games throughout the season say they have
learned a lot about the football team, which they say they love and
hope maintains the large fan base it has accumulated.
Third-year English student Genevieve Chavez, who has attended
games this year along with two friends, makes it a point to never
give up on the team. So, during the fourth quarter of the Stanford
game two Saturdays ago when the Bruins were losing, they stood up
on the benches and serenaded the team with Journey’s
“Don’t Stop Believin’.”
“Sometimes the fans give up. But that’s not what we
ever do, so what we do is try to get the other fans
involved,” Chavez said, adding, “I don’t see any
reason why we’re not going to beat USC.”