Sports, Hazing and Friendship – Crumbs for Raucous Rivalry Wreaks Havoc
SPORTS:
About the competition: “The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting above average effort.” Colin Powell
About the Fans: A Psychologist’s Viewpoint:
Some psychologists claim that fan psychology is rooted in primitive times when we lived in small tribes, and warriors fighting to protect our tribe were true genetic representatives of “our people”. In today’s society athletes play a similar role for a city, club or school in the stylized war on a playing field – as the theory goes. The athlete’s exploits helps reconnect the fans with those intense emotions that tribal warfare did for their ancestors. The Psychology of Sports Fans
About the Culture:
Adam Sternbergh, culture editor at New York Times magazine explains that being a sports fan allows you to feel deep emotional investment in something that has no actual real-world consequences. Sports are never guaranteed to end happily. In fact for some fans, most games end in a highly unsatisfying way. As a fan, you will feel actual joy or actual pain in relation to events that really don’t affect your life at all. It matters, deeply, and yet it doesn’t matter at all. It’s heartbreak with training wheels. The opportunity to experience and survive it is something to be valued, not lamented. It’s the one time you should really be grateful for.
HAZING (better known as Ratting in my experience) 
When I attended Wesleyan College, my sister Christine was a senior there. Here is her comment to my post:
. . . I also despised Ratting at Wesleyan. I refused to take a part in it when I was a sophomore. I even hid some of the girls in my room. I visited a lot of them when we were not supposed to talk to them. I am so glad that they finally eliminated the Ratting.
FRIENDSHIP:
God’s Example: 
“After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself… And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.” ~1 Samuel 18: 1-3
The friendship of David and Jonathan was the effect of Divine grace, which produces in true believers one heart and one soul, and causes them to love each other. This union of souls is from partaking in the Spirit of Christ. Where God unites hearts, carnal matters are too weak to separate them. Those who love Christ as their own souls, will be willing to join themselves to him in an everlasting covenant. It was certainly a great proof of the power of God’s grace in David, that he was able to bear all this respect and honor, without being lifted up above measure. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
The Essence:
The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him. Ralph Waldo Emerson
How about you? Do you have a strong opinion on sports fans, hazing, or friendships? Share it with me. I’d like to know what YOU think.
Devos and Dumplings 
The psychology behind sports fans is interesting, Liz. I never thought about it, but it makes perfect sense. I’m with you on the hazing/ratting. I went to a big university so there were a lot of options besides sororities. I’m still uncomfortable with that whole mindset and process.
I agree, Susan. However,The next year, I joined a sorority in a large university. There was no hazing, only initiation which included not being able to speak for a time. I wrote notes to Jay, my husband whom I was dating then. But there was nothing traumatic done. The fraternities were a different story.
Thanks for checking in. Liz