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UT fanatic speaks up about sports fan stress I started losing sleep over it the very night I found out. I’d just lie there, thinking, hoping, praying. The love of my life, the Texas Longhorn football team, was going to play for the Bowl Championship Series National Championship, and an exhausting stressor began brewing inside of me. Small amounts of tension piled up in the back of my mind, turning into a monster of uncontrollable anxiety that soon took over my brain. All I could think or speak of was the National Championship. About five days before the game, the stress really kicked in. I sat motionless in class, focused on winning and nothing more. The bell would ring, and I would speed through the halls, catching fragments of conversations, looking every which way after hearing the words: “Texas,” “football” and “lose.” Soon enough, there was a permanent glaze over my eyes; I was disconnected from the world. This zombie-like, footballconsumed version of me was troubled by the constant worry of a sports lover. You think school is a lot of pressure? Please. Try being an all-out, there-till-theend, extreme fan. You tell me how much of a breeze it is. Sports followers experience very large and often unhealthy amounts of pressure throughout the season and off-season. When my team is happy, I’m happy. When
my team is stressed out, I am stressed out. The Longhorns and I are one. In my countless years of playing the role of the die-hard football fan, I have found that most sports enthusiasts tend to follow a specific pattern of stress. They will become tense because of an injured player, a coaching change or an approaching game. They think about it day and night, during physics quizzes and pre-cal lessons, even just before bed. They lie there, thinking of how wonderful it would be to win, how, in their lives, they ask nothing more than to win this game. Then, the thought of losing strikes them. Suddenly, their breathing gets heavy, and tension rushes through them. At this moment the fan enters stage one of three of extreme stress. Stage One: Alarm Right when he or she realizes their team might be in trouble, the aficionado enters the first stage. At this time, the fan will experience fast breathing and an accelerated heart rate. In this stage, people tend not to think logically, but to imagine how horrible it would be if their team were to lose, how the world would be a dark, lonely place. My advice on dealing with a stage one die-hard fan: If they are worried about their favorite team playing a difficult game, do not try and convince them their team will win easily unless you have researched the topic Photos by Shea Wendlandt
thoroughly and can present valid evidence. If you attempt to calm the afflicted down without knowledge of the subject, one will simply get the fan more worked up, propelling them into stage two. Stage Two: Resistance When the sports devotee has been stressing out in stage one for a large amount of time without any relief, he or she will experience a slow reduction of energy levels. This, accompanied by weariness, forgetfulness and changes in physical and mental behavior, are clear signs of stage two. When in stage two, a fan might forget to engage in everyday routines or miss large amounts of sleep because they were busy listening to sleazy sports analysts’ predictions of the game. In order to properly care for a stage two sports lover, you must do two things: One, make them sleep, whatever it takes. Two, try to make them comfortable by giving them foods they like and reading them bedtime stories that will take their mind off the game. If you fail to follow these guidelines, the fan will enter stage three. Stage Three: Exhaustion At this point the fan is completely out of energy. It doesn’t matter if the game has already happened or not, this fan needs medical help. He or she has lost all hope and faith in the team and will declare they “just don’t care anymore.” Once one enters stage three, his or her stress about the game has actually disrupted their life in a big way. When you witness a fan enter stage three, you need to get them to the doctor. Fans in this stage are at risk for health problems. If they become sick due to large amounts of sports stress, they may lose their love for whichever beautiful game they are so attached to. When watching their favorite sport, fans can find a certain joy in their life that they find nowhere else. It’s perfectly fine to love a team, and do so obsessively, as long as the stress doesn’t take over. If a certain team or game gives you that feeling of delight, the feeling that everything is okay in the world, then go ahead, love it with all your heart. —Hirrah Barlas