Anyone who's ever seen the Broadway musical Avenue Q knows the song "Schadenfreude" (and if you haven't seen the show, go see it ... right now). As I listen to the singers belt about how enjoyable it is to "watch a vegetarian being told she just ate chicken," I can't help but think of how schadenfreude applies to the sporting world.
Schadenfreude is defined by dictionary.com as "satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune." For example, if someone falls, you laugh (if he or she is not seriously hurt that is). It's easy enough to see how this concept applies to the world of sports: a basketball player slips on a fast break, an outfielder crashes into a wall and misses the ball while trying to make a catch, or even a running back receives a hard hit from a lineman.
But the kind of schadenfreude that really intrigues me is when fans consciously root for athletes or teams to fail. An obvious example is one I've referenced before - when Red Sox fans root for the Yankees to lose, even if the Sox are not affected by the outcome of the game. Any rivalry has elements of schadenfreude: Duke fans hate North Carolina, students at Amherst hate Williams, etc.
But what about when rivalries aren't involved? What about when a fan roots for someone to fail for no real, logical reason? What about Peyton Manning?
I don't like Peyton Manning. Maybe it's because he does a lot of commercials, or maybe it's because I think he just looks stupid. Whatever the reason, I don't like him. He's a great quarterback, and I respect him for that, but that's about the only positive comment he'll get from me. Needless to say, I was rooting for him to screw up royally in the playoffs. Yes, I was quite sick of hearing all the "Peyton-can't-win-the-big-one" talk that spewed from every sports media outlet, but I would have gladly listened to it over watching Peyton toss a few interceptions in the Super Bowl, come up short yet again, and make his patented "Peyton face."
When Tiger Woods was unbeatable at the beginning of the decade, I started rooting against him. I was just so sick of seeing him win that any loss - no matter how inconsequential - brought me happiness. Watching Florida win three national collegiate championships in the last year was unbearable. I have no connection to the Gators or their rivals in any way, shape or form, but I found myself rooting for their demise in this year's basketball tournament, even after all my other teams had been eliminated.
The connection between Peyton, Tiger and Florida is that I began to despise them while they were at their height. So is it safe to say I hate greatness? Do I root against certain people or teams because I just can't stand seeing them win anymore? I suppose it's possible, since I don't take as much pleasure in watching the Houston Texans or Atlanta Hawks struggle year in and year out. But I love Roger Federer, and he is as dominating as they come, so it can't be that I simply hate great athletes or teams. There must be other factors involved.
Perhaps we enjoy seeing not just the athletes themselves in pain and misery, but the fans as well. For example, I know I take great pleasure in going to sporting events involving Boston teams and rooting for whoever they're playing (really, it doesn't matter where the team is from, Boston fans just get particularly riled up).
When I went to a Knicks-Celtics game earlier this year, I couldn't help but cheer for New York (even though I'm from the Empire State, I'm a Chicago Bulls fan and have never been a Knicks supporter) while I was in a sea of Celtic green. My smile grew wider as the Knicks overcame a 20-point halftime deficit, and the Celtics' fans booed (or cheered if they were hoping for the team to tank in order to get a higher draft pick, but let's assume they wanted their team to win), but alas, Boston came back, and the fans were happy.
Maybe we do just like seeing people in agony for no apparent reason. Whether it's because we hate seeing greatness constantly prevail, we enjoy mocking others, or we're just sick creatures that derive pleasure out of others' pain, there is no doubt that schadenfreude is a part of the sporting world. So since I can't gain pleasure from watching the Mets on TV, the next best thing is rooting for the Sox to lose. Don't take it personally though; I'm just a sick, twisted person.
