In 1957, the psychologist Leon Festinger proposed what he called the theory of cognitive dissonance — the idea that humans experience a stress when they hold two contradictory beliefs at the same time.
This stress, Festinger theorized, causes us to deny our past beliefs or to rationalize in one way or the other. Usually, it leads to confirmation bias — in other words, backwards logic that causes us to justify our preconceptions, even if we know deep down they were wrong.
Festinger observed a cult in the '50s that believed the apocalypse was coming in the form of an alien invasion. When it didn't happen, the cult leaders changed their minds and decided that they actually believed the aliens were benevolent and deliberately spared Earth.
This sort of logic shows up everywhere. It's the origin of the phrase "sour grapes" — the fox in Aesop's fable couldn't reach the grapes, so he instead complained that they were too sour. It's the reason the clichéd sitcom line "You can't quit: You're fired" isn't really that funny. It plays into the talking points of every Republican politician — once the public realized every other reason for the Iraq invasion was a lie, Karl Rove backtracked and made up some nonsense about democratization.
Lately I've been thinking about this idea as it applies to sports. Sports fans love confirmation bias — there's nothing more fun than deciding preemptively to hate a given athlete (or team) and then going back to make up reasons later.
Hate Duke? It must be because they're all rich, white preppies. Hate the Lakers? Must be the fans that show up in the second quarter, or Phil Jackson's smugness or Kobe's ball-hogging. The Yankees? All that money! Tiger? That stupid fist pump!
Of course, the real reason we have such strong feelings is that all those athletes are just so darn good, and nobody likes losing. But it's no fun to hate someone just because they're good, so we go back and make up other reasons later. Make sense?
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Evans Clinchy is a senior majoring in English. He can be reached at Evans.Clinchy@tufts.edu.
Yeah, usually it does. In theory, at least. Because that's the way sports fans are — just dying to be contrarian, dying to resent something. Anything.
I'm not writing this to be condescending. (Note to everyone that just laughed and said "there's a first:" Shut up.) I'm as guilty of this logical backwardness as anyone else. But I also think that this line of thinking has its limits. Or so I'm beginning to discover.
The latest trend in Boston, my sources tell me, is to hate the Tampa Bay Rays. I mean, how could anyone not? The Red Sox win the World Series, they come back with a team that on paper looks even better than before, they're picked by everyone under the sun to win it all again, and then a bunch of kids nobody's ever heard of prove that it only costs $43,745,597 to win 97 games and beat out the defending champs. What just happened?
So naturally, we go looking for something to hate about the Rays. And that's when it hits me — there's nothing.
Think about it! You've got Scott Kazmir, who's pitched like a superstar for four years and people are finally starting to notice. You've got Carlos Peña, who's been smacking the cover off the ball his whole career but had to wait until the wrong side of 30 to finally play in October. You've got Joe Maddon, an intelligent, likable guy who, in his fifth try, finally managed a team to a finish somewhere other than last place.
See how much I'm using the word "finally?" As much as it pains me to say it, these are feel-good stories. These are people that I'm supposed to hate, and yet I just can't. We're looking at a shrewd GM, a smart business model, good pitching, good defense and a whole bunch of great young talent. This is what a baseball team should be.
So I'm watching the ALCS this year, and it's just not the same as it was back in '03 and '04. Not without the Yankees. Baseball just isn't as much fun without someone in that visitor's dugout you can really despise. And really, honestly, there's just no way to despise the Tampa Bay Rays. Believe me. I've tried.
