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On-court Point of View of Siena Saints Fans Rushing the Court

Ben Meyers — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:29:35 +0000

For all of the controversy, and necessity, of fans rushing the court this time of year as the littles and middles make it into the Big Dance, the fans of the Sienna Saints were almost not allowed to rush the floor as their team made the tournament for the third-straight year.

Hey, security dudes…is it seriously worth trying to prove you have bigger junk than a few college kids by keeping a bunch of liquored up college co-eds off the floor when they are going to rush the court after making the tournament anyway? (This is one of the few times fans SHOULD rush the court…there are fans laws about this we just haven’t posted them just yet).

(It was also the third-straight time that Albany – the hometown of the Saints – hosted the tournament, but since the tournament is leaving town the fans spoke out about it. The fans are still going to follow the tourney though.)

Have your own court rushing video coverage? Send it to Dr. Venkman now!

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The Sports Fans Facebook…Sort of

Ben Meyers — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:16:30 +0000

Jeff Sliger had one of those ideas that everyone has thought of while sitting on the porcelain throne and reading Maxim, but just never put into practice.

Looks Familiar Doesn't It? (FanHarmony.com)

He has come up with a social networking site for sports fans, granted, the site (FanHarmony.com) is in its infancy, but he has popped up in a few places, so we here at ThatFan gave him a shout.

He came back with the following reply, “FanHarmony is meant to be serious about sports like the Onion is serious about news. Sports are meant to be a break from what we all have to deal with… One of the developments that has happened since we started to publicize our site is that I have been contacted by sports writers in the UK, cricket fans in India, soccer fans around the world, hungry to interact with US fans. The “Team Picker” is a tongue in cheek quiz poke at those who take their sports a little too seriously. We live in the northwest so we’re used to disappointment. Heck our basketball team up and left town. If we got all hurt every time our one of our teams didn’t make the playoffs we’d all be suicidal. ”

Dr. Peter Venkman: What kind of reaction has the site gotten thus far (are there a lot of fans networking)?

Jeff Sliger: About what I expected. Slow to catch on but we have only just begun to push it out there.

Dr. Peter Venkman: What was the inspiration for starting the Facebook of Sports Fans?

Jeff Sliger: Having watched the internet grow from the moment it went public until present, I have seen the social phenomenon of FB kind of leave those involved “over exposed.” I think there will be niche markets opening up, like ours for instance, that give users a chance to be “social” online in a more limited way so they don’t feel like they’re walking around town in a hospital gown. I used to tell my son that I had to go clear across the state to find a pretty girl to marry me. He has found that because he has a FB presence and a lot of friends across the country, all the girls where ever he goes already know him. Not exactly a good thing.

Dr. Peter Venkman: What are some of the more popular portions of the network?

Jeff Sliger: A little early to tell. The compatibility test is a novelty right now so it is getting some use. I get some traffic to the blog posts because we tend to be a little different. What we want to be is a little more edgy than typical. Plus it is really designed to be driven by the fans themselves. The long term goal is for them to build the content.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Do you have a lot of people writing on the site or is it more of just a meeting place?

Jeff Sliger: Right now (and we are strictly at the very beginning) it is pretty even but not enough of either. We just need users and input to see what to attack next. The next big project is to have mobile access, so fans can send photos or status via phones right from the sporting event they’re at.

Are you Dr. Venkman’s Facebook/FanHarmony Friend? E-mail him to find out!

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This is Your Brain on Sports – Michigan and Ohio State Fans Help with Emotional Research

Ben Meyers — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:47:30 +0000

The most basic of human emotions, fear, was studied in regards to sports fans in the Dec. 10, 2009 edition of the Journal of Communication.

The Buckeyes and the Wolverines helped add to scientific research on an autumn evening in 2006 (via Associated Press)

In the study, 113 college students from Ohio State and Michigan were asked questions about their feelings throughout the No. 1 Buckeyes’ 42-39 thrilling win over the No. 2 Wolverines with a trip to the National Championship on the line in 2006.

What the study basically boiled down to was that sports fans enjoyed the game more because there were times during the game when they were in fear that their team would lose just as much as they were happy their team could win (ask Team Canada fans too). Ahhh, the drama of sports.

According to the study (and Dan Peterson from Sportsare80PercentMental.com), “the intensity of fan commitment did not matter in terms of how much suspense viewers felt during the game. In other words, viewers who considered themselves “super fans” because of how committed they were to their team and how long they supported their team, did not find the game any more suspenseful than did less committed fans of the team. There was no difference between Ohio State and Michigan supporters in terms of how suspenseful they thought the game was.”

So being a Buckeye-backer or Wolverine-watcher didn’t matter, and the fear of losing (and having to endure a year of not having bragging rights) was just as important as giving yourself a proverbial Gatorade shower in the glow of victory. How true that is, and once again sports fans are on the forefront of emotional research that would simply be just unethical to re-create in a lab setting. The abstract of the study captures this whole idea:

To explain the attraction to sports in the media, suspense theory is extended to predict suspense during sports exposure. Viewers of a college football game in an intense rivalry context reported their responses to the game during commercial breaks. Multilevel analysis of the longitudinal data shows that shifts in both positive and negative affect influence suspense of supporters of both teams. Likewise, affective dispositions (rooting for a team) emerge as precondition for greater suspense, regardless of specific team preference, even though habitual fan commitment did not affect suspense. Predictions regarding increased suspense due to lower certainty of the favored team’s victory and due to smaller score difference were only corroborated for supporters of the winning team.

- Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick , Prabu David, Matthew S. Eastin, Ron Tamborini , & Dara Greenwood via Sportsis80PercentMental.com by Dan Peterson.

Once again, thanks to Dan Peterson at Sports are 80 Percent Mental for this foray into the mind of Sports Fans.

Dr Venkman isn’t afraid of what you think, but you better tell him anyway!

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Druids watch Lebron, Cleveland Cavs Game

Ben Meyers — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:18:52 +0000

I am not exactly sure what the appeal of the “Snuggie” is (I rock the good old fashioned robe when I watch my Saturday Morning Cartoons), but more than 20,000 donned the armed blankets during the first quarter of the Cavs-Pistons game on March 5 for five minutes to set a world record.

Cav fans setting Snuggie World Record...Where is Stonehenge? (Via Associated Press).

That is, of course, except one fan wearing a Celtics jersey and another who thought ahead and brought a Pistons Snuggie according to a report on NBC.

Even though the stipulations for setting a world record (via Guinness) are: Having a Guinness official present, at least 250 people have to participate, they must all wear their own Snuggie, they need to wear it for five minutes and they all must be the same color…please don’t try and break this record.

Dr. Venkman in the 2009 St. Patrick's Day Parade - on the right. (He will be back this year)

It isn’t really a fan law, it is more of a self-respect thing. Don’t dress up like a Color Blind Tusken Raider just to be part of a record.

According to NBC: “All of the Cavaliers players were given their own personalized Snuggie. Shaquille O’Neal’s needed 9 feet of material — 2 to 3 feet more than a typical Snuggie for the 7-foot-1 O’Neal. Rookie Danny Green wore his Snuggie on the court for pregame shootaround.” Sorry Dan, but you looked stupid (I figure you had to do this because you are a rookie).

Love your Snuggie? Should there be a ThatFan Snuggie? Just want to yell at Dr. Venkman? E-mail him.

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Fan Law – Calling Sports Talk Radio

Ben Meyers — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:01:05 +0000

NOTE: For those who haven’t been following along, Dr. Venkman (Ben), has taken it upon himself to set forth some rules and regulations when it comes to common practices by fans at games. In this installment he deals with fans calling sports talk radio shows.

You hear them everyday. Some idiot calls up Jim Rome, Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, or Scott Van Pelt and think that they are the coolest kid this side of their local sports talk moron (ours is Brian Sinkoff). We need to get this problem under control.

“It shall be understood that hence forth the act of calling a sports radio talk show is allowed in the following instances, and only in the following instances. If you have to ask…call us instead, or at least e-mail:

1. You are the expert in a field and the host is requesting your opinion. This clause shall be known as either the, “Is there a doctor in the house?” stipulation or the Dr. Nick Rivera clause. But if the host needs to know how a carburetor works and you are a mechanic, call. If the host needs to know how to do taxes and you are an accountant, call. If the host needs to know the height of a giraffe and you are a zookeeper, call.

2. You use a soundboard to make your point. You will never get through, but having Homer or Bart Simpson, Peter or Stewie Griffin, Jack Nicholson, or Arnold Schwarzenegger comment on anything in a hilarious way is always allowed.

3. You are directly connected to the subject being discussed. This means that if you are with 2 degrees of a name, team, or situation talked about you may get involved.

4. You are not a fan of a player or team that is being discussed. You are free of the biases required to be a fan and are likely an objective third third party.

In the following instances never hit the send button on an email to the radio show. In fact call your wife, daughter, son, husband or other loved one and tell them. They will then tell you how stupid you sound:

1. You heard something on a different show and think the host wants to hear it. If they really did then they would have listened to the other show jackass.

2. You think politics belong in sports. Unless you hold an actual political office spare us…in fact, even if you do hold political office spare us.

3. You are asking a question. Do you think it is cool to not actually say anything of value?

Thus shall be agreed upon as Fan Law on this March 5, 2010.”

Send an email to Dr. Venkman now!

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Thursday Night Links: Hottest SI Covergirls, Prank-Calling Fans, the John Wall Snowman, and More

The Beauty of “Stumbling” for Sports Fans

Ben Meyers — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:15:33 +0000

Playing around with a new feature that I cam across on the Internet (StumbleUpon.com) I found this video. It explains itself and why we have included it on this site pretty quickly.

Keep an eye out for this button if you see something here that you like…so you can share it.

Stumbled upon a great piece of sports fandom? Send it to Dr. Venkman!

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Thursday AM Links: Erin Andrews to Dance With Stars, Crazy Canadian Hockey Fans, Horrible Trampoline Dunks, and More

thatfan — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:06:30 +0000

Here are the latest stories from the web about sports fans…thanks to all who sent in links. If you see a fan-related article, send us the link to info@thatfan.com!

A little EA in honor of her upcoming endeavor (see below)

We get started with the 25 hottest female golfers [Bleacher Report]

Memphis Grizzlies fan jumps off a trampoline only to land face first on the rim [Deadspin]

Drunk Canadian hockey fan celebrates gold medal by launching himself into a crowd [Busted Coverage]

Speaking of Canadian hockey fans, there were some interesting characters that came out to support [SPORTS by BROOKS]

Contest for the sexiest Saints fan [COED]

London soccer team starts new ticket promotion…fans pay only what they think the ticket is worth (the range of one game was 5 cents to $80) [CNN]

Erin Andrews to be on Dancing with the Stars [ESPN]

Purdue’s mascot Purdue Pete getting a makeover [IndyStar]

German soccer fan catches on fire [Dirty Tackle]

Hottest girls on campus, East Carolina edition [HGOC]

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This is Your Brain on Sports – Duke Fans Quicker Than UNC Fans & Men Better Fans Than Women (Their Words Not Ours)

Ben Meyers — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:09:57 +0000

After taking a spin through the Feb. 10 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience (oh yeah, we are ThatSmart here at ThatFan). We found a really interesting piece under the title Sports Fans Have a Selective Memory (we actually found an easier to understand/read report by Dan Peterson on his blog SportsAre80PercentMental.com).

Krang from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...the most famous brain ever

Basically, the study, which was conducted at Duke was, “aimed at understanding the links between emotion and memory that might affect Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and how well people recall their personal histories,” according to Peterson.

Scientists used the Feb. 3, 2000 game at UNC’s Dean Smith Center, which Duke won 90-86 in overtime, to test both Tar Heel and Blue Devil fans on what they remembered best about the game (fan’s were chosen after passing a basketball literacy/super fan test…wish I could have taken those at school).

“Using game film gives researchers a way to see the brain deal with powerful, rapid-fire positive and negative emotions, without creating any ethical concerns,” Peterson said in his story.

It seems obvious to us that, “Test subjects were more accurate at remembering a successful shot by their own team than a miss by their team or a successful shot by the other team,” but since they literally put fans in an MRI machine and tested their actual brains and took pictures of them this is pretty cool. In layman’s terms, the idea of witnessing your favorite sports team win or lose is going to help us treat soldiers and first responders that deal with much worse.

Now, here comes the controversy…”A pilot study for the basketball experiment included a half-dozen women who had passed the super-fan test, but even after five or six showings of the game, their recall of the shots was too low to be useful.”

Did you just hear that? It was the sound of every single woman in America punching their boyfriend in the arm for reading that statement out loud. So, guys are better sports fans, huh (I’m just asking ladies…I’m a bigger fan of you than guys anyway)?

That wasn’t the end of the fun either…”the Duke fans and the UNC fans did equally well on the recall test, though the Duke fans tended to answer quicker and tended to be more sure of themselves.” (Remember, that the study was done at Duke and, “was supported by two grants from the National Institutes of Mental Health,” so it was a real study still)

React to me Tar Heels! (and ladies)…Dr. Venkman wants to hear your side of the story.

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Canadian Hockey Fan Sign: Call Patrick Kane a Cab!

thatfan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:26:49 +0000

I want to apologize to all of the hockey fans out there for the lack of hockey-fan coverage. It isn’t that I dislike hockey, its that I don’t know anything about it and never hear of anything good hockey-fan related (if you do, send us a tip!). I did happen to watch the gold medal hockey game this weekend however, and came away pretty impressed. What I was even more impressed about was this sign held by a Canadian fan in the crowd:

"Call Kane a cab"

Yes I’m a United States supporter, but I have to give credit where credit is due. If you aren’t aware of what the sign means, star hockey player for the U.S., Patrick Kane, was arrested last year for allegedly assaulting and robbing a cab driver in his hometown of Buffalo. Wow, I guess NHLers don’t make great money…note to professional sports: NO WORK STOPPAGES!

See a funny fan-related sign, picture, video, or link? Send us a tip to info@thatfan.com!

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Fan Law – Leaving A Game Early

Ben Meyers — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:32:05 +0000

President Obama took in the Georgetown beat down on Duke earlier this year, but he left early. It is a good thing he has executive powers too.

“It shall be understood that hence forth the act of leaving a game early if you are in attendance is allowed in the following instances, and only in the following instances. If you have to ask…hit the concession stand/restroom and return to your overpriced seat:

1. You are the President of the United States. You basically have the power to decide if we have a nuclear winter or just a regular one…you can beat the traffic.

Under all other circumstances it is expected that you stay until the final out/horn.

Thus shall be agreed upon as Fan Law on this March 2, 2010.”

Send an email to Dr. Venkman now!

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