Sports Fanaticism vs Religious Fanaticism. Anyone see a relationship?

i wrote an analogy for atheism, that it is like we don't support a team, but every other fan thinks we are the rival or enemy.

sport, in arena terms, is about bloodletting and societal control, like religion. it is also a form of partisanship, and arbitrary side-taking, but it is just like nationalism, paternalism or even familial loyalty.

Fanaticism would be the link. (not just being sarcastic from the title, I swear).

"the key to all fanatical beliefs is that they are self-confirming....(some beliefs are) fanatical not because they are 'false', but because they are expressed in such a way that they can never be shown to be false."

The Wikipedia page linked above also lists 8 different categories of fanaticism, including sports and religion.

One can be a fanatic about just about anything...but the above quote sums it up for how I felt as both a religious and sport fanatic in my younger years.

For one thing, both provide guaranteed fellowship.

Humanity is inherently tribal, i feel. As social creatures, we need to be stimulated and reinforced by others we consider "alike." Tribal identities in ye olden days were mainly based on location, peer groups, religion, family, and occupation (of course, some of these will overlap). So one was a member of the "Athenian" tribe, but also a stone mason, which means that he or she is also a member of the "stone masons" tribe, which allows him or her to have connections outside of national identity.

Now, because of modern technology, we have many more tribes and we're all members of many tribes at the same time. Unless that is, you're Forever Alone. Then you're just a member of the FA / otaku / "whatever other names can be used to describe hermitage" tribe. Atheists are a tribe too, although necessarily not every Atheist associates with other Atheists...one who doesn't associate with any other Atheists would not necessarily be a member of the Atheist tribe, unless they consider themselves as such.

At least, that's my take on it.

At least you see sports teams openly criticized and it's not taken as "OMG blasphemy." Yes, some extremists do take offense and might actually get violent, but to a much smaller extent than when religion is criticized.

I took a history of the industrial revolution class a few years ago where the professor argued that organized sports were designed to promote workplace cohesion, allow an outlet for aggression, and give people a reason to show up for work on time. You know, in order to make their employees more controllable.