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Fans.  Larry Olmsted.

How Watching Sports Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Understanding.

Sports spectators are a growing breed that are often portrayed in a less than flattering way.   We have likely all seen the images of the typical overweight middle-aged male, wearing a hat and/or team jersey swilling some beer or consuming not-so nutritious foods.   While some of the stereotypes are likely true it is not the case for all fans around the country and the globe.  In fact, there may be many unknown and underlying benefits to being a supporter of sports teams.  One author, Larry Olmsted, who studies sports spectators probably more than the sports themselves, published a book in 2021 exploring the possibility of how being a sports fan might make them happier, healthier and more understanding.   The following is a review of the book: Fans. 

We all know people that support at least one sports team, you may be one yourself.    There should be no shame in this practice and according to Olmsted, who happens to also be a food aficionado and authored the book Real Food Fake Food, claims, via his extensive research, that our fandom may actually be good for our mental, social and even physical health.    The first two components of the health triangle are not preposterous at least on the surface.   However, the third element, physical health, may take some further convincing.   

The author goes into detail about how being a sports fan can impact our physical health.     He cites studies where fans were actually tethered to electrodes measuring brain waves and typical fitness vitals.   The noted data suggested heart and breathing rates were elevated positively as if we were experiencing some workout while spectating.    The premise is that the fans brain is following along with the player’s performance and the strategies behind it thus eliciting a physical reaction.   The book admits that this is not a substitute for regular exercise but a positive reaction, nonetheless.    Although not game changing news and interesting aspect of the authors findings.  

What may have struck me the most was how the author dropped the benefits of sports spectating as a way to bridge the gap into our world’s many pathos such as racism, loneliness, gender inequities as well as political disconnect and religious differences.    Although none of this reporting would be considered breaking news it was interesting reading this under one roof, so to speak.   An example of how political barriers could be broken down between rival nations was how a game could help bring spectators together to support the players and drop their grievances, at least temporarily, while enjoying the contest.   This was true in South Africa when Nelson Mandela organized a rugby match when taking over leadership of that nation to help bridge a wide gap between white and black citizens there.    Another example was how female fans in Iran pushed for their right to celebrate a cherished victory earned by the national soccer team which ultimately led to greater civil rights among the populace.     His many examples are persuading enough to explain how over time people can be brought together from varying lots and backgrounds to unite and bond over shared fandom.   Whether this truly makes one healthier and understanding may not be as readily apparent.

Olmsted solicited a long-time friend and collegiate colleague to serve as the backdrop to begin many of the sections in this book while they were on a weekend ski trip in Wyoming.    His friend, a physician, perhaps unknowingly at the time, helped create a dialogue about the many factors and layers of being a fan and sports spectatorship.    The discourse served as a viable segue to the next topic.   The trouble with the topics is that they were not divided into chapters.  The contents of the book are rudimentary as it starts with a brief pre-game and short overtime to conclude and a two hundred- and sixty-eight-page “game time” in between.    Of course, this very large swath of the book had chapters but were not labeled as such.   

Despite the dearth of chapter titling this 273-page opus is interesting and easy to read (finished it in a week’s reading time) but the hardback is approximately 7 inches in length thus making it a page turner in that sense.    Olmsted, a visiting professor at Dartmouth College, was very adept at selecting impeccable sources (many researchers and college professors) and crediting them appropriately.   Readers do not have to be sports fans to get something out of this opus.   In fact, the author admits that he was more a fan of sports fans rather than a follower of sports teams.    One may not come away from reading the “game time” section that they need to suddenly be a sports fan or continue to maintain their fandom to improve their social and mental health, but it is possible that readers could be happier while reading and finishing this interesting study of vast human behavior. 

 

Suggested discussion questions:

What makes a fan?   How does one define a true fan?

What are the stereotypes of typical fans?   How does this compare to reality?

Why might sports fans be happier people in general?

 

You might like to read this book if you want to learn more about the psychology of sports fans.

You might like to read this book if you seek more information about the sociological aspects of sports and sports fans.

You might like to read this book if you enjoy exploring more about the social conditions of sports spectators.

You might like to read this book if you simply pursue sports writing in general but with a slant towards the sport spectator point of view.

Read more about the author on x:  https://x.com/TravelFoodGuy Or https://www.larryolmsted.com/#BOOKS


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