"Attendance at a sporting event is an occasion close to festival. You get to show up someplace with a lot of other people and emote. There are underdogs and heroes, jinxes to be overcome, personal feuds, and bad boys. The meetings are always the same, but different. Spectator sports work even better than religion in some ways, because they have the dopamine perks of gambling. Your team may win. You can go alone, or with your family, or friends. If you have season tickets, you get to know· the people in the seats around you. If it is football, there are tailgate parties. Many people have rituals that they do to make their team win, so they feel actively involved. Every game is interactive theater, with special clothes to wear, and, for some, colors to paint your face. The 'wave' is a remarkable social gesture where the arena sections take turns standing and lifting their arms, so that it looks like a current of energy flows around the stadium. The wave happens several times at almost all games, randomly, when a few fans get an urge to start one. We saw that being a fan creates the sensation of belonging to a vast brotherhood. The sports experience is a moment for drinking alcohol in the company of this brotherhood; suffering with others when your team loses and, when things go amazingly well, celebrating with hand slaps, and even hugs and chest butting. You get to punch the air and scream. There is the seventh-inning stretch, and the sing-along of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game.' Of course, showing up is fatiguing, there is traffic to consider, not to mention loud fans, overpriced food, and a fixed view of the game. But there are good reasons to show up anyway. It is not for everyone, of course, but it is useful to note what these events mean — how they work in the same ways as historic festivals, occasioning expressions of sorrow and triumph."
