Why You Will Cherish a Patriots Loss in the Super Bowl

Schadenfreude and Sports Fans

“Death… Taxes… And the Patriots making it to the Super Bowl” tweeted former NFL player George Wrighster upon the conclusion of the AFC Championship Game that saw the Patriots winning another trip to the Super Bowl yet again, third consecutive and 9th overall in the past 18 years.

As the game ended, social media were filled with posts by people frustrated with the Patriots victory with expressions of support for their Super Bowl opponent, the Los Angeles Rams.

Picking sides prior to a sports contest, especially one where the stakes are high, is part of what gives meaning and enjoyment to watching sports. The Affective Disposition Theory holds that a big part of what makes watching sports exciting is rooting for the “hero” and against the “villain.”

Of course it is easy to figure out who the “hero” is if our favorite team is playing (or to figure out the “villain” when our reviled rival is in the game).

But what happens when neither is involved?

Last year, my son (seven years old at the time) told me his “enemies” in the NFL are the Vikings, the Bears, the Lions, and … the Patriots. It is easy to guess that he is a Packers fan like me, which would explain his (and my) disdain for our NFC North rivals. But how do the Patriots fit in?

It is no secret that the Patriots are one of the most hated teams in the NFL (and sports in general) by fans across the United States and abroad.

Therefore, it is not surprising that a large number of the “neutral” fans will be rooting against the Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday and will be celebrating a Patriots loss.

Schadenfreude may be a German word (a compound of the words that mean harm and joy) but the emotion it is describing is quite universal.

And a Patriots loss on Super Bowl Sunday will generate a whole lot of Schadenfreude. Why is it though that so many people will experience this joy, especially given that, except for the Rams fans, their own team did not actually win?

Research has shown that a big reason why we feel Schadenfreude is the notion of deservingness. In other words, we are especially likely to celebrate the misfortunes of someone when we feel they deserve bad things happening to them, due to what they themselves have done in the past. From Spygate to Deflategate to the prevalent perception of preferential treatment by the NFL referees, many fans feel hating the Patriots is well-deserved and them not winning the Super Bowl somehow restores justice.

The challenge is that it is hard for sports fans to be objective, especially when they already have strong preconceived notions about a team being dishonest and getting unfair advantage. So, independent of what the reality is, Patriots will continue to elicit Schadenfreude with their losses for all the hating fans.

Another powerful reason for Schadenfreude is envy, and there is no question that this also plays a big role in the case of the Patriots.

Their consistent and constant success over this and the previous decade is inevitably generating substantial envy among all the other NFL fans.

To make things worse, the Patriots players and fans enjoy “rubbing in” their success. Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady himself posted on Instagram a video after Sunday’s victory reminding everyone the Patriots are “Still Here.”

Much of the Schadenfreude toward the Patriots can be linked to envy toward Brady specifically. His career started as a heart-warming story, selected with the 199th draft pick in the sixth round, getting the chance to play early in his NFL career after the starting QB got injured and leading his team to a Super Bowl victory despite being heavy underdogs.

But here we are now many years later. He is 41 years old and still dominates, he keeps winning championships, he is rich, he is attractive, and he is married to a super model… You can imagine why people would be envious and root against him.

The Patriots’ continued success not only generates envy but, at some level, makes the rest of us kind of question our own choices for our favorite teams. Should we have been Patriots fans instead of whatever team we picked?

Yes, die-hard fans remain loyal to their teams no matter what once they are fans of that team but often how we pick a team to be our team is rather random or arbitrary. A person growing up in Pittsburgh becomes a die-hard Steelers fan but that same person growing up in Chicago would have likely become a die-hard Bears fan.

I became a big Oregon Ducks fan after I went there for my doctorate in 1994 and right now I cannot imagine not loving the Ducks. But I could have gone to the University of Arizona for my studies; in that case I would have likely been a passionate Wildcats fan and probably wouldn’t care at all about the Ducks today.

The Patriots do make our life as fans of other teams harder, largely because we all wish our own team was like that instead of them. So, it is quite normal that on Super Bowl Sunday you are likely to root against them and celebrate if they lose…