Mania and Fans of sports

In lecture today we discussed mania. We wrote a mnemonic to memorize the symptoms.

D - distractability

I - irritability

G -grandiosity

F -flight of ideas

A - risky activities

S -little sleep

T -tangentiality

Okay. First, if you listen to a group of sports fans (probably guys) talk about sports,they practice tangentiality in their conversation. One idea leads to another idea which leads to another idea. There is sometimes no connection or logic to the topics of conversation. Each fan is out to prove he knows what's going on in coach's' or players' heads right now even though all his information is from ESPN.com or SI.com. But you must articulate your chromosomal relationship with the gridiron, no matter how cliche you sound. I, Spencer, am tangential when I talk sports. But I'm not a manic fan. Or am I?

I do get distracted from life by sports. I do get irritable when I can't watch what I want or if my team loses. I suffer from grandiose feelings of superiority (my email is sunsfanyesiam). I do have flight-of-ideas. I can lose sleep for sports. But risky behavior? I think not. And I think to be a manic sports fan, I would have to engage in risky behavior. The photos below depict three recent sporting events where manic fans were present. One is of a riot in Vancouver after the Stanley Cup when the home team lost and fans proceeded to lay waste to their city. The other shows a manic fan trying to catch a baseball on a wobbly table. And the last, sadly, is of a Giants fan who was beat up in front of his children in the parking lot by Dodgers fans. This happened months ago, April 5th, to be exact. He is still in the hospital with permanent brain damage. There is real psychosis in sports. Think about that the next time you "boo" your opponent.