As a sports fan, one of the strongest emotions that courses through my veins is schadenfreude. For those that don’t know, this German word basically means taking joy from others’ pain.
I don’t know whether it’s the bizarro college football season – featuring almost every major program losing a game, the domino rally of losses starting with Appalachian State’s upset of Michigan – or just TV directors becoming much more insidious, but there have been plenty of opportunities to find laughter in others’ tears so far this fall. For some reason it seems like this is most prevalent in college football – although there are plenty of examples from elsewhere, the passion surrounding college ball lends it to such theater.
One of the greatest examples of this that I’ve seen are TV directors going for the drama and panning the crowds for fans after a big upset or a close loss. Whether it’s alumni with their jaws agape, little kids with temporary tattoos on their cheeks that are streamed with tears, or co-eds with spirit shirts and heads hung low, images of the agony of defeat have been a-plenty. All of this is veritable comedy gold, especially when sports Web sites get a hold of them.
Feel free to fire up those e-mails telling me that I’m a horrible person right about now.
I just can’t help but enjoy seeing such raw human emotion unfold and manifest itself. Okay, it’s only the world of sports – but that’s what allows for the comedy value to shine through without feeling too bad. Clearly, I’m not going to sit back and laugh at images of genocide, war or anything else you might see on the CNN or BBC News Web sites, because that’s actual human trauma. Nobody deserves that.
But seeing some uppity (possibly drunk) college students and football fans turn on the water works after a close defeat on national TV? Fair game. Of course I empathize with the stunned fans – I’ve been there before, and with the rollercoaster nature of the Ducks, I know I’ll be there again at some point. I was there in early August when the Mariners were busy flying the season into a mountain. But you know what? It’s not the end of the world, nor is it a true matter of life or death, so therefore it’s a matter for a particularly black form of comedy.
Notice how I’m focusing on fans. Players have legitimate reason to be distraught if they are a high-ranked team and get upset (hi, USC! Thanks Stanford!) or lose a close matchup against a squad of equal strength. If you put your blood, sweat and tears into practice and the game, then you’re allowed to sit on the bench with your head in your hands if you’ve given your all and it comes up just short. That’s some honest real-life drama and true human theater; you might as well set the Benny Hill music to the fans’ tears, as their emotional attachment is in viewership, not action.
Hence the schadenfreude. The sweet, sweet, flowing schadenfreude.
Just like how gloating about a victory – especially in a rivalry game – is part of sports, so is the crushing agony of defeat. And images of those suffering emotional agony go along with those crushing defeats.
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The agony of defeat is best when caught on camera
Daily Emerald
October 9, 2007
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