by Dr. Richard Lustberg and Charles Deitch

(www.psychologyofsports.com)

The Super Bowl has become such an important event in our society that it has taken on the stature of many of our religious and national holidays and has become embedded in our family traditions.

Barring a tragedy of global importance in the next week, the glut of stories emanating from Jacksonville will dominate the news. Many people have a lot at stake on this football game and the potential for both angst and a fractured emotional well-being is as titanic as the game itself.

Like any event of this magnitude, the Super Bowl allows an individual to partake in the excitement to any degree they wish.

Traditional Super Bowl galas, parties, office pools, trips, and dinners -- where some people pay more attention to what they?re eating than the game itself -- are just a few of the activities people put together for the event. All, however, are attempts to provide psychological dividends.

For many, the activities provide a sense of continuity, certainty and structure which often leads to emotional stability and greater capacity to enjoy ourselves. Despite the fact that emotional stability is not a necessary precondition for having fun, it has been my experience as a psychologist, that many require it to do so. The more emotionally capable individual is able to do both.

The games leading up to the championship are events that allow the involved football fan to escape their daily lives. Feelings and sometimes actions -- which for the most part would not be considered enhancing if expressed in other venues ? are sublimated and harmlessly discharged during the regular season.

The Super Bowl allows for a vast and more expansive _expression of emotions than those individuals bring to a regular season event. For devoted Eagles? and Patriots? fans, or even those fans rooting for either team for just one day, it is an opportunity for them to let it all hang out in one emotional orgasmic climax.

Sport by its very nature allows us to be critical, judgmental, and effusive in praise. We are treated to an entire spectrum of emotional responses from just one football game. Fans make judgments about certain plays based upon the specifics of how it happened and under which circumstance it occurred. Each fan has his own set of standards which he applies to each specific event. Need proof? Listen to sports talk radio in any city across the country the day following a loss.

This too happens in everyday life where people sit in judgment of others. It gives them a false sense of control and temporary psychological equality or superiority over those they judge.

At times, a majority of people see various events in the same manner. Nonetheless, they are, for the most part, being subjectively judgmental.

For example, Jets kicker Doug Brien?s missed field goals against the Steelers will not be soon forgotten by New York fans. It has already become part of Jets folklore. Had there been a bad snap or some other miscue, Brien would be viewed a whole lot differently than he is today.

On the other hand, Joe Montana?s last second pass to Dwight Clark is considered one of the Super Bowl?s all time super moments. However, there were many other just as important plays in both games that have long left the recesses of our minds.

Much has been written and discussed about fans who live in cities with perpetually losing teams or where there has been a long drought between championships. Losses are, in essence, the emotional building blocks of lost opportunities. People can easily relate to this because we?ve all experienced missed opportunities in our lives.

When a team loses, there is certainly an emotional investment that has been made by each individual fan, and the fan base as a whole. A certain degree of disappointment is to be expected. However, when that degree of disappointment engenders feelings that interfere with our everyday functioning or thought processes, it is a clear indication that these individuals have brought forth their own personal disappointments and added them to the emotional reaction of losing. That?s what brings out the crushing emotional responses from some fans when their teams lose.

Clearly in the match-up between New England and Philadelphia, Eagles fans, because it?s been 45 years or so since their last championship, are more at risk for this kind of reaction.

So, as you attend your Super Bowl party next weekend and you notice that the decorations, culinary spread, celebratory air, and excitement levels seem more akin to a holiday dinner or graduation party, you are probably in the presence of a fan who?s going to take the outcome of the year?s biggest game pretty seriously. If their team wins you?ll swear the "super" fan just won the lottery. And if they lose? Well, let?s just say you?ll probably be wishing you had stayed home.

Article courtesy of Psychology of Sports (www.psychologyofsports.com)