A look behind the reason for Eagles Mania
The city is in a frenzy. The Eagles have won the Super Bowl. After waiting for many years, the Eagles franchise finally brought home the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy to the great city of Brotherly Love. It’s easy to understand why the fans are excited. The Eagles are a winner. As the adage goes, “everybody loves a winner.” But why do so many, even hundreds of thousands of people, love to have their team win? How can a sport, any sport, sway the emotions of millions of people?
Well, it starts with us as people, whether we are sports fans or not. We all have a need to win, to be special. We all like the emotional rush when we win at something. When we win it creates a feeling of satisfaction and special achievement. It doesn’t have to be a rush related to a physical sport, like football, soccer, or baseball. It could be the same emotional rush and satisfaction in winning a chess game. We are constituted as human beings to enjoy beating a competitor, any competitor. But there is also another reason.
Most of us go through the experience of a repetitive, routine lifestyle. We get up. Get dressed. Catch a cup of coffee at McDonald’s, or Burger King, and off to work. We get to work and it’s the same routine there. We come home from work it’s the same words to those we love, “honey, how was your day?” Except for vacations and holidays, this is the description for most of our lives. When we think about it, our lives are not too exciting. Consequently, we get bored with the daily routine of working, survival, raising a family, and making the almighty dollar. Even our marriages can become routine. This creates, what I call “the void of human excitement”.”
This void is filled when we encounter something that breaks our daily routines and makes us feel good. Winning solicits inner joy. Winners have emotional rushes and excitement that suspends our daily routine reality. This is what sports can do when our teams are winners. Like a drug, it changes our mood. We get high on identifying with a winner. When this happens, “the void of human excitement” is filled and sports arenas become full. This is the “why” of Eagles Mania. Eagles fans are experiencing a great emotional high and a reason to celebrate. Winning creates a party atmosphere in every Philly home.
For the most part, most of our lives are routine and relatively boring, until a winning team comes along. We identify and become an extension of that winning team. We are the players on the field. also the win.
The Super Bowl is our team goal. And when they win, the city wins. From the streets to the suites, from the janitor to the mayor, everybody feels good, because they all feel like winners. They experience the same emotional rush as the players do. It takes life to another level of excitement. We temporarily transcend into “Winning Heaven.”
Go Eagles. You are the Super Bowl Champs. You’ve earned it. Therefore, we are competitors that technical education students with an alternative to the high-stakes Keystone Exams.
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