Fanatic

As the weekend approaches, so too does that most American of rituals: football. I like football okay, mainly because I'm in a few low-stakes betting pools, but I don't absolutely have to watch games. I nominally root for a particular team, though I don't beat my wife if the team loses.
No team flag hangs from the front of my house, nor does a 10-foot tall inflatable football player adorn my front lawn. I don't attend games, so it goes without saying that I don't arrive in the parking lot in the morning and start drinking. News reports this week said police in Foxborough, Mass., home to the Patriots, put 102 people in protective custody because they were intoxicated during Monday's game against the Jets. I bet many of those people had Pats jerseys on, which begs a question: Presumably these people are adults, so why would they wear, say, a Tom Brady jersey? When I hit the convenience store Sunday morning, depending upon which local team plays at home, I'm apt to encounter a throng of people proudly sporting their team's insignia.
All right, so what? Not a big deal. They're not hurting anybody. At least not until they get shit-faced and loudly profane in the presence of minors. I've witnessed near-physical altercations in drinking establishments because, well, somebody liked the Cowboys and somebody else didn't.
So I'm left to puzzle over such strong identification with people who, for the most part, live radically different lives from the majority of the population. These fans who so identify with their teams talk about them as if the fan is actually a member of the team, saying "we," for example, in reference to the team. an Eagles fan might say, "We're going to beat the shit out of the Giants." Make that "fucking shit," since it's an Eagles fan. Sometimes a fan's attire makes it seem as if he or she actually will play that day. Are their lives otherwise so bereft of significance that they have to fashion themselves near-athletes? This phenomenon isn't limited to football or even professional sports. Some youth soccer coaches dress like they're playing in the World Cup.
Sports offer an escape. It's just the extent to which some people are escaping.