With the LSU Tigers in the College World Series, many fans were making plans to get home to be ready for the first pitch, while other fans gathered at their favorite bars to watch the game as part of an enthusiastic group. It’s safe to say that LSU's run through the playoffs and CWS has made passionate fans out of casual fans that usually do not pay much attention to baseball.
So why is there so much passion about the LSU Tigers?
My conversation with Dr. Roy Salgado - Mental Health Professor at the University of Holy Cross - yielded some enlightening insight. Dr. Salgado explained that people crave being part of a community or something bigger than they are, and being a passionate fan of a sports team satisfies that need.
Being emotionally invested in a sports team winning and losing is also a great distraction from the news that divides us daily.
Dr. Salgado warns not to be so emotionally invested in the win/loss record of a team that it affects your personal or professional life and that can happen with some fans - which, by the way, is short for fanatic!
We are so divided socially and politically that there is great comfort in uniting over a sports team - in this case, the LSU Tigers!
Why are we like this?





