“We” won the World Cup

Above is a conversation, if that’s what you want to call it, a fellow soccer lover and myself had about our two favorite teams. As you can see we both commonly refer to our favorite teams with “we” and the other person’s team as “your” team. These terms would suggest we have some type of tangible connection to the clubs. But, just like millions of other soccer fans around the world, we don’t.

Every person on the planet wants to be a part of something larger than themselves. Soccer fans, and sports fans in general for that matter take that to the extreme. These people may have never seen the team play in person, may have never been to that city, and may not even be adequately athletic enough to play that sport. However, they create imagined communities where they can feel included and welcomed.

They also take it even a step further by using this imagined sense of belonging to initiate dialogue with other “fans” about what the club/coach or a certain player is doing right or wrong on a weekly basis. They use these imagined senses of connection to live vicariously through the team and the players…