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Forgiveness
"How Could You?": The Fan's Response To Athletes Behaving Badly
From Denial to Forgiving and Forgetting
Posted January 4, 2011
What do Alex Rodriguez, Michael Vick, and Tiger Woods all have in common? Despite being elite athletes in their relative sports, they have all publicly admitted to engaging in inappropriate behaviors, either, sport, criminal, or maritally related. However, although their behaviors may have been wrong, they have all retained and, in some cases gained, fans.
As sports fans, we are more easily persuaded by the positive behaviors elite athletes engage in than the negative. When our favorite athlete is seen donating to underprivileged children, assisting in a literacy program, or positively contributing to the team dynamic, we find ourselves nodding our heads in agreement and confirming the goodwill of the athletic elite. Moreover, when athletes' on-court performance is consistently above average or exceeds expectations, our positive beliefs regarding the athlete or team are confirmed, allowing us to feel that athletes are worthy of our (e.g., the 'fans') admiration, respect, and praise.
However, how are fans perceptions affected when the athletic elite engages in poor or inappropriate behaviors? Moreover, why can fans retain a positive outlook towards athletes after they engage in poor or inappropriate behaviors? As fans, we are driven by the positive perceptions we hold of our athletes, which leads to the question, when considering athlete transgressions, do fans forgive, forget, or deny in order to cope with the occurrence of athletes behaving badly?
According to a recent study conducted by Adam Earnheardt (2010) exploring sport television viewers' perceptions of athletes' antisocial behaviors (p. 182), when athletes transgress, sports fans accurately appraise the athlete's behaviors as "bad." Such categorization is regardless of fans' levels of "fandom" (Earnheardt, 2010). Most fans understand good and bad behavior and know that antisocial or bad behaviors are socially unacceptable and wrong. However, despite fans comprehension of 'good' and 'bad,' fans continue to support an athlete after an inappropriate act or transgression.
One explanation can be found by dissecting the athlete-fan relationship; as fans follow their favorite sports, teams, and athletes, their allegiance is created through the daily or weekly rituals engaged in that strengthen their fan relationship and positive view of the athlete. The bonds between the fan and athlete slowly become strong, cementing the fan's dependency on sport as well as perpetuating the fan's role within the greater sport culture. Thus, when athletes engage in bad behaviors, fans are forced to 'deal' which such situations emotionally as well as cognitively, due to their loyalty to the athlete or team. Moreover, the fan's response may be a coping mechanism designed to buffer feelings of anxiety or confusion that may arise because of the fan's conflicting thoughts surrounding the positive and negative images of the athlete.
According to dissonance theory, when a discrepancy exists between two thoughts or ideas, humans are motivated to reduce the feelings of anxiety that arise through the alteration of behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs (Gosling, Maxime, & Oberle, 2006). In addition, individuals can also engage classic Freudian defense mechanisms in order to buffer such feelings of anxiety. The defense mechanism of denial is a Freudian defense mechanism whereby the refusal to accept the reality or truth of a situation, person, or event can be engaged in order to reduce negative thoughts or feelings. A fan's denial can be characterized as the refusal to admit an athlete's wrong behavior, damage, or the necessity of punishment in order to continue to perceive their idol in a positive light. Denial would assist fans in alleviating the negative or troubling feelings that arise when their athlete or team engages in a behavior that is antisocial, inappropriate, or criminal as such feelings conflict with their (i.e., the fan's) positive feelings of admiration, respect, and idealism held towards the athlete.
In comparison, forgiveness is the belief that in order to 'heal' and learn, the public should not pacify, but relinquish any negative emotions towards the athlete in order to move forward. 'Forgiving' an athlete can cause an athlete to lose fans, as some may choose to "move on" to another athlete, team, or sport as part of their 'growing process.'
Lastly, fans can forget. Many athletes who have engaged in bad behaviors know the importance of rebuilding their public image. Such rebuilding is dependent on the public's selective attention and amnesia. For example, the NFL suspended former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for two years after being convicted for dog fighting in 2007 (Branch, 2010). Upon his reinstatement into the league, he has lead the Philadelphia Eagles to their 6th NFC East division title, for which his athletic performance and avoidance of negative attention have successfully steered him clear of bad press, allowing the public to see the good and potentially forget the bad. Moreover, if you weren't a fan of Vick, he is allowing fans to walk through that door, especially in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In contrast, one must highlight Tiger Woods' publicized infidelities, sex addiction, and divorce, and ask how many positive behaviors, wins, or endorsements must he accrue in order to regain a positive public image partially affected by mere human amnesia?
For many sports fans, their team is their team; their player(s) is/are their player(s). When athletes engage in bad or inappropriate acts, the fan is confronted with conflicting views of the athlete. This cognitive conflict, whether conscious or unconscious, may be addressed through various methods of coping. Moreover, understanding that fans are conflicted with dual images of the athlete (after the athlete has transgressed), due to polarized images of "good" and "bad" which contend the fan's feelings of idealism, are what stimulate their need to cope.
References
Branch, J. (2010, November 10). As Vick soars, stigma of conviction fades. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/sports/football/19vick.html?ref=dogfighting
Earnheardt, A. (2010). Exploring sports television viewers' judgments of athletes' antisocial behaviors. International Journal of Sport Communication, 3, 167-189.
Gosling, P., Maxime, D., & Oberle, D. (2006). Denial of responsibility: A new mode of dissonance reduction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90 (5), 722-733. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.722
