Why Do We Get So Upset When Our Teams Lose?

BUCK: Adam in Crystal River, Florida. Adam, welcome.

CALLER: Thank you. Clay, I loved your show on OutKick and followed you to this show. But I need some advice.

CLAY: Yes?

CALLER: As a Bucs fan, I feel your pain. After observing my frustration and heartache, my 15-year-old daughter asked me, “Why do I get so upset over teams’ loss of players that I don’t know personally, but don’t get nearly as upset when my daughters lose their soccer games?”

CLAY: (laughing)

CALLER: I had no answer for her, and she stumped me. How do I explain myself and my actions?

CLAY: It’s a very good question. So, one, the easy out for you is, you judge professionals to a higher standard than you do children. An easy out for you is those people are making millions of dollars, so when they make mistakes you get more angry at them than you do at your daughter’s soccer teammates when they make mistakes (chuckles) because they’re not professionals and they’re still playing at a young age. That is the explanation that I think makes by far the most sense.

Buck, I am still furious — to the point that I guarantee you I will have trouble sleeping for a third straight night — over my Tennessee Titans losing to the Cincinnati Bengals and choking away the game. I am way too old, and I recognize that it makes no logical sense, and I realize that it makes me sound ridiculous, but I will not be able to sleep well for a third straight night. Now, to be fair, when my 9- and 10-year-old team that I coached basketball?

When we lost a game and I thought I had done a bad job coaching it — we lost the championship game — I also had trouble sleeping then. Now, that time I was directly connected to it, but I know there’s a lot of people out there listening to me right now — Packers fans especially, a lot of people in Milwaukee, a lot of down in Tampa Bay, a lot of people in Nashville and a lot of people in Buffalo (for sure) — that are in the exact same trouble as me having trouble sleep.

BUCK: I used to yell a lot when I was on sports teams — at my team, with my team, for my team — and when I coached, I also liked to yell. I just lack that emotional… I think it’s ’cause I went to a college where the football team’s linemen were about my size. It was D3 was tiny, no one cared. So it was very tough to get excited about it in any meaningful way.