By Mark Nagi
Schadenfreude is defined as “enjoyment obtained from seeing or hearing about the troubles of others.”
Is there any greater avenue for that feeling of pleasure, joy, and satisfaction that comes from learning about the failures, pain, and/or humiliation of another person than college football?
I think not…
SEC football fans love to talk about how the SEC is the best conference in college football. But what fun is there watching your conference rivals celebrate? Do you know what is better? Watching your conference rivals lose.
The best example of this is the Alabama Crimson Tide during the Nick Saban era (2007-2023). While they were racking up NINE SEC titles and six national championships over those seventeen seasons, the Tennessee Volunteers were mostly floundering. The Vols only beat Alabama once during that stretch and lost 15 straight in the rivalry.
During the darkest times, Tennessee fans loved to hate-watch when Alabama was losing to Clemson in the national title game in January 2017 and 2019, or falling to Auburn multiple times, including the “Kick 6” in November 2013.
How great has it been to watch LSU go through growing pains under their new head coach, Lane Kiffin? He is the only coach who is more than willing to burn the bridge while he is standing on it.
Following a tumultuous ten months that have seen Kiffin bolt Ole Miss for LSU right before the CFB playoff, then try to blackmail them into letting him coach in the CFB playoff, lie about Rebels fans trying to run him off the road, then try to strong-arm the SEC into letting LSU roster guys that were in NFL training camp return to college play, it has been delicious to see the Tigers struggle. In losses to Ole Miss and Kentucky, the moments were too big for Kiffin and LSU.
How much fun was it to watch Steve Spurrier on those occasions when he was humbled? Or prime Miami? Or Notre Dame? Yes, CFB gives us so many opportunities in this world.
But it is not just college football… this fits for any sport.
The Dallas Cowboys have had the “America’s Team” moniker since the 1970s. They were at one point the class of the league and remain one of the most successful sports franchises in the world. But since the mid-1990s, the Cowboys have not only failed to win the Super Bowl, but they also have not been to a Super Bowl, or even a conference championship game. Fans of the Eagles… the Giants… the 49ers… or even the Titans can find joy in Dallas’s misery.
Is anyone reading this a fan of soccer? On the world stage, there is no lack of hate-watches… the biggest one going lately is Arsenal in the English Premier League. Last summer, Arsenal, nicknamed “The Gunners,” won the Premier League. Their fans were so insufferable that when Arsenal lost the European Champions League Final to PSG a week later, videos of the penalty kick miss were shared approximately a billion times on social media, typically with multiple smiley face emojis.
How about the 2010s Miami Heat? When LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers in a nationally televised kick to the teeth to those fans, the next four years saw NBA fans reveling in every Heat loss. And to be honest, LeBron was much more interesting during that stretch than any other in the 20+ years he has been playing in the pros.
Losing feels worse than winning feels good. But if your team cannot win, at least there is the possibility of watching others fail to achieve as well.
