When your team loses, so does your waistline, apparently

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sj-roc
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http://globalnews.ca/news/830713/is-roo ... g-you-fat/

Excerpt:
Fans of all the perpetual losing sports teams, take a good look in the mirror. Are you eating your feelings after your team lost the night before?

A new French study suggests that when a National Football League team loses a big game on Sunday, its fans end up binge-eating their sorrows, meanwhile fans of the winning team take up healthy eating habits the next day.

The trend was the same when the researchers studied French soccer fans.

“We show that defeats by your favourite football or soccer team make you eat more and less healthy food, especially if they were narrow, unexpected and against an opponent of the same strength,” lead author Dr. Pierre Chandon wrote on his website.

“The flip side is that victories make us eat slightly better.”
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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Robbie
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I never trust such claims because there are always notable exceptions left and right that disprove any strong claim. There are many articles comparing American cities and states and rank them in the top and bottom 10 of various societal issues (obesity, crime, cost of living, employment, etc) and the rankings change somewhat after every annual survey but not too much. It looks like for the longest time, the SE states always have the most obesity issues.

According to this recent survey http://www.advisory.com/Daily-Briefing/ ... ese-cities San Francisco ranks in the top 10 with the lowest obesity residents despite the fact that their 49ers lost the big one. And if New Orleans can be represented by the state of Louisiana, then the city has the highest obesity rate http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/20 ... _most.html despite the fact that their Saints won the Super Bowl three years ago.
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
TheLionKing
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I guess Lion fans are in better shape than the Bell err...Whitecap fans. :wink:
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sj-roc
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Robbie wrote:I never trust such claims because there are always notable exceptions left and right that disprove any strong claim. There are many articles comparing American cities and states and rank them in the top and bottom 10 of various societal issues (obesity, crime, cost of living, employment, etc) and the rankings change somewhat after every annual survey but not too much. It looks like for the longest time, the SE states always have the most obesity issues.

According to this recent survey http://www.advisory.com/Daily-Briefing/ ... ese-cities San Francisco ranks in the top 10 with the lowest obesity residents despite the fact that their 49ers lost the big one. And if New Orleans can be represented by the state of Louisiana, then the city has the highest obesity rate http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/20 ... _most.html despite the fact that their Saints won the Super Bowl three years ago.
I think you've misunderstood the main point of the study I posted. It isn't saying anything about the obesity rates of entire NFL markets. It's only focussing on what's happening with fans who follow their local NFL teams, which is only a subset of the entire population. You can't assume any such segment will follow the overall trend. And it isn't even really saying anything about obesity rates among this limited segment of the population, just looking at how their eating habits are affected in the short term by the fortunes of their respective teams. It doesn't necessarily mean that any fan, let alone anyone, who lives in the town of a perennial loser is more likely to be overweight, or even vice versa, because this study doesn't really establish any permanent shift in behaviour. Obesity is a product of behaviours over the long term, whereas this study examines behaviours over shorter time scales. I suppose you could quibble with the self-reported nature of the data — that subjects were either being not entirely honest in their reporting and/or modifying their behaviour under knowledge they were being scrutinised — but this is a separate issue from the points you've made.

At any rate I don't think your attempt to draw a contrast between SF & NO is appropriate anyway because you're comparing short term football success/failure with long term health indicators in the broad population. You'd have to compare say, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, where their teams have been on opposite ends of the success spectrum for much of their rivalry. But even this wouldn't be all that productive in terms of this study unless you narrow it down to what's happening among fans who most closely follow these two teams (Browns/Steelers). A comparison of this type might make for an interesting chapter in the next instalment of Freakonomics.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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notahomer
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For me research studies are just that re: search. One study says this, another says that but I find them all interesting regardless. I'm not that surprised a study would find people eat less healthily after their team loses. I SURE DIDN'T have a great weekend after watching the Lions get bamboozled during another BIG home game. What I mean is my eating choices were of the 'who cares I want to cheer up a bit' instead of the "HEY, you don't hibernate why are you fattening yourself up" mindset.

I always enjoyed the one weighloss company that had all these ex-baseball managers and ex football head coaches. Never really thought of these guys as fat (they were!) but once they 'tried the program' the visuals were amazing. They have excuses though. Long hours, travel etc... I don't! My only excuse is now I have research proving its normal to make more 'bad' choices after my team loses. No one wants their team to lose, so I'm doing the right thing.... :cool:
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Robbie
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I mentioned above that there's many articles comparing and ranking American cities and states on various societal issues. There are far fewer such articles and I suppose it's because there are far fewer Canadian provinces and major cities to compare with. That said, there are still such articles now and then comparing Canadian locations and since we're talking about obesity, here's a map comparing the obesity rates in each province and territory from 2000 to 2011 by total Canadian population.

Image

And since we're talking about sports team fans as well, let's see if there's any kind of correlation using CFL football fans to represent a Canadian sports fan. Obviously, there are many variables indeed and many things to be filtered out. It's correct to say that there are far more men than women who are football fans, so let's filter out so that this is a comparison for male population only:

Image

It looks like the highest obesity places are the territories and the maritime provinces but of course there are not CFL teams in those locations so it's correct to say that it's not a causal relationship (unless for some reason them happen to be huge Winnipeg/Hamilton/Saskatchewan fans).

It looks like those in BC are the fittest for the eight samples with none of exceeding 24% obesity, followed by Quebec in which only twice did they exceed 24% but remained below 30% and it looks like coincidentally the Lions and Alouettes were the two most successful teams in that dozen years with three Grey Cups each.

Then Ontario and Alberta ranks sort of in the middle, and during that time the Eskimos and Stampeders won two each and the cities are judged individually and not the entire province since Calgary fans don't necessarily support Edmonton teams and vice versa. And if the Argonauts can compensate for the Tiger-Cats and counting 2012 and represent Ontario, then that province has won two Grey Cups.

Finally, Saskatchewan and Manitoba seems to have the highest obesity rates among the CFL provinces, with Manitoba readily increasing since 2000 and during that time, the Roughriders have only won Grey Cup while the Blue Bombers haven't won it since 1990.

So there's definitely a correlation. Any causal relationship? :juggle: Of course, others will point out the logical fallacy of correlation implies causation without solid research.

------------------

In case you were wondering what the Canadian female obesity rate during that same period:
Image

And here's an 2004 chart on overweight and obesity in Canada by province:
Image

------------------

Hey sj-roc, I know you are from Newfoundland originally. Given your observations can you definitively say that there are a lot more obese Newfies than British Columbians? Aside from assuming that all Newfies are Roughriders or Blue Bombers fans, can you explain the high obesity rates in Newfoundland?
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
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sj-roc
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I haven't lived there in a long time — since before this issue began getting so much press — so it's hard for me to say. But if BC is among the leaders in terms of low obesity rates I think climate has much to do with it. You can go outdoors for jogging or to play soccer or whatever almost all year round here, which isn't really possible in many other parts of the country where there's two feet of snow on the ground for several months of the year at a stretch. Considering broader trends across the board, it seems to be on the rise everywhere and I think much of this is due to overconsumption of "convenience" foods that are too highly processed and simply don't carry the same nutritional value of home cooking done from scratch. It seems we're all increasingly pressed for time these days but we could end up paying a larger price from relying on ready-to-serve foods that just heat in the microwave for five minutes, rather than taking an hour or whatever to prepare something that would be far better to eat in the long run.

I wouldn't take the results from my OP too literally in terms of what these might suggest in the broader picture. As I said it considers only a small segment of the population and even then looks just at short term behaviours. I think you'd need a **LOT** more data before it would become of any predictive value.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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Spud387
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sj-roc wrote:http://globalnews.ca/news/830713/is-roo ... g-you-fat/

Excerpt:
Fans of all the perpetual losing sports teams, take a good look in the mirror. Are you eating your feelings after your team lost the night before?

A new French study suggests that when a National Football League team loses a big game on Sunday, its fans end up binge-eating their sorrows, meanwhile fans of the winning team take up healthy eating habits the next day.

The trend was the same when the researchers studied French soccer fans.

“We show that defeats by your favourite football or soccer team make you eat more and less healthy food, especially if they were narrow, unexpected and against an opponent of the same strength,” lead author Dr. Pierre Chandon wrote on his website.

“The flip side is that victories make us eat slightly better.”
WTF... why are people trying to compare an entire region's obesity rate to sports team?

The idea of this article is that, if you are a fan of a team, and that team loses, in the IMMEDIATE aftermath, you are more likely to binge than if your team won. It is not about long term trends, immediate aftermath.

BC Lions lose heart breaker playoff game, you ar emore likely to sit there, eat, remorse, eat, cry etc.

If they win, you are happy, more energy, more likely to want to do stuff, feel upbeat.
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sj-roc
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Spud387 wrote:
sj-roc wrote:http://globalnews.ca/news/830713/is-roo ... g-you-fat/

Excerpt:
Fans of all the perpetual losing sports teams, take a good look in the mirror. Are you eating your feelings after your team lost the night before?

A new French study suggests that when a National Football League team loses a big game on Sunday, its fans end up binge-eating their sorrows, meanwhile fans of the winning team take up healthy eating habits the next day.

The trend was the same when the researchers studied French soccer fans.

“We show that defeats by your favourite football or soccer team make you eat more and less healthy food, especially if they were narrow, unexpected and against an opponent of the same strength,” lead author Dr. Pierre Chandon wrote on his website.

“The flip side is that victories make us eat slightly better.”
WTF... why are people trying to compare an entire region's obesity rate to sports team?

The idea of this article is that, if you are a fan of a team, and that team loses, in the IMMEDIATE aftermath, you are more likely to binge than if your team won. It is not about long term trends, immediate aftermath.

BC Lions lose heart breaker playoff game, you ar emore likely to sit there, eat, remorse, eat, cry etc.

If they win, you are happy, more energy, more likely to want to do stuff, feel upbeat.
Right — exactly what I've said all along in my subsequent posts. But all the same I think this might lead to studying other scenarios where people's moods in general might affect their eating habits, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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Rammer
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Spud387 wrote:
sj-roc wrote:http://globalnews.ca/news/830713/is-roo ... g-you-fat/

Excerpt:
Fans of all the perpetual losing sports teams, take a good look in the mirror. Are you eating your feelings after your team lost the night before?

A new French study suggests that when a National Football League team loses a big game on Sunday, its fans end up binge-eating their sorrows, meanwhile fans of the winning team take up healthy eating habits the next day.

The trend was the same when the researchers studied French soccer fans.

“We show that defeats by your favourite football or soccer team make you eat more and less healthy food, especially if they were narrow, unexpected and against an opponent of the same strength,” lead author Dr. Pierre Chandon wrote on his website.

“The flip side is that victories make us eat slightly better.”
WTF... why are people trying to compare an entire region's obesity rate to sports team?

The idea of this article is that, if you are a fan of a team, and that team loses, in the IMMEDIATE aftermath, you are more likely to binge than if your team won. It is not about long term trends, immediate aftermath.

BC Lions lose heart breaker playoff game, you ar emore likely to sit there, eat, remorse, eat, cry etc.

If they win, you are happy, more energy, more likely to want to do stuff, feel upbeat.
Bingo! Now excuse me I have to round up some good eats for today. :popcorn:
Entertainment value = an all time low
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notahomer
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Based on yesterdays loss in Calgary my menu today has been.....

sausage and eggs and toast and FIVE cups of coffee
a ham/salami sandwich
two bowls of chili with generous splashes of 'ranks hot sauce

What I wanted to have? Melted butter shooters, with eclairs and a hot fudge sundae :cool:
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Rammer
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notahomer wrote:Based on yesterdays loss in Calgary my menu today has been.....

sausage and eggs and toast and FIVE cups of coffee
a ham/salami sandwich
two bowls of chili with generous splashes of 'ranks hot sauce

What I wanted to have? Melted butter shooters, with eclairs and a hot fudge sundae :cool:
This isn't a one day process, you can expand it to the entire week. Besides that begs to be eaten on Sunday.
Entertainment value = an all time low
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