Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Wearing Your Team Colors

02/05/2016 at 4:34pm EST

from Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated,

Over the last four decades, American sports fans have transformed themselves from a populace that dresses almost exclusively in civilian clothing and pays to watch athletes perform in uniform, to one that dresses—in significant numbers—exactly like those athletes. This weekend’s Super Bowl will be overrun by fans in XXL Broncos and Panthers jerseys, just like last weekend’s NHL All-Star game was awash in sweaters from teams around the league. Theirs has been a multi-billion dollar metamorphosis that radically altered the appearance of stadiums and arenas across the nation. It is, anecdotally, most pervasive in the NFL and the NHL, marginally less so in Major League Baseball and the NBA (the latter at least in part because of the less utilitarian nature of the basketball top). Jersey-wearing by fans is such normative behavior in the modern sports culture that its absurdity—dressing like players? Really?—has long been snowed under by its ubiquity. “We have reached the point where if you are the one not wearing the jersey, you are the one who stands out,” says Christian End, associate professor of psychology at Xavier, who has studied fan behavior.

But how did we reach this point? And when did it all begin?

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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