I don’t get it. Maybe I’m lacking some gene that leads to an urge to exult over the successes of others and regard them vicariously as one’s own. I just can’t see why the fact that one group of college, um, students, not one of whom is personally known to you, scored more points in a basketball game than another group of equally unknown college students should make any difference in your life. Is there some sociobiological explanation for the persistence of what seems to be nothing more than a throwback to tribalism?
In his book Beer and Circus, Murray Sperber mentions one pathetic fellow who decided where he’d apply to college based on the likelihood that the school would win a national championship in football or basketball because he wanted “to be on a winner.”
Sorry, self-esteem mavens, but winning actually requires individual success.
