This research shows how being a fan can lead to a better social life and other markers of wellbeing.
这项研究表明，做体育粉能享受更美好的社交生活，还能在其他方面收获幸福。
Raised in a small town in Italy in the 1980s， Marco grew up playing soccer. But when high school gradu-ation came， his soccer days ended. He headed off to college， pursuing a dual degree that allowed him to study for the first two years in Italy and the second two years abroad.
20世纪80年代，马尔科在意大利的一座小镇长大，他从小踢足球。可到高中毕业时，他的足球生涯画上了句号。他离家上大学，攻读双学位——前两年在意大利，后两年到国外。
For those second two years， Marco landed in Boston， across the street from Fenway Park1. That was in 2005. “I had no idea Fenway was such a big deal.” Though he had some familiarity with baseball， he had heard only of the Yankees.
就在这后两年的时间里，马尔科到波士顿求学，与芬威棒球场一街之隔。当时是2005年。“我根本不知道芬威球场竟然那么出名。”虽然以前对棒球有所了解，但他只听说过洋基队。
At the end of his stint in Boston， Marco accepted a six-month internship， and then a full-time position， at Merrill Lynch in New York. This is where his true education in American sports began. “My initial bosses at Merrill were both baseball fans. One was a Mets fan， and the other was a Phillies fan， and so I naturally became a Yankees fan to antagonize them.”
波士顿的求学生涯告一段落，马尔科在纽约美林证券公司先实习了六个月，后来转为全职。他的美国体育学习之路由此正式开启。“我初入美林证券公司时的两个领导都是棒球粉。一位喜欢大都会队，另一位喜欢费城人队。为了跟他们对着干，我自然而然地成了洋基队的粉丝。”
Then Marco switched work groups and found himself among a bunch of American football fans. To join in their discussions， he started watching some football. “Coming from Italy， I didn’t have a lot in common with a lot of Americans， but I found a lot of appreciation for football players in terms of their physicality， the speed， the techniques. ” As it happened， that year the Patriots were on fire， ending their regular season 16–0. “I got interested in a team that could make history，” Marco said， “so I hosted a Super Bowl party.”
后来，马尔科换了工作组，他发现身边是一群橄榄球粉。为了加入同事们的讨论，他也开始看几场橄榄球比赛。“身为意大利人，我跟许多美国人没有太多共同语言，不过我发现大家都很欣赏橄榄球运动员的体能、速度和技巧。”碰巧，当年爱国者队火力全开，常规赛季以16胜0负的战绩收尾。“我看上的是一支能创造历史的球队。”马尔科说，“于是我举办了一场超级碗派对。”
Spoiler alert： the Patriots lost. But Marco， in search of social connection with his colleagues， had pushed the fandom flywheel2. And it started to spin.
剧透警告：爱国者队最终输了。不过，在尝试与同事建立社交联系的过程中，马尔科推动了体育粉的“飞轮”。这个飞轮从此转动起来。
The next season， he added another fan activity： joining a fantasy football league3. “It was a big opportunity for me to get closer to other people， to have something in common to talk about. It would force me also to pay more attention and understand the game better because the rules are complicated.”
到了下一个赛季，马尔科又参加了一项粉丝活动：加入梦幻橄榄球联盟。“这非常有利于我跟其他人拉近关系，找到和他们聊得来的共同话题，也能促使我更多地关注、更深入地了解橄榄球运动，毕竟规则很复杂。”
As the flywheel gained momentum， Marco’s social connections grew， and his fandom deepened. Watching NFL RedZone4 and managing a fantasy football team， in combination， became a great way for him to become more knowledgeable about the NFL in general.
随着飞轮越转越快，马尔科的社交联系越来越广泛，他对橄榄球也越来越狂热。观看美国职业橄榄球大联盟红区频道、管理一支梦幻橄榄球队，二者结合便成为增进他对大联盟全面了解的绝佳渠道。
In 2018， when Marco and a few colleagues founded their own business， he immediately recognized an opportunity to bring the group together： He started a fantasy football league with them. He remained active in the Merrill Lynch league and in the new one， because together they allowed him “to network and stay in touch with a lot of different people.”
2018年，马尔科和几个同事自主创业，他立刻想到一个团结队伍的办法：与同事一起组建一支梦幻橄榄球队。无论是在美林证券公司的球队，还是在新球队，马尔科都保持活跃，因为兼顾两者，他就能“跟许多不同的人建立关系、保持联系”。
Marco’s fan flywheel might have started slowly， but once it gained momentum， it started to spin freely， and his social connections flourished.
马尔科的粉丝飞轮起初或许转得慢，但获得动力之后就开始自由转动，马尔科的社交联系也随之变得越来越多。
In the end， Marco sees the benefits of the flywheel in his personal and work lives. “Becoming close friends outside of work makes it easier to collaborate and work well together. When you become friends， then you become more accountable to each other. You don’t want to let each other down.”
最终，马尔科看到粉丝飞轮给自己的生活和工作带来了诸多益处。“在工作场合之外跟同事成为至交，会使我们在工作中的协同合作更顺利。一旦成为朋友，就更加会为对方负责，谁都不愿让对方失望。”
Fandom’s intrinsic benefits
身为粉丝的内在益处
This flywheel we’re talking about—it’s not trivial. It doesn’t merely pull you into buying jerseys， or watching more games， or deepening your sports knowledge. It pulls you into initiating more social interactions. And that， we suspect， is where the real payoff lies.
我们所说的粉丝飞轮可不是微不足道的东西。它不仅促使你去买球服、看更多场球赛、加深对体育知识的理解，还会推着你开展更多社交互动。我们认为，这才是真正的益处所在。
George Vallaint， principal investigator in The Grant Study， would agree. The Grant Study of Adult Development， which began in 1938， followed the lives of 268 men， all Harvard graduates， for 75 years， analyzing various components of their health and wellbeing. When asked in 2008， “What have you learned from the Grant Study men？” Vallaint responded， “The only thing that really matters in life is your relationships to other people.”
格兰特研究的首席研究员乔治·瓦兰特大概会对此表示赞同。格兰特成人发展研究始于1938年，对268名男性哈佛毕业生进行了长达75年的跟踪研究，分析了构成他们健康和幸福的各种要素。2008年，当被问及“你从格兰特研究的参与者身上学到了什么？”瓦兰特回答道：“生活中真正重要的东西只有你与其他人的关系。”
Knowing that fandom increases social interactions， we leaned into the idea that it could also elevate fans’ sense of wellness. We began studying wellness-related social science and incorporating wellbeing measures into our own research. Soon， the cascading benefits of fans’ rich social lives became clear. In what follows we highlight the impact of fandom across five wellness markers： happiness， satisfaction， optimism， gratitude and confidence.
既然成为粉丝能增加社交互动，那么我们倾向于认为身为粉丝也能提高幸福感。我们开始研究与身心健康相关的社会科学，并把幸福指标纳入我们的调查。很快，粉丝开展丰富社交活动的多重益处就变得显而易见。接下来，我们着重谈一谈成为粉丝对快乐、满足、乐观、感恩和自信这五个幸福指标的影响。
To measure happiness， we borrowed a scale from the Pew Research Center5， an organization that regularly tracks happiness using a simple three-point scale： very happy， pretty happy， not too happy. Just over a third （34%） of high-value fans described themselves as very happy， compared to 25% of mid-value fans and 20% of low-value fans. More precisely， the bigger the fan， the more social interaction; the more social interaction， the happier the person.
为了衡量快乐，我们借用了皮尤研究中心的量表。该中心通常采用简单的三分制量表（非常快乐、较为快乐、不太快乐）来了解快乐的程度。略多于1/3（34%）的高价值粉丝认为自己非常快乐，而中等价值和低价值粉丝群体中持同样看法的人分别占25%和20%。更准确地说，粉丝的投入程度越高，参与的社交互动就越多；而社交互动越多，粉丝本人就越开心。
Next， we employed a life satisfaction scale， also from Pew， asking respondents to rate their satisfaction with life in three areas： their family， their community， and their personal financial situation. With this added level of detail， we saw even more dramatic differences in wellbeing between non-fans and high-value fans.
我们接着采用皮尤研究中心的生活满意度量表，要求受访者对生活的三个方面——家庭、社区和个人财务状况——进行满意度评分。通过这项更为细致的调查，我们发现非粉丝群体和高价值粉丝群体的幸福感存在更加巨大的差异。
We turned to Pew yet again to meas-ure optimism， asking respondents to imagine how various aspects of their lives would look a year out. These included overall happiness， personal finances， connection with family， connection with friends， and connection with the local community. A familiar pattern emerged： the bigger the fan， the more optimistic about the future， across all aspects of life.
我们又用皮尤研究中心的量表来衡量乐观，要求受访者设想一年后生活的各个方面会是怎样的，其中包括总体幸福感、个人财务状况、与家人的关系、与朋友的关系以及与本地社区的关系。类似的结果浮出水面：粉丝越投入，对未来生活的各个方面就越乐观。
Interestingly， high-value fans are much more optimistic than lower-value fans about their connection to their local communities. Seeing this， we wondered if loyalty to a local team might drive this connection. But we found no evidence to suggest this. The connection is not driven by an attachment to a local team or that team’s relative success. Rather， the fans’ greater number of social interactions forges stronger bonds with their local communities.
有意思的是，对于自己与本地社区的关系，高价值粉丝远比低价值粉丝乐观。有鉴于此，我们曾猜测这可能源于对本地球队的忠诚，但并未发现有力证据。这种关系既非源于对本地球队的喜爱，也不是因为球队相对成功的表现。更确切地说，粉丝们的社交互动越多，他们与本地社区之间的情感纽带就越牢固。
As an additional measure of wellbeing， we used The Gratitude Questionnaire6. The bigger the fan， the higher the degree of gratitude， across the board.
为了更进一步地衡量幸福感，我们采用了感恩调查问卷。结果表明，粉丝越投入，在各个方面的感恩程度就越高。
Finally， it occurred to us that people with robust social networks， and with elevated levels of happiness， satisfaction， optimism， and gratitude， might also move through the world with more confidence. To measure confidence and self-worth among fans， we borrowed attributes from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. We see， once again， that high-value fans outpace all other segments.
最后，我们想到，有了稳固的社交网络，再加上快乐、满足、乐观和感恩的程度都有所提高，这样的人大概在生活中也会更有信心。为了衡量粉丝的自信程度和自我价值感，我们借用了罗森伯格自尊量表。结果再次表明，高价值粉丝比其他所有受访群体的自尊水平都高。
This is the fandom flywheel in action. Propelled by its feedback loop， the flywheel spins ever faster with each added activity， not only pulling fans deeper into their engagement with sports， but also producing greater social connectedness， which generates an elevated sense of wellbeing among fans.
这就是转动中的粉丝飞轮。在自身反馈循环的驱动下，每多参加一项粉丝活动，飞轮的转速就更快一点，不仅促使粉丝更加深入地参与体育活动，还会带来更强烈的社交联结感，进而提高粉丝的幸福感。
When we remove our preconceived notions， connect the dots， and understand the logic that underpins fandom， the connections between fan activities and heightened wellbeing become clear. When leveraged mindfully， that sense of wellbeing can grow beyond individual fans’ lives， positively impacting entire communities.
当我们摒弃先入为主的想法，把线索串联起来，理解支撑粉丝群体的逻辑所在，那么粉丝活动与幸福感提高之间的关系就不言自明了。如果合理利用这种关系，身为粉丝的幸福感会从粉丝个人的生活中蔓延出来，对整个社区产生积极影响。
（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）
1芬威球场于1912年投入使用，是波士顿红袜队（Boston Red Sox）的主场，也是目前美国职业棒球大联盟中最古老的球场。
2此处指“飞轮效应”。为了使静止的飞轮转动起来，一开始必须花大力气一圈一圈地推，但是每一圈的努力不会白费，飞轮会越转越快。达到某一临界点后，飞轮的重力和冲力会成为推动力的一部分。这时，无须再费更大的力气，飞轮依旧会不停地快速转动。 3此处指美国职业橄榄球大联盟的衍生游戏。
4美国职业橄榄球大联盟电视网（NFL Network）旗下的一个频道。常规赛季期间，球迷可在每个周日下午观看每场联盟赛事的每一个触地得分时刻。
5皮尤研究中心是美国的一个独立性民调机构，总部设于华盛顿特区。该中心对那些影响美国乃至世界的问题、态度与潮流提供信息资料。
6由心理学教授迈克尔·麦卡洛（Michael McCullough）等人根据感恩情感体验理论中的层面观点编制的六项目感恩问卷。
