Schadenfreude:
From the German: Schaden, meaning damage; Freude, meaning joy.
Merriam-Webster: enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others.
Here is the grim reality that I see in the mirror each year during football season. I am not all sweetness-and-light on the inside, innocently willing just to “root, root, root for the home team.” No, I look around the league and root against people. Against teams I oppose, against players I don’t like, against coaches who turn me off, and against teams whose fans annoy me.
And when they lose…? Oh, the perverse pleasure!
I used to live in southeastern Wisconsin, and so I was able to pick up a lot of Chicago sports talk radio. As delighted as I am to be living in Green Bay now, I confess that I missed being able to eavesdrop on Chicago angst this past week in the wake of the Packers’ victory over the Bears.
I am pleased to see the hated Vikings have their hearts ripped out three weeks in a row. Minnesota has enjoyed double-digit halftime leads in all of their first three games, and they’ve lost each one.
I was put off by all of the Philadelphia Eagle “dream team” hype going into the season. I take pleasure, therefore, in their hundred-million-dollar frailty and their disappointing start.
I was similarly repelled by the fawning over the Falcons going into 2011, and so I take twisted pleasure in their 1-2 record.
And after the first two weeks of the season, when Tom Brady was being carved into football’s Mount Rushmore, I found it delicious (which I think is a word a man should seldom use) to see him throw four interceptions and lose to the undefeated Buffalo Bills.
I once had a teenage girl in a church youth group ask me if you can confess a sin when you know you plan on committing it again. A good question.
I confess my Schadenfreude as a football fan, but I cannot quite say that I repent of it. For I suspect that I will savor the defeats of those I disdain once again this weekend around the league.
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