Is sports the best reality TV ?

Disclaimer: I'm not a real fan of reality TV.  I watch the occasional music competition or food contest, but for the most part I don't like the fabricated games and exploited stories.

So, I've been known to say on many occasions that the best kind of reality TV is sports.  In my opinion, you can't get any better than the unpredictability of a live sports event and as the commentators often say - the scriptwriters have a field day - what with all the off-field backstory mixed with the on-field rivalries, battles, campaigns and super-human achievements.

But recently I've been looking at this from a different perspective.  I think my original claim is accurate, but only if you're an neutral observer or your team (player) wins.  But what happens when your team loses ? 

I watch a lot of sport and invest many hours watching playoffs, "big" games and global sporting events where many times the result is of no real consequence to me.  I simply enjoy a tight-fought competition from world class athletes. 

I hope I can say, that everyone has experienced the euphoria of their team winning - what a natural high when your team makes a great play, scores, wins the game or comes out on top of a season-long campaign.  That's why we watch our favourites compete on TV (or in person), many fans like me invest a huge amount of time watching our favourites and some of us have lots of favourites across different sports.  I live in Toronto and we're lucky to have a large number of professional sports teams, but it can consume a large amount of time!

But what a difference when your favourites have a poor game, fall inches or seconds short of a major victory, can't seem to stop a downhill slide, don't live up to their potential, appear disrespectful or your loyalty or make you so angry you could throw something at that expensive plat screen 50" television.  That's just a awful feeling and it can often stay with you for hours or perhaps even longer, just ask a Maple Leafs hockey fan or England soccer fan. 

So there's the rub, be careful what you ask for.  So if you want the emotional rollercoaster ride of sports to either simply witness the finest of athletic ability, or invest your time and emotions in a favourite for a chance at glorious euphoria - be wary that it could bring some true sorrow to your life.  Who really wants to take a chance at adding more misery to their lives? Well, I only hypothesize that the longer lasting effects of the thrill of victory is worth the short-lived agonies of defeat*.

*taken from the famous introductory words of ABC's The Wide World of Sports