SPORTS FAN PSYCHOLOGY

It's interesting to speculate, although it might just be pop psychology, that Chicago Cubs fans' churlish behavior is due to a collective inferiority complex. Much has been written about Chicago, the traditional American "Second City", historically trailing New York in national influence and thus Chicagoans' second-city psychic response. (Now perhaps it's the "Third City", behind Los Angeles.)

Which brings up an even more intriguing thought, relevant to us, fans of University of Kentucky basketball: What becomes of the collective psychology of fans of a once-dominating college basketball power, if fan aspirations--many times so ardently held that they inform a significant part of personal identity--are continually frustrated? Will they resort to boorish behaviors, in a strategic, compensatory maneuver to offset the disappointment?