Lions fans rejoice: Watching losses pile up helps your emotional well-being

Detroit Lions fansThese Detroit Lions fans should take off the bags and embrace the negative emotions associated with watching a losing team.
Good news, Detroit Lions fans: All that losing actually may be beneficial.

Researchers studied fans of two rival college football teams -- Michigan and Ohio State, natch -- as they watched the teams' game on TV. They found that fans of the winning team who were almost certain their team would lose ended up thinking the game was the most thrilling and suspenseful.



Before the game, students completed questionnaires about which team they were rooting for  and how committed they were to their favorite team. (Good thing they didn't ask after this season.)

"When people think about entertainment in general, they think it has to be fun and pleasurable. But enjoyment doesn't always mean positive emotions," Ohio State professor Prabu David said. "Sometimes, enjoyment is derived by having the negative emotion and then juxtaposing that with the positive emotion."

See, Lions fans? Think about how dissatisfied you'd be with year after year of 10-plus wins.

And how orgasmic a single Super Bowl title would be. Assuming you live that long.

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