Who the fuck are you yelling at?

I was puzzled to hear my sister shouting and screaming at the television set last night as she was watching a hockey game. Sitting alone in the family room, everyone else being upstairs, she obviously couldn't help but burst out in emotion at the sportsmanship and competitiveness of the game...or something. Why the fuck would anyone decide to yell at a television set. To clarify, I think this only happens with sports (although my sister has exhibited strange television behavior before). Do we feel that by shouting, we are somehow encouraging the team? They can't fucking hear you! Have our brains becomed so zapped that we simply cannot differentiate television from actually being at a hockey game? Are we trying to attract attention to ourselves?

The real question is, why does nobody yell at the set during E.R.? "Oh God, I thought he almost lost that one!", should be common place considering how wonderfully suspenseful the show is (I'm guessing, I've never watched this crap, but there has to be a logical reason why people watch...).

This whole sports phenomena really puzzles me. Why do people feel attached to a specific sports team. Generally, they are attached to the team from their home town. Why is this? Do you know any of the members on the team? Do ANY of them come from the town for which they play? No. Why, then, would you parade around as if "your" team was the best, and try and impress people with your knowledge of the team. This is entertainment, not politics. Win or lose, it really is all about entertainment. If your team wins 10-0 and you proclaim that this was a "great game", it really wasn't. A great game is one which is won in the last few minutes of a tie game. One in which both teams were equally competitive. I don't understand why some completely inferior team getting rolled over is all about sportsmanship.

Back to the main point, I ask that you never yell at a fucking television set again. You are not emotionally involved in the moving pictures in front of you. Your life is not resting on that hockey game. You have not bet a million dollars on the outcome. Therefore, shut the fuck up!