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ABSTRACT
Basking in Reflected Glory or BIRGing is the tendency for sport fans to promote their connection to successful teams and players. This archival study examines deceased individuals’ BIRGing behaviours in newspaper obituaries across 36 professional sports teams. It was hypothesised that obituaries would be more likely to mention sport fans’ team allegiances following successful seasons compared to losing campaigns. Consistent with this hypothesis, there were a higher proportion of obituaries mentioning the deceased’s support for professional sports teams following successful seasons (55%) compared to losing seasons (45%). Differences in BIRGing behaviours across genders and types of professional sports also serve to promote future investigations.
Disclosure statement
My coauthors and I do not have any interests that might be interpreted as influencing the research, and APA ethical standards were followed in the conduct of the study. This manuscript is not under review at any other agencies.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jamonn Campbell
Jamonn Campbell is a professor of psychology at Shippensburg University.
Mitchell Dandignac
Mitchell Dandignac is a Ph.D. student in the Brain, Cognitive, and Developmental Sciences program at Miami University.
Chris Bankert
Chris Bankert received his M.S. in Psychological Science from Shippensburg University.
Corey Hall
Corey Hall is a M.S. student in the Industrial and Systems Engineering program at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Kayla McArthur
Kayla McArthur received her B.A. in Psychology from Shippensburg University.
Brent Sessions
Brent Sessions received his B.A. in Psychology from Shippensburg University.
Chanel Young
Chanel Young received her B.A. in Psychology from Shippensburg University.