What drives die-hard sports fans?
Today is THE day for die-hard football fans who will be watching every second of Super Bowl 50 later today here on CBS. And mingling with them for our Cover Story is where you'll find Susan Spencer:
Love 'em or hate 'em, until the clock runs out on today's Big Game, the New England Patriots are still the reigning Super Bowl Champions, and die-hard fan Peter Carbone has been fired up all season ... literally fired up.
"I'm usually up around 4:00, make a cup of coffee, light a cigar, and I get the oven going," he said. "And once the oven's going, I'm happy."
That's a 6,000-pound wood-burning pizza oven, emblazoned with the logo of his beloved Patriots.
"We'll get the oven floor around 650, 800 degrees for the pizza, and it should be perfect," he said.
Perfect ... and portable! For five years, Carbone and buddy Rich Caturano have lugged their lit oven to every Patriots game at Gillette Stadium, which is not exactly down the block.
"It's about 60 miles," said Caturano.
"You do this for every home game?" asked Spender.
"Yes. And the playoff games, yeah!"
Like obsessed mailmen, nothing deters them from their appointed rounds, even in rain or near-freezing temperatures. "We're actually pleased with the weather today," Caturano laughed. "Could be a lot worse!"
And for them nothing's better than a party in the parking lot. Game? What game? They've still got four hours to kill, starting with chicken wings, then pizza throughout the day. "We have a raw bar, so we're gonna be doing some fresh shucked oysters, lobster, shrimp," said Caturano.
"I have this feeling that you go through your week being normal, successful businessmen, and then on the weekends, you just go crazy," said Spencer.
"On the weekends, all hell breaks loose!" Caturano said.
Spencer asked writer and avid sports fan David Ropeik, what are the traits of a real, die hard sports fan? "Tribal animal. Subconscious, instinctive tribal animal," he said. "Not a conscious thinking, reasoning, 'Oh, aren't we smart' human."
Ropeik says rooting for a team is deeply rooted. Seeking out others who think as we do is just part of the survival instinct.
"This is really powerful stuff," he said. "We do this in lots of walks of life, by the way. Gender, location, politics, values, religion. We identify with a lot of tribes, but not so obviously. Sports? Team colors, warriors, songs, history, tradition. 'We won!'"
And scientific research shows that winning can affect fans physically, couch potatoes included.
"When our team is doing well during the game, our hormone levels, particularly testosterone, go up," Ropeik said. "And if our team loses, they go down. There's deep biological stuff going, and that affects mood."
In case you're wondering what a spike in testosterone looks like, THIS is it: New England Patriots fans watching their team win the Super Bowl last year, their fourth win since 2001.
But some 300 miles south, outside Lincoln Financial Field where the Philadelphia Eagles play, it's a totally different scene -- as in, there IS no scene. In 50 years, the Eagles have made it to the Super Bowl a grand total of TWO times, and both times, sadly, they lost.
Attorney Ellen Centore says her love for the Eagles is a "deep, abiding, unconditional love."
But she calls it an abusive relationship, given the Eagles' history.
She described to Spencer what Game Day is like to her: "Well, there's a lot of hope, always, in the morning," she laughed. "Then at the end of the day, I find myself at the bottom of a bag of Cheetos. Like, where did my day go and what's wrong with my life?"
And yet, she seems happy being unhappy.
"What about switching to some other team that wins occasionally?" Spencer asked.
"It sounds reasonable when you say it that way," Centore said.
But she can't get her head around it: "I couldn't look myself in the mirror, no!"
When she looks in the mirror on Game Day, she sees a grown woman decked out head-to-toe in Eagles earrings; an Eagles hair scrunchie from high school; and an Eagles jersey that she's been wearing since her daughter, Scout, was born 11 years ago. (And yes, there was a game that night.)
"I was fortunate enough to have a hospital that was accommodating and had a TV in the room, so we could watch the game while she was being born," Centore said.
Spencer asked, "Does your daughter realize that she was competing with the Eagles that day?"
"She does. She has some resentment there!"
Today Scout seems philosophical. When asked what happens on Game Day, she told Spencer, "She watches the Eagles, and then they lose. She's not in a good mood."
She has lots of company.
A new CBS News poll finds nearly four out of 10 sports fans say they get depressed when their team loses.
At least Ellen can turn to her therapist-husband, Anthony Centore, who takes sports fan depression quite seriously.
"I was in session with a client," he said, "and he was telling me that his hockey team had lost the night before and that, since then, he had no appetite and he felt all-around miserable and sad -- because his hockey team lost.
"At first, you know, I was asking him, 'Are you sure there isn't something else that's bothering you? Are you sure this is the thing?' But after that day, I started seeing it more often."
He says fans generally recover in a few days, or weeks. Some just resort to denial.
David Ropeik said, "Research shows that, after your team does well, you say, 'We won!' First person: 'We, me, I, we won the championship.' You watched, dude!" And if they lose, statistically, a higher percentage will turn to the third person to disassociate: 'They're losers and that ain't me!"
So, what advice does Anthony Centore have for fans watching the Super Bowl, half of whom will "lose"?
"One thing about these games is they're really emotionally charged. The networks do a great job of making every one of these games seem like the most important thing that has ever happened in the history of mankind. But even if your team loses, 99.9 percent of the things in your life are still unchanged, and it's going to be okay!"
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