The world is filled with fans. Nowadays, sports fans everywhere are changing how they express their support; spend their time and money. Such globalization and especially socialization of media influence the behavior of sports fans.
One of the main reasons that sports fans decide to connect with others is to have a sense of belonging to the same group or community. The deeply rooted desire of any fan is to be a part of a crowd, being able to share their common passion for favorite teams, opinions, and experiences, and to engage in discussions. People simply love to find like-minded individuals and affirm their ideas and beliefs through them. Sports fans get involved in different activities that focus on creating the team groups, clubs and communities. The most passionate of them, express themselves at the stadiums by cheering for their team; however, more often than not there is a lot of fan rivalry going on, especially during important games or play-offs. So often, the rivalry goes so far that groups of fans threaten, insult, mob, or even fight each other. The more popular the team is the more anonymity there is between two, or at times even several, opposing groups. This kind of behavior appears not only in the stadium, but online as well, with fans creating fan clubs and trying to insult the other teams. 
That’s where the idea of group polarization expresses itself the most, when fans from the same community or even family, become rivals in the stadium or online environment, just because they are fans of opposing teams. Being part of a group makes an individual feel less accountable or responsible for the actions he or she takes.
Our group centralized our focus on two major baseball teams in New York. For years, New York had two baseball teams, the Yankees (established in 1901) and the Mets (established in 1962). Group Polarization comes into play when fans begin to berate each other’s team because of their strong preference of their own team. Opposing fans would go into verbal arguments, physically fight and taunt each other. These are their ways of saying that “their team is the best”. This leads to extremist tendencies between the two fans. An example of this tendency is when the Mets and the Yankees play against each other. Since the World Series in 2000, where the Yankees won against the Mets, they have been made into even stronger enemies. In New York City, there are many places where bars are a special location to fans. These places reinforce the prejudice of these fanatics, excluding those that are not alike, and encouraging a closed society — just like the experiment conducted by two psychologists in 1970. In 2013, New Jersey governor Chris Christie stated his support of the Mets and confusion over why Yankee fans jeer Mets fans by saying “OK, here’s what I don’t understand about Yankees fans: The Mets stink. We’re awful. And the Yankees are usually really good. So why do you boo us? You should feel badly for us. We root for this awful team that never wins and yet the Yankees fans boo us. I don’t understand that.” By doing this, Chris Christie inadvertently resolves a taboo of the closed society that is sports — it’s okay to root for the losers.
The fan culture within New York City baseball is very much a closed society. Being such a polarized culture, people’s opinions and ideas that do not closely relate to the general group mentality are often dismissed. New York baseball fans are urged to support the Yankees or the Mets and join the already polarized fans; generally they are then encouraged to despise the opposing team. It is very difficult for a person to claim a love of the sport and have an equal like for both teams. Closed societies, like this one, are home to extremists. Fans of either team become part of communities with strong views and opinions. These groups discourage individual freedom of speech and have little tolerance for opposing beliefs. Although closed societies are never completely closed, they are considerably less flexible than open societies. The passionate expression of support that encompasses these fans gives the group a rigid structure. Many of their beliefs are based on taboos and particularly within the fan culture of baseball, superstition. Most fans will adhere to unwritten rules, such as elaborate routines or chants, and insist that others follow suit. From sharing the same opinions as others, strengthening beliefs through polarization and closing these fan communities off from opposing ideas, a recipe for disaster within a sport that is generally placid on the field is created. Where there is a failure to support the mentality of these closed groups, violence can arise in many forms such as physical, verbal or online. Ironically, the rivalry between the baseball team players is, for the most part, channeled into adrenaline and kept on the field. The professional players play within an open society that does not display much extremist behavior yet the members of these closed fan communities display an unquestioned tolerance for extremism.
Though, the world of athletic rivalry operates largely as a closed society — employing a rigid system based on beliefs and superstitions, which form taboos — it does reflect an open society with regard to its threshold for tolerance. The primal urge of competition can and has led to confrontation between opposing players, but this is uncommon and frowned upon during live events. Fines, suspensions, and even being kicked off the team are each consequences, which illustrate Popper’s Paradox of Intolerance. In order to continue the game, and even the season, there is very little tolerance for interruptions. Like an open society, players are free to voice their opinions about the opposing team. However, if they cross a line, their actions will have consequences. Similarly, while in the stadium, fans are encouraged to root, cheer, and represent their favored team. If, unfortunately, they cross the line set by the stadium security team — such as being overly disruptive, stepping on the field to interrupt the game, or being involved in a physical altercation — they will be removed from the event, and possibly banned from attending future games. As Popper mentioned, there is no absolute form of open or closed society. As sports, specifically the rivalry between the Mets and the Yankees is concerned; it is a closed society with — in part to the stadium’s security team’s lack of tolerance for intolerance — aspects of an open society spread throughout.
