It's Like The Wii, But With Your MIND

Fascinating story in The Washington Post yesterday: A psychologist watched a group of fans viewing the Super Bowl in Philadelphia a couple of years ago and came away convinced that fans think they can control what's going on in the game.

At the end of the game, which the Eagles lost, Pronin asked each fan a simple question: How responsible did the person feel for Philadelphia's defeat? "Rationally, you should not feel responsible at all for the outcome of the Super Bowl," Pronin said. "But the more people perceived themselves as having thought about the game, the more they thought themselves responsible for the game's outcome."

Well, we didn't need a psychologist to tell us that; all sports fans are aware that we — and we uniquely — control everything that happens in every game that we watched. Which is why the Bears loss is your fault, Frank Johannsen in Pana, Ill. We were keeping an eye out for you, specifically, and your decision to eat Cheetos the second half instead of Doritos cost the Bears everything! And you thought we weren't paying attention. We're onto you, Frank.

Are Philly Fans Magical? [The 700 Level]

(The woman who did the study has a great post about this right here.)