After Colorado State University beat Virginia in the first round of March Madness, the campus erupted in celebration. A few days later, when the team lost to Texas, Rams groaned in shared disappointment. Between and around these moments of shared joy and agony, CSU – like other universities experiencing the inevitable ups and downs of sports – came closer together as a community.
Research shows that sports have this unique power, a way of bridging divides and uniting people, both on teams and among spectators, through a collective experience that can remove feelings of marginalization and exclusion.
