28 The Toll of Toxic Fandom – Mateo Deguzman

Mateo Deguzman

Student Number: 7295827

COMM – 3P19

November 14, 2023

The Toll of Toxic Fandom: How Athletes Were Affected Following the Leafs 2023 Playoff Elimination

Hockey is part of the core of Canadian culture, within most Canadian’s hearts they have a love for the game of hockey. Whether they grew up playing the sport or just watching with family and friends every Canadian has connected with the sport and some point and time in their life. The Toronto Maple Leafs stand as an iconic original six hockey team that has been a symbol for triumphs and tribulations. From countless unexpected first round exits to finally getting over that hump and finally advancing past the first round for the first time since 2002 this hockey team has brought out so many feelings whether good or bad from fans around the world, creating a loyal fan base that sticks with the team through thick and thin. However, when looking beneath the surface of all this unwavering support lies a toxic fandom that has engulfed not only the Leafs but Toronto sports in general. Like any other sports team the City’s teams strive for success each and every year, however when the team does not perform up to fans and the media’s standards a toxic fandom starts which turns into this storm of chaos that surrounds the team. The origins of this toxic fandom usually stems from excessive criticism, irrational expectations, unreasonable demands, and a sense of entitlement. This paper aims to analyze the complex web of toxic fandom within Toronto Maple Leaf fandom following their 2023 playoff loss, and how it impacted the athletes, the fan base and community, and sports fans in general. When looking at this issue it is evident that there is a true passion for success amongst all fans for these teams but when these expectations are not met that’s when an unchecked toxic fanbase starts to threaten the culture that was built around the love and passion for the game.

To fully understand the roots of this toxic fandom that is created, it is essential to look back and retrace the city’s deep rooted connection with the Toronto Maple Leafs. So many different generations of fans have witnessed this team’s highs and lows which has cultivated an emotional connection with not only the team but within the community as well. However, having this attachment and dedication to a team brings more to the table than what meets the eye. When passionate fans are met with underwhelming results and unfulfilled expectations the fandom starts to turn toxic. Since the Leafs have not won a championship since 1964 (one of the longest droughts in NHL history), the city is yearning for a championship to return to Toronto and since the Leafs are an original six team that has a rich heritage behind them success is not hoped for it is expected by the fans. Since the development and uprise of social media platforms it has been easier than ever for fans and media members to express their opinion to the public whether it is good or bad. For most toxic fandoms they use social media as a way to gather as a community and spread their hate and have a discourse amongst themselves on why they hate a certain team. This can lead to things like player targeting which happens when fans on social media decide to pick on one player in particular (usually a high profile player) to send hate towards or criticize their performances or when fans overly criticize a team to an extent where it becomes overwhelming. Since the Leafs are a big market franchise their players are arguably under the biggest microscope in the league every time they play. When the players are under this much pressure on a daily basis it can start to affect them psychologically which causes concerns for their mental well being. An article by getphysical.com they state the different mental issues that can arise when players face criticism on social media “Social media can also be a breeding ground for cyberbullying, which can take a toll on an athlete’s mental wellness. Athletes may be subjected to a constant barrage of negative comments and criticism from online trolls, which can lead to feelings of isolation, anxiety, and depression.” (Getphysical.com, 2023).One method players have resorted to is making their accounts private to try and stop the hate or keep away negative commenters. An example of this can be made of NBA player Russell Westbrook. During the 2021 – 2022 season Westbrook received unbearing amount of hate from fans on social media due to bad performance on the court but it was not only by fans on social media it also came from analysts working at big networks like ESPN who would dedicate whole segments that would show all of his bad plays and talk about how bad of a player he is. Fans on social media had the hashtag “Westbrick” which came from an analysts calling him that after a game where he did not shoot the ball well, and fans ran with it and had it trending on twitter for weeks. One example of the hashtag comes from the user @JohnWestevrel he tweeted “Damn westbrick rocking the baby. Checked his stats. 9 points.” In this example the user is clearly making fun of Westbrooks performance after a bad game. The situation got so bad that he would start revving personal attacks like death threats to the point where he stopped bringing his family to games in fear of their well being and safety. In an article on Linkedin by Gurpartap Mann he shares a similar ideology “The constant scrutiny and criticism can make it difficult for athletes to maintain their focus and confidence, which can have a negative impact on their performance. As a result, many athletes are taking measures to limit their exposure to social media and protect their mental health.” (Mann, 2023). Another negative aspect ofbeing under this much pressure can also hurt the team internally, for example if there are constant articles and comment being posted that the coach is not good enough and should be fired, then the players and others within the organization might start and actually believe the articles that are coming out which could lead to the coach being fired or it could impact team chemistry and the bond within the organization. Which doesn’t only affect morale within the team but also on field performances because players and coaches may be too distracted by off field issues or lack motivation which doesn’t allow them to focus on the game. The Leafs are no stranger to this phenomenon, during the 2021 season the leafs were coming off a heartbreaking first round exit to the Columbus Blue jackets in the previous season and many fans were extremely frustrated with the team, which led to a barrage of hate towards the players, coaches, and the whole organization. Just 5 games into the 2021 season the leafs held a 2-2-1 record which is not horrible but in terms of the leaf fans standard they saw that as an absolute disgrace. After a 5-3 loss to the San Jose sharks fans started to throw their jerseys (which are not cheap) onto the ice and harshly booed the team off the ice they did this as a sign of disrespect and although extremely it was the fans way of showing the team that their performances that season have not been up to standard, and this wasn;t the first time this happened. In 2015 three fans were actually charged by Toronto police after they threw their jerseys on the ice after a loss. Fan reactions like this may seem like they don’t affect the players from a fans perspective since they just see them get off the ice or if they send a tweet out to criticizing a player they may not think of much because the player never responded, when in reality these reactions do affect the players psychologically even though they may not show it in game or in interviews. A study done by Cecilia Åkesdotter, Göran Kenttä, Sandra Eloranta , Johan Franck studied elite athletes from different Swedish national teams that were also applying for scholarships and their mental health problems. Their study found that many of the athletes actually suffered from a lifetime of mental health problems “Lifetime prevalence of MHP was 51.7% (females 58.2%, males 42.3%),” (Eloranta, 2019) and that 50% of athletes had their first mental health episode around 17-21 (Eloranta, 2019). This study shows how fragile some of these athletes are despite portraying tough personalities. Many of these athletes have had immense pressure on them since their youth from people like family and friends pushing them to make it pro, then when these athletes finally make it pro they’re then met with even more pressure from millions of complete strangers analyzing every move and emphasizing every mistake. The amount of pressure these athletes endure over their lifetime becomes overwhelming and starts to take a toll on their mental stability.

Although the earlier paragraph outlined the toxic fandom within Toronto sports fans and media, there are plenty of die-hard maple leaf fans which as they like to say “bleed blue” and support this team through thick and thin, proudly representing them. These fans would be considered tribal fans, tribal fans “have a strong sense of community and an immense knowledge of the team symbols and rivals” (Foster, 2023) and are characterized by these seven dimensions “Membership (Psychological Sense of Community), Geographic Sense of Community, Social Recognition, Shared Rivalry, Shared Symbols (team colors and logos), Shared Rituals and Traditions, and Shared Knowledge of People (heroes, players and coaches)” (Foster, 2023). Although the leafs do have many fans outside of the city they would be considered casual fans which are “characterized mainly by low perceptions of all seven dimensions, particularly regarding membership and geographical sense of community” (Foster, 2023). Tribal fans are distinguished from casual fans by generational loyalty, cultural identity, exclusive language and symbols , and emotional investment, which is what makes them tribal fans. In a study done by Dionísio Pedro, Leal Carmo, and Moutinho Luiz they studied the affiliation between fandom and tribal behavior. They studied the soccer club  Sporting Clube de Portugal and analyzed the clubs “devoted fans” who were fans that regularly attended games and paid club fees which are separate from ticket fees, and lastly they were the fans that would show up wearing club symbols like t-shirts or scarves and how they reflected characteristics of a tribe (Pedro et al, 2008). They found the most common links between tribal fans and an actual tribe is how members have unique rituals, symbols, locals and beliefs which each member of the tribe belives in (Pedro et al, 2008). If you ask most leaf fans why they choose to support the Leafs they will tell you that they were born into it. Whether it was their dad, mom, grandparents, someone in their family was a leaf fan and passed down the tradition of being a fan down to further generations. Speaking from my own experience I became a leafs fan because of my grandfather and dad who were big leaf fans and brought me into the culture. Generational loyalty is not only crucial for the fans identity, but also for the cultures identity as well. Generational loyalty is what creates a shared history amongst all generations of fans. Pedro et al’s study also references the importance of generational loyalty as they saw a similar trend with the Sporting Clube de Portugal fans “Socialization was assumed to be influenced by family relationships in childhood. To be a Sporting sympathizer seems to be a heritage matter” (Pedro et al, 2008). Being part of a generation of fans is what develops an emotional connection with the team, being able to share stories with past generations of fans is what makes supporting teams like the Leafs more than just supporting a sports team, it’s supporting a culture. Supporting the Leafs becomes a cultural identifier that one is from Toronto, the team’s iconic colors (blue and white), and emblem is deeply rooted in the city’s identity. Being a Leafs fan doesn’t mean you only represent the fan base and the team, you are also representing the city and what it stands for. The tribal fans of the leafs have also created exclusive language and symbols to further the cultures identity and to separate themselves from other fan bases. Sayings like “I bleed blue and white” or the different chants fans will scream during games are ways that tribal fans are able to reinforce their sense of  belonging to their specific tribe. On social media platforms many members of the tribe will include the hashtag “#LeafsNation” or “#Leafsforever.” When looking at the results when searching the hashtags you are presented with thousands of leaf fans showing their unwavering support for the Leafs whether the team wins or loses. For example, on the platform “X” after the Leafs most recent win the Leafs verified twitter accounts tweetwed that they had one and in their tweet they included #Leafsforever to show fan recognition, or user @BrianBeLeafs who posted a tweet following the Leafs overtime loss against the New York Islanders a game in which team captain John Tavares scored his 1000th point of his career (a milestone not many players hit) instead of ripping the team for their loss Brian celebrated Tavares for his accomplishment posting some fanart that he made for Tavares’s milestone and of course he included the hashtag “LeafsNation.” #Leafsnation has become so popular over the years that the Leafs started to include them in their posts and have actually adopted the name for their fan base. Through most social media campaigns that the Leafs run or even in person at the games, the organization will address the crowd as “Leafs Nation.” Although all these previous examples are ways that the leafs tribal fans represent their fandom, the most obvious way to tell a casual leaf fan from a tribal fan is the emotional investment tribal fans have with the team. When the leafs are winning and the team is performing fans are over the moon with excitement their not able to contain themselves, they will take to twitter to discuss how the leafs are the best team in the league and no one is close, but on the flip side when things are going back like when they were knocked out of the playoffs in 2023, fans that were gathered outside the arena could be seen crying and visibly upset that they were knocked out, they will still take to twitter but this time they will talk about how upset they are or how mad they get. Tribal fans get so emotionally invested that their emotions start to be affected by the team’s performance. If the Leafs win they are in a good mood, but if the leafs lose their day is ruined. All these aspects of what it means to be a tribal fan helps bring a sense of belonging to fans that belong within the tribe. This sense of belonging also benefits fans’ mental and physical health as well, in an article written by Sally Boardman she stresses the importance behind having a sense of belonging and the health benefits that come with it, “A sense of belonging is crucial to our life satisfaction, mental and physical health and even longevity. It gives us a sense of purpose and meaning. Research has shown that loss of belonging has been associated with stress, illness and decreased well-being and depression” (Boardman, 2020). Being part of or associating yourself with a tribal fandom can have immense benefits to not only one’s fandom but also one’s well being as pointed out by Boardman. Some other positive effects that coincide with a sense of belonging are, Improved social skills, enhanced self – esteem, increase in life satisfaction and many more. These benefits are able to be unlocked because like mentioned before tribal fans are similar to a tribe they vouch for one another and have much of the similar passions and interest for a specific organization. Being around people like this can improve things like social skills because being part of a tribe enables people to communicate with each other since they all share a similar passion, which enhances one’s social skills as they are almost forced into a social interaction with another person. One of the ways that a sense of belonging can improve self – esteem is because when one belongs to a social group as close knit as tribal fans it brings a feeling of acceptance, they are able to be in a comfortable environment where they are not only accepted but respected by others which boosts one’s self image and confidence in themselves. Lastly, one of the major boosts that one sees when part of a tribal fandom comes from overall satisfaction in life. Being able to express “shared experiences, fulfilling relationships, and a sense of worth and acceptance is a major key to being satisfied in life. Without creating shared experiences to have fulfilling relationships, one can start to feel empty which oftentimes leads to mental health issues like depression. In a study done by Dr. Maithreyi Gopalan she looked at how a sense of belonging impacted students’ academic results. Her study found that “evidence has shown that in certain contexts, a student’s sense of belonging improves academic outcomes, increases continuing enrollment, and is protective for mental health” (Gopalan, 2023), while other evidence suggested that “ belonging uncertainty affects how students make sense of daily adversities, often interpreting negative events as evidence for why they do not belong. Belonging uncertainty may result in disengagement and poor academic outcomes” (Gopalan, 2023).

After the leafs were unexpectedly knocked out of the 2023 playoffs, the leaf fan community on social media, almost feeling like a battleground with one side condemning the players for making it farther than any other team in the last 20 years, while the latter half held discourses on how the team is never good enough, if the coach should be fired, or if the star players should be traded. Users had a wide spectrum of emotions ranging from appreciation that they made it past the first round to pure frustration that they got embarrassed in the second round. The immediate feeling by most of the fan base, even including some of the tribal fans was frustration because like previously mentioned it had been 20 years since they’ve advanced past the first round so losing the series four games to one was an extremely disappointing outcome as many fans thought this year was the year they could win it all. Having that hope ripped from the fan base in such a heartbreaking fashion caused most fans to revolt, however after a few days had passed some fans started to forgive the team as they realized that sports has an element of unpredictability that can produce shocking results. The ladder group of fans took on a more critical stance on the loose. In previous years when the Leafs were eliminated fans would criticize the team as a whole from the coaching staff to the players, except this time it was different, many fans decided to take their frustrations out on individual players, the coach, or the general manager. Fans would harass certain players on their social media, some about how bad their performance was and some even attacking the players character attacking them personally. This reaction started to create a storm in the media as some players from the team and other players from opposing organizations that summer following the leafs elimination came out and saying how difficult it is to play in the Toronto market because of all the pressure that is put on players by the fans and media. One player in particular Ryan O’reilly actually decided to leave the Leafs in free agency, one of the factors that played a role in his departure was all the pressure from fans and media members. O’reilly talks about this in an interview he did with Luke Fox “​​O’Reilly does appreciate the ability to take his kids to local rinks without the attention suddenly shifting his way, even if a few Nashvillians do recognize him.”You do kind of fly under the radar,” O’Rielly said. “At this point in my career, I think I enjoy that, to be able to spend more time with my kids, more family time.” (Fox, 2023). The fans that put the loss in the past and let their feelings subside decided to use social media as a place to hold a constructive discourse about what the team needs to do to improve for the upcoming season. One of the biggest advocates for fans to rally behind this team is Leafs analyst Steve Dangle. Steve has a youtube channel with 220,000 subscribers, he has a video series that he has been doing for the last 16 years called “Leafs Fan Reaction” more commonly known as “LFR.” In this series Steve reviews every leaf game performance and reviews each player’s performance. This is a popular series amongst tribal fans and his X account is used as a place to hold discourse about the team. Following the loss Steve uploaded his usual LFR for that game which is one of his most viral videos to date as many fans from around the league wanted to hear his opinion on what happened. In the video like many fans he voiced his frustrations with the team performance however he did it in a constructive manner which many people respected as it was against the curve at the time. However at the end of this video he addressed the fans that were harassing the players because of bad performances and questioned fans how they think players feel after already losing their whole season only to be met with even more messages online about how bad they were. He then asked Leafs fans an important question “are you in? Because I am” although a simple question at first glance, it has a much deeper meaning. Steve is asking fans if they are going to stick with this team during their lowest points or if you’re going to flake on the team because they’re down. With this statement Steve was able to make an emotional connection with the fan base and they started to turn around. Are you in? Started circulating amongst fans becoming a popular statement fans would bring up when arguing about players or the teams performance going forward. Fans started to consider players’ mental health as they realized how players might be affected by these messages. Fans started to realize that they were applying unneeded pressure onto players’ already stressful lives. In a study done by Tammy Ng, Howard Sanders, Sarah Merrill, Marcia Faustin they looked at how media affects athletes mental health they reference a study done on four male elite athletes and six female elite athletes who had won at least two gold medals at separate Olympics or World Championships which supports this argument that social media pressure can affect athletes cousin poor performances. Their study identified “media attention as a source of stress surrounding high-profile events, leading to athletes isolating themselves from reporters to focus on competing; one athlete even contemplated ending his career after he became Olympic champion due to pressure and demands of media” (Sanders et al, 2023).

When players face a toxic fanbase it can start to change their identity. When players choose to play for the Leafs they are entering one of if not the biggest market in the sport, a market many players and fans consider “the mecca of hockey.” Unfortunately for the players, playing for a big market franchise means that fans will have unrealistic expectations for players, and put them under immense pressure analyzing each play and emphasizing each mistake. Being under this much pressure is never a good thing, it starts to change a players mentality. They start to lose confidence in themselves after being told all the things they did wrong by fans after every game, it gets exhausting. An example of this happening in the leafs round 2 playoff series is when the Leafs star player Mitch Marner took a penalty late in the game, when they panned the camera to him in the box everyone could just tell how deflated he looked, which of course cause most fans to took to social media and proceed to make a complete joke of him for looking like that just adding onto the already mountains of pressure he is facing. This affected Marner’s confidence in the upcoming games which led to multiple bad performances, which again of course had fans extremely upset with him, some even going as far as blaming the whole elimination on him. It almost becomes this never ending circle of pressure that these players are under by the fans. In some cases fans become too much for a player to the point where they decide to leave the team like the example mentioned earlier with Ryan O’Reilly, players simply don’t want to deal with all the media attention. Some players feel like they can’t play to their full capabilities due to the pressure because it causes them to feel anxious, uncomfortable, and most importantly when it comes to game performances they don’t feel relaxed. This also starts to affect the chemistry within the dressing room, players may start to be excluded from the line up from coaches after enough posts about the players poor performances which not only adds onto the pressure but also could lead to in house arguments between players and coaches. In certain circumstances the pressure that is put on athletes becomes so bad that they start to develop physical disorders. A study by ​​Michael A. Quinn and Stephanie Robinson looked at female track and field athletes from 30 different universities and studied how pressure from a variety of variables affected the athletes physically. Their result found that team related pressure resulted in more athletes developing a vomiting disorder while socialized related pressure resulted in more dietary disorders (Quinn et al, 2020). Another aspect of pressure that players face comes from the coaches and staff of the team. Similar to fans, coaches have expectations for their players (although not as wild as fans expectations) which they hope the players can meet, if the players meet or exceed the expectations they are rewarded with things like more playing time, opportunities, and bigger contracts, if they don’t meet the expectations they could see less to no playing time and worse contracts. This adds a ton of pressure on the athlete to perform as they obviously don’t want to be removed from the team and would rather want to play as much as they can and make the most money as well. Going into the playoffs much of the discourse surrounding the hockey world revolved around Leafs star player Auston Matthews, who needs a new contract that summer. Much of the discourse talked about how much he would make and the conclusion from analysts and coaches was that they had to decide how he performed in those playoffs. This put immense pressure on Matthews as going into the playoffs the biggest part of the season having to worry about how much money he could be making next year, his performance was literally worth millions of dollars. If he performed well his pay could increase by millions but if he didn;t he could see a pay cut of millions. Unfortunately for Matthews he did not perform well during the second round of those playoffs causing him to lose around 2 million dollars in salary, he ended up signing for 13 million dollars however many analysts believe that he could have made around 15 million if he would have performed better during the second round. An article written by Robert J. Schinke, Natalia B. Stambulova, and Gangyan Si, Zella Moore explains how athletes are already under more pressure than the average person since they deal with things like high training loads, tough competitions, and live a stressful lifestyle. This makes athletes at a higher risk for mental health issues. They found that In the last 12 months, 21% of male collegiate athletes and 28% of female athletes reported having depression severe enough to limit their functioning, and that 31% of male athletes and 48% of female athletes reported experiencing extreme anxiety (Schinke et al, 2018). Their research also found that due to Sports injuries like, depression, concussions, and overtraining are examples of conditions that might negatively impact an athlete’s performance during training and competition (Schinke et al, 2018). Athlete mental health and mental health in general has been at the forefront of many conversations, and many of the leaf players are advocates for mental health awareness for many years. In January they released a team video in a partnership with Bell for the program “Bell Let’s Talk” which is a program that advocates for mental health awareness. The video was created to show how people can help others with mental health issues, they had each player hold up a sign with words of encouragement like “it’s ok to ask for help” and things of that nature. They did this to show fans that even their favorite players have their own ways of coping with their mental health issues, and that it’s ok to talk about it. This is important for changing societal views on mental health issues as many people don’t expect athletes to have emotions due to their luxurious lifestyles. However showing fans that they do feel emotions shows relatability that they too are not immune to things like bullying just like the everyday person.

In conclusion, The negative effects that toxic fandom has on athletes goes beyond sports and affects the athletes both personal and professional well being. This paper examined the psychological effects that toxic fandom has on these athletes that face immense amounts of criticism, pressure, and personal attacks from their own fans, this paper also highlighted how these outside distractions on the athletes not only impacts them personally but also can start to affect the team chemistry and morale. Toxic fandom is able to manifest itself in various different forms like online harassment or attacking the athletes personal life. Since professional athletes are popular public figures they are naturally vulnerable to these attacks, athletes having this constant microscope on them leads to  anxiety, stress, and mental health problems. In order for teams to regulate these attacks, they must take protective measures fro the athlete to shield them from the online harassment. Proactive measures like, putting in place regulations that forbid harassment and making sure the team and organization atmosphere is encouraging and supportive. Athletes must also recognize that they will become a public figure once becoming a professional and must equip themselves with the proper tools to help counteract the attacks things like, developing resilience, getting assistance, and setting boundaries between their private and public lives. These tools will be crucial aspects for an athlete to be mentally and physically healthy. When looking at toxic fandom it’s important to decipher the difference between sportsmanship and competitiveness, and toxic fandom. The line between the two are very thin as toxic fandom is usually produced out of the competitive emotions produced by fans.  To create a more uplifting and upbeating culture around sports fans must recalibrate their expectations they put on players, while also considering the hard work, sacrifices and commitment that these had to and continuously make. Fans must consider that athletes, although making millions to play a sport, are still human and feel emotions and vulnerability just like the rest of the population, and should be treated with respect and empathy. Sports was made so people could share experiences of joy and unity unfortunately toxic fandom is what takes away those core values from the sport. By stopping toxic fandoms it allows for sports to return to its natural core values, and becomes a place of enjoyment for all. Although the Leafs have taken steps forward in advocating for athlete mental health like partnering for bell for the “Bell Lets Talk” program, more advancements in the space are needed to ensure these athletes are fully protected and have the proper resources to reach out to people, as well as using their platform as an advocate for mental health awareness.

General Discussion Citations

Boardman, S. (n.d.). The importance of developing a sense of belonging. Life Skills Group.png. https://www.lifeskillsgroup.com.au/blog/belonging#:~:text=A%20sense%20of%20belonging%20is,and%20decreased%20wellbeing%20and%20depression.

Foster, D., & Class), (The. (n.d.). Sports fandom. Audience Studies Participatory Culture of Fandom. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/comm3p18/chapter/sports-fandom/

Fox, L. (2023, October 28). “you do kind of fly under the Radar”: Ryan O’Reilly Talks decision to leave Toronto. Sportsnet.ca. https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/you-do-kind-of-fly-under-the-radar-ryan-oreilly-talks-decision-to-leave-toronto/

Mann, G. (2023, March 8). Here’s how social media is causing a negative impact on athletes, and sports. Social Media is Causing Negative Impacts on Athletes, Sports. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/heres-how-social-media-causing-negative-impact-athletes-mann

The Dark Side of social media: Athletes’ mental wellness. The Dark Side of Social Media: Athletes’ Mental Wellness. (n.d.). https://www.getphysical.com/blog/Social%20Media%20on%20Athletes’%20Mental%20Wellness#:~:text=Social%20media%20can%20also%20be,isolation%2C%20anxiety%2C%20and%20depression.

Academic Sources:

Åkesdotter, C., Kenttä, G., Eloranta, S., & Franck, J. (2020). The prevalence of mental health problems in elite athletes. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 23(4), 329–335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.10.022

Dionísio, P., Leal, C., & Moutinho, L. (2008). Fandom affiliation and tribal behaviour: a sports marketing application. Qualitative Market Research, 11(1), 17–39. https://doi.org/10.1108/13522750810845531

Ng, T., Sanders, H., Merrill, S., & Faustin, M. (2024). Media’s Effect on Athletes’ Mental Health. Clinics in Sports Medicine, 43(1), 187–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csm.2023.06.022

Quinn, M. A., & Robinson, S. (2020). College Athletes Under Pressure: Eating Disorders Among Female Track and Field Athletes. The American Economist (New York, N.Y. 1960), 65(2), 232–243. https://doi.org/10.1177/0569434520938709

Schinke, R. J., Stambulova, N. B., Si, G., & Moore, Z. (2018). International society of sport psychology position stand: Athletes’ mental health, performance, and development. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 16(6), 622–639. https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2017.1295557

Social Media Posts Citations:

BrianBeLeafs. (2023, December 12). Game #25 Long Island 4 toronto 3. OT. #TorontoMapleLeafs #leafsforever #leafsnation #goleafsgo #johntavares #oshawagenerals #newyorkislanders #morganrielly #austonmatthews #papatavares #JT1K pic.twitter.com/abayxhkyeb. Twitter. https://twitter.com/BrianBeLeafs/status/1734685780839469341

John. (2023, December 7). Damn Westbrick Rocking the baby. checked his stats. 9 points 💀. Twitter. https://twitter.com/Johnwestervel/status/1732625442266321230

Leafs, T. M. (2023, December 13). Leafs WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWIN!!!@LGCanada | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/qj4ixhvlj9. Twitter. https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1734764459166519793

Leafs, T. M. (2023a, January 25). We can all make a differencetoday is Bell Let’s Talk Day, let’s create positive change #bellletstalk pic.twitter.com/rhpy6hege2. Twitter. https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1618302010368921630?lang=en

YouTube. (2023, May 13). LFR16 – round 2, Game 5 – miracles – panthers 3, Maple Leafs 2 (OT). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6qVN_tMYFQ