Sports fans enjoy a dose of the negative.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

For sports fans watching their favorite team play, the greatest enjoyment comes only with a strong dollop of fear and maybe even near-despair, suggests a study from Ohio State University, Columbus.

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Researchers found that fans of the winning team who, at some point during the game, almost were certain their favorites would lose, ended up thinking the game was the most thrilling and suspenseful.

"You don't want to be in a great mood during the whole game if you really want to enjoy it," according to Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, associate professor of communication. "We found that negative emotions play a key role in how much we enjoy sports."

"When people think about entertainment in general, they think it has to be fun and pleasurable, but enjoyment does not always mean positive emotions," says Prabu David, study coauthor and associate professor of communication. "Sometimes enjoyment is derived by having the negative emotion, and then juxtaposing that with the positive emotion."

Results show that positive feelings during the game had the greatest effect on suspense, but negative feelings played a substantial role as well. In the past, researchers have thought...