Watching your favorite team, "your" team, lose the Big Game or the Bowl or the Championship, could give you a heart attack.

Many people, it seems, "adopt" a team and idealize it as another member of the family--or even more, it becomes an alter ego. Whether the team wins or loses becomes a major stressor for those people, particularly if it loses.

Think not? Just listen to dedicated football or basketball fans discuss their teams' players, play choices, on- and off- gridiron or court or diamond lives. It's as though they have identified with the team; they are the team.

And when the team loses, they become extremely stressed. The pulse rate increases, they scream and jump up and down, the blood pressure goes up and

the ERs treat 15%(men) and 27%(women) more cardiac cases after the home team loses a big game.

Laying your life on the line for sports.