真假球迷，球迷实验室用数据说话

译者 chanhui2000

Electronics giant Sharp has begun a series of international scientific studies of football fan behaviour during the 2012 European Football Championships. The FanLabs concept aims to turn the traditional focus of analysis away from what's happening on the pitch -- where there is no shortage of Opta stats to be found -- to find out what makes the fans tick. Are English fans more passionate than the Germans? Are the Italians more laid back than the Poles? It even aims to answer the age-old pub argument between two supporters of who is more of a fan than the other.

2012年度欧洲冠军杯之际，电子巨人夏普在全球范围内开始了一系列有关球迷行为的科学研究。夏普的球迷实验室旨在把传统的分析重点从球场上发生的事情（找出球队最佳状态）转向了是什么影响了球迷的选择：是英国人比德国人更热情么？还是意大利人比波兰人更放得开？它甚至可以帮助回答那个酒吧里的陈年话题：两个球迷之间，谁比谁更是铁杆球迷。

A two-fold approach was revealed last week at a launch in Alicante. Firstly, an app with a sister website uses a series of questions to place you within a matrix of fan behaviour, based on the twin variables of "optimism" (your emotional support of the team) and "commitment" (your tangible demonstration of that support), with a fan scoring highly on both dubbed a "12th man"' and its polar opposite, "the Sightseer".

上周在阿利坎特开始了一个双面性的调查，首先在一个相关网站的应用程序中使安排一系列的问题，通过调查，得出你在球迷行为模式的象限里的得分，该得分是基于“乐观”（情感上对球队的支持）和“承诺”（实际行动上对球队的支持）。得分高的被冠以“第12人”，而它的另一面，则是“看客”

Collating this data will then enable individual and collective pan-European comparisons of fans and their friends, and also which nation boasts the most committed and optimistic fans -- Sharp claims this will be the largest ever fan survey conducted. Pleasingly, I came out exactly as a battle-hardened England supporter should -- fairly low on optimism and high on commitment, earning a place in the "Reliable Realist" camp. If only our players were reliable and our media realistic; we might actually win something.

收集了这些数据，就使泛欧洲的球迷和他们的朋友们进行个人或者集体的行为比较成为可能，比如哪个国家拥有最坚定，最乐观的球迷。夏普宣称这是有史以来最大规模的球迷调查活动。令我高兴的是，我的结果评价我是一个久经战阵的英格兰队的支持者，非常低的乐观的得分，非常高的承诺的得分，在“可靠的现实主义”区间里占有一席之地。如果我们的球员们值得依靠，而媒体们现实明了，我们也许能赢得什么。

The more eye-catching part, however, is the second element -- the FanLab truck. In it, during the finals, eight supporters of each team in every match will undertake biometric analysis. The selected fans will be monitored during the action to gauge their reactions, utilising Neurosky EEG headsets. These pieces of kit monitor eight different frequencies of brain activity, with particular combinations of each indicating a different emotion. For example, high amounts of Beta-wave activity compared to the others is indicative of a high level of attention. The numbers don't lie and this aims to show exactly what is going on in the fan's head -- if you don't really care that much, this apparatus will out you as a fake fan, so any Johnny-come-latelies who suddenly take an interest when we unexpectedly reach the semi-finals (we won't) had better lie low when the truck rolls into town.

第二个活动，也是更吸引眼球的部分：球迷实验室卡车。在总决赛中，每场比赛的每个队伍各有8个球迷将会在这里接受生物测定分析。这些被选中的球迷将带上神念科技的脑电波耳机来检测他们在活动中的神经反应。这些耳机会检测大脑发出的8个不同频率的波段，并显示出不同情绪下的每种频谱的组合。比如说相对的大量的Beta波表示关注度更高。数字不会说谎，这些帮助我们了解球迷的头脑里到底发生了什么。如果你真的不是很在乎，这个仪器也会指出你其实是个伪球迷。所以那些后知后觉的，当我们意外进入了半决赛后（我们不可能做到），才突然来了兴趣的人最好还是躺好别起来了，卡车要进城了。

In its early stages, there was clear evidence of emotions running high amongst the Spanish fans who were the Lab's guinea pigs and subtle differences of brain activity when visually similar things occurred -- for example, anger at a miss elicited a different emotion to anger at a foul committed against their team. Plans are underway to further develop the technology in time for the finals by adding audio analyses, heart rate counts, and skin conductivity measurements; similar to those used in lie detectors. In addition, the raw data is likely to be released into the public domain, so that other researchers can dig for hidden patterns and make their own conclusions.

在早些的阶段，我们在充当实验室小白鼠的西班牙球迷身上找到了很明晰的证据，他们群情激昂的时候，当他们看到一些熟悉的场景的时候，他们大脑的活动会有细微的差别。比如，对错失得分机会愤怒和对自己队伍遭受犯规的愤怒是不一样的。现在夏普正进一步的计划在总决赛时间段加入音频分析，心率变异，皮肤电测量等技术，就像是测谎仪一样。另外，原始的数据将向公众公开，其他的研究人员也可以挖掘隐藏的模式，作出自己的结论。

The plan is for the app to be a dynamic tool; by asking questions throughout the tournament, it should be possible to observe how fans' optimism will rise and fall. A Rooney red card may make England's supporters lose heart; a kind group draw may reverse that (the Spanish could probably lose half their first team, enter a "group of death" and still feel pretty confident).

该计划是一个动态的应用程序。通过在小组赛中询问的问题，可以观察球迷的乐观精神是上升还是下降。鲁尼得了一个红牌就可能让英格兰球迷失去希望；一个良好的分组则可以把情况反过来。（西班牙队失去了他们一半的一线队员，还被分进了“死亡之组”，但是他们仍然感到信心满满。）

In addition, it should cast light on the perennial question of what it actually means to be a fan -- the English glorification of demonstrable commitment (traveling to away games makes you more of a real fan) may be a parochial notion. Football is a world game, and perhaps to be a true fan for everyone else lies in never losing hope no matter how bad the situation, rather than clocking up the air miles to Poland and Ukraine.

另外，它还关注了一个常年争论不休的问题：什么才是真正的球迷。那种看得到的承诺式的英格兰荣光（追随球队前往客场似乎让你更像一个真正的球迷）也许是一种狭隘的观念，足球是世界的游戏，也许一个真正的球迷，应该是无论情况多么糟糕，也从未对球队失去希望，而不是只为球队贡献上从波兰到乌克兰的航空里程数。