Are You Genetically Predisposed to Root for a Particular Team?

Of course not.

But with World Cup hysteria taking over much of the world (even causing a minor earthquake in Mexico), with no US team to root for, many Americans aren’t interested.

To try to generate some excitement and impetus for people to root for a particular country, 23andMe, the innovative DNA and ancestry research firm, is trying a new marketing trick – why not pick a team based on your genetic roots?

If you can’t pick who to root for, why not pick a team with whom you might share some genetic affinity?

Apparently, some think that this isn’t so simple. Art Caplan, director of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, argues that this is a form of racism, since

There is no correlation between genetics and who is a member of a nation’s soccer team.  People from many ethnic and racial backgrounds play for many nations. There is no Argentinian or Croatian team genotype. And why would information about your genetic ancestry lead you to root for a particular athlete or team? How about the team’s skill, not their skin color or biological makeup?

While that’s true, often, there is no correlation whatsoever between a fan and the team they root for. Take a poll as to why people root for a particular team and you’ll likely get a variety of answers, ranging from living in the same city / state, originating from a common city / state, liking the team colors, being a fan of a particular player, choosing the underdog, or being a front runner, just to name a few.

Regardless of which method you use (or use none at all), you are almost certainly not making a moral claim as to the particular superiority of that city, state, uniform color, or athletic ability (or lack thereof). Why should it all of a sudden change when you pick a team that represents a country from which your ancestors may have descended?

It’s true that there is a lot of misinformation about what DNA ancestry tests can tell us. And it’s also true that genetics don’t determine who plays for a particular team or even who are the current citizens of a particular country.

What genetics can tell you is the likelihood that your ancestors came from a particular region of the world. If it’s ‘perfectly acceptable’ to root for a team because of such arbitrary reasons that I like the color of their mascot or happen to currently live in a particular country, why do I suddenly become a racist if I choose to root for a country where it’s possible that a great-great-great uncle of mine may have once lived?