Chris Jones, a writer for Grantland.com and Esquire magazine, recently wrote a piece on sports fans' use of the word "we" when describing their favourite team. As in "Hey, we won last night!" or "I'm really glad we didn't blow that lead last night" or "Man, I'm glad we fired that deadbeat Mike Milbury."

Jones is pretty adamant in his stance on the issue: "Here's the deal: If you don't play for, or you are not an employee of, the team in question, 'we' is not the pronoun you're looking for. 'They' is the word you want." - via Grantland.com

It's a concept that I endorse. It's weird to associate yourself so personally with a team that you have no actual association with other than a one-way emotional bond. You didn't have any influence on the outcome of the game, so you can't say "we".

But it isn't quite so simple. There's actually science behind fans' use of "we".