Thank you for joining us for episode 390 of Live Happy Now.

If you're a sports fan or you know someone who is, you're going to love today's guests.

I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and this week I have the pleasure of sitting down with David

Secoriac and Ben Valenta, authors of the new book, Fans Have More Friends.

These two strategy and analytics experts are diehard sports fans

who set out to prove their hypothesis

that being a sports fan leads to happiness.

Their research proved them right,

and this week they're here to talk about

why cheering on your favorite team

is doing more for you than you might have realized.

David and Ben, welcome to live Happy Now. Thanks for having us. Happy to be here. Well, this is exciting because this is something

we have not touched on at Live Happy, which is unusual. It feels like a lot of things we've looked at

from so many different angles, but not fandom. And, you know, sports are such a huge part of our culture.

And I don't think we've ever touched on how it really affects us psychologically.

So I guess, for starters, how did the two of you meet and how did you decide to write a book about this?

Our relationship goes way back.

We've been working together for, I don't know,

12, 10, 12 years.

And we've always been kind of collaborators

and like-minded in how we see the world

and have been working in the sports business

...