Fever Pitch

As the first wave winds down, sports are chomping at the bit to break out of the Corona cocoon. 

One of the things that many have missed the most during this time has been sports - missing the distractions that sports provide.

Why are we so obsessed by sports? As Jerry Seinfeld famously said, ultimately, we're just rooting for laundry. Cheering on our beloved red team against the blue, yellow, green, whatever other color team. Our loyalty is to the jersey for if there’s a trade, we cheer on the player we used to boo and vice versa. 

In modern times, hardly anyone is from the location they're representing, just further reinforcing the mercenary nature of it. 

There has to be something more to it. There has to be a reason it engages us so much and toys with us like we're a voodoo doll. Many atheists have found religion during a sporting event - it's this powerful?

We hitch our emotions to the fortunes of our team as they take us on a roller coaster of a ride with them. We're happy to take the crushing lows in return for the dizzying highs although no lean years for the bandwagon fans.

We spend hours analyzing, discussing and listening to news related to the game. We even make up our own teams via fantasy sports. We adorn ourselves in clothes pertaining to our teams and buy merchandise emblazoned with the team’s logo.

On the day of the game, it’s all we can think about. If you’re lucky enough to go to the game, you’re planning the logistics to the minute. Whether it’s the theme music of the telecast or a baseball player’s walk-up music, there is music that we only associate with sports. 

Not just music. Among other things, we also associate numbers and cities with sports.

Names? How many kids are named after some sort of sports connection? How many people set a sports related password?

How many choose a holiday destination based on a sporting event that will happen nearby at the same time?

Every minute of the weekend fits around the sports schedule.

If you want to go to dinner it will have to be between 6:48 and 7:13. Just hope there’s no overtime.

Then there are those superstitious fans who believe their team's fate rest on them. I have to eat the same meal I always eat before a game, I have to wear the same clothes, and I must sit in the same seat otherwise we have no chance. If we lose, it's all because of me!

This time of year is usually NBA/NHL playoffs - when your team navigates its way through 3 knockout rounds onto the finals, it’s magical. When two months of playoffs culminate in your team going one step further and winning it all, it’s a time of your life to be remembered fondly forever.

Sports fans tell time by seasons. 

What year did you move house?

It was the summer the Celtics beat the Lakers and Chelsea lost the Champions League final to Manchester United. 2008 

So many live in a 24/7 sports world only visiting the real one in between seasons. 

With no sport, The Last Dance, the Michael Jordan documentary has taken on a new dimension. It would always have been big, but just like #23 himself, it's gone to a different level. 

It’s got me thinking about the athlete as a person. The court or the field is the office for the professional athlete. Once it's full time, are they allowed to live the rest of their day in peace? What sort of privacy is an athlete entitled to? The same as you or me? It’s not newsworthy when we go shopping so why should it be when they do it?

There are those who will say - it’s all part of the bargain. For the millions they’re paid they in return have to pay the price via the loss of privacy and all that comes with this. Unable to walk down the street without being mobbed - many would reply for x million a year they earn, what's a bit of inconvenience?

The public’s worship of the celebrity can be so strong that it can even extend to family members of the athlete. 

Loss of privacy is one thing but there’s also the incessant need of the media to expect that every athlete must be a role model.

Why isn't an athlete free to make personal lifestyle choices without becoming the center of a public debate? Why do strangers feel they have the right to comment? The reality is that apart from watching this person play basketball or rugby or golf or whatever else, you don't know them at all.

Athletes are made out to be purer than fresh snow and all-round amazing people - maybe when the cameras are on. They say you should never meet your heroes. That’s because of the dissonance one may experience when meeting a celebrity. The celebrity may be having a bad day, be in the middle of something private, trying to sleep on a plane, talking to someone else, or anything else and just doesn’t want to be interrupted or bothered. They snap, are rude and instead of the million dollar smile, you get a glare. Who’s the one being unreasonable here?

It’s a Ponzi scheme of hero worship orchestrated by the media and brands. 

No where did we see this more than with Tiger Woods who was placed on a pedestal and then knocked off it by the same entities who put him there!!

As for the personal lives and hypocrisy of those pointing the fingers?? It doesn’t seem to matter.

I’m not condoning bad behavior in any way, but if an athlete has an affair, cheats on his/her taxes, or does anything else that has the moral police in a frenzy, why does that make him/her less effective in endorsing cars, watches or drinks? A bank can’t have someone who tweets erratically as a spokesman? Last time I checked; the moral compass of most banks is just about as broken as can be. 

Athletes don't ask to be deified and they definitely don't ask to be cut down to size when they exercise poor judgement. Not everyone in the world is good at everything - so while an athlete is good at swimming fast or hitting a ball, why is there the expectation they will be as equally adept at everything else in life?

For society to expect an athlete to be a great spouse, great parent, great person, great on social media, model citizen, patience of a saint despite a million things to do, and great team mate all the time - this isn't a tad unrealistic?

While we own a lot of team merchandise, just because the athlete is wearing our team’s logo, doesn’t mean we also own them. 

What role does sport play in your life? How much do you miss it?

What do you feel about the standards to which athletes are held?

============

I'm always here to help my readers however I can. If anyone wants to talk, wants help building their LinkedIn Profile, writing their resume, working on their online brand, etc, please be in touch! 

If you would like to subscribe to receive an email notification whenever I write something at LinkedIn, click on the subscribe button up in the top right of the page.

You can find my archive of LinkedIn articles written here