Give Your Fans a Reason to Cheer
Last weekend, I was lucky enough to score free Round 2 tickets to the NCAA tournament as BSU. (I knew keeping in touch with grade-school boyfriend would pay off someday!) The seats were decent, the atmosphere was fantastic, and the teams… Well, the teams weren’t any that I really had any feelings for. I was ready to be dazzled and converted into a fan by men playing their hearts out for a chance at the Sweet Sixteen. The energy of Marquette made me side with the Golden Eagles right away, and when they brought the score to 6-0 right away, I was feeling good about big blue.
And then they started missing layups. Easy layups. And the ball got turned over for stupid errors. And they missed free throws—are you kidding me? Aside from a couple of truly sweet dunks, there wasn’t much to cheer for until they climbed their way out of a 15-point deficit. As Marquette missed easy plays (and eventually lost the game on a truly pointless error), I couldn’t help but realize that becoming a fan of a team, a person, or an enterprise is truly a two-way street. If you want people to root for you, you’ve got to give them good reasons. Whether you’re a blogger working to build an audience or an employee looking for recognition, that simple truth stands.
Master Your Fundamentals
It’s excruciating to watch someone screw up fundamentals. Most people make allowances for stressful situations and simple bad luck, but when you screw the pooch on the easy stuff, you make it hard for people to cheer for you. After all, if you don’t care enough to practice your free throws for hours, why should anyone else care whether you make it or not? If you want a fan base, master the fundamentals of your craft. This may mean studying up on your grammar or just learning to use the office copy machine without breaking it. Put in the hours and the effort to become a solid contributor. You don’t even have to be a superstar, as long as you can handle the basics of your trade with consistency and without fuss. (And for goodness sake, if you’re inbounding the ball, don’t step out of bounds.)
Don’t Be a Flopper
There are few things fans hate worse than a habitual flopper. Floppers take an essential part of the game, physical contact, and try to turn it to their advantage by setting themselves up as victims. These are the guys who get shoved a bit, fall on the floor with excessive drama, and throw up their hands and cry about it, hoping to draw an offensive foul. It doesn’t help that in many cases, floppers get calls in their favor. In the end, though, there’s nothing to cheer for when a player paints himself as a helpless victim to earn a foul shot. Crowds cheer for players who take nasty hits and still make the shot or get the block. If you want to develop an ardent fan base, consider forgoing the dramatics for slam dunks.
Believe in Your Ability
No one wants to root for the kid who runs off the court after a bad play, yanks his jersey out of his shorts, and hangs his head between his knees. That kid doesn’t believe he has it in him to change the game. That guy who got skidmarks on his shoulders hustling for a ball heading out of bounds? Even if he doesn’t save the play, that guy is easy to cheer for. You can’t expect a crowd to win your game for you. When push comes to shove, you’ve got to believe in your own abilities enough to lay them out there with no excuses. When you do that, whether you fail or succeed, it’s hard not to root for you.
Alright, now hit the showers! If you’ve any insights, arguments, or bad sports puns to go along with this, please drop into the comments!
photo credit: Kevin Coles
photo credit: DeusXFlorida
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This post has 10 comments
March 27th, 2009
Good stuff, and a good example of how we can take anything in life, and find lessons.
March 27th, 2009
Hey Sara,
Marquette is big around these parts!! So, it was a rough loss and game to watch. I missed the sad ending as I was driving home from…another basketball game. I have a soccer team I coach, and do I have certain kids I prefer? Definitely. The kids that hustle, never give up, don’t complain, take responsibility, and act like they really want to play and play as a team. And this “stuff” all rolls over to life outside of sports too.
Lances last blog post..Sunday Thought For The Day
March 27th, 2009
Some of the things I’ve learned from sports as a high school and college athlete:
1) You can’t win them all, but you never know which ones you will win. Put your maximum best effort into everything.
2) Nobody starts as an expert. There’s always a learning curve.
3) Someone will always be better, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be good.
4) Focus, preparation, study, discipline and practice will maximize whatever natural talents and skills you have.
5) Fatigue makes cowards of all of us. (my favorite Vince Lombardi quote)
6) Potential is nothing if it isn’t backed up by performance
7) You don’t have to like the players on your team, but you do have to mesh with them if you want to win.
9)Success is fleeting. You can only stay at the top of your game for so long before Father Time steals everything.
10) Intelligence, hard work and discipline can partially compensate for a difference in natural talent
11) It’s easy being a winner, but real character comes in dealing with losing.
12) No fear. No matter how well or poorly you perform, the sun will still rise, so be fearless on the field.
13) Whining is for babies.
14) There are going to be times, that no matter how well you prepared, no matter how good you are, you’re gonna lose. That’s the nature of sports. Deal with it and move on to the next game/season/activity.
15) Real superstars make everyone on their team better players.
16)It’s good to be excellent when everything goes right, but many times, it’s greater to be merely decent when the world is falling apart around you
This is just some of the things I’ve learned from my days as a Water Polo goalie in both high school and Division IAA.
March 27th, 2009
“That guy who got skidmarks on his shoulders hustling for a ball heading out of bounds? Even if he doesn’t save the play, that guy is easy to cheer for.”
You would have loved the University of Oregon in the early 70’s. Dick Harter coached what was then called “Kamikaze Basketball”, played by the “Kamikaze Kids” in “The Pit”, known officially as MacArthur Court.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McArthur_Court
Even in their heyday, UCLA was never better than .500 there. Bill Walton called it the “worst place to be the visiting team”. Gene Bartow, John Wooden’s successor, called U of O fans, “deranged idiots”.
March 27th, 2009
Hi Sara,
Thank you for taking a game of basketball and turning it into a great example of how we can learn from anything that comes across our path. I love it!
In my eyes, an expert (or someone who has mastered their fundamentals) often give the appearance that what they are doing is easy but that is because of all the time spent mastering their craft.
Nadia-Happy Lotuss last blog post..Don’t Mess With Mother Nature
March 27th, 2009
I just wanted to say I’m not a sports fan at all, but I really dug this post. Thanks as always!
Christophers last blog post..Where the Wild Things Are – Movie Trailer
March 27th, 2009
If you remain positive, the disease will spread.
So always remember to smile.
Marc and Angel Hack Lifes last blog post..A Miracle Cure for Stress
March 28th, 2009
We can accomplish so much more when we believe in our ability!
Sagans last blog post..Poll: Identifying Food Vices
March 29th, 2009
I especially love your rule about not being a flopper! My husband complains about that all the time when watching certain sports, so I smiled when you said the same thing!
Taylor at Household Management 101s last blog post..Mar 23, How To Clean A Toilet
March 29th, 2009
Just watched Tiger win the Arnold Palmer Classic with a killer putt. Everyone in the room started clapping and cheering when he sank it—that’s the kind of extra effort and self-belief that makes people want you to win. I think a lot of us could stand to have a bit of Tiger’s attitude and passion!
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