While sports is not for everybody, it is up there with television and politics as frequent water-cooler conversation. While everybody should be able to enjoy their own conversation topics, sometimes an office group or family or whomever will get into a discussion of sports and non-sports fans feel obligated to back out of the conversation.
Among a few friends it is not the end of the world, but the social aspects of work can impact future career prospects. If two people are equal applicants for a job, the person who is easier to socialize could very well get the nod. And while it is not necessarily fair, a rudimentary knowledge of sports can be a difference-maker in getting that promotion at work.
Sports 101 is here to help you. I am a die-hard sports fan, but over the years I've found that I can do a good job explaining sports to non-sports fans. Whether it be explaining big news from the night before, or breaking down watching a baseball game, my non-sports fans friends don't feel overwhelmed by the information I convey to them.
You could search the Internet for information, but if you don't know specifically what you're looking for, how can you know when you've found the pertinent information? That's why I want to use word of mouth to spread this. If you have a friend whom you trust who told you about me, it will give me more credibility than if you just googled "tell me about sports".
My plan is to provide some basic background and buzzwords to help you get through a conversation. Consider me a sports version of Cyrano de Bergerac! I am not aiming to turn you into a sports expert, but rather, give you a chance to be a productive part of the conversation.
It might help if I give you an example from last night.
You might hear some discussion about the NBA, and the Warriors and Spurs. The NBA (basketball) is in the middle of their annual playoffs. The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Golden State Warriors (based in Oakland, CA) last night in the second round of the playoffs, eliminating them from the playoffs (the Spurs won a best-of-7 series 4 to 2). Rather than go into details about the game, here are some basics:
- Although the Spurs won the series, a lot of the talk is about the Warriors hanging around with them. The Warriors pulled off a big upset in the first round, and most did not expect them to hang around with the Spurs in the second round.
- The Warriors blew a huge lead in game 1, won game 2 and 4 before falling in games 5 and 6
- It was an exhausting series for both teams, with the Warriors in particular dealing with a lot of injuries.
- The most notable player on the Warriors is Stephen (pronounced Steffen) Curry, and he has dealt with ankle injuries throughout his four-year NBA career. He was hobbled at times in the Spurs series, but he still managed to make a big impact
You wouldn't be going into a lot of detail with these sorts of talking points, but they are noteworthy points that take you past just standing there while the others talk.
The idea is to provide basic talking points that will help in most any situation. This can work for events as well.
A lot of offices have group outings to sporting events. If your office is having an outing to a baseball game and you don't know the first thing about baseball, I can give you a few basic talking points about the game of baseball in general, and about the game you are going to, in particular.
This blog will be an initial jumping off point to get people comfortable with the idea. From there, we'll see where it takes us. More to come!
