We want to know, is our sports stars married or who are they dating, and why? If they’re single, sometimes the question is, are they hiding something. We want to know about their religion. We want to know what they are spending their money on, and where they hangout, and who are their friends. We want to know, why in the heck, are they wearing those hideous clothes (our opinion), and for some, where can we by them. They wear them to get our attention, and then, with more popularity, they sign endorsements deals.
Endorsements deals pad a player’s bank account, and often financial validations can make it so, a player may never spend a dime of the salary they make from the team signing their paychecks. All the more reason to bring attention to yourself in sports, it can pay off rather well. It is reported, Marshawn Lynch, now recently retired from the Seattle Seahawks, he has lived off his endorsements, and never spent any of the 50 million he earned on the football field. He clearly marketed himself as being slightly defiant and different. It brought national attention to himself and his team, and national sponsors started knocking at his door with cash in hand.
The basketball swishes from 3-point land or a player leaps high in the air as if, he has wings, and acrobatically dunks so hard other players run to get out of the way. Then we watch these players to see if they’ll do a certain celebration with hand gestures, or an entertaining walk or dance. We talk about the players playing it up for us, as they are watching our excitement that goes beyond the athletic event. Players stamp a brand on their way of showing enthusiasm they will market and often, it has nothing to do with their skill on the playing filed.
We watch teammates fly into the air all to crash into each other but on purpose, and we are excited to watch as they celebrate. There is a dual between a pitcher and a batter, and the batter hits a home run deep into the seats. The batter may toss his bat high in the air as he stands and admire his exploit, and then mocks the pitcher by trotting slowly around the basses. That batter becomes known for his, in your face attitude, and we the fans revel in his brand. He is watching us watch him so he can sell his brand.
The football flies through the air and a man jumps and catches with one hand. It’s a great feat, but we watch to see how he exults themselves. Athletes, when they celebrate we watch them, we want to be a part of the celebration. Athletes and teams want us to be a part of making them even more popular. Showboating or showing too much pleasure in outrivaling an opponent on the sports field at one time, it was frowned upon. Now branding means more money. In the now, sports, commercial success is due in part, for what goes on outside the lines of the original physical event.
We watch them, teams and players, and they watch us to please our need for extending the exhilaration of the action in a sport. It has come down to, if athletes are not celebrating, we're not celebrating. Quite often, somebody might turn their head and miss a great play, but what happens next replaces the need to have seen. The athlete parties in a special way and we join in. The spiking of the ball harder than anyone else, or to throw the ball in the stands, even a player might propel their body into the stands, and we are all watching.
Sports today is more than just what happened between the lines, so much so, we go to the store and online, and purchase items to represent teams and athletes. We give sports related gifts for birthday, Christmas and many other occasions we gift each other. We put our sports affiliations on our cars and houses and mailboxes, and we argue most of the time in good nature.
Sports used to be child’s play
Our children are watching it all. They watch the sports antics and they view us with less mature minds of understanding. Our children act out in their own sports world. Young sports participants have increased negative behaviors. There is a rise of violence, aggressiveness, along with taunting, bullying, mocking, and poor sportsmanship in how they celebrate. Our children are watching sports as adults, and the teams and players are watching all of us to stage their next celebration.
Alvin L.A. Horn multi-award winning best-selling author with Simon and Schuster and Publishing, and Peace in the Storm Publishing
Who's Watching Whom in the Sports World? The Social Game