Most sports fans are attached to teams from the city they're from. I know a bunch of guys from the Bay Area who are die hard Golden Warrior fans. I have a buddy from Atlanta who doesn't totally watch sports, but feels an affinity to the Falcons and Hawks. I know a classical violinist who I never thought would watch sports but still speaks of the Rick Adelman era fondly -- she's from Sacramento and still watches the Sacramento Kings.
I'll give you another reason why sports is important to people. The human need to feel bigger than we are. Nobody likes to feel small. Or, should I say, no one likes to be reminded how downright microscopic they really are. You were a sperm in your dad's balls that fought 200,000 other sperms to arrive at your mom's egg. You got in. The other 199,000 got second place. Now, you're a human being existing amongst billions with aspirations to evolve in a universe that contains 170 billion galaxies.
This need for evolution could come in the form of 1) a career 2) having children who can learn from you wisdom and add to it or 3) simply having an itch to evolve... or you can call this, feeling unsatisfied with your life. Welcome back to "The 33 Strategies of Sports", a concoction of Robert Greene's masterful book and sports history. This week...
THE GROUP MORALE
The Detroit Lions are the worse franchise in the NFL. They have not won a title since 1957. They're the only team that lost all 16 games in one season. They experienced a brief light last year and during the Barry Sanders era. Sanders retired early, even though he was close to the all time rushing record. It wasn't worth getting battered for such a doomed franchise, where the few fans that are there have were seen with paper bags on their heads.
The highlight for Detroit football fans used to be the Thanksgiving Game, which they get to host every year -- but usually lose. And once in a while, the NFL threw them a bone and and let them host Superbowl. Such was the case with Supebowl XL, in which the Seattle Seahawks faced The Pittsburgh Steelers. This was a neutral enough site between the states of Pennsylvania and Washington. But the hungry Detroit fans needed something more. And they got it in the form of Jerome Bettis.
Bettis was the Steelers running back who was likely going to retire after this game. He was once a feared back but there was a reason he wanted to retire. He was getting old and his skills were fading fast. In fact, he had a key fumble in the divisional playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts -- it nearly cost the Steelers the game, but they held on to win. Later, Bettis would tell his teammates, "just get me to Detroit". Bettis was 33, ancient for a running back. But he was born in Detroit and was rated the top football player in the Detroit Free Press as a teenager. Now, he would return home for what was potentially the last football game of his life.
All week, the papers, on TV, the internet proclaimed the return of Detroit's son. The Detroit fans now had something to root for. Bettis became their Messiah for one game. For any Detroit native, the Steelers would be the Lions for one game.
Yes, their son Bettis knew what they felt like in Detroit. A blue collar city hit by hard times. Unlike the Seattle elite. The conceited, coffee drinking society, the home of Starbucks -- they thought they were better than everyone. Just look at Seattle quarterback, Matt Hassellbeck, a product of Massachusetts. Here was a guy who had everything handed to him, including his job. With these two stories dominating the media, the Supebowl became a war between the blue collar workers vs. the socialites.
When the Seahawks entered Ford Field on February 5,2006, they showered with boos. Every color in the stadium was black and yellow (the color of the Steelers). In an arena where the stage was supposed to be neutral, the Seahawks became the first team to experience playing against a home crowd. While, the Steelers would be cheered like national heroes.
The Seahawks were facing not just the Steelers but 70,000 fans that wanted their heads on sticks - and played far below their abilities. By the third quarter, the Steelers were up 14-3. When Seattle field kicker Josh Brown chocked on two field goals, the fans erupted with delight.
But the Seahawks had the best record that year (13-3). They were built for a championship (Coach Mike Holmgren had led the Green Bay Packers to a championship 10 years before). They would eventually wake up, especially since the Steelers were not playing that well themselves. Especially, their rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was clearly in over his head.
In fact, a mistake by Roethlisberger would ignite Seattle's come back. With the game nearly wrapped up, Ben threw an interception on the 6 yard line to Seahawks defensive back Kelly Herndon -- who returned the ball 76 yards. This lead to a Seattle touchdown. The score was now 14-10, Pittsburgh.
In the fourth quarter, the fans became more restless. 70,000 would not accept a Steelers defeat. Detroit had experienced too much hardship. They needed this game and were not quiet about it. They were upset that the Seahawks were now in position to take the lead. Hasselbeck had managed to get the ball to the Steelers 19 yard line. On the next play, Hasselbeck tossed an 18 yard pass to tight end Jerramy Stevens, bringing them to the one yard line. The fans became cataclysmic. Imagine how ear-splitting King Kong fucking Godzilla would be. That loud. Good thing referee Bill Leavy called holding on the Seahawks, negating the play -- as the angry crowd cheered him on.
Two plays later, Hassellbeck threw an interception at the 5 yard line to Steelers defensive back Ike Taylor. Hassellbeck managed to tackle Taylor on the 29 yard line, but Leavy called another penaltly. For blocking below the waist. Giving the Steelers the ball at the 44 yard line. The crowd became a sea of delight. And four plays later, the Steelers put the game away, scoring the last touchdown of the game, winning 21-10.
Through all the hoopla, it was hardly noticed that Detroit's son Jerome Bettis had not played particularly well, failing to enter the end zone and rushing a paltry 43 yards. Still, he was holding a trophy at the end.
INTERPRETATION
On August 7,2010, five years after Superbowl XL referee Bill Leavy said,"I will go to my grave with regret. I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter and I impacted the game, and as an official you never want to do that". The instant replays had clearly shown there no "holding" had taken place and also that Hassellbeck had not made a tackle below the waist. They were phantom calls.
Leavy caved into the pressure of 70,000 Detroit fans. Every human being on Earth is contagious in some way, but in a sporting event, they're very, very contagious, especially if you think a super mob will tear you apart.
Hines Ward won the MVP award, but the Steelers public relationships team were the true MVPs. The PR team poured stories of Bettis being Detroit's son and trashed Seattle's elitist, coffee drinking society. In truth, the city of Seattle is as blue collar as Pittsburgh. Where Pittsburgh is steel town, Seattle is considered timber town. Coffee drinking sounds stuck up, but really, even poor people drink it. But it sounds stuck up, doesn't it? The Steelers PR team ran with that. And the people of Detroit bought it hook, line and sinker, giving the Steelers the greatest home field advantage in Superbowl history. 90% of the crowd waved a terrible towel (the yellow cloth that represents the Steelers) and basically took the game with the force of 60,000.
Any project you do is practically worthless (even with money behind it), unless you can create an "aura" that makes it bigger than it is. People are decaying, weak entities that, if lucky, will live 80-100 years, pissing on themselves in their dying days. Don't remind them of that. Working a crappy office job reminds people of this. Let's face it, working most jobs does. When people say they want to do what they love most for a living, they're really saying, they want to evolve, they want to have a purpose, because, when you do something you hate, you feel small and sperm-like (like you once were in you dad's balls). When you do what you love, you work with the strength of ten people. And in turn, you are bigger than yourself. The Chinese call this "Ch'i", which means "energy flow". Like money, like blood, if energy doesn't flow, it hardens and decays, then dies.
Any project, however banal you think it is, can be taken to the next level if you can build some kind of crusade around it. If people were to stop and think how empty and answerless this world really was, they would wind up in a mental institution. Thinking the opposite way -- that they are children of destiny -- gives them a chance to evolve. Why not let them do so in your project?
The Pittsburgh Steelers were the first team in Superbowl history to win the big game with less yards, less time of possession, less first downs and more turnovers than their opponent. Roethlisberger passed for 123 yards, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions (a green monkey could get better statistics). But Ben played in a team of destiny and walked out of Detroit victorious. The people of Detroit proved that people that don't have a sense of purpose need it in a bad way -- and that power was used by the Steelers to surf the wave of victory.
REVERSAL
Morale works both ways. You can infuse your group with passion and intensity because those emotions are contagious. But bad emotions -- like malaise and mistrust -- are also contangious. If you discover someone like this on your team, get rid of them. Fast. Or it will spread like wildfire. Bill Bellichick never hesitates this practice. Randy Moss talked shit about his team and was gone two weeks later, regardless of his prodigious talents. The right psychology is your team's greatest value. Guard it well.
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