Personal Branding and Sports Fandom
Feb 05, 2023
Talking about the outcome of a game is part of being a sports fan. It's also part of your personal brand.
That might not matter so much if you only talk sports with your closest friends. As one of my Instagram followers pointed out, every fan can talk for hours about how terrible the NFL refs/officials have been in recent years.
Here's what I want to point out - if that conversation takes place at a sports bar, tail gate or game itself that's one thing. If it's taking place at work that is an entirely different story. Being emotionally invested as a fan can lead to emotional responses to outcomes, coaching decisions, play calls, etc... That type of response isn't necessarily the message you want to send to colleagues, managers or clients.
As a sports fan you can talk about sports however you want to, but understand you are talking about more than an outcome. If your sports narrative includes consistently blaming the officials for an unfavorable outcome, it's not hard to start wondering who you're willing to blame when things go wrong at work.
When you think outside the box scores you can be as strategic and intentional as you want to be in talking about sports.
