All it takes is a Sunday of watching football to realize how judgy I am. I’m not proud of it, but I did find myself making unfair judgements about teams, players, coaches and fans based on what I saw on TV. (As a point of reference, I’m an NFL sideline reporter and rarely have an entire Sunday to watch football but the Seahawks played Saturday and lost so I had a day on the couch to watch football.)

I’ve spent 20+ years in locker rooms and I love my guys, but I can understand why opposing fans might not feel the same way about all the players I’ve covered. I also know from personal experience that getting to know players (i.e. people) on a personal level makes a huge difference. Being willing to engage and cultivate a relationship is the difference between being skeptical and becoming a full-blown fan. 

Let me sum up this personal revelation by saying this – you choose the relationships you have with the people around you. You can choose to get to...

Football is too violent for some people. Baseball is slow for others. Hockey doesn’t make sense to one group of fans while basketball and soccer has never been an interest to others.

You don’t have to share the same opinion about sports as everyone else, but you should consider respecting others for their opinion. You might think the conversation is just about sports, but it’s also a chance to practice conversation skills (and maybe empathy) that’s needed in business conversations. You don’t have to agree but try to talk (and listen) to other sports fans this week using these sports conversation starters.

Happy New Year!

It’s the time of year we typically start new habits and routines. You’re already used to glancing through this weekly list of sports conversation starters, but maybe you add one new thing to your Monday morning routine. It could be paying more attention (like actually reading the headline) of a sport you typically overlook. Or maybe you commit to initiating one more sports conversation a week.

Sports fandom doesn’t have to be time consuming. Sports conversations don’t have to be intense. Both fandom and sports small talk can be useful in relationship building at work. Here are topics you can use this week.

During this holiday season I hope there are more conversations with family and friends than colleagues this week, but regardless of who you encounter these sports conversation starters can help get the conversation going.

I call them conversation starters, but sometimes you don’t feel like talking. Or maybe you can’t get word in edgewise with your family. Or maybe none of your friends want to talk sports at the holiday gathering.

You can use the information in the weekly list to start conversations, but it’s just as effective in helping build your sports knowledge base. I intentionally build on storylines and keep coming back to specific names, teams and milestones to increase familiarity. It shouldn’t feel like you’re starting over every week. That’s discouraging. I want you to feel like you’re adding to what you’ve already heard about.

Whether you’re talking sports or just staying up to date on the latest sports headlines making news this list is for you.

You don't have to stick to sports. You can use sports small talk as a jumping off point for other conversations.

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll did that with his team last week when showing World Cup highlights during a team meeting. Pete used soccer to spark conversations about competition, geography (actually showing them a map of where is county is located) and world events. 

He used something familiar - like competition and sports - to spark conversations that went beyond the pitch and the field.  

You don’t have to stick to sports when using any of this week’s conversation starters. See where this list of topics takes you in small talk.

For as much as sports brings people together, sports fans don’t always agree. There’s a lot of fun, light-hearted, healthy debates around sports that don’t mean all that much in the end (because at the end of the day does it really matter who gets ranked in the Top 4 in college football?) 

You don’t always have to agree. In fact, disagreeing and practicing a healthy back-and-forth is a good conversation skill to develop.

These sports conversation starters can help you with that this week.

Talking sports is my job. I love looking at the matchups, stats and storylines. I also love how often sports intersects and corresponds to business situations and conversations.

Sports always goes beyond sports if you’re Thinking Outside the Box Scores, which also happens to be the title of my new video series on YouTube. Every week I’ll post a short video that draws a correlation between sports and business.

For example, that project debrief you’re tempted to skip… that’s like a team not going back and looking at film of their game. You can see that video here and while you’re there go ahead and subscribe to my channel (there’s some fun stuff coming up!) And of course make sure you’re using topics like these to spark small talk this week.  

I often mention that more than half of all Americans identify as sports fans. The World Cup helps highlight the magnitude of sports on a global scale because more than 5 billion people are expected to watch the tournament. That means more than half of the global population will be watching. (Insert mind blown emoji here.) Here's a great summary of the talking points around the World Cup.

If we’re being honest, I probably won’t be one of the billions of fans watching World Cup games, but I will follow headlines and highlights so I can talk with people who did. It’s part of using sports to connect with others. Even a passing interest can spark interesting conversations. So can these sports conversation starters.

Travel. See the world. Use sports to connect.

Okay, I’ll admit I’m a little biased and still riding the high of being in Germany with the Seahawks. I have missed overseas travel immensely the last couple years. During the few days I spent in Germany I did my best to soak up the culture before working a football game Sunday. 

Sports was the connection point. Every Uber driver knew there was a big game in town. Every server knew there were football fans around. The buzz sports created gave me a chance to connect. I learned about national sports from four different countries and answered questions about American football. It was amazing to find similarities with people in another part of the world.

It was also a reminder that we are all connected. Through sports. Through life. Through struggles. When I connect with people I see life in different ways. I see similarities instead of differences and I see a clearer path for better communication and stronger...