Fall season in the United States means sports are in high gear. The World Series pits two of the Major League’s best teams against each other while college rivalries, NFL football and the start of the basketball and hockey seasons give sports fans a full plate of sporting options. Though sports are meant to help people unwind from daily life, I propose an interesting question.
What would someone from another country who has never watched sports think if they walked into an American sports bar on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon? While sports lets the masses unwind, it also tends to bring out our less attractive, unrefined primal natures.
Rivalries defined
These primal behaviors can be exacerbated when a long-time rivalry takes place. All rules of general etiquette are off and the game is on! One of the most intense, heated rivalries in all of sports takes place on the college gridiron between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines.
This is no game; this is life. The game of the year every year, regardless of each of the team’s records, the whole season’s success depends on beating the arch rival. Being a lifelong Ohio State Buckeye fan, I can attest to this personally because I live it.
Though us midwestern folks are typically easy going, friendly and generally pleasant, on rivalry Saturday, especially against “that team up north” things can be quite different. Case in point, if your car has a Michigan license plate and you are trying to merge into traffic in Columbus, Ohio, forget about it. It’s not going to happen.
Going into a sports bar is another interesting phenomenon. People of all walks of life share a passion for sports, and your neighborhood sports bar will have a wide assortment of people young and old, rich and poor, with the common denominator being their love of sports.
This group can include doctors, lawyers, CPAs, salespeople, construction workers, drivers, teachers and people from all walks of life. There are no titles or rank in the sports bar; everyone is equal and present for the same purpose.
But an interesting dynamic takes place. For the three or so hours their team competes, many people effectively forget general rules of social etiquette and do things they wouldn’t even consider outside the sports bar.
Fan is short for fanatic
Have you seen fans paint their faces in the colors of their favorite team? Maybe you’ve seen them bring in bobblehead dolls of their team mascot for good luck? Have you heard people chanting “let’s go defense” while pounding on the table? Can you imagine doing that in your place of work or in the grocery store?
In a popular Cleveland Browns-backers bar I used to frequent while living in Florida, we would throw a football around the bar while music played. Whoever had the ball when the music ended earned a free beer, compliments of the bar. Try doing that in church!
The point is that people let their guard down when rooting for their favorite teams. Whether it’s tailgating, at the sports bar, or at their favorite team’s stadium, the guard is not just lowered, but often eliminated.
Watch a Raiders game and not only will many of the fans be dressed in makeup and war gear, some may swear at the TV on the top of their lungs when things don’t go their team’s way.
Can you imagine doing this at a fine restaurant or your child’s school? It all comes down to emotional intelligence and a person’s willingness to lessen its importance for about three hours.
Defining emotional intelligence
According to Psychology Today, emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions. Emotional intelligence encompasses being aware, being able to harness and use emotions for good and the ability to manage emotions, especially your own.
A company leader who is always on an even keel, regardless of what circumstances comes her way, is an example of someone with strong emotional intelligence.
The person screaming obscenities at a TV because his team just threw an interception is a fine example of someone who may be lacking a certain level of emotional intelligence.
Maintaining emotional intelligence
To be successful in any walk of life, especially your work life, maintaining and employing a consistent level of emotional intelligence is paramount. Everyone has a bad moment, a bad day or even a bad week, the key is managing those down times. Temporarily losing control is often referred to as emotional or amygdala hijacking.
The key to being successful is reducing or eliminating these occurrences. Someone who succumbs to these hijacks regularly may not be a good long-term fit within a given company due to an inability to deal with stress. As long as the meltdowns are confined to the sports bar, he or she will have a better chance to succeed in the workplace.
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