by Bruce Cook
A few months ago, Front Office Sports tweeted a question asking people what sports they felt were popular, but they couldn't understand why. The responses were varied and covered almost every major sport. Many of the darts thrown at these sports were defended by fans saying "just get to know it and you'll see how great it is". I've been saying that to Brits about the NFL for years.
We've also now seen how the Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive has turned motorsport haters into fans - including me. The F1 fan base now extends beyond the 'traditional' markets and audiences, and rights holders galore are rushing to create a docu-series to emulate this model.
More recently, I decided to watch a bit of the inaugural LIV Golf event from London on YouTube. I can't say I watched a lot of it, but my first reaction was that I just couldn't get into it. I liked the idea of more dynamic scoring graphics and the team concept intrigued me, but I found myself more confused and distracted than engaged. Those look like team logos, but what the hell are they... and where are the team standings...?
So what do I do now? I'm a sports fan, but my first impression of this new thing was negative. Do I jump ship? Do I discard this new approach to a traditional sport as rubbish*? Of course not. That would be foolish - almost childish.
When I was a kid, I had a poster on my wall that was a picture of an exaggeratedly ugly, ogre-like, knuckle-dragging (literally), smiling human holding a small bouquet of wilted flowers with the caption 'To know me is to love me.' I never really knew what it meant, but I liked the picture and figured it must be funny - if not a bit edgy for a 10 year-old. Disappointingly I can't find it on Google...
Although this phrase can be interpreted many ways, the point is typically along the lines of 'if you get to know somthing/someone - you can come to appreciate and even love it/them.' That statement is so obvious and true that I won't waste time championing its worthiness.
And that's what has happened with F1. Through Netflix, they've found a way to get people to come to know the sport and the people involved - to where they now have a new appreciation for something they previously thought they didn't or couldn't like. I imagine that's also where I'll go with LIV Golf - assuming it survives.
This 'get to know it first' concept has been proven to work in sport, so why do we so often forget this principle when it comes to people? If there is someone with an opinion or a viewpoint that we disagree with, why do we so often write them off as an idiot? Our sports analogy says that if there are a significant number of people who think this way or agree with this initially perceived 'nut-job', rather than berate them or more subtly write them off, the wiser approach would be to first learn a bit more about why they think the way they do.
Think about it this way. If the perceived nut-job really is just that, now you'll have the proof. On the other hand, if your investigation opens your eyes to something you've previously been unaware of, you may just join the 'former' nut-job in his/her viewpoint. However, both of those outcomes are unlikely.
The most likely outcome is that a bit of true knowledge provides you with some level of appreciation (not necessarily agreement) with the other point of view so that you can go on to have a mature adult discussion about how to move things forward in a positive way. Wow, can that really happen?
As with almost everything I say and write, this is not an original concept. Stephen Covey probably said it best in my favourite of his 7 Habits. Number 5 says 'Seek first to understand, then to be understood.' I can't tell you how many times that I've employed that reminder over the past 30+ years...
Now, can someone please explain to me what is going on in the ruck?
* I say 'rubbish' now that I've lived in the UK for 20+ years. I've evolved. Feel free to replace with 'garbage' if that makes you more comfortable.
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