A Coach Who Cares

     What does it take to rise to the top in professional sports? There are over 120 teams total in the four major professional sports leagues in the U.S. (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB). If you add to that all the hundreds of NCAA teams that are also competing throughout the year, there are thousands of teams throughout the country, each led by a coach with a personal coaching philosophy. Whenever you see a coach who achieves dynasty-like consistency and success, people start to notice. They start looking at the coach’s philosophy about the sport and about his players. 

Pete Carroll is one coach who’s gaining a lot of attention not only because of his Seahawks’ trouncing of the Broncos in this years’ SuperBowl, but also because of his unique and unconventional coaching philosophy. His style is so unique, many have a hard time even giving it a title. Carroll himself said he has heard his style “laidback,” “free willy,” and “doing whatever” coaching, among other things.

     So what makes Carroll so unique? Unlike a distant authoritarian kind of coach who wants his players to fear him, Carroll is extremely positive and close with his players. He encourages team closeness through basketball and other activities outside of practice time and even had a basketball court installed near their practice facility. He is also known for playing music in the locker room and blasting Mackelmore during practice. His philosophy is to make each player not only the best player he can be, but the best person he can be. He encourages individuality and using each player’s unique strengths rather than seeking conformity and compliance. These are the principles he has built his team on and obviously it is paying off.

     While many of us are aware of his recent success in turning around the Seattle Seahawks, his record at USC is probably even more impressive because he not only led his team to the top, but he kept them consistently at the top for almost a decade. Many people doubted his ability to be successful when he returned to the NFL because his energetic, positive coaching style seemed more suited to college-level coaching. However, his success with Seattle has got people curious whether such a positive and personal coaching relationship really is going to emerge as the best way to get players and their teams performing at the highest levels. It will be interesting to see whether he can maintain this kind of success as he continues with the Seahawks.

     Many have long debated the balance between focusing on winning and focusing on having fun and developing the players in sports. If Carroll’s approach continues to work, it may soon be that coach-player communication philosophies start to include the possibility that it doesn't have to be one or the other. Having fun and developing positive communication patterns may not only be the best for players, but a winner's recipe.

Gus Malzahn led the Auburn Tigers to the National Championship
 game just one season after they finished with one of the worst records in the SEC.

     If you are interested in what Carroll is doing with his teams, a few other coaches that I thought about writing about because of their unique philosophies are HerbBrooks, Gus Malzahn and Larry Gelwix. It is interesting to see how different each coach's style is and yet look for similarities in their communication philosophies that helped them reach the top.

Parenting in a Viral World

     Wanting children rise to the top in sports is not a new phenomenon among parents. Whether for the love of the game, the notoriety that comes with success or the $$$ to be made in the big leagues, it seems there have always been parents who hope their kids will rise to superstar status. While this is not necessarily a new trend, the rapid growth of social media and other technologies has been a gamechanger. Content sharing sites like YouTube have given the parents a platform to promote their kids’ talents to coaches and recruiters everywhere.

     Is this a good development? Just as with every other technology or development, YouTube child-marketing cannot be considered either entirely good or entirely bad. There are always pros and cons. Some see social media as a great asset to parents and highly recommend using it to distribute videos to potential coaches and recruiters and push their kids into the spotlight. Others urge caution in using media in promoting children and even offer suggestions for doing so correctly and training children on how to respond to media opportunities.

     When I originally thought about this topic for the blog, a few notable examples came to my mind. I thought I’d search to get some information about some of the major child athlete “Youtube sensations.” As I started to search, however, I quickly became overwhelmed with the unbelievably huge collection of child athlete videos out there. A Google search of “youtube child athletes” turned up pages of videos of young “phenoms.” Therefore, in this post, I thought I would pick a handful of examples I have seen from the endless pool of possible stories of child athlete videos going viral. I would like you to notice that these are not high school juniors and seniors being marketed to college recruiters, they are much much younger stars.

Trick Shot Titus

     The first example that came to my memory, and probably one of the more famous is Trick Shot Titus. The young toddler’s trick basketball shots first went viral in a video his parents posted of him making various shots from around the house and yard. His popularity has grown incredibly. His YouTube fame has provided him all kinds of media exposure, including meetings with Shaq, Kobe Bryant, Jimmy Kimmel, Channing Tatum, Salma Hayek and other celebrities. That is pretty impressive for a little guy in diapers.

Sam Gordon

     This story comes from just up the road in Herriman, Utah. After an outstanding season of you football, a highlight video of nine year old Sam Gordon went viral. The video shows young Sam scoring touchdown after touchdown, running right past or right through the boys trying to catch her. Her popularity got her into the news and even an appearance on SportsCenter.

Kai Davis

     This young man’s highlight video was posted on the “DavisGroup4” YouTube channel rips through defenders and has All-Star swagger. All at age eight. It is interesting to read through the comments below the video and see the comments of praised mixed in with harsh criticism. It makes me wonder what getting all those negative messages from strangers all over the place does to the mind of an eight year old. I wonder how much of that negativity is at least partly a reaction to the confidence of the parents who titled the video “Check out the FUTURE: 8-Year-Old Basketball Phenom!!!

Jordan McCabe

     If the title of Kai’s video wasn’t bold enough, how about the title given to this clip of 12 year old Jordan McCabe. “The best 12 old basketball player in the WORLD.” While this kid, like the others is very talented, I do wonder what this kind of recognition (and titles like “best basketball player in the world”) would do to my self-concept.

      We could continue with phenom after phenom. The impact of YouTube child marketing is an area that should probably be further investigated. What happens when parent-child relationships take on the added elements of agent-athlete or marketer-product relationships? How do such expectations affect a boy or girls through childhood and through adulthood? What are the implications for other child-athletes who play on the teams of these YouTube all-stars? How does achieving YouTube all-star status affect sibling and other family relationships? There are all kinds of questions yet to be answered as we try to understand the impacts of social media on communication.

Are Parents Ruining Sports for Kids?

     One of the saddest stories I have heard was the circumstances that led to the death of a high school soccer referee just twenty minutes from where I work. How did he die? One blow to the face with the fist of a disgruntled teenage soccer player dropped him on the field and a week later took his life. Having this take place 
so close to home really got me thinking more seriously about violence and aggression in sports. Where did this young man’s anger problem originate? Although no one can really say, some have argued that parents have become one of the biggest problems in ruining or at least tainting their children’s ability to enjoy the fun of sports and practice good sportsmanship. It seems that parents often react more stupidly to negative outcomes in sports than the players themselves. Maybe this is why one writer suggests that parents are getting in the way of the positive impact sports can have on kids, claiming that these benefits came better to kids in a time where parents more or less stayed out of organizing and overseeing the games.  

     I don’t think it’s fair to place the blame solely on parents for sports violence or dysfunction. I wouldn’t even place most of the blame on them. Sports have probably sparked antisocial behaviors since just about forever. I agree with the sentiments of one writer who argued that parents often receive an unfair proportion of the blame for problems in youth sports. He marveled that one writer would even refer to parents as “the unseemly underbelly of youth sports.” He asks whether parents are really worse than the things that are done by schools, coaches, recruiters, agents and so forth.

     Although I don’t think parents should shoulder the blame, there is no doubt that the parent’s role in sports is a worthy topic for consideration and possible reform. Researchers are seeking to better understand how parents influence their kids’ attitudes and behaviors in sports and many are trying to implement changes to create better sports parents.

     Two recent Deseret News articles highlight the attention sports parents are getting in the news. One discusses a recent finding that athletes whose parents pay more money for their sports activities often feel pressure to perform better and, as a result, are less likely to enjoy participating. The other discusses why many young athletes said they would rather parents not attend their athletic events.

    In an effort to “turn the game back over” to the kids, some leagues have tried to set rules about parent behavior at games. A great example is silent soccer. In some soccer leagues, parents and coaches are only allowed to cheer their team with nonverbal actions like clapping. This is meant to prevent parents or coaches from pressuring the kids and to allow the kids to be the ones figuring out how the game will go.

     While we can all agree that there are some crazy and inappropriate parents out there, we should not forget that there are many parents out there who are doing a great job. There are many young athletes who are getting the benefits that come from sports because their parents are teaching them how to do it right. This is definitely an issue where discussion needs to continue and improvements need to be made, but let’s not see only the dark side of sports parenting. There is a lot of good to see too. 

Supporting Your Team to the Death...Literally

     At 10:27 PM last night I got a text from my dad. “LA Kings Stanley Cup champions.” This text came just seconds after I had watched Alec Martinez scored the cup-clinching goal in double overtime. The last few years have been fun because the Kings have been a dominant team in the NHL. My dad has been a fan of the team since I can remember, but has never had much to celebrate because of their lack of success. Maybe that’s why a couple weeks ago I decided to buy him an LA Kings hat for father’s day. He has so long been a supporter of a losing team that I thought it would be nice for him to be able to have something to identify him with the winning team. I wonder whether this gift would have come to my mind had the King’s continued to lose.

     I am not the only one who pays more attention to a winning record. Valued at $450 million, the King’s value change from 2012 to 2013 was +63%. As of last November, they were valued as the 10^th most valuable team in the NHL. I am not sure exactly how big of an impact a winning has on faniship, but I know it's at least some.

     I remember once reading an article in which the author cited a florist who noticed that when a team was winning games and titles, he received more orders for flower arrangements based on the team colors and logos. For examples, he noticed a sudden increase in orders for green and gold funeral flower arrangements after the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl.

     I thought it was interesting that in probably the most identity-based settings in our society, a funeral, friends and family would associate the deceased with the teams they supported. I thought it was even more interesting that at least some were more likely to feel it appropriate to connect the identity of the deceased to a team if that team was winning. This is a huge statement to the power of sports in influencing and even creating identity.

     It makes you think about what people would remember about you when you die. If they were asked to speak about you to a room full of people who barely knew you, would your connection to a sport or a team be one of the first things that comes to mind? The powerful way sports influences identity and self-perception is fascinating.

     I am not exactly sure all the reasons my dad has been such a King’s supporter all these years, part of it is probably his California upbringing and another part of it the era where Gretzky made the Kings contenders. 

     Research will surely continue in sports and communication because owners and managers want to understand what makes a team a part of a fan’s identity. They want to know the how LA Kings become so important in a fan’s life that even their funeral is dressed in black, white and silver.

Starving All-Stars

Click here to see the video of Napier's Interview

Because winning a National Championship is a newsworthy achievement for any team, it was no surprise that the media devoted a lot of coverage to the UConn men's basketball team in the hours and days following their victory over the University of Kentucky last April. What was surprising, however, was that an enormous amount of that coverage wasn’t focused on the actual title game or even the teams’ athletic achievement.
Many of the stories about UConn the morning after the championship game focused instead on a claim made by MVP Shabazz Napier. In a televised interview, Napier revealed that he and other student athletes often went to bed starving. He further discussed his opinions about student-athlete compensation in the NCAA. These comments became a central topic in much of the postgame coverage. Of course, Napier’s comments were just one part of the ongoing discussion of student-athlete treatment by the NCAA.
     Another story posted earlier today discussed a similar claim made by former UConn basketball star who claimed that he would have stayed in collegiate sports his senior year if the NCAA would have allowed student-athletes to be paid. 
     These are just a few examples of the major debates taking place about the role of money in amateur sports. Superstar quarterback Johnny Manziel also made headlines when accusations arose that he received money for autographing memorabilia. Northwestern students and alumni argued that athletes were actually employees and should be entitled to benefits. The Ed O’Bannon trial is currently underway, in which former athletes are seeking to overturn or at least alter NCAA rules about the treatment of student athletes.
     With the billions of dollars being made in college sports, it is no wonder that many are concerned about the lack of compensation for athletes. Of course there are thought-provoking arguments on both sides of the conversation and it’s not likely this debate will be resolved anytime soon.

The 12th Man

     This spring, the Riverton High girl’s lacrosse team played Park City for the state title in Park City and lost. As I talked with some of the Riverton girls about the loss, I asked them out of casual curiosity why the game was played on the other team's home field in Park City. I wondered whether it was based on the season record or some other criteria. I noticed almost immediately that it was a sore topic. The rumor among them was that the Park City girls’ parents paid a bunch of money to the Lacrosse association to have the finals on their home field. While this rumor may or may not be the truth, it does illustrate how important the home field can be to athletes.

The desire a fan has to influence 
his team’s performance might be explained by the finding that many fans feel their identity is tied to “their team.” For some fans, this connection is deeply rooted. A fan may even feel increased or decreased self worth based on the outcome of the game. Some fans are not content just to watch and cheer for their teams, but they pride themselves in truly being able to impact the outcome of the game. University of Utah football fans often pride themselves on being so loud they can throw off snap counts and cause other problems for visiting teams. This kind of effect is probably part of the reason so many athletes believe in the power of playing for their home crowd.

     Likely one of the most notorious home crowds in all of professional sports belongs to the Seattle Seahawks. The fans at CenturyLink Field in Seattle have such a reputation for their die-hard support that the Seahawks homepage even has a section of their website devoted to “the 12th Man.” Even during terrible seasons over the last decade or so the Seahawks have had a better-than-expected home record. Their record at home has been downright incredible in the last couple of years. Much of the credit for their incredible home record is usually attributed to the power of the 12^th man.

     Seattle’s 12^th man is so notorious it has repeatedly been included in news stories and sports coverage. Just last December, the fans at CenturyLink field were so boisterous that they registered a magnitude 1-2 earthquake on seismic equipment in the area. Stories ran last fall about the Seahawks not selling playoff tickets to San Francisco residents for their rivalry game in Seattle because they wanted the stadium packed with Seattle fans. Many Hawks fans even claimed that a Dr. Dre commercial featuring Colin Kaepernick was directed towards them in reference to their ability to get in an opponents’ head.

     In cases like the fans at CenturyLink field and other hostile fan environments, it seems that fans don’t only feel their identity is tied to the team, but they have developed a spot for themselves “on the team.” It is no longer about watching the team perform, but being a part of the performance. These are the home crowds athletes love to play for.

The Virtual Living Room

The BYU football blog reported on the 
international social media buzz created by 
Taysom Hill and the Cougars

     Early in the 2013 college football season, the BYU Cougars hosted the 15^th ranked Texas Longhorns in Provo, Utah. Having watched their team lose their season opener against Virginia, Brigham Young fans were delighted to watch their Cougars start to pull away from the nationally ranked Longhorns early in the game. Many were surprised to see the lead continue to grow through the second half, leading to a huge victory.

     Because I didn’t have access to watch the game, I followed the score online (while trying to do homework, if I remember correctly). Almost as interesting as following the scores and play updates was following the live Twitter feed that scrolled along the side of the page. While I could see when BYU scored touchdowns and knocked of big yardage plays, my real understanding of what happened that night came

from following that feed. It wasn’t just BYU fans who were commenting on the Taysom Hill’s thrashing of the Texas defense. Tweets were coming in from all over the country praising Hill’s domination of the Longhorns. I followed the Cougars through the season and continued to rely on the tweets to help me get a feel for the game.

     The presence of game-based discussion always makes the game more enjoyable for me. I recently watched a state high school soccer final online where there was no announcer, just straight video of the game. I felt strange not having an analyst or commentator discuss what I was watching.

     Although I was often following the BYU games alone from my living room while doing homework, I noticed the live tweets were doing something similar for me as watching the game with a group of friends. The Twitter discussion of what was happening in the game virtually extended my living room to included a big group of fans who were scattered all over the place. This is when I really realized just how much social media is going to continue influencing the way we participate in sports consumption. This blog is aimed at highlighting current issues in sports and communication. Thank you for following!