Drafting Loyalties

“These are strange times. Reason, which once combated faith and seemed to have conquered it, now has to look to faith to save it from dissolution.” - Johan Huzinga

No matter what the situation, during times of physical isolation, everything feels off. Either because our routines have evolved into timing our bathroom breaks with people we are sharing space with while also making sure we get enough air that isn’t from our house - OR - because we are now given time to think about the things we do in ways that were typically reserved for people with spare time. This is mostly the ladder but is informed by the former. It was on a walk when this hit me, but I only really cared about it because I have the time and inclination.

I’ve always followed sports teams somewhat religiously. I could list the teams I care about and even rank them, but if you know sports, then there is no need. I only need to tell you that I’m a fan of the Cleveland Browns. Football isn’t necessarily my favorite sport, but they are the NFL team I cheer for regardless of all the reasons they’ve given me to reconsider. That in itself should tell you that I’m loyal to a jersey.

I’ve also had a soft spot for players. When I was young, I followed pretty much exclusively players on my favorite team as I watched them the most and cared about them to an embarrassing level, but this has since evolved. My first sports love was baseball, and the Toronto Blue Jays were and are my team. For no particular reason, I had a dude-crush on middle of the road, one time All-Star, third baseman, Kelly Gruber. If you follow the Jays and are over 30, you probably know him. If you casually follow baseball and are in the same age demographic, you might have an idea who I’m talking about. If neither apply to you - then you have no idea who he is. He isn’t making the Hall of Fame and since a friend of mine bumped into him a few years back I can say with some accuracy that he is designing and selling mini bats, and apparently he has enjoyed at least one night of black-out drunkenness in Barrie, Ontario. But when I was a kid, he was amazing. I tried to cut my hair like him, even though I’m not blonde and I didn’t need to cut my hair to have a mullet. I’m Canadian. I just had to believe and the mullet would find me.

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The Bet

In 1992, when the Blue Jays made their first ever World Series against the Atlanta Braves, I had a running bet with my Grandfather, as we watched almost every game we could together, where I had to pay him 50 cents every time Gruber got out - but he paid me a quarter for a single, 50 cents for a double, 75 for a triple and a whole dollar for a HR. Seemed like a done deal for me as a kid. He had hit a double, single and a homer in the ALCS in his 23 ABs so in my mind, he was due. He also came in on a down streak, so I was ready to make cash on my guy as in my juvenile mind, there was no way a player of his caliber would struggle for the entire postseason. Of course, this was the year he went 23 straight postseason at bats without a hit - so when he eventually went 2 for 19 in the World Series, I was down some money. I didn’t really care though. He had hit a home run, tagged Deon Sanders on the foot in what should have been a triple play and ultimately the Blue Jays won - which made everything else not matter. Plus, my Grandfather just made me go with him to the corner store where I bought him scratch tickets despite the fact that I was too young to buy them, so I thought it was amazing and he was amused that I talked my way into buying them so we were all winners. When I told him it didn’t come to the $8.50 I owed in total, he just said as long as I didn’t tell my Mother, then I could keep the change.

All of this to say - I loved Kelly Gruber - but the Jays winning was the point. It made my decade and I haven’t shut up about it since.

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Is Picking Players a Sport?

I was thinking about modern fandom while I was wandering around listening to a Ringer Podcast. It was a quality look at this year’s NFL Draft from Mallory Rubin and Mina Kimes. Two people who spend a great deal of time talking about football. Mina had just done a Mel Kipper Jr. podcast and was talking about other shows/pods she has done in the last week or even weeks leading up to the draft. Now that we are weeks removed from the draft this may not seem like a huge deal, but at that time, it was. It was the closest thing to live sports we had at that point. If you follow North American sports, you probably noticed that most comments were the same: At least it was something to watch that wasn’t scripted. Which I believe is a translation for, even if you think it was crap it beats going on a YouTube spiral or re-watching all of Netflix. Not surprisingly the draft crushed all measures of rankings and tracking metrics so much so that it seemed to have a knock on effect with pushing leagues to come back. Right now, we have golf, racing, soccer, baseball and basketball all playing or planning on it so they can cash in on our collective boredom. I’m sure there is more to dissect there, but right now, I’m avoiding that and looking more at what it means to care so much about a draft. This year especially, each of the drafted players were smacked in the face with some level of notoriety and they probably got massive bumps in their Insta-presences and online influencing. However, it was on the aforementioned walk when it hit me: I really don’t care.

I mean, I care to an extent who drafts who and what teams deem as important to the future of their franchise - but I don’t care to watch it. I care to see who gets hacked or screws up their online draft process. I care to see who trades up/down. And of course I care to see how the Browns may/will/did screw it up. But I really don’t need to see the awkward Zoom feeds and attempts at telling me things I’ve been reading about. 'The Ohio State guys are crazy athletic and could be game changers - Herbert is tall - WR depth is crazy' - all that stuff. I actually don’t need to hear one more thing that people think about any of these players before they are even on a team or take a snap. To preface, I live overseas and have for a decade. I’ve lived in places that are 6-8 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. So I MISS live sports. I woke up at 3 AM each day to watch the Blue Jays and Raptors on their respective playoff runs. I stay up late each Sunday to watch NFL, even though I coach and have a practice that gets me out of the house before 6 in the morning the next day. I stay up all night during March Madness and just deal with the consequences. And when back in North America, I will watch just about any live game at any time. But I don’t need to see any draft either socially distant or just socially awkward.

I think I feel this way as I don’t seem to be a typical fan as I am very interested in on-field issues and performance but I don’t seem to want what the Pop Culture Sport Fan wants. This is even more odd as I will defend pop culture as more important than most would assume. For me, it seems like the medium is changing to a Sports/Reality TV hybrid where we just need to know so much more about athletes than we ever did. When this is done well, it looks and sounds like the first few episodes of “The Last Dance”. But for the most part, it’s players saying things to get attention, and us giving them attention and then commenting on how much attention they are getting. To me, nothing characterizes this more than the Draft. We all get to be right and wrong at the same time. People, like Mina Kimes, do this for a living. NFL GM’s study tape for a living. Coaches have apparently a statistically higher chance of being shitty parents/spouses, because they examine athletes for a living and as an obsession. And with all that specialization and thought that goes into the process - they are only right a moderate percent of the time. They rank slightly above meteorologists in their accuracy, and we all know it. So, what matters isn’t being correct, what matters is saying it first and loud. It is literally the thing I hate the most about exploitative news channels. So why would I watch it, when I know I’m just going to be able to read reactions later - and most of those reactions will prove to be wrong in the long run?

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Trying to Answer my Own Question, Even Though I Probably Won't

Maybe it is because it focuses on the wrong things for me. It assumes a mutual objective between the player and team that I don’t think exists. The team wants to win and make money and the order of those depend on the organization. The player wants to get paid and also win while also go to a place that works for them as an athlete and a brand. This requires a “fit” that can exist only in a temporal way, as getting a “franchise player” or “player for our future” isn’t as eternal as the statement suggests. The Arizona Cardinals selected QB Josh Rosen 10th overall in 2018 and then turned around next year and drafted another QB in Murray. QB wasn’t seen as an expressed need, but taking Murray was an opportunity. So while team needs do dictate some of the decisions being made, sometimes you just take the guy that has buzz because at least then, you don’t get fired. It is more protective than accurate as none of these GMs want to be the guy who got hosed. More than half of the NFL GM’s act like that guy in your Fantasy League that lacks so much confidence in themselves, they won’t make any trade unless it’s so one sided that it would be voted down due to collusion. And that’s mainly because they don’t know how to bargain, they can’t assess real value - and they would rather be that guy then that OTHER guy who trades away the farm for nothing in return. They also want to keep their jobs and if a guy doesn’t perform immediately and you don’t have confidence in what you saw in the first place, there will be some advanced metric that suggests a massive shift in leadership/focus. Advanced metrics always seem to.

Obviously I’m not the first or only person to feel this way. As my evidence, let me point you to the extremely mediocre, but secretly enjoyable 2014 movie Draft Day starring Sports Movie Hall of Famer, Kevin Costner. The mere fact this movie was green-lit proves my point. For those who have not spent the 120 minute plunge, this is a movie where the GM of the Browns is somewhat pressured into making a day of draft trade meant to “shake things up” and create fan buzz. Then he spends the whole movie concerned with what 20 years olds think about winning, who did or didn’t go to a birthday party and who is willing to tell multiple lies to get out of being called out. I can’t tell you this is a great movie - but I can’t recommend watching it enough. It is horrible at times, but it does a great job in reinforcing the voice in your head or in your gut works and more importantly, that analytics are for dicks (which is not entirely true but that doesn't really matter). So essentially, if you want to feel right about something - do yourself a favor and watch the movie. I actually can’t wait to watch it again. ANYWAYS - what is actually vital about bringing this up, is that it shows the most exciting possible outcome of a draft and how character means everything. It also shows that teams can be loyal and hard work and honesty is the most important value of a person. It is also how we think we would be if we were a GM. But it isn’t how they actually act and we aren’t ever going to be GM (side note - I did apply for GM of the Browns when I was in 3rd year of university. I also applied for GM of the Blue Jays around the same time. Both by email. The Browns didn’t get back to me. The Jays send me a reply inviting me to join the Jr. Jays as I think they assumed I was 12. Little did they know I was already a member of the Jr. Jays so I’m still waiting for my interview). It is a fantasy, as even though this years actual draft did have some memorable moments, they are built to create temporary moments of opportunity for players and teams not to establish who they are - but who they want to be perceived to be.

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Maybe the Matrix was Right

As a teacher I’m used to having a new crop of seniors every year who go through very similar milestones. One of the moments that I find has evolved is when they have been accepted into a program at a University and are now trying to navigate the online world before stepping into the practical one. Some even know the person/people they will room with in their dorm or set up and begin getting to “know” people. I used quotes as they are meeting the decorated Instagram/avatar of the person so they can get an impression of them before meeting them in person in a few months. It then pushes them to consider their own profile and what they want to project. They create a version of themselves that doesn’t actually exist so they can fit in with other people that also don’t completely exist. It gets very Matrix-ish in a hurry but is a tremendous sign of the times and very informative to learn what a person who has been sitting in your class and listening to your run on thoughts for years actually thinks about the person they want others to see them as. (I re-read that last sentence 5 times as it is too long… but I like it so it stays)

For me, this is the oddest part of the draft. The team makes their choices that reflect what they deemed as the important step for their program - which shows perceived flaws and strengths. Then as a response, players must continue/create their brand accordingly as they are doing what they can to make a name for themselves so they can get adequate attention, which they hope to leverage into actual pay at some point. With such short career life spans - they need to be a celebrity. If they aren’t on Podcasts or having things written about them, then they need to be good for a long time. Statistically, that’s tough. So instead, they hedge their bets and try to be famous instead.

So rather than banking on being great and a winner, players have a vested interest in being liked and interesting. Or hated, but still interesting. And because most sports fans don’t really know the difference, we consume them equally. We don’t really care that they will probably be mediocre (comparatively), we want them to be good or interesting enough right now. And since there is no way to be good right now - they should look like they are going to be. I think this is why fans in my generation mostly follow teams - but can still get sucked in to following players. But only certain players. I can’t imagine it will be easy for Pats fans this year to have to see their hero and his goofball overgrown man-child at TE, doing anything productive in Tampa. And that is looking more and more like a possibility. Right now, Tampa Bay is considered by most Vegas odds makers as the 5th favorite to win the next Super Bowl. That’s two spots ahead of the Pats. So does the older crowd stick with the Pats and boo the man that brought on so much pleasure to their lives? Does the younger fan jump ship and go and get a Bucs jersey with a 12 on it? Or maybe both? I don’t remember saying when I was younger that I had many favorite teams in each sport. I was a Jays fan, but I didn’t have “an NL team” that I would also cheer for. But oddly, I do now.

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Bring it Home

I think the modern fan can still cheer for a team, but it just seems more tangible to cheer for an individual. It’s less of a commitment, it can define who you want to be, you are always happy as you don’t have to sit through years of inadequate management and ultimately it’s more immediately gratifying and entertaining. The downside is missing out on the point of fandom, which is weathering highs and lows. It’s about feeling part of a flawed community that you can feel repulsed by and yet still defend at the same time. Seems harsh, but that is probably a good life skill.

I wonder if I was going through adolescence right now if I would care about teams. Would I care about the Lakers getting to finish their season and maybe win a title, or am I waiting until Lebron goes to the Knicks as they are the only team that drafts his son in a few years time, so I can buy another version of his jersey? (I'm speaking hypothetically - I don't own any Lebron jersey) Or I guess a better way of phrasing that is if the Lakers win the title this year, would I feel better for the Lakers being relevant again, or for Lebron who won a title with his third team? Would I really want what’s best for my team during the draft, or do I just really want the guy who is the most interesting so I can roast friends on Snapchat for the next few months? I’m not sure if it’s a generational thing or a sign of the times in general. I DO know that I didn’t care to watch the draft live and was completely content to read about the aftermath in the morning - but as Homer's Nuclear Physics 101’s Professor once said:

“Out with the old, in with the nucleus.”

Ain’t that the truth..