Winning Sounds Better

Opening weekend of college football. In a single Saturday, we’re suddenly younger and more hopeful than we’ve been in months. The weekend football schedules create a structure in our calendar to make us feel more disciplined. If you’ve ever played the game, there’s a weird, subconscious moment where you transport yourself onto the field, much like Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite.

The revivalist moment for this fan is listening to some of the game on the radio. Unless it’s a playoff or has playoff implications, I tend to be a second-half or fourth-quarter viewer. If my team loses, I haven’t wasted 90 minutes watching the first half of the game. If they win, I’ve seen the best part of the game. This scene replayed itself during the opening games this Labor Day Weekend.

I watched the second half of the Texas vs. Ohio State game. The sounds and colors of the game normalized life for an hour. The next game was Alabama vs. Florida State, and I decided to run errands while listening to the game on the radio. Full disclosure: I’m a life-long Bama football fan. My father graduated from the university, my mother was from Birmingham, and her passion for the game was similar to one of those fans you see on the ESPN 30 for 30 film “Roll Tide/War Eagle.” Serious. A loss would stick with her for a few days. A bad season would be remembered for a few years.

The memories and conversations of game day are vivid. In her later years, during our phone calls, when the energy to talk was low, I could get her fueled by asking about Bama football or Atlanta Braves baseball. She filled out baseball score sheets into her late 80s while watching a Braves game. When the announcer says, “The double play goes six, four, three to end the inning,” she was writing down those numbers in the boxes.

The games renew passion and the best of humanity on Opening Weekend: until our team loses. Passion goes both ways. A Merriam-Webster description of passion is intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction. Ask radio host Paul Finebaum about passion. His listeners were saddling the negative horse Tuesday afternoon when I listened to his show on Birmingham’s Jox 94.5 after the Crimson Tide’s loss to the Seminoles last Saturday.

I’m sure fans in Austin, South Bend, Clemson, or Chapel Hill were having the same reactions when calling those markets’ sports talk shows. When I listen to these shows, I think of a description basketball coach Rick Pitino gave to people who call in to sports radio talk shows: “Fellowship of the Miserable.”

Back to the Bama game. SiriusXM provides two listening options for high-profile games. You can listen to the game from the perspective of each team’s flagship broadcast outlet. When it was apparent Alabama was struggling in the third quarter, I searched for the Florida State broadcast. I felt like I was listening to a different game for a moment.

Host Jeff Culhane and his press box crew knew an upset was in the making. The energy, the excitement, the anticipation of opening the season with a win over one of the most successful programs in NCAA history was felt in every play and analysis. When I flipped back to the Alabama broadcast, you could tell Chris Stewart and his crew knew this could be the first opening weekend loss for the Crimson Tide since 2001. FSU was winning, and Alabama didn’t have an answer. Without seeing or hearing a score, I could’ve told you who was winning based on flipping back and forth between those broadcasts.

By the time I turned off the radio, I realized the scoreboard wasn’t the only thing that had shifted. The Florida State crew projected the possibility. The Alabama crew narrated the inevitability. Same game. Same plays. Two different emotional climates.

That’s the thing about winning — it’s not just an outcome, it’s a tone. You can sense it in the way people talk, the way they carry themselves, the way they expect the next play to go. And it doesn’t have to be loud and obnoxious. It’s a calm confidence found in the contemplative coach as much as it is in the obvious cheerleading screamer. Either way, the authentic winning tone is contagious.

Leaders, whether you’re running a small business, a classroom, or a family, you’re the broadcast in your team’s ear. You decide if they hear the voice fueling belief or the one quietly folding the tent. Even if you’re not a fist-pumper, you can celebrate the moments when your team moves the ball forward. Call the play with conviction. Celebrate the first downs, not just the touchdowns. If football is a game of inches, then life is a journey of millimeters.

Because here’s the truth as we enter into a hopeful or disappointing season: the Fellowship of the Miserable has open seats. The Fellowship of the Victorious is harder to get into — but it’s worth the effort. And the best part? The membership drive starts whenever you decide to sound like you’re going to win this thing.