How to Break Up with Your Sports star.
If you live in a small market or you are a fan of a small market team, it's going to happen to you. Maybe he has visions of playing under the lights of NYC or the goal of the endorsement dollars that wait in Los Angeles. Even if you are a fan of the big city teams, eventually a superstar will leave your team.
When he does, he will receive each and all of the reactions people have when they are dumped. People will cry and wonder why he doesn't want to play for their awesome city. Others will get angry and immediately start badmouthing the player like he was a bum. They may even make a creative commercial parody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep-9sSKa0RA
Some will question his character and try to bring to light all the dirty deeds he may have done.
Others will be indifferent and try to show how little the player ever meant to them. There might be protests and jersey burning. (Or a funeral as they did in Philadelphia for Terrell Owens.)
Basically, it will be your typical BBC breakup on Facebook. You know, the one where the girl or guy has an essay length status describing when a horrible person their ex is?
Or an ugly exchange like this:
Maybe their jersey's will be destroyed:
When the player returns the following season, it will be a big deal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3zcjuKwIcI
Some of you may even drink too much and be asked, "Was that you who fell down the steps at the Loose Moose?" following the game. Not one of my better nights I might add.
So how should we react? I have a couple of ideas that may help but they be hard to follow as well.
1. We have the right to chose where we work
If you have ever left a job by choice, you know saying good bye is difficult. If you are leaving a group because you would rather work somewhere else, it is even harder. That said, people have a right to work where they want to work. The player drafts are very unconstitutional. Saying to one player, you must work here for the next five years is criminal. Their CBA restricts their place of employment. If they put their time in and then chose to move elsewhere, they have a right to do so. (They do not have to earn that right.)
2. Players cannot perform if they want to be elsewhere
Professional sports is a tough business. If you don't want to play in the situation you are in, then it becomes even tougher. Look for players who want to play in your city and fuck the rest of em. You are offering a great opportunity but not everyone wants that opportunity. Happy players who have pride in their city and team will give a better effort, the others will just be bitter. Don't begrudge those who would rather look elsewhere because...
3. Otehr players see how you treat the departed
Why would other players ever want to be a part of a city who throws hate at those who leave? They give you a solid effort for three years and you boo them because they wanted something different. Free agents notice these things and it helps in their decision process when they are choosing a new home. How many of you would date the person who throws a break-up fit on Facebook?
4. It is just a business
In the end, it is all about the money. I may not have been fair to compare it to relationships because it that puts feelings into it. You want your players to give it that extra effort, but really, each player is an enterprise. They have employees and their salary supports more than just themselves. The owners want to win but they want to make money more. MLSE would love to win a few titles, but not at the expense of profits. Players, like everyone else, also want to make as much as they can. Let me know when you would not want to make an extra 3.5 million a year.
5. It will get better
Eventually, you will be in a better position. If you love your team long enough you will see it go through great highs and tremendous lows. (Cleveland would have been very solid this year without Lebron.) Remember, each league has about 30 teams so odds are you should not win more than once every three decades; if your city is in all four major leagues, that's a parade every 7.5 years. Your team maybe bad for a few years but it will get better. Sometimes, the player you lose will allow you to become great... Just not right away. In the meantime, pick up a new sport, join a club, start to knit. How long can the rebuilding process take?
So when the player gives the city the "Lets be friends speech", give them a break. Allow them to leave peacefully. Besides, if you show them how much you are hurting, it just shows them how much you loved them and that just builds them up even more. If they ever return, you might be this guy.
