Written by “The sea was angry that day, my friends.”
Suppose you are, like me, a Seinfeld fan. In that case, you immediately recall this line and remember George Costanza’s speech at the diner explaining how he overcame his fears and saved the whale by extracting Kramer’s golf ball from its blowhole.
Jerry Seinfeld has a gift for making observations on strange nuances in society and explaining them to us in a way we can understand. As I process what has happened recently with my Houston sports franchises, I recall his discussion with David Letterman about team loyalty. He concludes that because we love players when they play for us and boo them when they return to town, we root for laundry.
Is that true? I believe this is changing due to social media. When we open Instagram or Twitter, we scroll through posts from the “influencers” we choose to follow. I see too many posts on my feed by players who used to play for my favorite teams when I do. I still like them, but they have new clothes. I still want to root for them. Please help me out here, Jerry.
This deep connection between the fans and the players is changing the dynamic of team loyalty. Players no longer are strangers wearing the local team’s outfits. They are more than that. We don’t know them personally, but we know all about them. We see them work out. We see them on vacation. We see the pictures of them dating, getting engaged, and getting married. We become loyal to them, and they loyal to us. Unfortunately, many teams don’t understand what is happening.
We could use a good marine biologist here in Houston. The whale is struggling to breathe. Each of our three major sports franchises has lost players who were faces of the franchise. George Springer was the first superstar prospect drafted by the Astros in their rebuilding effort. He signed a massive free-agent deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. James Harden was the Houston Rockets for eight seasons until being traded to the Brooklyn Nets. J.J. Watt transcended this player-to-fan dynamic with his outreach efforts following hurricane Harvey in 2017. He now is an Arizona Cardinal after being released by the Texans.
Because of how each team has built and nurtured its culture, I have processed each of these departures differently.
The Astros have done an excellent job of including the fans into their culture. There is a family atmosphere around the team. Everyone seems to be on the same page, from the top of the organization to the fans. There have been good times and some terrible times recently, but this strong connection has allowed us to get through it. There is a degree of transparency that lets the fans in on the strategy for the future. Several players have left the Astros recently, but we have seen new players come into the family seamlessly. We are going to miss George, but we understand the big picture.
Not so with the Rockets and the Texans. Something happened to their team cultures. They lack engagement between the team ownership and its players. Successful organizations today understand the importance of building engagement. The times have changed.
The Rockets are a proud franchise with a great history. Rudy Tomjanovich accurately described the team’s culture in his famous speech declaring, “You can never underestimate the heart of a champion.” The Rockets have always had a family atmosphere around them and a deep connection with the fans. Going to a Rockets game was great entertainment, even in bad seasons. A link to the past remains. Many of the players from past teams are still involved with the organization and the community.
The events leading up to the departure of James Harden show that the Rockets’ culture had changed. A team that was “a hamstring away” from defeating the Warriors in 2018 has descended into the league’s laughing stock. The fans were left in the dark as this unfolded. Everyone has been quick to blame James Harden’s behavior, but isn’t that a little too easy? There has to be more to this story. His return to Houston reminded us of how much he means to this city, regardless of his clothes. Somehow, the heart lost its beat.
The Texans’ situation is far worse. As Ed Reed has so eloquently stated, there is a toxic culture there from the top down. Houston is a football town that deserves a winner. The “Luv Ya Blue” teams possessed a connection with its fans that we have wanted to return. The Texans have never been able to replicate this, being satisfied with a sold-out stadium and occasional playoff appearances.
The Texans seem to resent players who have prominent personalities who become more popular with the fans than the team itself. That tone-deaf attitude doesn’t work today. J.J. Watt and Deshaun Watson mean a lot to the fans here. It seems naive that the fans will blindly move on and support the team after they are gone.
Teams need to understand and embrace the relationship between the fans and the players, deepened by social media. Star players have a significant role and will continue to demand respect from the owners of their teams. Fans see these situations play out with greater empathy to the players they have come to know personally. Building engagement is going to be necessary in order to survive.
We no longer root for laundry unless it represents a culture worthy of our loyalty.