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When I was a child I played every sport because all of my friends were playing them; baseball, soccer, basketball, and flag football. While I was never particularly great at any of them, I was never bad. But as I grew, and sports became more competitive (and my asthma got progressively worse) I lost interest. I only played flag football for one year, basketball for 4 years, soccer for 4 years, and my true love, baseball, I gave up in the seventh grade.

Truth be told, I was never really a huge sports fan, but I admit to being a bandwagon fan for most of the local sports teams. I “loved” the Cowboys growing up, but then again, I grew up in Dallas in the 90s; I’m pretty sure the Dallas Cowboys were part of my school district’s curriculum. The Mavericks continually sucked until Mark Cuban bought them while I was in high school, I got swept up with Stanley Cup fever in the late ’90s when the Stars had their runs, and the one team I always loved, the Texas Rangers, well…they were the Rangers and you really couldn’t count on them for anything (I do have very high hopes for the future of the franchise though).

When I went to college in California I moved away from all of my home teams, and I didn’t follow professional sports. I didn’t care. I had convinced myself that the people who watched sports continually were the people who didn’t have anything better to do with their time, and I certainly had better things to be doing with my time. I was continually creating, learning, being active, and working. I could never relate to the guys who talked sports all the time, but if they wanted to talk business, politics, or even pop culture I could relate. I made it all the way through college that way. Soon after graduation (and marriage) I got a job and was whacked in the face with a new reality: pro sports are important in the real world.

In the real world most people won’t talk politics with you for fear of offending you (or someone else), not many people want to talk business because that’s what they do all day, and pop culture conversations are so trivial that no one cares; but sports were the gateway into the groups that I found myself most wanting to be a part of. Sports provide the venue for every type of talk from the business of sports, to the trivial items like who Tony Romo is dating. Sports gives you the level playing field (pun intended) to hold your own in a conversation with anyone from the CEO to the UPS guy. (Side note: All of the sports leagues know this and charge ticket prices in accordance).

Talking sports is about relationships. The emotional connection that forms between you and “your” team, the relationship that forms with your coworker because his team is your teams rival, and the relationship of feeling that if you can have a good conversation with someone about sports, you can have a good conversation with them about anything. On the contrary, when meeting someone who doesn’t follow sports it’s extremely difficult to break the ice and find a common ground.

Up to date knowledge of sports is a key part of business in today’s world because businesses are about relationships, and sports can be the key to developing strong relationships. It’s taken some time for me to get back up to speed in my sporting knowledge, but it has served invaluable thanks to my improved ability to network and build relationships.

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