Comedy and Sports

The American sports industry rakes in 67.7 billion dollars in a year. For the elite of the elite that have the ability to have the opportunity to compete on the highest stage in the world there are many factors that go into it. For the most part most professional athletes are seen as superhuman and freaks of nature. Many are hard to relate to and have the stereotype of not being very intelligent. Also, many people tend put some athletes on a pedestal. Luckily there is a way for these views to be broken. Furthermore, comedy has many effects on sports. There are many things that comedy does with leadership and sports. Comedy also has numerous effects on health and relieving stress. Sometimes during a game or any sports related event times can get stressful and some of the best leaders help use comedy to relieve stress. Lastly, there are numerous examples in sports where comedy is used and also how certain leaders in the sports world use comedy to make them a better leader.

Being a leader in general isn’t easy, there are many qualities that make a great leader. Some might say that being communicative or a trustworthy person are good qualities of a leader, and yes they are but when it comes to leadership and comedy most don’t really associate the two. Especially in sports. Think about it, the game is on the line you’re down by a touchdown with thirty seconds to go and you’re on your own twenty yard line. Now if you’re losing a game in general you would not really want your team captain or your quarterback to start making jokes in the huddle. One rule of improv comedy states that you should always start a sketch with a yes and how an article by Brian Orme relates it to your leadership posture, is it positive or critical. “Is your general leadership posture positive or critical? Are you known for pointing out all the problems or creating solutions? Being a ‘Yes’ leader means you’re on track with the mission and vision and ready to do what it takes to push it forward. There are times to be critical in leadership, for sure, but effective leaders work hard to build a positive culture.” (Orme 1). This view on one of the rules of improv comedy directly correlates with the sports world. Say you have a bad play or miss a wide open goal or layup, you can’t let it control how you play or how your body language is for the duration of the game. Reason being that negative energy is, one noticeable by everyone, and that type of attitude rubs off on everybody. A study done by University College Chichester, South East Essex College, and University of Portsmouth, was conducted to show how male tennis players reacted towards the body language of a particular opponent along with the clothes they were wearing (general or sport-specific clothing). “Forty male tennis players viewed videos of a target tennis player warming up. Each participant viewed the target player displaying one of four combinations of body language and clothing…Analyses of variance revealed that positive body language led to favorable episodic impressions and low outcome expectations. Analysis also indicated that clothing and body language had an interactive effect on dispositional judgments. The study supports the contention that nonverbal communication can influence sporting interaction” (Greenlees 1). This study shows that ‘nonverbal communication’ or body language does have an effect on sporting interaction. When you think about it this makes sense, if someone around you is sulking over something you may or may not have a attitude change towards that person or the current situation you’re in at that moment. Interestingly enough there are leaders whose authenticity is fake when it comes to them being a leader. In The Journal of Values-Based Leadership has an entry titled Defining the Authenticity in Authentic Leadership by William H. Bishop. He talks about how we can define authenticity within leadership “Stated simply, authentic leaders are who they are. They don’t have to make excuses for their moral shortcomings, lack of ethical standards, or misplaced values as long as they are being true to themselves. Authentic leadership is thus a convenient term with positive implications that affords a leader a great deal of personal latitude in the name of authenticity” (Bishop 5). Here Bishop talks about that authentic leaders are authentic because of who they are. He hints at the character of a person to show that someone is an authentic leader. He also mention that authentic leaders own up to their mistakes and they don’t blame it on someone else. Finally Bishop says that you can tell if the leader is authentic because they stay true to themselves. It’s not really that hard to know when someone is not being themselves. For most you can see right through someone putting a mask on trying to be someone they are not. As you can see there are many factors to being a good leader in the sports world and in general. All in all, body language has a huge effect on how people deal with a certain situation, but also how others around you react to that situation. Lastly, there’s struggles in being an authentic leader as well as defining the authenticity of one’s leadership.

In the sports world there are many situations that can be very stressful. For example your down by a touchdown in the super bowl with 1:30 left on the game clock. Millions of people watching you. If you don’t score you lose if you do you go into overtime. Situations like this occur almost daily in the sports world in almost any athletic event or game there is a situation during the game. Tensions are high, lots of pressure put on every individual playing, and lastly a lot of stress. Some of the best leaders in the sports world have used comedy to help break some of that stress and tension during these times. Luckily comedy has a huge impact on relieving that stress. The mayo clinic has posted on their website a article on stress management and how laughter can help with stress relief. They state that laughter can “Activate and relieve your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling … and Soothe tension. Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.” (mayo clinic staff 1). If you think about it in a athletic scenario this would help alot. Muscle relaxation is big with stress relief. If you’re always tense during stressful situations during a game you will end up playing tense and not be able to compete to the best of your ability. One person in particular used humor on probably the biggest stage in all of sports. Joe montana is one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the sport of football. His nickname ,Joe Cool, reflected his ability to remain calm and poised during very stressful situations. During Super bowl XXIII the 49ers were down 16–13 on their own 8 yard line and 3:20 left to play. “Some of the guys seemed more than normally tense,” Montana recalled, “especially Harris Barton, a great offensive tackle who has a tendency to get nervous.” As usual, Montana was just focusing on the situation, how far they had to go and how much time was left. Just then he happened to spot the late actor John Candy in the stands. “Look” he said, ‘isn’t that John Candy.” It was hardly what his teammates expected to hear in the huddle with the Super Bowl on the line. But it definitely broke the tension. “Everybody kind of smiled, and even Harris relaxed, and then we all concentrated on the job we had to do.” (PFHOF 2). This helps to prove that humor can help break stressful situations. Think about it the 49ers were on their own eight yard line. That would mean they needed a 92 yard drive in three minutes and twenty seconds. Now this is not an impossible feat but definitely not one that was likely to happen. Luckily the 49ers marched down the field and scored and they ended up winning twenty to sixteen. That moment changed the momentum for that drive. Without that one comment many are not sure that they would have been able to pull of that drive. As shown above stress has multiple factors when it comes to athletic performances. Luckily humor can help break and relieve stressful situations. Relieving stress can do many things for a athlete for example help relax muscles, stimulate circulation, and cool down your stress response.

Throughout the sports world there are team leaders on every team. For most these guys are the veterans to that team. But also there are many leaders in the sports world that aren’t on certain teams but that are coaches, analysts, etc. These people have a huge impact on not just the sports world but society in general. For example most young kids look up to athletes and use them as role models. Big name athletes like Lebron James, Tom Brady, and JJ Watt are not just well respected athletes but leaders and have a huge impact on the communities around them. For instance, JJ Watt raised around thirty-seven million dollars for hurricane harvey relief funds. Mosts of these athletes use their platforms for good and not bad. Unfortunately there are a few bad apples in the bunch. Guys like Josh Gordon and Le’veon Bell have made mistakes when it comes to the nfl’s drug abuse policy. In a forbes article with NBA superstar Charles Barkley, Leigh Steinberg, asks if we should make athletes role models and Charles says “the answer is a resounding NO. He believes that athletes are not the figures that children should be emulating. He feels that it is parents who have the obligation and responsibility to be role models. He believes players have a duty to give peak performance on the court, and that is it.” (Steinberg 1). In part charles is right. Athletes today live such lavish and large life styles that most kids won’t ever be able to live up to. Also, you look at some of the things and problems athletes face. Many of them end up bankrupt and some have trouble with the law and/or drugs, but there are some athletes that are great leaders and use comedy to make make them better leaders. All pro defensive tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Gerald McCoy is not only a great defensive tackle but also a great leader. The seven year buc’s veteran has been through training camp to know when it’s time to get serious and when he can joke around. One day during training camp McCoy tested the new celebration rules during camp. During a day at practice one of the head officials of the NFL visited bucs training camp to practice and Gerald McCoy decided to see what celebrations were aloud. So McCoy preceded to break out in a series of dance moves and asked Mr. Hochuli “Is this to much” (Joseph 1). He then continued his shenanigans and eventually circled around the NFL’s ‘pump rule’. He proceeded to explain his case to the veteran nfl official and explained that it’s all about the facial expressions. He made a sexual facial expression and Hochuli decided that would be a penalty, But then McCoy did the same thing with a straight face and it wasn’t a penalty. McCoy then concluded with this statement “That’s not a flag! That’s not sexual — that’s grooving,” (Joseph 1). Now keep in mind Gerald McCoy is six foot four, three hundred and five pounds, this is not a small man doing this. NFL training camp is a very stressful time. New rookies are trying to prove themselves, towards the end of camp certain players get cut to narrow down the roster to fifty three men. The reason he is revered as a great leader in the sports world is because he is an authentic leader, he makes smart decisions, he is always positive even in negative times, plays under stressful situations and remains poised, and lastly he has a sense of humor and knows how to use it to make him a better leader.

All in all, comedy has multiple effects on sports. There are many things that comedy does with leadership and sports, like body posture and rules of improv comedy. Comedy also has numerous effects on health and relieving stress. Lastly, there are numerous examples in sports where comedy is used and also how certain leaders in the sports world use comedy to make them a better leader.

Works Cited

Bishop, William. “Briefing: Carl Gray’s Article on Time Management Http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/316/7137/S2-7137 Seemed to Go …” Bmj 316.7149 (1998): n. pag. Web.

Eichelberger, Curtis. “Sports Revenue to Reach $67.7 Billion by 2017, PwC Report Says.” Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 13 Nov. 2013. Web.

Greenlees, Iain, Richard Buscombe, Richard Thelwell, Tim Holder, and Matthew Rimmer. “Impact of Opponents’ Clothing and Body Language on Impression Formation and Outcome Expectations.” Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 27.1 (2005): 39–52. Web.

Griffin, R. Morgan. “Give Your Body a Boost — With Laughter.” WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web.

Joseph, Andrew. “Gerald McCoy Hilariously Tested the NFL’s New Celebration Limits at Training Camp.” USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 16 Aug. 2017. Web.

Mayo Clinic. “Stress Relief from Laughter? It’s No Joke.” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 21 Apr. 2016. Web.

Orme, Brian. “Why the 4 Rules of Comedy Improv Will Make You a Better Leader • ChurchLeaders.com.” ChurchLeaders.com. N.p., 18 Nov. 2015. Web.

Pro Football Hall of Fame. “The Best Ever? The Story of ‘Joe Cool’.” Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site. N.p., 01 Jan. 2005. Web.

Steinberg, Leigh. “Why Do We Make Athletes Role Models?” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 20 Jan. 2013. Web.