I was in Atlanta this past weekend for the Florida vs. Georgia football game. Normally played in Jacksonville, the annual rivalry was moved to Mercedes-Benz Stadium while Jacksonville’s stadium undergoes renovations.
Gator Nation showed up strong, and the home-state Bulldog fans were there in all their glory. Georgia extended its winning streak in the rivalry to six straight games, sending me and my fellow Gator fans home disappointed, but not totally discouraged.
As I walked through Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to catch my flight home to Columbus, I passed plenty of travelers proudly wearing their red and black Georgia gear. With genuine sportsmanship, I congratulated them and said, “Good game.”
I also passed lots of fellow Florida fans, still proudly wearing their orange and blue. I was wearing mine, too. Just like I always do after traveling to watch my team play, win or lose.
I noticed Auburn fans (War Eagle!) and Ohio State fans (O-H!) wearing their colors after losses, while South Carolina, Miami, and Iowa fans were smiling as they headed toward their gates. Alabama, LSU, Kentucky, and Tennessee were represented, too, even though their teams hadn’t played.
Among the NFL fan bases, I saw Falcons, Buccaneers, Steelers, and Browns fans. A Seahawks jersey hurried past a Bills fan heading the opposite direction. I even spotted Milwaukee Brewers fans sporting their World Series Champions gear.
I can’t be 100% sure, but I’m pretty confident none of these travelers actually plays for the teams they were representing.
They’re just fans.
Maybe alumni. Maybe current students. Maybe residents of the cities or states where their teams play.
Win or lose, they cheer for their team.
As I walked through the airport, I saw plenty of people cheering for my teams’ competition. But I also saw something we all had in common.
We’re sports fans.
We want our teams to win, but we understand that sometimes they’re going to lose. That doesn’t mean we stop supporting them.
In business and life, we wear logos, colors, and uniforms representing the companies, organizations, and brands we believe in.
We face competition every day, but perhaps we’d be better served focusing on being our best instead of worrying so much about what the competition is doing.
Believe in your players. Cheer for your team. Represent your brand proudly.
Get up. Show up. Do the work.
And when the results aren’t good enough to win, practice, study, learn, and get better for the next opportunity.
True loyalty shouldn’t have an expiration date or depend on the final score.
Chances are, once we do our next batch of laundry, we won’t support our school or team any less. We’ll just be waiting for another game day to put on the ol’ colors and hope for a good outcome.
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