Unnecessary Creepiness

Something to think about after today's Grey Cup:  Let's say you're on a football team.  And let's say that a player on your team just made an outstanding play to score the winning touchdown, but it was called back because another player was flagged.  Then you're walking along the sidelines - trying to find the orange Gatorade or something - and you see one of those two players.  What would you do?

You might be angry, but we'll assume your team has a real sense of togetherness so you want to be supportive.  You might say a kind word.  You might urge them on to make up for it on the next play.  You might silently pat them on the back.  I think that would be okay; from what I see of football culture, a pat on the rear wouldn't be appropriate at that time.

But truth be told, I think most of us would just try to avoid eye contact.  That's partly because we believe letting them be is the best thing at that point, and mostly because we don't know what to say.  But there's one thing I'm sure we would not do: Sit down next to the player, and just stare at him.

But that's what the view ends up doing, essentially.  The TV coverage always loves to zero in on the player who's just had the heartbreak.  Even though that's the last thing any of us would choose to do at that point.  Yes, it's not quite the same thing since we're not really there, but it still feels awkward.  I'm on the other side of the camera and thousands of miles away, and I still don't feel right concentrating on the guys who just want to hide at this point.  I'd rather see the joy of the winning team, even though I was cheering against them.