Sports Shirts

When navigating the office jungle, I've recently found a annoying rock in my trail. It seems the men in the office seem to talk more about sports than about work. I want in on that impromptu networking! Of course I don't know that much about sports in general so it is difficult for me to make these connections. (And it's not like I'm going to learn golf in a day.) So here are a few tips to help get you in on the conversation. And with any hope you can steer it back to the project your working on before you get in too deep.

1. Watch Sports Center. Lets face it, no one has time to watch the 8 different games on TV in one night. Your coworkers haven't. They go to ESPN's Sports Center see the exciting parts of the game and hear the commentary.

2. Get a team t-shirt... and Wear it. Get web surfing and buy a T-Shirt of any team you like. Or choose it on the color scheme. I don't wear purple and I look terrible in yellow. Sorry Lakers. Well I didn't like them anyway. I like to pair a tee under a corduroy blazer or a cute unbuttoned sweater. (This is also a good way to remind your boss about your expensive name-brand-advanced degree.)

3. Whose your Tiger? Pick a player in a team and learn everything you can about him. If someone starts talking about a player too much and asks you about it. You can point out how great your player is and how "He's THE next great hope/player." or it's ok to just really like his attitude.

(Mine's Pudge Rodriguez. He's not Pudge anymore.)

4. Don't pretend. Don't be afraid to say. "No, I didn't see that play." or "I hadn't heard that." People will see though too much BS. And besides, I've found people like to talk about this stuff.

Thanks Tigers homepage for the pic.