NEW GROUND ETIQUETTE

It’s indescribably hard to act like you’ve been there before when you haven’t. Last night I watched my Alma Mater, Chapman University’s Men’s basketball team win a playoff game for the first time as a Division III school. In Fact, they’ve struggled for years to make the playoffs because they are an Independent, non-conference institution. So this year the door cracked open when the Panthers won 27 games against only 2 losses and it’s the new territory awkwardness that’s in the air. That’s when your fans pack the gym but hesitantly storm the court after the win. And even then, about 25 percent of the crowd stays in the stands because the sports information director told them they had to. If you’ve been there before you know that “all the king’s horses” ain’t keepin’ you off that court if your school advances in the NCAA tournament.

New ground is frightening even when the ones treading on it feign familiarity. I’ve learned to never mistake a confident swagger for familiarity with new success. It’s not the same. A swagger, most often, is nothing more than mystique and a smoke screen to hide apprehensiveness. Familiarity shows itself in the ability to execute right behavior under duress. Teams that can quickly acclimate to realms where stakes are high win the war of attrition. In other words, familiarity doesn’t have to take all day but it is unmistakable. What prevents it is satisfaction, something else masked by a swagger. Those who are satisfied with arriving to new ground make the stepping stone the destination. Those who possess adaptability grow familiar enough with, say the NCAA tournament, to know the road is not the goal. Everyone ends up in their version of the playoffs at some point. Don’t be satisfied when you get there.