Head to any peewee sports practice and the coaches will be emphasizing the values of hard work and sportsmanship to their young charges, instilling in them the upstanding values of American (and international) sporting culture.
That’s all well and great if, for you, it doesn’t really matter who won and who lost, but instead how both teams played the game. If you really want to get somewhere in the world of sports, though, at some point you’re going to have to realize that it’s actually not all fun and games. Sometimes athletes need an edge that goes beyond their physical ability.
Sometimes you have to scare the crap out of whomever you’re up against.
Anyone who thinks that intimidation is not a part of victory is sadly mistaken. At the very top levels of most professional sports, the mental aspect of a player’s game is just as important as the physical. If you can find some way to mess with your opponents and make them believe that you’re better than they are before that whistle even blows, you’ve won the first battle. Don’t believe me? The world of sports is littered with examples of intimidation used to devastating effect.
The haka is the traditional ancestral war cry and dance of the Maori people, the indigenous Polynesian population of New Zealand. These days, if you want to see a haka performed, and you’re not hooked into Maori culture, you can tune into the next New Zealand rugby game and watch the All Blacks scare the living hell out of their opponents.
Even via a YouTube video, watching 15 of the most musclebound goons in New Zealand slap their thighs, bare their tongues, and scream their heads before a game curls my toes. In any other situation, these guys would look absolutely ridiculous. Instead, they look downright terrifying. Why? They simply believe in every slap, every step, and every guttural noise that emanates from their throats. When the camera pans to the other team, shadows of the All Black’s conviction dance on the faces of their opponents. The Welsh team once tried staring them down. They lost convincingly. The Australians tried walking right up to the dance and getting right up in the New Zealanders’ faces. They never stood a chance.
Boxing legend Mike Tyson was also a master of inciting fear in everyone he faced. Watch any documentary that covers “Kid Dynamite,” and someone will mention how Tyson always looked as if he were ready to kill his opponent. The former heavyweight world champion would stand in his corner before the bell rang and stare his opponent down like a jungle cat.
Personally, I think the likes of Evander Holyfield and Razor Ruddock probably would’ve preferred squaring off against the jungle cat.
Some particularly dramatic fans like to say that soccer is war. No one ever told former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane that the saying was just a hyperbole. The Irish enforcer patrolled the pitch like he’d be subbed if he didn’t bruise at least seven of his opponents. He went so far as to say to the press, “Aggression is what I do. I go to war. You don’t contest football matches in a reasonable state of mind.” The man was a maniac, and strongly believed in what he was doing. No one screwed with Roy Keane—to this day, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest midfielders of all time.
Don’t think for one second that less aggressive sports don’t involve the I-factor. Part of the reason tennis megastar Roger Federer was nigh unbeatable in the middle of the 2000s was because he was simply considered the best. He had an aura of invincibility, and anyone who faced him knew they were in for one hell of an afternoon—one that certainly ended in a loss. It was an inevitability; there was no way it wasn’t going to happen. And Federer knew it.
I could keep going—Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, and Randy Johnson. The list just goes on and on. Whether used consciously or unconsciously, intimidation is an intrinsic part of victory. It’s not something that writers or fans want to glorify, or acknowledge as a part of the reason their favorite athletes are great, but it’s undeniably present. Not many are teaching it, but you better believe rising stars had better learn it quickly if they ever want to become the best.
