You might remember from an earlier article in this blog that most bros have some element of “jock” in them. In fact, some of them are very jock-like. And obviously, jocks spend a lot of time thinking about their favorite sports.
So what’s one of the most effective things you can do, if you want to start a friendship with another bro? That’s right: take an interest in sports. That doesn’t mean you have to become a rabid fan, or memorize every team’s roster over the past 30 years. All you really need is to know (1) something about the most popular sports in your part of the world, and (2) something about the teams that play these sports. You already have some free time to go online, so take 4 or 5 minutes of that time to check out the sports news every day. Even if you never get into the whole fan thing, your bros will definitely appreciate you for caring about the same things they’re interested in.
By the way, the sports angle can help you even in the corporate world. Here’s a story of what happened to a bro of mine I’ll call Toby. Toby was on the phone to a former client a while ago, just checking back for more possible business. The guy asked Toby if he had gone to a recent convention in Chicago where both of them networked. It turned out that Toby had to miss it that year for other business issues, and he replied, “No, and it’s too bad, because I have a friend with seats in the bleachers at Wrigley Field.” Bang! The ex-client happened to be a huge baseball fan, and he and Toby spent the next 20 minutes talking about baseball, baseball news, and their favorite teams and players. Not only did the client end up booking more business from Toby, but he also referred several new leads, most of whom became clients themselves.
So I’ll say it again, bros, because it bears repeating. Sports. Keep up with them.
