FOMO Games and Resource Guarding: Part 1
Thoughts on why 'everyone' shouldn't play the exact same 'game'
I went to an ECHL game last night. Have to get my hockey fix somehow.
My girlfriend and I have been to about 6 games this year.
This was the first one we attended after most of the college seasons ended.
And I noticed something with our hometown team. They had about 50% of their roster remaining from just a few weeks ago.
What changed?
The NCAA D1 college seasons ended for all but 16 teams that made the tournament. And something really weird starts to happen.
Teams start abandoning the players that helped get them into a playoff position for the ‘shiny new objects’ that are D1 seniors.
And listen, I get why the teams that are 6-53 are doing it. Get them in and try and keep some good, new players for next year.
But it baffles me that every team is playing in this same ‘game’.
If you are in a playoff position, have a roster that is playing well ‘together.’ Trust is compounding everyday in the locker room. Relationships are compounding. Line chemistry is compounding. The disaster that smart coaches would be thinking of avoiding would be blowing all that up by blowing up your roster.
Yet that’s exactly what they are all choosing to do.
Why?
Because FOMO.
Because ‘everyone else is doing it.’
Because ‘it’s what every team in the league has always done.’
Because if I don’t get the new, hot, talented girl at school, someone else will.
Dog trainers call this tactic, ‘resource guarding.’
It just seems like a funny hand of Cards Against Humanity.
Step 1- 3 weeks remain in your season and the squad is playing great
Step 2- Turn over half your roster with new players
Step 3- Championship?
Doesn’t seem like the recipe.
I think I would double down on what I had, and go all-in with the players that got us to where we were. I think I would choose not to interrupt the compounding that is taking place every successive day.
“Thanks for grinding since October with us, thanks for being a huge part of this, thanks for getting us here… We are going to bring in a brand new college player now. Thanks for nothing.”
And then repeat that with 8 more players on your team.
Doesn’t sit well with me, but what the fuck do I know?
Food for thought.