The Anaheim Ducks and the power of positivity in action
Negativity and misconceptions are killing the Anaheim Ducks in more ways than one. It’s time to change the way this team is perceived.
I’ll admit it, I was inspired by Ciara Durrant’s blog: 5 reasons why the Anaheim Ducks are good. When I read the mailbag question, “why is everybody so negative about the Ducks?” it was a bit unsettling to me. Unless its the Oakland Raiders, or the mid-1990s Detroit Pistons, most fans don’t like to think of their team as the bad guys.
She was right, the Ducks are perceived as dirty. It’s too bad, I don’t see them as any dirtier than any other team. There is no Lady Bing Trophy awarded to a team for gentlemanly play, so we may never know. There are some ancillary issues that adversely affect the team due to this incorrect perception.
Us Against Them is Tiring
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In sports, teams often band together with an “us versus the world mentality.” Quite often it works, but that attitude has a limited shelf life. Human beings can only get angrily fired up for so long. It wears thin. Eventually, that style of thinking causes coaches to wear out their welcome no matter how successful they once were (will call it the Tortorella effect).
A mentality that works over the long haul is something along the lines of “we’re going out there and play Anaheim Ducks hockey.” Or “we’ll play our game and let (fill in team name here) try to stop us if they can.
Losing Battles
Another issue about being seen as the bad guys is that you lose the benefit of the doubt. First of all, if you don’t have the respect of the teams you play against it will lead to undesirable results. I’m not saying the Ducks be pushovers, far from it. A professional hockey team can’t let itself be bullied.
When push comes to shove and a player on another team is going to react to something that happened on the ice, the dirty perception plays a big part of it. That leads to a vicious cycle of action and reaction. Don’t believe me? Check with Andrew Cogliano and the NHL Department of Player Safety.
Animal Spirits
Who are the guys on the ice that are supposed to be neutral? The referees.
Well, the referees read newspapers and blogs, listen to the radio; and watch television. If they hear (see) other team’s fans and media continuing to perpetuate a negative stereotype, what will the think? They’ll think the Ducks are dirty.
In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, economist John Meynard Keynes developed a term to explain financial decisions made in times of uncertainty. To paraphrase, if people think an economy is good, they spend more. Conversely, if people think the economy is bad, they hold their money. Let’s turn this to hockey.
If referees believe the Anaheim Ducks play a cheap and nasty style, when a borderline call needs to be made, it goes against them. Its human nature to act that way. What happens next? The Ducks get frustrated about what did or didn’t happen and act out. Again perpetuating a negative image.
Next: Top 5 Anaheim Ducks draft classes of all time
Maybe, just maybe if we are positive enough, we can get the haters to back down just a little. At that point, the ship might just turn around and head in the other direction.