Soccer Players as Entertainers

Well, for us Japanese, FIFA World Cup finished yesterday...
Loosing the game with scores 0-0 and only one goal difference on PK was so sad :(
However, team Japan did a lot better than our expectation: we never expected they win the group stage and make it to the round of 16, as the team had been in a bad condition until right before the world cup. I am not a big fun of soccor but during the world cup, I really enjoyed watching the game and found some aspects of sports as an entertainment that are similar to the concerns I always have in my mind as a music biz person.

To be recognized as a good player, especially by layman like me, not only the technical skills such as lifting the balls and giving and receiving the pass but also the skills to show as if (and they really are... ) they are a skillful players. Of course, attracting the audience is not of their concern rather than winning the game but I thought it interesting because for musicians also, playing the piece technically perfect is not enough to attract the audience as performers.

The scores is everything when it comes to the result. No matter how well they do on defense and on creating chances for shoots, it is the number of actual goals that decides the winner, which is the primal focus of the audience. I could imagine the enormous pressure on players and I really respect those who were able to make it when they had to. Either on the competition or on other performing opportunities, musicians have to be able to do their best to get prizes or capture minds of the audience.

The internet helps creating heroes by giving out background information much faster and a lot more than other forms of media, and by letting people discuss the game online. Having read the story about a player being unsuccessful in his youth, I wished for his success in the match and when he actually did, I was so excited. Of course, this can work adversely: when I learned on the internet that one player is in very good condition and he didn’t do so well during the match, I was really disappointed about the player. Doing promotion and communicating with fans online has a huge potential and risks for players and the artists.