When we tell stories, we take shortcuts. We generalize, connect, and get the audience to fill in the gaps. However, this can severely distort the truth.
Colin Kaepernick had a workout for NFL scouts.
If we wanted more of the story, we can dig deeper and find that the NFL wanted to host a workout on their terms. Kaepernick wouldn’t meet their terms. He held his own workout instead.
More of the story reveals that the NFL wanted to do what they always do. This sounds normal; it’s what big, powerful companies do to potential employees. Of course, Kaepernick isn’t a potential employee.
Kaepernick was blackballed by the NFL for the last three years. Over which the quarterback sued the league. They recently settled, which makes the whole thing even more interesting.
The NFL blackballed the player after his year-long public protest. And the ensuing reaction by many fans and pundits, including the President of the United States.
The clear example of conspiring to force the polarizing figure out of the league was as polarizing for the league as the player’s presence in the league.
From a marketing standpoint, this continues to be, at best an inglorious endeavor for the league. At worst, it’s yet another way the league is alienating many of its young fans. Much as the CTE conspiracy has driven many from the sport over the last decade.
As a case of managed and unmanaged expectations, we can choose to see it from a certain perspective.
From the NFL’s position
We can pretend all the backstory is irrelevant. We’re simply treating him like anybody else. Would we let just anyone film this workout? Of course not! We’ve got the best crews! His asking for special treatment? Pfhhh. Arrogant and stupid. Doesn’t he want back in the league?
In fact, I’m not sure this shows he’s really committed to playing after all.
From Kaepernick’s position
Why should I trust the NFL to treat me fairly at all? I sued them because they clearly can’t be trusted. They made me a special case and treated me like a special case, so they must recognize precisely why they must make an acceptation here. I have ZERO reason to trust them whatsoever.
From the media’s point of view
This is a story of two parties in a dispute, so we must present it fairly. We’ll give some backstory, to make sure everyone gets the whole story. But to also make sure we don’t our thumbs on the scale, we’ll just quote the two parties and leave it there.
From the supporter’s point of view on Facebook
Kaepersuck is stupid. Why are we still talking about this junk? Get politics out of football. Good riddance.
Or
More proof the NFL is wrong!
The Dangerous Expectation
Each of these perspectives depends on the expectation of how the actors are expected to behave. But almost more importantly, these expectations are built on the whole story and how honest we’re being with the truth of the story.
The NFL’s expectation of Kaepernick is closer to PR than it is responsive to their own experience. The league has shown little interest in considering their former player’s power in negotiations or legal power against their collusion. And because they hold all the power in whether or not he is contracted to play football, they’re the ones playing a dangerous game of expectations management.
But at this moment in which the public is so confused by even what is legal and what isn’t, we’re unaware of the danger of allowing our own expectations to be so heavily managed that we can’t communicate in good faith.
What is probably the truest picture of events is my first paragraph. Followed closely by the whole picture without regard to the general appropriateness of kneeling during the National Anthem.
The danger is when we build our expectations off of half-formed bits of the story: what is normal for a workout or whether or not one can prove 30 teams just happened to simultaneously decide scrubs are spontaneously better than an all-star.
I don’t think it takes knowing the whole story. Or the strange expectation of a story always having just two sides. It takes knowing that sometimes the truth is really hard to prove and our expectations can be the most dangerous part.