A soccer fan’s conundrum
Dr. Martin Webster | TLT President's Report April 2016
STLE’s 2016 Annual Meeting is like the English Premier League—so little time, so much to see and do.
I AM WRITING THIS COLUMN A FEW WEEKS AFTER THE SUPER BOWL. Despite the fact that I do not follow American football, I look forward to either hosting or attending a Super Bowl party with a group of friends. Regrettably this year I was boarding a plane just as the game started and was not able to join the 112 million viewers who witnessed the Denver Broncos victory over the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl’s Golden 50th Anniversary match.
Thinking back on previous Super Bowls, each game has been distinctly different. In some, even to my inexperienced eye, the outcome appears set from fairly early on in the game. In others the match remains in contention right up to the end. I think it is the fact that the outcome of individual games and entire league championships are unpredictable that makes following sports such a popular and entertaining pastime.
Of course, being originally from the UK I follow that other form of football referred to as soccer in U.S. parlance. Since my arrival in the U.S. it has become increasingly easy to follow the English Premier League, as many of the games are now shown live and on demand on U.S. sports channels. One of the English Premier League’s top teams, Manchester United, has recently claimed that it has a worldwide following of 659 million, including 79 million in the U.S. These numbers are disputed, and the definition of a follower is vague. However, even if the number is an overestimate, there is no doubt that, like many sports, soccer operates in a global market. Recently this has been reinforced in our family even more, as my eldest son, who works in Vietnam, is still able to follow his favorite teams, and we get to compare notes when he calls home.
The English Premier League consists of 20 teams, and on most weekends during the soccer season there are 10 games that can be watched, in addition to cup matches and various European championship matches. Although some fans may try, it is not really practical to watch all the games. My strategy has been to watch Tottenham Hotspurs (the “Spurs”), the team I have followed since my youth, and a couple of other big-team matchups. However, this year my strategy has had to change.
The English Premier League has been quite literally turned upside down. At the time of this writing, a team called Leicester City has been leading the championship for much of the season. This is made remarkable by the fact that it is a team that has never before been in contention for the English Premier League title and last year narrowly missed being relegated down to the lower Championship Division. Furthermore, some of the league’s most famous teams, such as Manchester United and Chelsea, are struggling in midtable or lower and have been beaten by opponents that they typically would be expected to win against relatively easily. These matches have been very unpredictable and highly entertaining to watch, making my selection of matches to view even more complex than previous years.
One interesting outcome of this is that I have been watching and am now familiar with players and teams that I would otherwise not have been exposed to. Indeed, the Leicester City players have gradually become household names beyond Leicester City’s normal fan base. My favorite team, the Spurs, is in second place, hotly pursuing those Leicester City upstarts. Each weekend is eagerly anticipated as we count down to the final matches of the season.
STLE has its own Premier League event in the form of our annual meeting. The 2016 event is May 15-19 in Las Vegas, and I am facing a similar dilemma to my soccer-viewing conundrum. The multiple technical tracks, education courses, exhibits and Commercial Marketing Forums force me to decide up front which events I will participate in. It simply is not possible to see it all!
In previous years I have applied the same approach used to guide my soccer viewing habits. Thus I have naturally gravitated to those sessions most relevant to my immediate interests, seeking out items that focus on fuel economy, energy efficiency and friction and wear fundamentals. However, this year I will be taking a leaf from my more recent soccer viewing playbook and will look out for some fixtures that I would not normally participate in. I am already anxious to learn some new things, and I am sure it will be highly entertaining. I invite everyone to join me in Las Vegas to take on the challenge of trying out something different. You never know, it may lead to a whole new business, technical or scientific insight that would have otherwise never occurred to you.
If you are able to attend, keep an eye out for me. If you find me wearing a white T-shirt, dark shorts and donning a hat with a logo of a cockerel standing on a soccer ball, you will know that my favorite team succeeded in its bid to win the English Premier League. I may also find it difficult to refrain from ushering the Spur’s fan chant of, “Come on, yer Spurs!”
Martin Webster is a senior research associate for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering in Annandale, N.J. You can reach him at martin.n.webster@exxonmobil.com.