Anime, Gaming, Culture: The Texans Are Crushing It

…says the Warriors, and the Rams, and the LA Kings. There’s a new (old), weird, and cute, must-have animal trinket in these parts. Or perhaps there's room in our hats for both?

In a new Players' Tribune article, Patriots’ wide receiver Kayshon Boutte talks about the scary side of gambling, and how dreaming can take you to the NFL, but it can also send you to rock bottom. It’s beautiful and triumphant and very worth reading. 

“Heated Rivalry” star Hudson Williams told Andy Cohen that since the Canadian ice hockey show aired, several closeted professional athletes have slid into his DMs. Williams says it's proof the show is “hitting people right in the nerves.” Finally, some good news, eh?  

We have an ending (?) to the Demond Williams Jr. saga from yesterday! News broke that his agent parted ways with him (uh-oh) yesterday, and then without explanation, we found out Williams would stay at UW. Once a Husky…always a Husky…ha ha…nothing to see here…

Nike is relaunching “The Opening,” a tournament in which the best high school football players compete for NIL deals with the Swoosh. It starts in the 305, continues through ATL, NYC, NOLA, Indy, and Dallas (there’s no shorthand for Dallas), and will culminate on Nike’s campus in Beaverton, Oregon. Should we go to them all together? Group trip?

My readers know I’m always giving flowers to the Chargers' social team (I think everyone is), but there might be a new ruler in the NFL social world. Maybe it’s that everything is bigger where they come from, but when it comes to understanding pop culture and creating engaging online content, they’ve been major. 

From anime to gaming to movies, they know what the people want. And exactly how to parody it. We talked to Steven Goldfried, the Texans' director of social media, to find out what their secret sauce is. 

OffBall: What drew your team to anime content? How did you trust your audience would respond well? 

Steven Goldfried: The anime content has been the brainchild of Social Media Manager, Jaylon Wingfield. He is a huge fan of both the Texans and Anime. He saw the potential of bringing the two communities together via Texans social. We ran with it and it’s been fun seeing the response and being able to bring in a new community of Texans fans. 

When you work in sports marketing, you understand very quickly that connecting with the audience is all about fandom. So, we understand the power of fandom and how to organically relate to our audience. Fandom is also what drew us to Anime.   

OB: What's been your 'Mona Lisa' of content so far this season? 

SG: That’s like asking someone to pick their favorite child! There have definitely been some bangers, though. We had the #1 most valuable post in the NFL this season, the famous “high-five” video with our Chair and CEO, Cal McNair, our “stand in the box for sideline passes.” Additionally, we’ve placed a big focus on bespoke content for TikTok. Our Social Media Coordinator, Londyn Butler, has come up with and executed some really funny ideas for that space, including asking the players to borrow $15,000, inviting them to her dog’s baptism, and offering them buffalo wings on the field after our win over the Bills on Thursday Night Football. It’s interesting to note that many of our top pieces of content were not dependent on football action or highlights and instead featured players, helmet-off, genuinely reacting. That’s the kind of content we try to be intentional about because it humanizes these elite athletes and helps fans relate to people they usually see as super-human.  

OB: What was it like getting Cal McNair involved in content? 

SG: The important thing to point out here is that we didn’t get him involved. He got us involved. He self-assuredly and organically chose to join the conversation. You can actually learn more about the backstory and execution from our Webby’s award submission. It was a lot of fun, though! A compressed, leadership-driven sprint where ownership, social, digital, and public relations aligned quickly and executed. We feel incredibly lucky to have ownership that is so involved and cares so much not just about winning on the field, but being a lasting part of the community off the field as well -including by having fun with the fans on social!

OB: Are there other social teams you look to for inspiration? 

SG: A lot of the teams in the NBA have been doing social really well for a long time. We’ve taken some inspiration from them. We also look at college social teams that do it well, like Oregon and USF. Shout-out to USF for inspiring some of our dub cam moments this season. 

Something that never gets old to me is professional athletes posting updates on LinkedIn when they get a new job. But Denver Nuggets’ (and G-Leaguer) Spencer Keith Jones is taking it to the next level. And I am obsessed. Sometimes it seems like athletes are doing it as a bit, or in jest, but that’s not the case with this here Stanford grad. 

Not only does he have a very impressive portfolio from an investment standpoint (I have no idea if that’s true, but he has invested in lots of stuff, he has a carbon credit, and I can kinda just say whatever I want here), but he is also giving us post-game reactions. And “spend the day with me” style content. 

I just asked to connect. Wish me luck. 

Watch Martellus Bennett’s Disney Jr. show with the fam. 

Drool over some classic Tommy Hilfiger — if you’re a Liverpool fan. Man U fans, look away.  

Plan all your annual trips. And make ‘em sporty.