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Description: http://www.riotsportsmarketing.com Why athletics? Think about it. Why do we spend so much time, energy and money playing games? This question was posed to a good friend of mine, Steve Garland, the head wrestling coach at the University of Virginia by athletics director Craig Littlepage during Steve's interview for the position. He posed the simple question, "why athletics?" and then made an excuse to leave the room for a few minutes to give the young coach time to think. Winning? Building character? Adding to the academic experience? Building awareness of the university's brand? Nope. When he returned, Steve offered his version of the answer, trying to give a few different versions hoping to hit the "right" one. Then the highly respected AD stopped him and offered his own answer. "Athletics brings people together." Sounds nice, right? Kinda fluffy. The type of stuff that you might expect from an average leader who is offering weak excuse for not doing well in the "W" column. It could not be further from the truth. Since Littlepage took over in 2001, UVA has become one of the top athletic departments in the nation. They win. A lot. They finished 3rd in the Learfield Directors' Cup last year and are currently in 10th place after the fall sports season. (The highly sought-after Learfield Directors' Cup is given to the most successful college or university athletics department in the NCAA.) Bringing people together does a lot of things. Athletics builds relationships as tight as family. And when you need support, you can count on family, whether they are family through bonds of blood or bonds of athletics. How important are your fans?