It’s remarkable how seldom professional athletes will really and truly take responsibility for their actions and/or performance.
Sometimes, on the rare occasions when they do, the response is rather peculiar. Case in point: recent comments by Ottawa Senators defenseman Joe Corvo. Corvo said publicly he has not played up to par this season, and a newspaper headline in the Ottawa Sun thereafter read, “Corvo too honest?”
Corvo’s coach went so far as to say, “you’re always a little surprised when a player admits to lacking confidence publicly”, essentially suggesting it would have been better for Corvo not to acknowledge his poor play.
Corvo responded by saying, “Guys (athletes) are kind of programmed to say robotic responses…I don’t think I’m the first one that’s been honest.”
Compare and contrast Corvo’s honest, if uncommon, self-assessment with the recent reaction of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, after the Falcons finished a disappointing 7-9 and missed the NFC playoffs.
Said Vick, "I don't see how people can point the finger at me," he said. "I think I had a great season. ... I can't do it all by myself. I call myself Superman, but I really don't have the cape on my back. I can't change the game in certain situations. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't."
He’s not the first “star” athlete to decline accepting responsibility for the performance of the team he is paid handsomely to lead. Quarterbacks in particular accept widespread acclaim when their teams achieve success but some aren’t as keen to accept any criticism that comes their way when things go off the rails.
When an athlete says, “I can’t do it all by myself…” he is sending a terrible – and likely unappreciated— message to his teammates, especially when the words come from a so-called “team leader” such as Vick.
No athlete in a team sport – not Bobby Orr, Michael Jordan or Jim Brown—won games or championships on their own. Every player on their respective teams made contributions. Orr, Jordan and Brown may have shown their true greatness by helping make the players around them better, but those players nonetheless all made valuable contributions game by game and throughout the playoffs until the championship was won.
The moment an athlete starts thinking – and goes so far as to start saying publicly – he is “doing it all by himself”, chances are he is, emotionally, “losing” the very people he needs to achieve success, his teammates.
There is a wonderful life lesson here for young athletes – and for young people in general.
The real issue is not so much, perhaps, that Vick said what he said. Rather, the problem is that he felt that way in the first place.
How could anyone who has seen teammates work in the off-season, play through injuries and do their utmost to play at the highest level in their sport, has the support and guidance of top coaches to help him prepare to be successful every day, really feel as though he is “doing it alone”.
With this story as a backdrop, aspiring elite athletes would do well to look inside themselves, and do an attitude check.
If you think you’re doing it “by yourself”, think again.
And if you truly can’t convince yourself that you are not a one-man band, for goodness sake, don’t say so out loud.
You’ll lose the respect of teammates, coaches, scouts and fans—and anyone who had an interest in your career.
The Vick quote reminds me of a similar comment made by a young NHL draft prospect several years ago, when asked by the media why his “stats” had fallen off.
He said, “If I had better linemates and been given more playing time, I would have scored more…”
In one sentence, the player essentially trashed his teammates and his coach and publicly laid blame on others for his own shortcomings.
We all understand that teenage athletes may sometimes say things they shouldn’t. No one should be that programmed.
But that player likely lost something in the minds of his teammates, coaches – and the scouts who were assessing him—when he made that comment.
If you’re a parent, you may want to encourage your child not to follow the Michael Vick approach to leadership.
