As we prepare for the full prospect forum, it is time to begin the process of organizing the information that has been touched upon this week and put an appropriate label on it. Even though there is one topic yet to be addressed after today, we can most certainly write our general purpose in permanent ink on the side of that jar for our storage in the mental cabinet.
This principle is beyond the understanding of your skill level, the importance of when to take your tests, your level of accountability and dependability and so on. Whether this principle is done effectively or not, these things briefly discussed this week will merely be the proof to yourself, not to the others involved, BUT YOURSELF that you are in the process of developing what is called character.
Most, if not all of your coaches have preached character, but that’s all they can do for you. They can preach and can lead as best they can, but they cannot dunk your heads under the water at the trough of maturity and force you to drink from it like you were reenacting scenes from “Project X” okay?
People get character confused with reputation all too often. You must not diminish the importance of either, but you must also have a clear understanding that one is business, while the other is personal. Your reputation does not define who are, but your character does. Even though the following analogy may make them seem like they are opposites, they are not. You can’t have right if there is no left. You can’t have east, if there is no west and so on. Although on opposite sides of the spectrum they are present for YOU to try and decide which one should rule the other or if you need them to be as balanced as possible. Everyone works differently. There are exceptions to every rule.
I’ll use the analogy that if character was located in the Western Hemisphere, then reputation would be in the eastern though. To prove my point, let me ask you some questions as food for thought regarding what you may think as character, which in fact is reputation and vise-versa.
1.) How many famous athletes do I know PERSONALLY? I mean, personally. (If you answered “none”, just wait. Those that answered “yes” HONESTLY to all of these questions already understand what I’m saying)
2.) If I do know them (short of being direct family), how well do I know them?
3.) Is what I know of them predominantly from SportsCenter, Blogs, and TV commercials?
4.) Do you see where I’m going with this?
Your reputation should be what you base your business or recruiting model after. Your character is the reflection of your personal foundation that comes almost exclusively through your actions, not words and should rarely have to be explained to anyone but those that need to know. You can choose to create whatever reputation you wish for yourself and for some, it’s a perfect business strategy. Just look at the “reputations” of teams like The Baltimore Ravens or the ENTIRE foundation of the swag at “The U.”
Look at the level in which you’re participating (especially for the upperclassmen) and think about the demands on your time versus when you were a freshman even. Times are a changin’ quicker than a line of thunderstorms in a spring cold front racing across the state. Your reputations and your character can become inflated, deflated and assassinated within a matter of hours. Social Media can make you the butt of jokes from Tampa to Tokyo literally within minutes. You can go from hero to zero in less time than it takes to hop on a Southwest Airlines flight from Tampa to Jacksonville (27 minutes wheels-up to wheels-down FYI.)
When it gets to the point though where you become left out of the equation for HOF status or you are presumed guilty before proven innocent in a court of public opinion (which gets bigger, angrier and more misinformed daily) it gets personal right? You may think you understand what it is to be in their position and to identify with them and their struggle, but you may not know the first microscopic detail about them. Not even the ones you “see” on television or on your Twitter timeline. You have a perception of what they are, but you don’t know them.
If you are fortunate enough to make it to this level of exposure, you WILL experience this sort of assault on your reputation which can effect your character if you let it.
I found some quotes from three different people about the same topic if you need some more reinforcement. This one is from a man that redefined greatness and might be considered THE example of character defined. If you have not been introduced to or experienced the philosophies of Coach John Wooden, then you aren’t really living life yet and I’m sorry. Wooden says this about character:
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
Doesn’t take a member of MENSA to expand on this does it? You can actually reconfigure this to work FOR you even if you’re a “perceived” jerk. First time I read this it went straight over my head for a second. Then I realized Coach Wooden isn’t saying anything about living a perfect life on the outside. It’s what you’ve got going on within you. (This also sounds like a perfect parallel to the examples of faith taught beyond the classroom walls and field of play.)
“Reputation is what men and women think of us, character is what God and Angels know of us.” –Thomas Paine
You want a real life example? How about Ray Lewis? What was his “reputation” immediately following his murder trial as compared to his reputation now? Lewis survived the public onslaught over time because he obviously had within his CHARACTER to rise above and move on being a better “public” figure while showing through his works not his words that he recognized personally you don’t exactly get 2nd chances at fame and fortune such as his. Especially when faced with life in prison at the beginning of your prime earning potential. Now he gives us the gift of wisdom through his locker room speeches that would entice even Betty White to hit someone as if she had channeled Greg Williams.
“Talent develops in tranquility, character in the full current of human life. – Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe
Look at it this way, if you don’t think that YOUR character is at stake when deciding programs look at it again. You may be cool with your reputation now, but consider what your “role models” while away from home are practicing not what they are preaching; then ask yourself if your character is strong enough to survive what could be a culture shock for you.
What happens when “keeping it real” goes wrong? You have one coach so firmly entrenched in a mid-life crisis that even Charlie Sheen thinks he needs to chillax and another that’s using the checkered past of another program to recruit against it; which isn’t exactly below the belt, but HE was overseeing said program at that time which better resembled the set of “Oz” rather than “Shawshank Redemption” yet now he wants you to think he’s running a different program that even Benedict XVI would be proud to call his own.
Now you can certainly play for both of them because you know that if you’re starting for them, you’ve got a decent chance of going to the league. Again, that’s your reputation at stake so not a big problem if you’re wired to let your play do the talking. Again, it’s what you do, not what you say right? Just don’t think it’s easy to block it out and keep playing as if nothing is wrong. Ask Lebron James.
What you don’t want to do is make the mistake of “marketing” yourself during the recruiting process on Twitter, Facebook and for all of the blogs as someone on the pretense that you’re playing for these coaches because they can provide you with the same core values that could only be found in some monastery in Tibet for crying out loud. That’s bad business and if you are not willing to accept this is part of your foundation then you’re screwed.
You’re basically down 28-7 in the 2nd Quarter at this point in the battle of character vs. reputation. Sure, there’s time to stage a comeback, but what if your character is Georgia Tech and your reputation is Oregon? If the task is to make sure your character defeats the reputation, that deficit sounds insurmountable right now. Running clock begins soon. So does the end of your career if you do not master this principle. It’s your future and you have to live with it. Stay focused.
Doug Pugh can be found on Twitter @pughsviewsBCP or you can contact him at pugh@bigcountypreps.com