In the 9/26/24 issue of "Balls & Calls" from "Shakedown Street"
WHAT SHOHEI OHTANI CAN TEACH EVERY ATHLETE AT EVERY LEVEL: in Japan, there is a dedication to [Shohei Ohtani's] craft from an early age. He and fellow athletes are laser focused on not just being good at what they do, but being respectful of the game, their teammates, and the fans who dedicate a good portion of their emotions and money to being invested. Ohtani thus doesn’t allow himself to be part of the innumerable distractions that are the trademark of many jocks in his generation playing in other countries, specifically the United States.
He doesn’t waste his time on social media. He doesn’t tweet his personal life. He’s not using his smartphone to take videos of he and his friends acting like idiots or perhaps even breaking the law. He’s not out there seeking greater fame with self-aggrandizing nonsense. There is no cannon fodder for the tabloids. He puts his head down, works with his teammates and coaches, plays the game with a passionate zeal, and provides nary a distraction from the game and task at hand.
He and others like him that grew up and learned their craft in a more refined and less media-addled society are examples that American athletes could learn from.
THE DARK SIDE OF FANS AND SOCIAL MEDIA: The one that still annoys me is how a number of responders took their precious time to denigrate the memory of the man. More than a few claimed that [Mercury] Morris was “just a backup player” and wasn’t as integral to the [Miami] Dolphins bruising running game success as Larry Csonka or Jim Kiick, the tandem tagged back then as “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid”.
It would not be a far stretch to remember the era we’re talking about. Those early 1970’s were not exactly a bastion of racial tolerance, and while I wasn’t there, I recall the stories being recounted to me from journalists who were there on how black players were looked down upon and white players were the focus of most, if not all, the NFL marketing effort.
The man had just passed away, and here we have so-called “fans”, (which keep in mind is short for fanatic), choosing to spit negatives instead of simple kindness. Instead of remembering the excitement he brought with his exceptional talent, some chose to insult his memory.
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