It is only appropriate to relate this blog to the topic of conversation in the sports world this weekend, the NFL Draft. It is the time of year when months and months of scouting, studying, researching, analyzing, and dissecting an athlete both on and off the field culminates into what we see as spectators; a young man walking on the stage at radio city music hall to pose for a picture with the NFL Commissioner holding his jersey and wearing his new team’s colors. Although the athlete standing on stage has stood half-naked in front of countless NFL scouts and has been reduced to the “measurables” – height, weight, bench press, vertical jump, 40yard dash time – his potential as an NFL football player still remains in question. Even if a player is drafted, whether or not a he will succeed in the NFL is anything but certain.
If a player's success depended only on what can be seen and measured on the outside the pre-draft analysis would not have developed into such and art and science. The truth is that the one thing that can’t be measured happens to be the largest determining factor in a player realizing his potential...his ATTITUDE.
Attitude is a word that is very often spoken but not so often understood. It has seemingly endless implications in explaining a good football player. Whether it is describing an athlete capable of making responsible decisions off the field or a player who is pleasant to be around in the locker room, or if he has a “get knocked down 7, stand up eight” attitude when the going gets tough late in the game. Nowadays coaches and scouts refer to these types of players as “character-guys” or “program-guys”, meaning he is a guy who has a positive attitude no matter what the circumstances are, so-called a resilient attitude. He is comfortable with his identity as a person and as a player and has a healthy perspective regarding his place on the team, in his city, and in society in general. He understands that he is not entitled to anything because he can “run fast and jump high.” He is grounded by the values of hard work, perseverance, accountability and respect. These values seem to have been much more prevalent years ago When Pride Still Mattered, to use the title of Vince Lombardi’s Biography by David Marantis. However, there are players who have and continue to exemplify these values on and off the field. There is one such player that comes to mind when I think of the ideal attitude.
WalterPayton is not only known for his “never say die” running style but also for his kind nature off the field. Every year the NFL gives the Walter Payton Award to the man who exemplifies hard work, perseverance, and respect on and off the field. It is an attitude that every player should strive for and every team should invest in come NFL draft time.
Stay believing,
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