Unintended Consequences 9/7/08

My boss pulled me aside the other day and told me that I was about 90% positive for a new position in the company. Better hours, better pay, the whole nine yards. The other guy in the running has been there for years so needless to say I was excited. I ran out of the conference room, and though I didn't think it was that great a commotion, from what I've been told it was quite a scene. I was high-fiving people all the way down the hall, whooping and carrying on like I'd won the lottery, and hugging everyone I came in contact with. I think the guy I was up against for the new job was there too. I don't really remember because I was so caught up in the moment. The rest of my shift was like Christmas and Mardi Gras all in one. Right up until it was time to clock out.

My supervisor, his supervisor, and many of the other department heads called me into the very same conference room where I'd had my spirits taken to the heavens to tell me that my promotion was being given to the other guy. I was crushed. I asked how they could do this to me, and in reply was told that my celebration that morning was over the line. Even though there is nothing in the employee handbook addressing my alleged 'disruptive behavior' they were concerned that every time I received good or bad news the entire workplace would be disturbed, and that the company couldn't afford the lost productivity coming from continued outbursts. Everyone I've told about this has taken the side of my bosses. I don't really see why either. Its not like anyone got hurt. I was just excited and wanted everyone to know it. Why won't anyone see my point of view? I'm the victim here. The reactions of people are very surprising to me considering..(and now that I have your attention)...

Those very same folks can be so outraged over the ending of the Washington Huskies-BYU Cougars game. How can that flag be thrown? Jake Locker never taunted anyone. He was only caught up in the moment. He was only celebrating that he'd scored and his team might still have a chance to win. He wasn't thinking about the possibility that a flag might be thrown penalizing him and his team, or that the extra distance might take his team out of range for a two-point attempt to win the game outright. For that matter that the extra distance raises the margin for error on that chip shot extra point. Basically, he just wasn't disciplined enough to think even two seconds into the future about unintended consequences.

Excuses are made, fingers are pointed. 'Its a bad rule', 'why can't players have fun?', 'he didn't mean to taunt anyone', 'the refs shouldn't be allowed to decide the game like that'. All of those comments puzzle me. How did any of the games survive all those years without 'fun'? How did we know that guys like Ernie Banks and Bill Russell and Mickey Mantle and even big bad Deacon Jones and Mean Joe Greene were 'having fun'? In those old highlight reels they're seen smiling and looking like they were having the time of their lives. I wonder how it is that they were never penalized for excessive celebrations? Did they have some sort of secret handshake? Were they all members of an ultra-secret society of professional athletes who were privy to some highly confidential inside information? Hmmm, there might be something to that.

Maybe it has something to do with the 'team' and the absolute need to do anything and everything in their power to help the team toward the goal of winning and the need NOT to do anything to jeopardize that cause. Maybe it has to do with selflessness and knowing that glory would find them through personal hard work and overall team success. The old timers had the self-confidence to conduct themselves in a dignified manner on the field. They knew that that would reflect back on them off the field as well. They didn't need to do The Macarena during the game for fans to notice them. We just did, because their excellence was self-evident.

I'm reminded of a comment an older relative made to me years ago. She told me that she enjoyed coming to my games because we were all having so much fun. I asked her how she knew that and she said 'I could just tell'. There wasn't any need for me or any of my teammates to pump our fists, bump our chests, or do any of those superfluous things to call attention to the fact that we were playing. We knew. The crowd knew. That was enough.

We can debate forever the need of a penalty for excessive celebration, but the fact is the rule is there, and there for a reason. Self-control isn't that difficult a thing. All it takes is a split-second to consider the ramifications of our words/actions on the world beyond the tips of our noses. We ask, or better yet demand, discipline from our kids. How do we in good faith watch a game with them and justify the behavior we see as NOT the responsibility of the individuals acting out those very behaviors we discourage from our children? Think about that a moment.

The handshakes and high fives that used to happen on the bench or sidelines and in the dugouts while the games continued were allowed to spill over onto the field of play, and the stakes grew and grew as players attempted to one-up each other in the outrageousness department. The fact is too many players took too many liberties for too long performing choreographed celebrations and passed them off as 'having fun'. Not only did we accept it, but we condoned it.

Jake Locker and the Washington Huskies are simply reaping what all of us have sown.