|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
On the Couch : By Dr. Richard Lustberg An Analysis of Current Topics and Issues
in Sport Egotists or Egoless? All about "ME", that is much of what sport has come to be. It is clear that many athletes have trouble checking their egos both on and off the court. In Lost Angeles Kobe and Shaq are currently vying to be the man. Except for the fact that part of being a man is to take on a certain degree of maturity, traits that certainly young Kobe has yet to display. Seems that young Kobe has decided that this is going to be his year. Win or lose, he is going to "hoist em up", and in response Shaq has both sulked and become a statistician in the process. All about ME, it doesn't matter that the team won a championship last season. Doesn't make sense? That is because emotions often override rationale cognitions. People like young Kobe and Shaq have difficulty sublimating their own needs for the greater good of the team. So in essence their fragile egos need to be fed in order to emotionally sustain them. Second, they have difficulty living with feelings of being in a diminished or secondary position. The inability to not act out on these feelings plays a major factor not only in athletic performance, but in the way athletes purport themselves both on and off the field. It is also a huge factor in the violence we consistently witness on our country's playing arenas. --------------------------- Ever wonder why many athletes talk about themselves in the third person, just like the Queen of England. I do. In the real world they would be considered diagnosable. But in the world of sport and pop culture it seems natural. You know who they are. I particularly like the way boxers do it. Maybe it is because they get their brains scrambled once too often? If this third person thing was germane only to them I could buy it, but it is not. Keep in mind that individuals in the real world with Dissociative Disorders (who see or talk about themselves outside of themselves) usually land up with a few weeks stay on a psych ward, or psychiatric workup with major meds. Not so in sport. The search for the etiology of this sports phenomena may not actually start with the athlete, but with us. At the least we have colluded with them in the process. It is no wonder some athletes lose their identities and sensibilities, because so do we. We do know that they provide entertainment and both positive and negative emotionally cathartic experiences and memories that last a lifetime. Athletes and the memories associated with them become fixed objects in our minds. The power of these feelings is addictive, how else are we to explain our behaviors as fans? This long and sustained process is cumulative in nature and transforms an individual into a commodity. A commodity that talks about itself in the third person. From an early age star athletes are treated as commodities. Sordid stories abound about the lengths to which adults and coaches will go to in order to have a star player on their team. This process continues through college and into the world of professional sport. Those that make it are even hotter properties, those that don't, hit the scrap heap. Suddenly there is a sports card with your picture on it, and you become an instant collectable! Autographs anyone? Did you know that now your card can be traded on a web site much in the same manner a stock is sold? Talk about being traded, because other than in the some backward countries, where else can your body be traded or sold? Having a shoe named after you is quite a heady experience, and women often want you for what you do not who you are. You are marketed to the hilt! Somewhere along the marketing program our stars begin to metamorphose into beings with egos bigger than self. Remember somebody has made a major investment in a commodity that they hope will bring them revenue. When they get hurt no expense is spared to repair the broken part or parts. These athletes have access to the most sophisticated instruments, drugs, and machinery money can buy. Managed care? Doesn't exist in the world of sport. Repair the commodity and send it back out onto the field. And here you have a formula for an ego altering experience. ------------------------- Humility, honesty, integrity all are mantras you are used to hearing at Boy Scout meetings and Karate lessons. You are certainly not going to hear it from the Baltimore Ravens. We're the best, the best defense of all time they proclaim over and over. Reminds me of the old school yard arguments kids are used to having. But out of the mouths of grown men! It has been my experience that people who are the best never say so. In fact quite the contrary, they are generally humble, show humility, and let their work speak for itself. Sure it is one thing to exude confidence or feel competent. It is another when you do the equivalent of taking out a Times Square Bill Board to proclaim it. Maybe the Ravens constant proclamations of superiority are really attempts to convince us all of their superiority. Are we not astute enough fans to appreciate their abilities? People who usually pander to their audience are generally in need of reassurance themselves. They are exhibiting traits of insecurity and self-doubt. Egotists or Egoless? For the Ravens that is the question. -------------------------------- Finally, who could leave out the big Tuna when it comes to Ego? You have to give him his due when it comes to coaching and the results he gets. This column and our show have given him his due credit, as well as high praise for his accomplishments, and he certainly gets my vote for the hall. Bill Parcells is an unparalleled manipulator and master motivator of people the likes of which has rarely been seen in sport. But when it comes to smugness, sarcasm and just plain crustiness, he tops the cake. His biting, often stinging condescending responses, put him at the top of the list in this category. Many a sports writer has felt his wrath and sharp tongue for asking what Mr. Parcells thought was a stupid, inane question. Being above it all oozes from his every pore. I was most impressed with the little kiss he blew to the fans and camera at the Super Bowl. Touching. It is clear that he has a special place within him for Phil Simms. However, as is too often the case with Mr. Parcells, if you listen with the third ear (a psychological phrase) you hear tones that suggest he is speaking of a pupil, or someone beneath him as he recently did when discussing Simms' achievements. Maybe he doesn't even know he is expressing himself in this manner. Maybe he doesn't even care. Nonetheless, he is a great story and the media flock to his side. So somewhere, someplace in the roaring crowd is that little boy in the "Emperor's New Clothes." The one voice in the crowd able to shout the truth about the naked, vain King. The point being that perhaps we're the ones who have been manipulated and produced, at least the Kobes, the Shaqs, the Ravens, the Parcells have an excuse. What's ours? |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
