If you boast, better back it up
Posted: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 5:42 AM
So far, just one U.S. team and one individual have come to the Olympics talking about how they were going to win. They are the women’s gymnastics team and boxer Rau’shee Warren.
Warren’s gone, the victim of a brain-lock in his first boxing match. And the gymnasts are going home with silver medals, beaten by their own mistakes and by a superior Chinese team.
There’s a lesson in this, though I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for anyone to learn it. I’m grateful for that, because players and teams that shoot their mouths off are one of the things that make sports so riveting.
A lot of my colleagues criticize athletes who thump their own chests and make predictions. They usually do it after using every trick they can play to get the athletes to predict a victory or toot their own kazoo. Football writers take it to an art form at the Super Bowl, hoping desperately and eternally for another Joe Namath ‘guarantee’ moment. They actually got one this year, when the Giants’ Plaxico Burress obliged by saying he thought the Giants would win. He was roundly criticized by the same guys who asked him to make a prediction.
The Giants beat the unbeaten Patriots, and Burress caught the winning touchdown pass. At that moment, the criticism turned to a celebration of the man brave enough to predict a win and then deliver on the promise.
So I’m not going to beat up either Warren or the gymnasts for talking about winning a gold medal before the competition had even started. And if they’d won, I’d be complimenting them on their attitude.
But I will suggest to them and to others that if you’re going to talk smack like that, you’d better understand that you have to deliver.
The gymnasts seemed to suffer from the pressure they put on themselves. They came here talking about how tough they were and how much success they’d had winning championships in front of hostile crowds. All of that was accurate enough. But when the pressure was on, both from the Chinese and from injuries, they didn’t handle it. They nailed a couple of two-cheek landings, fell off beam and bar, and committed other unforced errors.
I’m not sure if they would have beaten the Chinese on their best day. But they sure didn’t help themselves.
Warren’s case is just sad. The poor kid lost as a 17-year-old in the 2004 Olympics and made the extraordinary decision to remain an amateur and come back to win the gold he’d always dreamed of. He had the entire scenario scripted in his mind, right down to waving a flag a la George Foreman in the ring after winning the gold-medal match. Unfortunately, he neglected to construct a game plan that would lead to that conclusion. He styled and danced around the ring, didn’t listen to his corner when his coaches were telling him he was trailing, and was devastated when he learned he had lost a match he easily could have won.
That’s the lesson, kids. Go ahead and tell the world how good you are, but be prepared to back it up. If you say you’re going to win, you have to know how to win. Dreams are terrific. Game plans are even better.
