{"id":12823,"date":"2011-03-16T17:01:14","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T00:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=12823"},"modified":"2011-03-16T17:13:57","modified_gmt":"2011-03-17T00:13:57","slug":"joba-i%e2%80%99m-going-to-need-you-to-stay-after-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/16\/joba-i%e2%80%99m-going-to-need-you-to-stay-after-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Joba, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Going to Need You to Stay After Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professional athletes are like high school girls.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I get older, they stay the same age.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m slowly reaching the point in my life where I am now older than a majority of the athletes I root for.\u00c2\u00a0 I feel this difference in age gives me the right to complain about \"\"<\/a>how things today aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as great as when I was young\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhen everyone was on PEDs and putting up ungodly unnatural numbers\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhow players today lack etiquette, take their fans for granted, and overindulge in fame\u00e2\u20ac\u201dtotally unlike the \u00e2\u20ac\u212286 Mets\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand lecture those younger than me about the proper way to play the game.<\/p>\n

So now, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to merge my day job as a middle school teacher with this gig, put on my teacher hat, hold Joba Chamberlain after class, and have a nice one-on-one with him before he heads off to recess.<\/p>\n

Joba, do you know why I asked you to stay behind today?<\/p>\n

(You always want to give them a chance to share their side of the story.)<\/p>\n

No?\u00c2\u00a0 Ok, well let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s go over a few things.\u00c2\u00a0 As you know, the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 starting rotation is in a state of flux right now.\u00c2\u00a0 C.C., A.J., and Phil are still here, but Andy retired and we all had no idea who the fifth starter was going to be anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 So, there were two starting pitching spots open this spring.<\/p>\n

Remember when you were drafted?\u00c2\u00a0 Before you came into the league, you were a starter, right?<\/p>\n

(Again, engage them in conversation.\u00c2\u00a0 You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want this to come off like a lecture.)<\/p>\n

And when you were drafted, weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you told that the eventual goal was to use you as a starter?<\/p>\n

Well, knowing all that, shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you have worked your tail off this winter to give yourself the best possible opportunity to take one of those open spots?<\/p>\n

Instead, you showed up to camp overweight and out of shape.\u00c2\u00a0 Your fastball hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been what it once was, and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being hit pretty hard.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, because of your lack of preparation, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a strained oblique and you may miss opening day.<\/p>\n

(This is important, you want to name and identify the undesirable behavior.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meaningful if you can make a connection between the behavior and a negative result.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>To be honest, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not really interested in what Derek or Alex did.\u00c2\u00a0 You know who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s responsible for Alex\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions?<\/p>\n

Alex is; that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right.\u00c2\u00a0 So who is responsible for your actions?<\/p>\n

Exactly, you are.\u00c2\u00a0 You shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be worried about what other people do, because you can only control one person, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s yourself.<\/p>\n

(Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t allow the student to compare himself to his classmates.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a very social time of life, but students need to be able to see themselves as their own person capable of making their own decisions.\u00c2\u00a0 Just because Alex Rodriguez hangs out with Cameron Diaz at the Super Bowl doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean Joba Chamberlain has to eat three cheeseburgers and a plate of hot wings in the company of some wannabe actress at a local pub in February.)<\/p>\n

No, I know you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not entirely to blame for this situation.\u00c2\u00a0 I agree, the Yankee brass really messed with your head.\u00c2\u00a0 Look, I compare this situation to the differences between how my wife and I listen to the car radio.<\/p>\n

(Personal anecdotes can help humanize a teacher.\u00c2\u00a0 Students will hopefully see you as less of an authority figure and more of a person.)<\/p>\n

She loves Billy Joel and Taylor Swift.\u00c2\u00a0 She will flip around endlessly until she lights upon Uptown Girl<\/em> or Tim McGraw<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 It can get annoying, but she knows what she wants and she goes after it.\u00c2\u00a0 Me?\u00c2\u00a0 My music tastes are more eclectic.\u00c2\u00a0 It means I can tolerate more, so I flip around less.\u00c2\u00a0 The result is that sometimes I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll happily end up with The Beatles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Let it Be<\/em> or Green Day\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Basketcase<\/em>, but other times, because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what I want, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to deal with Ricky Martin or the Spice Girls.\u00c2\u00a0 Yeah, I agree; they do suck.<\/p>\n

The Yankees never really knew what they wanted from you. \u00c2\u00a0You were a phenom as a reliever and mediocre as a starter because of all the innings limits and pitch restrictions they placed on you.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not really excelling in any role.\u00c2\u00a0 You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the equivalent of a radio stuck on a staticy station that endlessly plays Who Let the Dogs Out.<\/em><\/p>\n

(Note: Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t insult the student like I just did.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m allowed to because this is a fictional situation and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pretending that 26-year-old Joba Chamberlain is a middle-schooler.)<\/p>\n

Joba, I can see you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting upset, but you need to understand how important this is.\u00c2\u00a0 We saw what happened to the Yankees last year without a stable starting rotation, and this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s staff looks worse.\u00c2\u00a0 You could have gone a long way in helping out your teammates, your coaches, and your fans.\u00c2\u00a0 You chose not to.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not mad; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just disappointed.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(This is also key.\u00c2\u00a0 When students think you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re mad, they feel like they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being chastised and can tune out.\u00c2\u00a0 Conveying disappointment shows that you still hold them in high regard and have high standards that you still believe they can meet.)<\/p>\n

Look, right now, we need to focus on getting you healthy.\u00c2\u00a0 But, just know, your actions have consequences.\u00c2\u00a0 The natural upshot for you is that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to compete for a starting role or the set-up spot.\u00c2\u00a0 You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be a middle reliever and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go from there.<\/p>\n

Does that sound fair?\u00c2\u00a0 I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what anybody wants, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what has to happen.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe in the future, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll learn from this mistake, and be better prepared to become a starter.<\/p>\n

Alright, here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tissue.\u00c2\u00a0 Go get a drink of water and clean yourself up.<\/p>\n

You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve still got a few minutes of recess left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professional athletes are like high school girls.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I get older, they stay the same age.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13526,2782,13525,2962,621,4704,13527,13523,3910,8380,1161,5970,13529,2940,13528,9662,13524,1182,1137,1051],"class_list":["post-12823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-chamberlain","tag-day-job","tag-eventual-goal","tag-fame","tag-fastball","tag-fifth-starter","tag-gig","tag-high-school-girls","tag-mets","tag-middle-school-teacher","tag-opening-day","tag-opportunity","tag-overweight","tag-play-game","tag-play-the-game","tag-professional-athletes","tag-reaching-the-point","tag-shape","tag-state-of-flux","tag-yankees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}