Trying Not to Settle For My Subpar Work

Tonight I got home and after I had some dinner and got caught up on the MLB playoffs I sat down to write a blog post surrounding an idea that came to me a couple days ago. I labored through the post, trying to make each sentence flow perfectly and working to make sure I crafted the passage in such a way that it would really drive my point home. I spent more than a couple periods just staring at my computer screen contemplating what words I should add next. I struggled through the whole thing. Compared to my average post, I spent much more time and wrote much more on this one. I then made a decision:

I decided not to publish it.

After taking about as much time to scrutinize and think about the post I had just written as it had taken me to draft it in the first place, I decided that I would not publish it to Don’t Blink. I came to the conclusion that it just didn’t fit my brand and that it probably wasn’t my best work. Yep, even though I did spend a lot of time on it that toil didn’t quite translate to Grade A quality.

I am glad I have come to the point where I can recognize work that is subpar and then not go with it. I definitely have not always had this discipline. I can glance through my almost 400 posts in Don’t Blink and see pieces that are garbage. Either my topic sucked, my writing lacked substance, the structure was off, my voice wasn’t coming through, or all the above. But my desire to “get something out there” that particular night led me to publish it. I have a plan in the near future to go through my blog and delete some of the dead wood that I should have never of put my name to.

I think in this day and age we as a society have this conception that we must get “stuff” out there. I am sure most of you have heard someone say or said yourself “we just need some content.” Without even thinking about quality many of us just want the mediocre feature or the lackluster post to take up space. As I just admitted with my blog, I have triumphed this thinking too many times myself. But I am trying to get better and tonight was a good step.

Just because we work on something doesn’t necessarily mean that what we created was a success. We need to be honest with ourselves and honest with who we are. If we create something that doesn’t sound like us or that doesn’t reflect who we are and we go through and make it live we are deeply damaging our personal brand. No amount of time spent on a project that doesn’t meet standards could ever justify posting it at the expense of the reputation that we have worked so hard to build. Don’t Blink.

Keep It Classy, Denver: Social Media Arrogance

On Monday, the Twitter account of the Denver Broncos made national news in the sporting world. The account rattled off many impressive stats of the prolific offense ran by Peyton Manning including this one:

The Broncos sent out this tweet.

The Broncos sent out this tweet.

In my opinion, the tweet standing alone is just a tad bit bush league. However, I don’t think it is totally out of bounds. That is not to say that I would ever tweet anything of that nature from our official Twitter account at Grizzly Athletics (@UMGRIZZLIES). I don’t disparage or call out opposing teams. I think it is in bad taste and I think it reflects poorly on our department. But again, I don’t think the tweet in and of itself constitutes a major social media no-no.

But there is something about the timing of the tweet that makes it bad, something that the person running that account should have either realized or respected…

The Broncos play the Jaguars this weekend.

Starting in high school it seems like every coaching staff uses bulletin board material to motivate players. Anything an opposing coach or player might say that can be twisted around to sound like a diss will be utilized to fire the other team up. Believe me, this type of motivation works. It has helped me play harder and, outside of the playing field, work harder.

What the staff member in charge of the Broncos’ Twitter account did was provide the Jaguars with bulletin board material. Now I know Jacksonville has a .000034% chance of beating Denver. I know they are the largest underdogs in NFL history. I also know that in all reality most of the grown men playing on the Jaguars couldn’t care less about the tweet. BUT, there is the possibility that maybe a few of the players might actually take it to heart and use it as motivation on Sunday. If this is the case and maybe just as little as one player exerts a little more energy than he normally would because he thought of that tweet for a split second, that staff member has done the Broncos terribly wrong.

Those of us who handle social media for college and pro teams have to be cautious and accountable. Many of us speak to large fan bases several times on a daily basis through multiple posts, tweets, pictures, etc. We carry the voice of the school/organization we represent and it only takes one instance of stupidity to make our program look bad. Out of the numerous different ways to do so, displaying arrogance regarding an opponent several days before playing them qualifies as one.

In any athletic department or professional organization, the main goal of the support staff is to never do anything that might decrease the chances of victory. That tweet by the Denver Broncos staff member definitely didn’t help to increase the chances of victory and like I said, if it only ends up resonating with just one athlete on the Jaguars, that staffer has done a disservice to his organization.

Jacksonville did respond with a tweet of its own:

This is how Jacksonville responded.

This is how Jacksonville responded.

Personally, I wouldn’t have gone that route either. I think by them mentioning Denver outright it gave the Broncos too much recognition and it displayed bitterness on the part of the Jaguars. I would have quoted the tweet and put something in front such as “Irrelevant”, “Motivation”, or “Doesn’t matter come Sunday.” The Broncos responded back to Jacksonville but it just gets stupid so I won’t even go there.

Many of us who have played sports remember these three words of advice: Respect your opponent. This wisdom should not be lost as we enter our professional careers but perhaps embraced even more….social media gurus included. Don’t Blink.

Thanks for the Birthday Love

After a birthday, 9 out of 10 times the person’s Facebook status will read something like this: “Thank you so much everyone for the birthday wishes. I feel very loved and I had a great day. I am so lucky!”

Well, after turning 27 years old today I feel the exact same way. Only difference is that I don’t have to write that short generic status on my Facebook wall because I have this coveted blog that allows me to elaborate on for thousands and thousands of words. But I won’t put you through that misery. I will, however, elaborate just a little.

Don’t worry, if you wrote on my wall I will still make sure to respond back to you personally. After all, I can’t go back on something that I make sure to do every single year. However, you will have to wait until tomorrow for me to drill those out. I like to start on that project once all of my Facebook birthday wishes come in and with three hours of October 8 left to go, there is still the chance that others might wish this aging blogger a big ol’ Feliz Cumpleanos.

But all joking and sarcasm aside, I want to genuinely say thank you to everyone who took the time to wish me a happy birthday today. Especially in this day and age with all the different mediums out there, birthdays are definitely a self-esteem booster, even if I can’t stand getting a year older. For all the birthday wishes through phone calls, texts, e-mails, Facebook posts, twitter mentions, Instagram mentions, Snap Chats, cards, and face-to-face conversation I do feel very valued and cared for. I know I say I am not a birthday person but I would be lying if I said that all the attention and love I get from people on this day didn’t make me very appreciative.

I spent today doing what I love: working for the Griz. I got to be around my awesome co-workers and our humble and amazing student-athletes. The birthday wishes I got from both groups throughout the day again reminded me of how lucky I am to work in a first class athletic department. I then got to celebrate my birthday with someone who owns October 8 much more than I do. Sylvia Jensen is the biggest Griz supporter you will find and she turned 80 years old today. She came into the office this morning and wished me a happy birthday but this evening I got to return the favor when we surprised her at Dickey’s BBQ. I can only hope to have as much energy, enthusiasm, and love for people that she has if I am ever lucky enough to reach that age.

Thanks again for all the love you gave me today. I am so lucky to have you all in my life and I thank God every single night for my infinite blessings. It is like the ultimate birthday gift that keeps giving each day. Don’t Blink.

Monte Suffers a Loss in the 2013 Mascot Challenge

About an hour ago Monte was dealt his first loss in the 2013 Mascot Challenge in a down to the minute race with Sparty the Spartan from Michigan State. The close 51% to 49% defeat not only gave him a mark in the loss column but it knocked him out of first place and stripped him of his #1 ranking. Definitely a less than ideal way to end a weekend in which our football team crushed Portland State in the much anticipated Homecoming game.

Once the standings refresh on the Capital One website, Monte should sit in either third or fourth place depending on the tiebreaker method used in the competition. Two mascots hold unblemished 5-0 records while four mascots (including Monte) hold 4-1 records. Two of the mascots with 4-1 records suffered their lone loss in the competition to Monte.

During the last hour of this week’s round, I watched a noble and frantic effort by Griz Nation to push Monte to yet another victory over another giant in the BCS landscape. In the end, it fell just a little short. My Twitter and Facebook feeds were overloaded with people answering this past week’s question of “If Monte started a band, what would he name it?” Besides my actual Facebook friends and Twitter followers aggressively pushing for a Monte victory, everyone else in Montana seemed to be doing the same. Just searching the #CapitalOneMonte hash tag on Twitter yielded hundreds and hundreds of tweets coming in by the second! I got a good laugh at reading everyone’s take on what Monte’s band should be named.

If I was in Monte's band I would play the recorder!

If I was in Monte’s band I would play the recorder!

Of course anyone could see that the tweets marked with the #CapitalOneMonte hash tag vastly outnumbered the #CapitalOneSparty hash tags. Because of this, some might speculate that the final tally was not reflected correctly. However, standard voting is also a big part of the equation and the fact of the matter is that Michigan State has 50,000 students at its school while almost 10 million people live in the state. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that with a population size that large comes with it a distinct advantage. If a majority of those people are voting, it doesn’t matter how many tweets we are sending out… those sheer numbers will win every time.

But notice how I said if. We have absolutely no idea how many people are voting. The organizers of the competition elect to only give us percentages as opposed to concrete point totals. As I have said from the beginning, I have a tough time trusting internet voting formats. I have an even tougher time trusting internet voting formats where we can’t see the raw numbers. Judging by the comments on our social media outlets, many people have the same trust issues as me.

But in all honesty I have little to complain about. This competition has already given us great exposure, a nice check for our program, and a special experience for our Monte performer (he got to travel to New York City for photo/video shoots). Although I am not 100% convinced that we got a completely fair shake in this past round of the competition, I do realize that in the four prior rounds it is possible that we could have gotten the benefit of the doubt.

Life moves on in the 2013 Mascot Challenge and this week Monte is up against Baldwin the Eagle from Boston College. Just like during any other season in any other sport, you have to move on from defeat and come back with more tenacity and more hunger for the next opponent. I promise you that Monte and Griz Nation will come back stronger than ever. That Eagle better watch out. Don’t Blink.