Go For It

As published in The County Times (countytimes.somd.com)

By Ronald N. Guy Jr.

I can’t imagine being Caleb Williams.  Or Caitlin Clark.  Or Jayden Daniels.  Or any of the hundreds of athletes who will be considered for the NFL, NBA, NHL, WNBA, MLB, or any other professional sports league draft over the next few months.  Neither does the vast, perhaps even all, of the millions of readers of this column (wink).  We have never thrown a pass in a packed stadium, set NCAA scoring records, drained threes from deep or hoisted the Heisman Trophy.  But those obvious athletic differentiations aren’t what this is about.

Close your eyes.  Breathe.  Imagine.  You’re about 20-years-old, give or take a calendar year or two.  A college student.  You likely haven’t voted in a presidential election.  If you’re a dude, you’re only a couple of years removed from selective service registration, a sobering obligation.  Renting a car or a hotel room, and buying a beer could be problematic.  To date, you’ve been mainly a student and an athlete.  Defined.  Simple.  Maybe you stayed close to home for college, or perhaps you ventured out of state, or even across the country, to a blue blood program with some serious panache.  Regardless, the choice was yours.

Now, due to eligibility limits or prodigious prowess, college has been outgrown.  The “real world” beckons.  A professional life awaits.  In preparation, you’re poked and prodded, measured, interviewed, tested, analyzed and judged…every aspect of your life is considered to the nth degree.  Such is the pre-draft experience of the best prospects, those who could convert a woe-be-gone franchise into something special, something that matters, something that will be remembered.  Or maybe you’re a marginal prospect just hoping to catch the eye of anyone – any general manager or obscure scout – who will provide an elusive opportunity to continue chasing the dream. 

Regardless, where you will work and who you will work for isn’t your choice.  An unpredictable draft process and the intentional or whimsical actions of front office personnel determine your fate.  Your name is called; the future has arrived.  Video in the immediate aftermath features hugs with family members, celebration and a few tears.  The athlete dons a team cap or slips into a uniform.  Idyllic.  Iconic.  Heart-warming.  Beautiful.

I wonder what they are really thinking.  The athletes, that is.  To have your future so uncertain, so beyond your control, and ultimately so dictated.  Are they too young to care?  Perhaps the euphoria over the culmination or continuation of a dream overrides everything.  Pizza is good anywhere, right?  Beer from darn near any microbrew from across this great country is lovely.  Perhaps the awesomeness of basketball, baseball, football…sports…transcends geography.  I’ll buy that. 

Still, to have life pivot so quickly is unique.  For most of us, employment and residency are carefully considered.  Every pro and con – salary, cost of living, location to schools, proximity to family, recreational opportunities, crime, healthcare, etc. – is thoroughly vetted in our overactive minds (analysis paralysis).  To know, that at any moment, you can be picked and sent to Seattle or Detroit or Dallas or Atlanta or New York?  I can’t imagine it – as a husband, a son and a parent. 

Every year, though, young athletes face the same personal and professional inflection point, and, to the casual eye at least, handle it with grace beyond their years.  Some certainly experience a hint of disappointment over their dictated location or team – a longing to be closer to home or in a familiar city - but there is rarely evidence of remorse in their words, deeds or performance.  Whether it is the great adaptability of youth or the steadfast power of their joy, these young athletes, these new draftees, these rookies, these kids…embrace the moment – the uncertainty, the fluidity, the opportunity - and just go for it. 

And in that annually repeated act is their gift – to the older, the more calculating, the rigid.  When faced with a pivot point in life, be it personal or professional, be there some control of the outcome or absolutely none, sometimes the best thing to do is commit completely to the process and have faith – in the universe, in the journey, in yourself.