It’s not unusual in today’s world of professional sports for athletes to lose their cool and act out, often irrationally. Whether it’s the vastly expanding salaries or rapidly increasing media attention (probably a combination of both), today’s athlete is not shy about voicing his or her displeasure to coaches, front office personnel, ownership and, especially, media.
From a public relations perspective, it’s an unfortunate trend, or now a common occurrence, for a player to publicly grumble about their salary and contract or pop off about the team’s play calling and decision making.
When an athlete disrupts the team with their own personal issues it hurts that athlete’s image, brand and Q Score. Fans and media are turned off by such behavior and, as a result, marketing and PR efforts for both the individual player and team are impaired.
However, it is the nature of any pro athlete to be extremely intense and filled with arrogance. One doesn’t reach the incredibly high level of a professional sport team without possessing a borderline psychotic work ethic and an unwavering confidence in his or her own athletic skills and abilities…it’s what drives them.
As a result, some pro athletes will trip over their own pride on occasion and lash out inappropriately. It’s just the nature of the beast.
So when an athlete does lash out and creates a media stir with irresponsible behavior, the fans and media react annoyed with a “here we go again” attitude.
Which was most likely the initial reaction of fans and media last week when New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora stormed out of practice and left the team’s facilities following an argument or some type of confrontation with first-year defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan.
Umenyiora’s actions caused a minor storm with the New York sports media. The Giants perennial Pro Bowler going AWOL brought unwanted media attention and an unnecessary focus to an organization that recently underwent an enormous negative PR storm (i.e. Plaxico Burress) and is on the cusp of beginning a new season.
But the difference this time around was that after angrily and selfishly leaving practice and causing a stir Umenyiora calmed down, collected himself, retuned to practice the next day and apologized:
“It was a very, very bad moral decision on my part …It was so stupid and trivial for me to do that. I can’t believe I acted that way. I’m sorry for it. I apologized…This is my one big mistake. I’m not going to repeat it ever again.”
Umenyiora’s act of contrition was not only a move of integrity and class, it was also a very refreshing and mature gesture in today’s sports media landscape.
Umenyiora realized his actions were wrong and were hurting his team. So he stepped up and took the hit, squashing any potential long term negative PR impact on the Giants.
Umenyiora’s issues with Sheridan didn’t miraculously disappear. Whatever problems that arose between player and coach were still there the next day.
But by swallowing some pride and addressing his actions with the media directly (as opposed to through an agent or team spokesperson), Umenyiora acted like a veteran and leader – putting his team and organization ahead of himself, the individual.
If fans and media are going to condemn and vilify athletes for acting like malcontents, then they should also recognize and applaud athletes for displaying acts of character and morality – which Osi Umenyiora certainly did.
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