Greetings!
If there ever was an example on why you want to keep your off-field activities in check, look no further than the saga of Manti Te’o. I’ve been watching this whole bizarre episode unravel (with the ‘imaginary girlfriend’) and waiting to see how the NFL will handle his case in the coming months as he is draft eligible. He was a player so revered for his devotion to the Notre Dame community and for inspiring his teammates to a regular season unbeaten record and a first place finish in the BCS Polls.
If there ever was an example on why you want to keep your off-field activities in check, look no further than the saga of Manti Te’o. I’ve been watching this whole bizarre episode unravel (with the ‘imaginary girlfriend’) and waiting to see how the NFL will handle his case in the coming months as he is draft eligible. He was a player so revered for his devotion to the Notre Dame community and for inspiring his teammates to a regular season unbeaten record and a first place finish in the BCS Polls.
In the last two weeks, the Te’o story took on layers and extra layers of
tabloid gossip. Combined with Lance
Armstrong’s guilt admissions from the Oprah
Winfrey sit down interview, Te’o actually kept the NFL juggernaut off the
front pages and sports talk radio for pretty much an entire week leading up to
their conference championship games!
Te’o became a headliner for all the wrong reasons. His private life became
a national conversation! The social media site
DEADSPIN first broke the story and in just a matter of minutes, over 2.1
MILLION VISITORS dialed into their computers to read the story! Only Brett Favre’s scandal with the New York
Jets a few years ago drew a higher number!
During the course of last week, Te’o became the “joke” on all night time comedy shows! David Letterman, as an example, featured a “TOP 10 SIGNS THAT YOU
HAVE AN IMAGINARY GIRLFRIEND” that drew a lot of laughs and a million more
eyeballs through television and You Tube audiences. Jimmy
Kimmel spent one of his monologue’s chatting up Te’o and said: “Some people
play Fantasy Football … Manti plays Fantasy People!” Jay
Leno of the Tonight Show poked
fun at Te’o and developed a funny skit that retraced the entire saga from
start-to-finish.
Before the Alabama championship game, there were some NFL lists that had
Te’o placed near the top of the draft.
My hunch is that Te’o will free-fall somewhat towards the bottom of the
first round – which will cost him millions in football salary. Same for his off-field portfolio if he would
have remained stain free? It was expected that Te’o would have been in such
high demand for Corporate America and become one of the most sought after
professional athlete endorsers … and now
he may never be able to escape the embarrassing hailstorm that rained down on
him.
In my era growing up, professional athletes like Stan Musial were left
alone. You only heard of their troubles through a newspaper article that took a
day later to read up on the problem.
Today, media and the general public have access to your personal life
24/7/365. Just be careful of the company you keep, the choices you make and more
so to protect your career earnings potential!
My best!
Jim Loria
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ALWAYS
REMEMBER THIS QUOTE AS YOU DEVELOP YOUR PROFILE … “What we have done
for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world
remains and is immortal” – stated by Albert Pike
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“The
most important quality I look for in a player is accountability. You’ve got to
be accountable for who you are” – stated by Lenny
Wilkins, Hall of Fame NBA Basketball Coach
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“What to do with a mistake: Recognize it, Admit it, Learn from it; Forget
it” – stated by Dean Smith, the
legendary basketball coach at the University of North Carolina
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BEFORE YOU …
Before you speak, listen.
Before you write, think.Before you spend, earn.
Before you invest, investigate.
Before you criticize, wait.
Before you pray, forgive.
Before you quit, try.
Before you retire, save.
Before you die, give.
By:
William Arthur Ward
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Jim Loria
E-Mail: loria@sfstampede.com
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