Jay Cutler has been hammered ever since he was pulled out of Sunday’s NFC championship game by all kinds of people.
Former players.
Current players.
Fans.
(By the way, I would like to see casual fans take a hit from Clay Matthews… or be the most sacked QB in the league… or play in the NFL with TYPE ONE DIABETES. Go fill another Tostitos scoop with guacamole buddy.)
While everyone can go back and forth about the legitimacy of the injury, there’s a reason why nearly everyone is taking shots at him: perception.
Cutler is perceived to be a whiny, prima donna.
It seems like no one (except his teammates) has stepped up to defend him.
My wife covered the San Diego Padres for a year for MLB.com (I know, I’m ridiculously lucky. She also covered the Dodgers a bit. She was there for the back to back to back to back homers. Here’s an article: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060919&content_id=1670623&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la)
She was covering the Pads when Barry Bonds was assaulting the homerun record books and she remembers having a conversation with an old sportswriter about how no one was defending the large domed, roided up slugger:
“You see how no one is defending him… it’s because he’s made no friends along the way. He will always be perceived negatively because of the way he’s treated others.”
In many ways, perception is reality.
Imagine if it was Brett Favre instead of Jay Cutler who hurt his knee on Sunday:
“Surely BRETT FAVRE wouldn’t leave a game early unless it was really serious.”
Perception is reality.
All of this has me wondering: How am I perceived?
How are you perceived?
If your friends could use 5 words to describe you, what do you think they would be?
There’s a quote I heard a long time ago that has stuck with me: “We judge others by their actions. We judge ourselves by our motives.”
What would it be like for you to spend a day judging yourself by your actions?
Seriously, try it out. Spend a day thinking about things like your body language, the way you treat your waiter, the way you treat your kids, etc.
I think this is dangerous if taken to an extreme, but it is a helpful exercise to do every once in a while.
How are you perceived? How do others view you?
Hopefully better than Jay Cutler.
If not, Maurice Jones-Drew might write a mean tweet about you.
Thought-provoking, Schack. (Decided to drop the Freshie, since you are now an esteemed minster)
Enjoyed the thoughts as always. I think we often judge ourselves by our motives because that’s how we want others to see us. Also, I think we often believe that God judges us by motives, we rely on verses that say God sees the heart, or judges the heart, but we forget that God also wants us to be people of action.
Thanks for writing
Good thoughts schack, i think youre right on with the different standards we sometimes make others adhere too….you whiney little girl with a abnormally large melon (but maybe my perception of you is off base)
Hope youre doing well my man!
Some of our athletes at school desperately need to hear this message. Wanna come speak?