The Seattle Seahawks quarterback is a former bully? When Russell Wilson’s voice came out in an ad last year encouraging fans to ask him anything, to learn all about him, who expected this?
He was a face grinder as a kid, a slammer who put others on the wall, a slugger who knocked teeth out. Easy to say he would have been a handful on a sleepover with his friends, if he had any.
Then he grew up, which isn’t for everybody. You can tell who grows up and who doesn’t. If growing up means playing college football, then taking a spin on professional baseball with a year of college eligibility left on the table, Wilson grew up.
If growing up means returning to college for that last year, but the one you left has moved to the next guy, you find a new school. That’s what Wilson did when he went to Wisconsin and took the Badgers to the Rose Bowl.
Now he’s a Super Bowl winning quarterback in the NFL on a team set to make another run to the top.
Go, Russell, go.
But there’s a catch. This former bully-boy plays in an era of bad news where his colleagues mistreat women and go overboard punishing their kids. Is this the right time for a former bully to stand up and report? Never been a better time.
Who better knows what it’s like to pound on people than a bully? A reformed bully is a voice of reason.
“I did it and learned a better way. You can too.”
That’s the message of hope you want to hear from an NFL star. Grow up and channel your energy into constructive avenues, not your wife’s face like Ray Rice, or your kid’s arms trying to protect himself from Adrian Peterson’s stick.
It’s a huge message, a needed message, but how do you get the word out in the best way possible? Find a reliable venue that’s sure to draw a huge audience. It must have name value and the shine of a new penny. Where is this place and who runs it?
Meet Derek Jeter, blogger. He leaves baseball at the old age of forty and joins the rest of us as a young forty year old. I remember forty. Good years.
His new business venture is a site called The Player’s Tribune, an outlet for athletes to express themselves without the usual media filters, also called sports writers.
Jeter is no sports-god-wall-flower with a desire to be left alone. With respect to Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, and all the ghosts roaming Monument Park inside Yankee Stadium, Derek Jeter looks set to raise the bar for all athletes after their playing days end.
Who better to raise the bar even higher than a first ever post from Russell Wilson, one of the good guys in sports? How do we know Wilson’s a good guy?
If he’s on Jeter’s page, he’s gold. The Captain isn’t letting just anyone through that door.
With Wilson and Jeter we’ve got the new and old with a message for all: Be a good man, mind your manners with women and children, and reach out to fans.
I can see these two as buddies over the years, and I’m glad they’ve set their sights on the right targets.
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