Trio

Voice Critique    

Disclaimer: Although DylanBotB is not a sports psychologist, his blog often discusses, with statistical reference, what separates the most mentally tough athletes from the rest.   

Dylan Murphy, better known as “DylanBotB,” writes a sports blog aptly named “Bottom of the Barrel.” This title is synonymous with the style of its content, described self-deprecatingly as “bad sports journalism.” Simply, the blog’s purpose is to “criticize and make fun of sports personalities, events and issues, mostly using run-on sentences and marginally correct grammar.” However, BotB (if I may be so inclined) is selling himself short. Although he describes his style as one of a lazy frat boy, too lethargic to correct his grammar or bother to fix run-on sentences, the voice that appears in his post is not so. Rarely are grammatical errors made, and despite the occasional run-on sentence, his prose is easy to read. Is it possible that BotB is selling himself short in order to attract a wider audience? It appears that his goal is simply to attract readers to his blog, as he even offers a Twitter feed of content - “Need your bad journalism and useless sports commentary in 140 characters or less?” What BotB either fails to recognize, or intentionally chooses to ignore, is that his sports commentary is more compelling than much of what is available by professional sports journalist. Sports journalism is simply a means for one to express their opinions on performance, and if it’s graded on their ability to justify their opinion with statistical reference then BotB isn’t such a “bad sports journalist.”

Aphrodisiac Oyters (Photo Cred)

His post, “Clutch Players in the Playoffs,” (05/11/11) opens with the question, “did you know that oysters are aphrodisiacs?” Although this question may seem trivial, it works as a very accurate metaphor for what ensues. He continues to discuss that although you may not have known that oysters were aphrodisiacs, the question may not have surprised you because of the feeling that oysters give you; the same “know-it-when-you-see-it” sensation that is felt while witnessing athletes with the strongest mental toughness. He continues the metaphor while discussing athletes of different tiers of mental toughness, “A grilled chicken sandwich, of sorts. It’s going to be good, maybe great, but it’s not going to unequivocally bewilder and amaze your taste buds.” What’s fascinating about this post is that it proves the disingenuousness of BotB’s self-description. The metaphor of comparing taste to a feeling that an athlete summons is imaginative and the diction is equally impressive, yet he maintains his “bad journalism” stance by opening the post with the subject of aphrodisiacs. BotB is talented at disguising his inner genius.

Dirk with his Championship

To further the point, the post continues by comparing stats of the top closers in the league but not revealing which stats belong to whom. In doing so, the reader is enticed to guess who they think matches with which stats and BotB gains more credibility by backing his opinion with statistical evidence. Perhaps by chance, the conclusion that BotB determines from his analysis of the statistics is the unlikely, but ultimately true, conclusion that the Mavericks would win the championship in 2011 because of the clutch abilities of their star player, Dirk Nowitski.

Dirk as Sisyphus? (Photo Cred)

The post, “On Dirk...” offers even more insights into the mastery of sports journalism that BotB is seemingly trying to cover up. Not only does he convince the reader that the unlikely Mavericks would win the championship (despite 3:1 odds, he was right), but his voice continues to impress. He compares Dirk to “a modern day Sisyphus,” the loyalty to his seemingly failing team being his boulder – how does he expect to invoke this kind of voice in his 140-word Twitter feed? To cover up this educated voice, he mentions that Lebron “didn’t give a shit” about team loyalty, again, perhaps in an attempt to appear more accessible to the average reader.

I really like the voice that BotB conveys, however, I worry that he is dumbing it down so as to not seem as scholarly as he may be. His arguments are sound, concise, full of impressive rhetoric, and yet he still refers to his work as “bad journalism” and “useless commentary.” In no attempt to judge this strategy, I would love for his perceptive voice not to be marred by these futile attempts to sound less educated.  I personally think that he would gain more traction with professional sites if he simply gave up the “bad journalism” act. And yet, maybe that’s not his goal.

If you ever get the chance to read this DylanBotB; kudos for the most perceptive voice I have yet to witness in the field of sports journalism.

Profile  The Athlete’s Psychology

Blogs have been violated. When it comes to blogs on the topic of sports psychology, nearly every one is an attempt to sell you a self-help book or set of videos. What happened to blogs being an expression of self, of opinion, an area of the Internet untainted by the sleaze that is profitability? Alas, Kenneth Hartline has come to the rescue. His blog, “The Athlete’s Psychology,” is the lifeboat that keeps interested readers from letting go of their curiosity.

The Athlete’s Psychology is a blog that asks the questions, “Why did Michael Jordan appear unfazed in every pressure situation? How does Tiger Woods appear to be so calm standing over a putt worth $1 million?” Kenneth Hartline is a Doctor of Psychology candidate at Pepperdine University who graduated from the University of Oregon with concurrent Bachelor's degrees in both psychology and journalism with minors in Communications and Human Physiology. Although he has started a company that seeks to help athletes and coaches utilize sports psychology, he rarely mentions the business and continually seeks to inform his readers. He understands that athletes are as human as everyone else, and utilizes his education in psychology to analyze the performance of modern athletes. Unfortunately, posts that used to occur on a monthly basis in 2010 have since slowed; only one post (June 23^rd, 2011) has been made since August 22^nd of 2010. The site is no longer popular, as indicated by the fact that neither Alexis, nor Technorati, had any information on the site. Nonetheless, his posts are still relevant and unbiased, informative for both a psychology such as myself, or just an interested sports enthusiast.

Young crushing the hearts of my fellow Trojans (photo cred)

              In his post, “How Vince Young's rise and fall illustrate a growing problem inprofessional sports,” Hartline considers the effect of the off-field stress that accompanies star athletes. He profiles Vince Young, the quarterback who single-handedly willed the Texas Longhorns over our Trojans in the 2006 Rose Bowl and became a marquee name in the sport. When Young took a day off from work and failed to contact the team or his family, the media jumped on the news and pronounced him suicidal. What Mr. Hartline suggests was merely a case of “adjustment disorder” – a stress-related mental illness, was perceived to be a suicidal tendency. Hartline diagnoses the problem between psychology and sports, “Ahletes simply aren’t allowed to struggle with mental illness and are stigmatized negatively by the public if they dare take any time off for something intangible that the fans can’t see.” This post exemplifies Hartline’s perception of the business of sports and its affect on the psychology of its athletes.  

           

The post, “Landon Donovan's Exclamation Point,” explains the psychological effect of being the underdog. He profiles the US World Cup victory over Algeria, a game that the US had dominated but failed to capitalize until a 93^rd minute goal by Landon Donovan,  to show the effect of playing to win, as opposed to playing not to lose. He states,  “it is a normal human reaction to be much more terrified of the criticism that comes from underperforming than from seeking the praise that results from achievement” – highlighting the fact that fear is the strongest human emotion. I found this post illuminating because even though it doesn’t use any psychological jargon, it stills highlights a natural tendency in the human psyche.

 

This blog relates well to my work because I want to do exactly what Mr. Hartline does, analyze the performance of athletes, both on and off the field, from the perspective of a psychologist. I want to explain a player or team’s performance using the information that I have learned through my studies in psychology. This blog, despite its casual tone, is still scholarly in that it utilizes many psychological terms and refers to many leading professors of psychiatry. This blog will feed my work in that I can utilize many of its examples and come to my own conclusions.  I can link to, and critique, many of the points that it makes and offer a contrasting opinion. Although the blog lacks the voice that I hope to portray to my readers, it succeeds in making its content accessible to both psychology students and sports enthusiasts alike.

Hello, World

Dennis Rodman Devil (source)

“Shit. You’re carrying the game in your hands with this final free throw and you know that you’re going to miss it. You’re more trapped than R. Kelly in the closet. I may have missed these in regulation, but people knew I’d miss them. Have fun at school tomorrow after having pulled one of the worst Mickelsons of all time,” says the Dennis Rodman-esque devil sitting up top on my shoulder. Sure, his diction is somewhat archaic, but one can only imagine that that’s the kind of vocabulary that a man of his great stature would utilize.

I’ve presented a fictional situation, that in their own voice, all athletes have faced; the anxiety of wasting years of practice in one moment. That weight on your shoulders, shared only by the great Atlas, that nobody in the stands could understand until they’ve felt it. An athlete’s legacy is determined by how well they can handle that pressure. Whether it’s a mental strength that the athlete appears to have been born with (we’ll call it the Tiger Woods pre-2008 ability) or an acquired skill (hey, even Mickelson eventually figured out how to win a major), an athlete will never be “elite” until they can pull through when it counts.

Bobby Knight keeping his composure (source)

Just a few days ago, during the U.S. Open of Tennis, the No. 2 tennis player in the world explained the quality quite concisely, “If you watch the No. 10 player in the world and the No. 500 in training, you won’t necessarily be able to tell who is higher up in the rankings. Without the pressure of competition, they’ll move and hit the ball much the same way.” The great, and eccentric, basketball coach Bobby Knight reiterated the sentiment in a more concise manner, “Mental toughness is to physical as four is to one.”

So far, I’ve framed the theme of this blog to be about mental toughness and choke-artists. I’ve done so because that is what got me interested in the topic, and when I think of sports psychology, I feel that that’s the first thing that comes to mind. Choking is the most prevalent and most obvious phenomenon where psychology enters the world of sports. I intend on covering it, but also other topics, such as; who the hell is Dennis Rodman, and why is he the way that he is? What mental state was Tiger Woods in when he thought that he could get away with so many infidelities? How did Phil Mickelson overcome the panic that he consistently faced when he was so close to finally winning a major? (Speaking of psychology, those athletes were the first to come to mind because of a phenomenon known as priming.)

Sports have long been my passion and I am an avid fan of nearly all of them (cricket being the exception.) I’m a student of athletics, much like I’m a student studying psychology at USC, and I’m in a perfect place to study the cross-section of these two passions: sports psychology. There are limited online resources on the topic of sports psychology, especially those that aren’t a sales pitch, and thus I will be addressing a specific niche.

The Yerkes-Dodson Law (source)

Finally, I need for something to be made clear. This blog is not like the majority of sports psychology blogs; my posts will never have advice on how to be mentally tougher, they will not teach you how to become mentally stronger, and I will never attempt to sell you any products. I am here simply to inform you of all of the interesting sports psychology phenomena that have been taking place. To start you off, enjoy the story of Jason McElwain, an autistic basketball manager-turned-player who scored 20 points in the final 4 minutes of a game. Choking is at the extreme of the Yerkes-Dodson law, what J-Mac experienced was at the apex. Enjoy.