Back to refereeing...if you know me by now, you know that I find inspiration all over the place and use it to motivate me for my reffing career (which is not a hobby and is deep-seated, dye-in-the-wool passion). Here is the lastest I found from Sports Illustrated this past week...
It was an article about the San Fransisco 49ers and their coach, Mike Singletary. I used to love watching "Samurai Mike" play for the Bears, and he was an inspiration because I played inside linebacker as well. Here's what he said in Sports Illustrated this past week in the September 28, 2009 issue:
"Greatness is not about someone who has the ability to be great," the 50-year old Singletary says, fixing the listener with the same piercing stare that once made quarterbacks weak in the knees and now makes the 49ers stiff in the spine. "Greatness shows up when someone might not have that ability but finds a way to succeed. They outwork their opponents, they outhit their opponents, they outfight their opponents. They want it more. Don't give me they guy who's supposed to be all-world and you've got to try to talk him into something. Give me the guy who has maybe just enough talent to be on the field but thinks he's great, and who's willing to do whatever he can do to contribute, to make his team better. That's what I want. Give me all the misfits, the guys no one else wants. Now trust me, I want some talent too. But give me the right type of talent."
Samurai Mike:
So how does one use this a motivation? Are you doing the small things, the little things, the things that really aren't little but end up being HUGE? Are you prepping yourself? Do you feel like you belong to some great event? I see all these things, every week now, from the guys and girls who have devoted themselves to being a member of the [SWAT Team].
My hockey officiating isn't a hobby. It's a passion. I belong to a very passionate subculture in this world. Kind of like the bodybuilding subculture...or the Mixed Martial Arts subculture...or the motorcycle-fanatic subculture...you get the idea. I think (unless this is a hobby for you, and if it is, I don't know how to speak your language).
This guy know how to speak my language (remember...passion...subculture).
1 comment:
It isn't a hobby. Webster defines a hobby as "a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation". While this may be true up to a point, every entry in the thesaurus points to the relaxation portion of the definition. This is starkly different from how I define my involvement in Officiating. The other term that comes to mind is passion. Passion is defined by Webster as "a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept". For me, I have a passion for officiating. Photography is a hobby that I happen to be passionate about. I engage in it to relax, and to enjoy the outdoors. But there is little about Officiating that I do that would point to it being a hobby. It is just so much more than that.
Frankly, how can we call it a hobby? I don't engage in officiating to relax. Quite the contrary. Did I play to relax? No, I played because I was passionate about the game. I was striving for an objective. Whether it was to win or develop or just be physically active, I was COMPETING. Webster defines compete as "to strive consciously or unconsciously for an objective". That is exactly what what I do as an official. I compete. I compete with my peers, I compete with my friends, I compete with myself, and in all honesty I compete with my mentors. The objective isn't always to win. But I am always fighting to meet an objective.
A hobby? No. I spend too much time, too much energy, too much passion, to call what I do at the rink, at my home, in the gym, on the street, at the local Target, when talking to officials, when talking to non officials, hell even when I'm sitting at Grandma's enjoying a Coke after a long day in a classrom... a hobby. I used to call this the hobby that happens to pay. I realized a long time ago that what I do is a passion, that what I do is engage in competition.
However... Maybe we are both wrong JB. Maybe we (and all those people we hold in such high regard) are truly addicts. Webster defines addict as "to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively". I am addicted to officiating, and really hockey in general. And frankly, if there were a program to cure me, I don't want anything to do with it.
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