Whitlock on Young: A must read

Honestly, this whole thing has been blown WAY out of proportion! Mostly due to Vince's idiot mother, and her ridiculous emo telephone call in which she obviously went WAY overboard in what she told the team was going on. The team reacted to what she said out of concern for Vince. Which was unfounded. I think Vince's mother would like him to quit playing football, and he is commited to playing, and to the Titans organization. I believe Vince was upset with his mother, and that's why he "stormed out of the house" without his cell phone. His mother has severly damaged his reputation among the moronic NFL media, who love to get their hands on a story like this, even if it is obviously untrue. Vince's problems with confidence, imo, are almost all related to the fact that he has been unable to play the way he should due to leg injuries last year, and in week 1 this year. He was upset about the way he played in week 1, and last year. Then he suffered the worst injury yet in that game. He was very upset about this, which is completely understandable. Vince will be fine once he is healthy. Just wait and see.

 

This guy is an excellent writer and brings up a few salient points about esteem, identity and coping mechanisms. Although insightful, I don't think this is the best article about the situation because he places too much emphasis on racism and family structure. I'm not convinced that those have as much to do with Vince's current situation.

My favorite lines in the article are the closing:

Remember when Terrell Owens' assistant claimed he had 25 million reasons to live? It was an accidental moment of clarity and honesty. Too many players have their whole sense of self-worth tied up in their contracts. .

And then in reference to Vince:

It doesn't take much to crack a man with no real identity, especially if he's grown accustomed to having all of his shortcomings rationalized.

 

Well I think he was referring to the fact that both of them are runners first.
But you don't have to be black to be a running QB. Look at Tim Tebow.

 

Very, Very, True! Lets take a look at last year, he led the team to the playoffs, although being the competitor he is, he wasn't satisfied cause of his numbers and all the critics. I agree, he should be puttin up better numbers, although I'm also confident that will happen. He simply needs to have more time. (not to mention, some decent receivers) Ok, that said, he comes into this season trying to prove himself and he has a very bad day which makes his whole nightmare worse....of course he's gonna take it extremely hard. What would people be saying if he appeared like he didnt have a care in the world, and was there simply for the paycheck?? At least you know he's takin this to heart and everyone learns from mistakes, meaning I'm sure his reaction wont be the same again. Everyone needs to take a chill pill and back off....hopefully some other "story" will come up soon so the gossip hungry media can focus on someone else and let him recooperate!

 

Great article, and theory applies to not just athletes...

 

Whitlock is probably one of my favorite sports writers that actually addresses things outside of the sport he covers. He always gives interesting insight to things, especially race and social issues.

 

Interesting article but I think it's way too early in Vince's career to call him a failure. We have to remember that there are no formulas when it comes to when and how a professional athlete hits his prime. Just look at the Manning brothers. Besides the whole incident about Vince's state of mind has been blown way out of proportion. It seems to me that his family and closest friends are having a harder time coping with Vince's media scrutiny than he does himself. I t sounds to me that his mother is getting tired of people critizising her son, so it's more a cry of help on the mother's part than Young's. Just let the guy play, critize him if you will but don't try to get into his mind and don't buy everything the media sells. Does "We are more famous than Jesus" ring a bell?