Your Behavior Matters, On and Off the Track

The purpose of this article is to remind you the rules have changed on how you conduct yourself outside the track.

When I was competing for McGill University from 1982-86, our initial conduct we had to follow was to behave ourselves when travelling on school “business”.  That meant shirt and tie on airplanes, and no funny answers to Customs and Immigration officers.

Then there was the alcohol abuse problem.   An serious incident at the local pub (Gertrude’s) that involved football players resulted in athletes attending an “alcohol” awareness seminar.  We had to sign a document stating we attended the seminar and promise to behave like good citizens outside the varsity classroom.

Finally, after 1988 of course, we had to sign performance enhancing drug (PED) disclaimers and promise our efforts came from a drug free environment.  Of course, they were talking about anabolic drugs, like steroids, and not narcotic drugs.  That’s another problem by itself.

The Social World

Ahh, but it doesn’t end there!

Today, we are all under a microscope, and that includes your Facebook status updates and Twitter tweets.

In a nutshell, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY! 

Of course, be careful what you do, too, right Michael “bong” Phelps?

It doesn’t matter if you are in high school, and looking for a college scholarship.

It doesn’t matter if you are college, and looking to get drafted, or sign on with a professional shoe contract.

The point is, these people will always ask that question, “Do we really want that guy (or gal) on our team?”

The moral of the story is always to conduct yourself in a professional manner because you don’t know who is watching, or reading for that matter.  What you do behind closed doors is your business, but remember the walls have ears.

The Yuri Wright Story

The Yuri Wright incident made headlines last month made a lot of shocking news.

His tweets were definitely not the clean image sponsors or schools are looking for.

Granted, his tweets were private (i.e. locked), and most of the tweets were actually song lyrics.  But somehow these tweets got public, and the school that initially wanted him no longer had an interest in him after reading those offensive tweets.

Here is the link to the article, with snapshots of his offensive tweets.  His twitter account has since been deleted.

WARNING:  His tweets may be offending to you, and contains inappropriate language.