Life is about experiencing criticism. Criticism may be in praise, encouragement, positive reinforcement, admonishment, rebuttal, and negative reinforcement. Depending on the nature of the environment: whether it is a Facebook group, a post on Twitter, or going to the Media to voice an opinion, there is an underlying level of criticism involved, and in many cases consequences follow. Unfortunately, in our society, when we think of criticism and consequence it means that you did something bad, and as a result of doing something bad, you get punished.
Listening to yesterday's Baseball Today Podcast they talk about Travis Snyder, Outfielder of the Pittsburgh Pirates. It's consensus that Snyder is a 4th OF at peak, and may be at his potential, an "AAAA" player who will constantly ride the shuttle between the Major and Minors leagues. The one thing in question was about his use of his talent. Snyder has had difficulty handling criticism, especially when he was young and inexperienced, but also naive and stubborn. The comparison, unfairly, they placed Snyder with Mike Trout; who may be young and inexperienced, but he's insightful and receptive. The difficulty about this non-sequitor argument is that there are many players where manager would say they have the attributes of Mike Trout and cannot find the results Trout was able to do, or even doing 80% of his capability. In addition, there is a history of luck involved with obtaining these results.
We could say the same thing about Guard TJ Lang from the Green Bay Packers, or even when a large group of people who think that Deron Williams is a far better PG than Russell Westbrook.
Unfortunately, people make their bed with the end results of these discussions. It's never going to be just Okay when there are concrete fascinations about the side of the argument one takes. You can add MVP and Rookie of the Year debates to this because who's better is not an objective task. Would I say that the difference between Williams and Westbrook is close if both are doing what they supposed to do? Absolutely. But I am more critical on Williams because he has completely declined in the defensive aspect of his game, while Westbrook may have had less assists, but overall the things that he does is more valuable for an offense, such as executing the right play, has a dramatic effect on the opposing defender and using his ability to score on a team, who after Durant and Harden, nobody averages more than 9.1ppg. Not to mention, last season was a great season in this sense; teams were unable to practice, therefore it was a lot of applying natural ability and feel toward the game, which Westbrook showed greatly. But I digress.
The thing is when criticism is doled there's a consequence to that criticism, it is important on how it is handled. Constant criticism that the NFL is taking on with the replacement referee scandal has led to blown games with the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers; regardless of validity. The NFL is responding to that criticism by trying to reach a deal with the referee's and not have the consistent impasse's that are affecting each sides BATNAs. Deron Williams, may be coming into camp in shape and work on his lateral movement, especially on the defensive end. Travis Snyder, took the alternative by being the protagonist in an article that his coaches unfairly criticized him. In each event, you can tell how the affected parties has responded to criticism and consequences. One can hope it lead to the best of solutions, but that takes time to play out.
