I’ve got a bone to pick. Being in the business of educating young men and women athletes, entertainers or just people in the business community–on how not to kill their careers by saying and doing crazy stuff, I’ve got some beef with the people who enable them.
If I’m (Next Tally) teaching them to steer clear of certain words, people, places and things which could be detrimental to their careers, I’m wondering is it possible for me to get any help? From you. I’m seeing too many instances where a player is out enjoying themselves (albeit with their friends and family), and things take a turn when someone tries to get too cozy with the celeb or player or “role model”. A fight ensues.
Meantime “friends and family” let it progress. In some cases, friends and family are there fanning the flames! It’s the reason that I insist on including “family time” (via zoom or some other means if we are not together in person) with the individuals I counsel. The media is no joke. But the media also isn’t the enemy. We can only report what’s there!
It’s the enablers who make it okay for a player or celeb to act out as they please, without intervention. Case in point: I’ve seen sports types out in public, engaging in a raucous scrum with overzealous (sometimes drunk) fans. I think that is the time when a member of the players “posse” grabs him/her up, and gets them out of the building as soon as possible, no matter what. None of this, “hell naw, I have a right to enjoy myself, I’m staying and I’ll fight every MF in here if I need to…I’m so-and-so and I can do what I want. Yeah, including sit your ass in jail if the stuff hits the fan and the cops are called. Explain THAT in the morning to your team.
Even in my capacity as a broadcaster and TV/Radio personality, anyone who is out with me (even if its a fine dining establishment or a jazz listening room) know that if ANYTHING jumps off or doesn’t sound right, they MUST alert me and get me out of the building. Not that I’m involved in the craziness. But I can’t have something to occur in an establishment, and my name pops up in the news the next day. Whether I’m involved or not, it can instantly become a stain on my name. And that is a lesson I’m trying to teach our younger up-and-coming celebs and sports figures. But YOU’RE NOT HELPING!
These players do not have a private life. They signed up for that when they walked across the stage and accepted the team cap during draft night. Your only privacy is in your space at home. You don’t get to yell and scream and curse fans who get too close or even if they go overboard in trying to just touch you. You signed up to be touched. Not abused. But adoring fans want to be close and take pictures. Anything less is seen as ungrateful, considering these are people who pay for your merch and spend their last dollars to come to your games. There is a graceful way to say no.
Back to family and friends–Don’t take a picture of the player out doing “compromising things” and putting it on your social media. YOU’RE NOT HELPING.
The team, the league, fans (and endorsement/ad agencies) have social media too. And it doesn’t matter if its your private YouTube or OnlyFans (keeping it real) channel or even the players private social media pages. Again, anything outside your domain is no longer private. And also family, YOU can’t engage in anything seen as socially controversial either, lest it not come back to haunt your famous family member. There was a near media catastrophe when it was widely reported that Carl Williams, the father of Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, uttered words which didn’t go over too well with not only the Bears organization, but with the NFL in general. YOU’RE NOT HELPING!
The older Williams was quoted as allegedly saying something to the effect, “Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die”. I thought “I” would die. And here this kid is, trying to get a job with the Bears (and any other team who would look at him). More reports surfaced saying the Williams family allegedly considered legal options to keep the Bears from picking him in the draft. Williams was the first pick of the 2024 NFL draft, so the (then) woeful Bears got first crack at him). Private thoughts should be kept right where they are: private. As it were, Caleb Williams went on to have a pretty decent year with the Bears. But I remember sitting there watching this kid deflect all kinds of questions about his father’s comments; “Do you feel the same way about Chicago?” Do you think you’ll have a good shot in the NFL playing for the (then) worst team in the league? Do you think this is the best place to be from a player development standpoint?
The media had a field day. So all I’m saying to family members…is that I/we need your help! One false move or one bad comment, and your hero, who has been planning all their lives for this moment, is sitting on the bench, or looked upon by fans and everyone else as less than a team player.
But alas! That’s why Next Tally does it what it does. We try to keep you and your family from saying stupid things and doing stupid things (I keeps it real) “tonight”… so you won’t have to explain it to your coach, the team, the league and your endorsement affiliates tomorrow.
Anything else..and YOU’RE NOT HELPING!
NEXT!!! Unk
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