Femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com naomi-osaka-Editorial-credit-lev-radin-Shutterstock.com_
November 19, 2021,
The chicken or the egg question doesn’t apply here.
We absolutely know what comes first.
Expectations or disappointment? Expectations, obviously. Agree?
Even when you don’t know what to expect, your subconscious is most likely setting that expectation for you.
There is one situation that may not apply. That is when life brings you a wonderful surprise. Like an inheritance that you were not remotely expecting and didn’t know you had coming and then one day a letter shows up on your door step.
Would $10,000 out of nowhere make you happy?
Yes, one million would be much better but if you were expecting 20 million, then you could still find yourself disappointed.
At least a little.
We think of all of this because the sports world always has been and still is littered with stories of disappointment. We take our escapism very seriously. That is why some NFL and NCAA Football Coaches routinely earn over $3 million to 80 million dollars.
With that money, of course, comes great expectations.
In the female tennis world, Naomi Osaka is more likely a disappointment to herself, not to us.
In her mind, it appears that if she doesn’t win a tournament or a Grand Slam, it is a huge disappointment. We sense, that is not the public’s expectation. At least not ours.
What we expect, perhaps not rightly so, is that she is mentally tough and rides out the low points like other great champions do and not feel extremely sad or take time off when she loses.
What if every great player did that?
We’ve researched some of the tennis experts who have commented upon this and the legendary Andy Roddick made a comment that mental toughness and mental health are not synonymous.
Okay, the way Andy Roddick explained it, we get it. James Blake and Eugenie Bouchard, two players we’ve written articles expressing they were not mentally tough enough, when it really counted, were in agreement with Mr. Roddick as well.
https://femcompetitor.com/2019-ao-vs-serena-what-was-eugenie-bouchard-thinking-about/
As harsh as our article may appear to be, there were no cheap shots. It was actually a compliment in the sense our expectations of their abilities were very high and we were disappointed when, at least in our minds, they did not accomplish what we expected them to do.
We would sympathize with Naomi a little more if she wasn’t being featured on the cover of magazines, relating to her Social Media audience regarding how her trip in Greece is going with her boyfriend and family or, according to research, doing galas and public events.
That was our main grip with Eugenie.
It seems like every time we read about her, it wasn’t her about her achievements on the tennis courts, which was plummeting, but instead, her vacations and hard partying was the focus.
Is it a matter of focus?
Of course.
We will always be huge fans of Naomi but, if we are honest, as a growing media group, we are disappointed that she is not talking to the press. We suggest continue to communicate, but perhaps be selective who you speak with.
There are discussions about whether she will defend her title at the 2022 Australian Open.
We hope so, but we are not optimistic. If things are not going well, will she revert back to what we saw occur in her devastating 2021 US Open loss against Leylah Fernandez?
We are rooting for Naomi but, make no mistake about it, lowering our expectations.
Current Oklahoma Sooners college football backup quarterback Spencer Rattler was always a fascinating story, especially when we first saw him up close on the Netflix series QB1.
QB1: Beyond the Lights is a 2017 American documentary web television TV series directed by Peter Berg. Each season focuses on three high school senior quarterbacks from different backgrounds as they play their final season before moving on to NCAA Division I college football.
Rattler attended Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, Arizona, for all of his four years of high school. He broke the Arizona high school passing record on his 18th birthday.
He threw for 11,083 yards in his four years with 116 passing TDs and rushed for 1,040 yards with 14 rushing TDs. In his final season at Pinnacle, Rattler starred in the above Peter Berg-directed Netflix sports masterpiece documentary series.
So when he arrived at Oklahoma, there were raves that he was a Heisman Trophy hopeful. No, make that a lock.
Though he has had winning success at Oklahoma, the Sooners fans expectations appear to reflect that he wasn’t winning large enough and they let him know that, mercilessly raining boos down upon him.
In 2021, after too many close victories that many felt should be blowouts over lesser teams, even though he won all 5 games that he has started in, he was benched in favor of freshman Caleb Williams.
Were the fans expectations too high?
The way that Caleb Williams ignited the Sooners offense, apparently not.
Even though we are huge Spencer Rattler fans, and initially we felt the Sooner fan base was being very hard on him, after watching the offense run like a well-oiled machine under Caleb Williams, even we agree, Coach Lincoln Riley had no choice but to make a change.
Caleb Williams’s ability to make big plays with his legs is a huge difference maker in point production.
So what is the future for Spencer Rattler?
The consensus is that he should be a team player and finish out the season at OU. Many things can happen including an unexpected injury to Caleb and given the Sooners once undefeated record, they had a chance to run the table and win the National Championship.
As of this writing, they have lost once to Baylor, but are headed for a major bowl game and may need Spencer to help them finish strong.
After the season is done, we strongly feel he needs to do what is in his best interest and leave Oklahoma. Whether it is for the NFL, which now seems premature, or re-invent himself at another major Power Five program, many of whom would be ecstatic to have him, given the venom of the fans, we don’t see any scenario where staying at Oklahoma is a good idea.
It’s all about expectations.
We just spoke about the escapism realm. What about the real life realm?
Expectations abound.
Employment, family, love, societal or self-directed, when the outcomes do not meet our expectations, how do we react?
Do we keep raising the bar? Who can say what is or is not realistic or attainable?
Do we take the middle ground and settle? We have done that and we can tell you from personal experience that is an absolutely bad decision.
Do we lower our expectations, especially when it comes to attracting those we desire?
Again, extremely bad idea. Why?
Upgrade yourself first, then the pool of potential partners that you are eligible for grows. That is mostly about how you see yourself and what you are willing to do to keep improving yourself. If you are not willing to change or improve yourself then a line of reasoning could be, since you have low expectations of yourself, others will most likely as well.
The consensus here is that high expectations is the best way to go. Others (Coach Lincoln Riley), like in the case of the Oklahoma fan base, must try and live up to your expectations.
In the realm of everyday reality, our experience is that it will work out that way as well.
Keep your expectations of yourself and your life very high. View setbacks and disappointments as temporary. Without blaming others, learn from your mistakes and force yourself to improve.
Always remember, people will expect from you, what you expect from yourself.
Chicken or egg? That’s easy.
What you expect from yourself comes first.
~ ~ ~
OPENING PHOTO Femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com naomi-osaka-Editorial-credit-lev-radin-Shutterstock.com_
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QB1:_Beyond_the_Lights
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
