Brain Dawkins: Time, place, and manner

Two days ago I posted the following website:  Killer instinct: Time, Place, and Manner.  After one hour after posting the article I heard recently retired NFL player Brian Dawkins explain why he loved football so much.  The timing could not

have been better based on what he said.

He told the interviewer that football gave him the permission to, as he said, “act a fool.”  His explanation of “act a fool” was to say that he could be aggressive.  He could tackle guys as hard as he could.  He could roam the field and do basically anything he wanted in the secondary.  He could scream.  He could dance.  He could get in people’s faces.  All things that is his words, “would get me arrested in the real world.”

If you know anything about Brian Dawkins, you are probably aware of the fact that he is among the classiest players off the field you’ll find in football.  How he acted on the field made him one of football’s great players.  However, it’s clear that he was able to turn off that aggression once the game was over and become the classy, intelligent man he is.

As stated in the previous post, great players in baseball find a way to tap into that aggressive side that leads to better performance and competitiveness on the field.  It’s fine to be nice off the field but on the field, it’s possible to be a little too nice.