We’re good, Sir.

Like many guys, I am fascinated by military special forces.  If I see a book about them, I pick it up.  If one is interviewed in a podcast, I download and listen.  It may be the training.  Maybe it’s the mental toughness.

Every time I read or listen I pick up something new that I think can benefit baseball players.  It could be big things like self-discipline or their never-give-up mentality.  It could also be something small.  Today’s post is about one of those small things.

I was listening to a podcast that involved an interview with one of the operatives involved in the infamous Benghazi event where several Americans were killed in a terrorist raid on the buildings in Libya.  This operative was one of the people who went in to help.  The movie 13 Hours: The secret soldiers of Benghazi was based on his actions as well as the others who were with him that day.

There were several things that fascinated me about his life and training but one thing that stood out was a story he gave about how he ran his team.  He said that when groups of team leaders from various military units come together for meetings with the higher-ups, it often turns into a barrage of requests for the commander about equipment and complaints about other things each unit says they desperately need.  He said every time it was his turn to speak to the commander, his standard answer was always “We’re good, Sir.”  Translation … we don’t need anything.  And if we do, we’ll figure it out.

There is a lesson here for baseball players.  Teams and individual players will always find themselves in situations where things go south in a hurry. Many will sit back and wait for another player or coach to step in and tell them what to do and how to do it.  Don’t be one of the many.  Fix it yourself.  Be resourceful and find your own way out of that slump.  Can’t throw a change-up?  Do a Google search and figure it out.  Don’t complain and don’t sit around waiting for someone else to fix your baseball challenges.

I’ve had a lot of success in the game and have received a good deal of compliments as a result.  Probably the one I have been most proud of came from a former coach who said I was one of only two players he ever coached in which he never had to say a word to during games.  He said he just wrote my name in the lineup and watched me play.  He said I always knew where to be and what to do.

No coach likes “needy” players who are perfectly capable of solving their own problems.