And people love them and hate them for the same reasons.
“Look at the Coach Prime’s & Pat McAfee’s of the world.
They get hate, but it’s because they challenge the status quo.
They are disrupters, and love them or hate them, disrupters drive change.
Don’t be afraid to be a disrupter.
Our broken world is in dire need of them.”
-Ray Zingler on X
The fact of the matter is that most are afraid to put their necks out there.
They are afraid to call the nonsense.
They are afraid to be original.
They are afraid of authenticity.
It’s so much easier to blend in and stay politically correct, which is why puppetry is so rampant in our society.
But what does that do?
Does feeling a certain way behind closed doors but condoning the “way thing are” publicly do anything to move society forward?
I’m using two of the largest public figures in the sports and broadcasting worlds as extreme examples and look at how their authenticity has polarized an entire landscape.
Nobody is talking about the Coach from Virginia Tech (who is a damn fine person) and nobody is talking about the undifferentiated broadcaster who speaks and acts just like everybody else.
No, people are talking about the disrupters. The people who are going against the grain. The people who are kicking conventional practices to the curb.
Why?
Because there is a dire need for adaptation in our society.
Change is necessary.
And people are drawn to these disrupters (positively or negatively) because they actually have the stone’s to put real skin in the game.
They love and hate these guys for the same reason. And that reason is: “they’re willing to do it and I’m not.”
They are willing to go out on a limb and challenge the way it’s always been done.
And if things were perfect the way they are, you wouldn’t even see that guy wearing a tank top, using foul language on ESPN.
Coach Prime and his “hat & glasses” wouldn’t be coaching a D1 Program.
But there is a deep longing for real and that is why there is a draw to these people.
What if you took the same approach?
What if instead of playing politically correct puppet, you stepped out on a limb in your own little corner of the world?
Would it change the world?
Probably not.
Could you make dent in your town?
You’re damn right you could.
If nothing changes, nothing changes.
Say it with your chest & own it.
Most won’t, which is why most never make a difference.
