Superdome's Blog

It's been a while Urbana (the city that starts with yo"U"), but I couldn't let this latest nonsense go without publishing another addition of "The Rant".

First, let me start this rant with a question. In your walk of life, whether it's as an professional, student, athlete, etc., what does receiving a compliment or recognition do for you and your continued performance at your job, school, etc? Before answering, let me address those of you who may tend to take things to extremes. I am an avid proponent of humility and placing others ahead of yourself. This is an excellent quality to have and will only serve to extend the power of your influence. Nonetheless, if we are all honest with ourselves, we like to receive compliments and/or recognition. It confirms for us that what we are doing makes a difference. Now, the challenge is to not allow those to "go to our head" and inflate our ego (which is an entirely different topic for a rant on another day). My point today is to simply address the value of a compliment.

Now, if the recognition is not warranted, then complimenting for the sake of complimenting is defeating the purpose. But, for those who have earned it, imagine how productive that compliment becomes. What do I mean by that? In my experience, if I want to motivate a crew of laborers, team of youth football players, etc, I have found that jumping all over them doesn't always produce the desired results. However, if you compliment them, something amazing happens. You can see it in their face and attitude. Their sense of pride and worth grows. Now, there are some that simply don't care so it doesn't matter what you do. So, I am talking to those who care I guess.

Now, let me get back to my rant. Why is it that the folks at UHS either don't find it necessary or important to update and keep up with recognizing their student athletes when warranted? For example, the UHS wrestling program has seen recent 100+ career winners come and go without ever getting to see their own name up on the Wall of Fame. Additionally, just this month, UHS had its first EVER Freshman State Champion in Freestyle wrestling. However, since no one felt it necessary to even mention his name at the wrestling banquet or higlight the fact they had their very first Freshman Conference and Regional Champion (the only one on the team by the way), I suppose I won't be too surprised if the Wall of Fame ever sees his name put up before he graduates (which is another 3 years).

For some reason, it seems as if the folks who call the shots on issues like this (whomever that is) go out of their way to be blind to what seems very obvious. To finish my point, why is it that each year UHS graduates are proposed for the next Hall (NOTE, I said Hall and NOT Wall) of Fame inductees. I challenge you to review their credentials compared to those who were initially inducted. This is supposed to be a great honor that is VERY difficult to achieve. So rather than recognize them in other ways, we would rather lower our own standards for induction?!?! Either way, it makes no sense to me (a proud UHS alum). But nothing will change until YOU Urbana rise up and make your voices heard. Therefore, please feel free to provide your comments to this addition of the Rant.