Players Lost to the Softball Dark Side

Every Star Wars nerd knows the Yoda quote

“Fear is the path to the dark side. 

Fear leads to anger. 

Anger leads to Hate. 

Hate leads to suffering.” 

He explains how one negative emotion leads to another negative emotion which eventually leads to the worst possible case scenario - Suffering. If preventable no one should suffer and this quote all begins with one of the most basic human emotions - Fear.


Fear of Failure is the most prevalent and dangerous emotion all athletes experience and does definitely lead to the dark side of performance , but let's save that important sports psychology topic for another day. For now, let's move down the chain of Yoda's dark side path and talk about an emotion every softball player has experienced - Hate


Hate is part of sports, softball is no different. In SB you can hate  :

• Officials
• Fields
• Opponents
• Leagues
• Your Manager
• Rules
• Yourself - your a perfectionist - another topic for another day 

But the worst kind of Hate in softball that undoubtedly leads to Suffering is :

Hating your Own Teammate without Respect

Now I'm not talking about being "a Hater" on someone skill, that's jealousy. I'm talking about hating the very sight of one of the guys you play with b/c he/she is a :

• Whiners, Complainers, or cry baby
• Selfish
• Cares more about their stats than winning
• Liar
  
• Bully
• Cheater
• Crack head
• Asshole
• Power Tripping Fool
• Two Faced Hypocrite
• etc - you get the point 

We all have personal and playing flaws, but when teammates Hate AND Don't Respect one another, then it becomes a destructive combination that only leads to softball tension and suffering.
We can all change, I have, so have others,  but once hate sets in escaping the Softball Dark side is a daunting challenge. Players who have been lost to this dark side are best ignored and left alone.

Your better off on focusing on the Good people in your softball life

they may not be perfect but they are worth your time.