From Joe Posnanski, one of my favorite sports writers ever, comes this fascinating article on Bill Self and his current Jayhawk team:
That’s Bill Self for you, the chameleon. Everyone talks about it, his almost magical ability to blend in anywhere, relate to anyone, recruit the inner city, work the suburbs, preach in churches, finesse the press, blend in with the rich and famous, maintain his regular-guy status and still make everyone in the room feel like he is their buddy.
There’s no doubt about it: He could be governor somewhere. Senator, even. Of course, he gets paid better. Anyway, he’s had the knack all his life.
There’s another side to that sort of chameleon gift, though. When the great Ray Charles first started singing, he could make his voice sound just like Nat King Cole or the Platters or just about any of the other great singers of the day — and he was making a name for himself mostly by singing like other people. Ray Charles would say that when they told him he had to find his own voice, he felt scared. He wasn’t sure anyone would like his real voice.
1 comments:
Good article! I see politicians as that way, which can be a huge negative. The part of this that might be bad about Self is that he doesn't have that identity he needs as a coach, rather than a good coach who just blends in.
BTW, I just posted a link to a short video. Wondering what you think of it???
Cheers.
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