Much like the baseball world experienced the rebirth of Alex Rodriguez because of an apparent tell all. Andre Agassi is going through it now. A-Rod if you recall was forced to talk about things he rather have hidden because Selena Roberts wrote a book about him that accused him of performance enhancing drugs. A-Rod who in my opinion was burdened with the effort of trying to project something he was not. Baseball reporter guru Peter Gammons said many times that having that ugly stuff exposed and not worrying anymore about it coming out seemed to really help his performance on the diamond. No one argues with the talent. But even die hard Yankees fans hated their highest paid player. I really had my issues with the guy , a guy so concerned about his image. The irony was people could see that he was exerting so much effort to project something that he was not, that effort was part of his image and ultimately how he was perceived. The nickname for him was A-Fraud. That gulf between the illusion you want to project and your reality. That gulf takes it toll on people. I am sure you know people like that in your own personal life.
For my further thoughts on Mr.Rodriguez please click here.
Andre Agassi did the same thing as A-Rod but apparently he is doing this voluntarily. Andre has done and is still doing a lot of good with the success that tennis has brought him. With his book admitting his weaknesses it seems he wants to align his image with his reality. He was not compelled to confess , he did it on his own. This is not Jose Canseco whoring himself to whoever will pay him.
The main reason I am writing this is not to show you can I draw a parallel between the two. Because I want you to listen to the voice of a guy who reveals himself when he was most vulnerable so others may learn. All of us should take in whatever experience others have for the simple reason: A wise man learns from their mistakes but a wiser man learns from other people 's mistakes. Here is a guy who really wants to be of service to people by admitting his moments of weakness. By saying what he got away with and then finding out he was really only fooling himself.
I listened to the interview and I thought that Agassi's voice might be able to move you much better than just anecdotes in word form. This is worth twenty minutes of your time if you or someone you know might have an addiction problem. You might know I am sucker for stories of people that describe their visit to hell and how you can avoid it.
Ed
Related Links:
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1000/Andre_Agassihttp://www.amazon.com/Open-Autobiography-Andre-Agassi/dp/0307268195
http://msn.foxsports.com/tennis/story/10299990/In-his-new-book,-Agassi-on-journey-to-find-himself
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