THE LAST POINT: The unintended power of words

Actions speak louder than words - at least that is what we're told and while there is a great deal of truth in that old saying, I'm not sure it is entirely true because, in my experience, words have a power to both inspire or humiliate, create a positive environment or engender negativity and oftentimes completely unintended.

Ah now, you think, Connolly is losing the run of himself, bigging up the work of journalists, self-importance if you will but words, when used with passion and intent, can be powerful tools for good and bad - just think of all the dressing rooms you've heard of who've held up a newspaper article and said 'we'll show those feckers that they know feck all!'

If words didn't matter, why are so many managers and coaches so anxious to ensure that the right message is presented to the media before or after games? The message being conveyed might be for the players, it might be for the fans and it might even be directed towards the opposition but setting the tone, both in pitch and content, is a vital part of a manager's job nowadays.

Jack O'Connor's rant after Kerry's demolition of Armagh was a classic of its kind - the Kingdom downplayed their chances and were quite happy to issue what seemed like a desperate rallying call to supporters to get up to Croke Park before the game but afterwards, it was time to give the critics a good scutching!

We've all been there - I've lost count of the times I've been told by various teams coming up to County Finals that the opposition are the reddest of red-hot favourites but when you take them at their word and lay the proverbial curse of the favourites tag on the so-called unstoppable opposition, you don't have to wait too long for the 'we showed you all' or 'put that in the paper' comments.

THE LAST POINT: ONE SHOT IS ALL IT TAKES FOR LEITRIM

In fairness, we don't get so much of that nowadays - players and managers know that the media & public are fully aware of the pseudo mind-games because the opposition are invariably at it too and over the years, Ireland, and little old Leitrim, has morphed into a very different creature in terms of confidence and, or, brashness, from what it was in the 1990s. 

Now it is perfectly normal for a player to opine that his team is going to win the title - in fact, it is almost obligatory to express full confidence that the Cup is coming home. It was very different in my early days with the Observer - back in 1991, I still recall the shock that greeted our interview with Olly Honeyman ahead of that year's County Final. Why? Because the Ballinamore legend had the temerity to say, out loud, that Sean O'Heslins were favourites for the Fenagh Cup!  

To be fair to Olly, he was only saying what he, Ballinamore and the rest of the County believed but when Allen Gaels pulled off what was regarded as a stupendous shock, the notion of proclaiming you were going to win a Final was killed stone dead in Leitrim for years. With the benefit of hindsight, nobody knew Allen Gaels were going to morph into a super-team over the next decade, winning four more Fenagh Cups and reaching a Connacht Club Final but that didn't matter to the wider public at the time.

I've often wondered if Allen Gaels' intense dislike of the favourites tag lies in the history of that final but they've always been  conscious of the power of words, very much so as I recall being barracked from a car many, many years ago as I walked home from a  game in Pairc Sean by a famed son of Drumshanbo, one of my throw-away lines in a preview incurring his ire. Truth be told, I couldn't remember what I had written but from the umbrage taken, it was clear that words were powerful tools.

Seemingly innocent statements or throw-away lines that don't even generate a moment's thought can be transformed by how they are perceived by others. I'd imagine the Mayo County Board thought they had drafted a respectful press release when they announced Kevin McStay was being relieved of his duties but that word 'relieved' became a lightning rod with the public who rightly were up in arms.

If anything, Mayo's statement was badly timed and ill-phrased given McStay's recent health scare but in all probability, Mayo's officials sat down and came up with what they thought was a perfectly fine statement but simply misjudged the tone.

I've been guilty of that myself more than once, both as a writer and a coach, and the power of words was never brought home more to me the time I once told a young female athlete in our club that she was a “beast” - to me, that was the highest  praise you could get, the word beast denoted power, strength, speed, aggression - everything you want from an athlete and it was a common word of praise in my circles with Clonliffe Harriers or Erin's Isle.

Trouble is, I didn't consider that a young female athlete mightn't exactly jump for joy with that description - the word beast has other images beside the positive ones I associated with it so it was an early lesson in how words, seemingly harmless or beneficial, can be taken either way, depending on your own experiences.

If there is a word that best encapsulates this conundrum, it is 'veteran' - over the years, I've had a bit of craic with friends by throwing the word 'veteran' before their names in the odd match report, telling them beforehand I was going to do it because the word, harmless in itself, isn't regarded kindly in an Irish sporting context.

Tell a Gaelic footballer that he or she is a veteran or, even worse, 'long-serving' and you remind them and everyone else that the end of their playing career is coming down the line. It implies time is catching up on an athlete and, as we so often hear from managers and experts, it is a young man's game nowadays. 

Certainly when I get 'Connolly you fecker' afterwards because all and sundry in the club made quips about the veteran and long serving tag to said player, you understand the power of words. But in American sports, a premium is placed on 'veteran leadership' - it is why Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady played NFL well into their mid 40s, why LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the NBA did likewise despite the incredible demands of an 82 games regular season, to say nothing of playoffs.

THE LAST POINT: MANAGERIAL MAYHEM IN OVERDRIVE

Being called a 'veteran' in the States is a sign of honour, an indication that your experience  is something that shouldn't be dismissed by some outdated notion that an athlete is past their prime once they hit 30  - in fact, they're celebrated because of it, not diminished and no better example of that is Jonathan Cassidy who won a Connacht Club medal with Coolera Strandhill last December, the former St Mary's man well into his 'veteran' status by now!

In this day and age of instant analysis, hot-takes and chasing click-bait, the power of words has never been more powerful nor more prone to outrage. Offence can be taken to a phrase typed up or spoken thoughtlessly but without malice or intent. The outrage machine is in full effect, be it in sport, politics or whatever walk of life there is but words still carry the power to capture events and emotions that nothing else comes close to. 

So forgive us if, every now and again, our words have a power that is unintended but until we can communicate telepathically, words will have to do this writer!