Jonathan Heatt's Blog: Teaching Snapping Turtles - Posts Tagged "honesty"
Retractions & Apologies
When you write a book of passionate opinions like Teaching Snapping Turtles a few will be wrong. It takes time to see which ones. Over a year has passed, and I realize I was wrong about 2 things. Both pertain to sports:
1 - LeBron James
2 - Urban Meyer
My book came out right before LeBron went back to Cleveland, which is not an excuse, but information to put my blunder in proper context. I criticized him for being a heartless capitalist with no regard for his home state. Obviously he proved this criticism wrong by coming back to Cleveland and working in his community to make it better.
When he returned to Cleveland I recognized my error, and wrote a blog about why Ohio people should accept and embrace LeBron. He was a young kid who made a mistake by leaving. I've made worse mistakes than that and my family embraced me. And a city is a family. Now LeBron has dedicated his personal resources to send over a 1000 local kids to college for free. He is turning into a great man, and I was wrong. And I apologize.
I may have been a bit harsh in my skewering of Cleveland, but some of it was satire, and some was righteous indignation. Building stadiums and colosseums over schools is wrong. Favoring sports over education is a blatant example of misplaced priorities. I stand by that. At least LeBron is setting an example for affluent athletes to give back to their communities. (let's see if James Harden puts any of that Adidas money to good use)
I was also wrong in my book about Urban Meyer being a petrified piece of Gator poop. That was just a childish opinion...a remnant of distaste from when Florida beat OSU in the championship game back when Meyer coached the Gators. I feared that he would be a mercenary who left his players in the lurch when he bolted for the NFL. Obviously this hasn't happened, and his coaching of the Buckeyes last year was one of the best in collegiate history: losing to VT, then bouncing back using backup QBs to win a title in the first year of the NCAA playoffs is extraordinary. Kudos to Coach Meyer. I was wrong, and I apologize.
LeBron James is a great person, and Urban Meyer is a great coach. They are the epitome of Ohio athletic excellence.
The world may or may not be a better place if more people admitted when they are wrong & apologized, but it would make social discourse more tolerable.
I stand by everything else in my book. I wish I was wrong about gun violence in America, or Climate Change, but reality keeps proving otherwise.
In closing, a man shouldn't fear voicing his opinion, so long as he has enough honesty to admit when he is wrong.
1 - LeBron James
2 - Urban Meyer
My book came out right before LeBron went back to Cleveland, which is not an excuse, but information to put my blunder in proper context. I criticized him for being a heartless capitalist with no regard for his home state. Obviously he proved this criticism wrong by coming back to Cleveland and working in his community to make it better.
When he returned to Cleveland I recognized my error, and wrote a blog about why Ohio people should accept and embrace LeBron. He was a young kid who made a mistake by leaving. I've made worse mistakes than that and my family embraced me. And a city is a family. Now LeBron has dedicated his personal resources to send over a 1000 local kids to college for free. He is turning into a great man, and I was wrong. And I apologize.
I may have been a bit harsh in my skewering of Cleveland, but some of it was satire, and some was righteous indignation. Building stadiums and colosseums over schools is wrong. Favoring sports over education is a blatant example of misplaced priorities. I stand by that. At least LeBron is setting an example for affluent athletes to give back to their communities. (let's see if James Harden puts any of that Adidas money to good use)
I was also wrong in my book about Urban Meyer being a petrified piece of Gator poop. That was just a childish opinion...a remnant of distaste from when Florida beat OSU in the championship game back when Meyer coached the Gators. I feared that he would be a mercenary who left his players in the lurch when he bolted for the NFL. Obviously this hasn't happened, and his coaching of the Buckeyes last year was one of the best in collegiate history: losing to VT, then bouncing back using backup QBs to win a title in the first year of the NCAA playoffs is extraordinary. Kudos to Coach Meyer. I was wrong, and I apologize.
LeBron James is a great person, and Urban Meyer is a great coach. They are the epitome of Ohio athletic excellence.
The world may or may not be a better place if more people admitted when they are wrong & apologized, but it would make social discourse more tolerable.
I stand by everything else in my book. I wish I was wrong about gun violence in America, or Climate Change, but reality keeps proving otherwise.
In closing, a man shouldn't fear voicing his opinion, so long as he has enough honesty to admit when he is wrong.
Teaching Snapping Turtles
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