Adam Jones reveals the blunt message Buck Showalter gave him after his first bad effort play about being who you say you are and the little things becoming the big things “There’s two instances. It’s third day there. I hit a bullet ground ball to the third baseman. You’re watching a double play get turned right in front of you, but the first baseman happened to drop the ball.” “Does it ever look good when you’re halfway through it and you know you ain’t running hard? Never does. You’re still out, but it never looks good.” “So after the game, he brings me in and says, ‘Hey, I heard you’re supposed to be the star here. Bleepin act like it.’ I’m like, ‘All right.’” “It was just an extra incentive like, hey, we’re always watching. The fans are always watching. People are always watching. You’re an example. Show it. Go out there and really play as hard as you can.” “He was so anal about being fundamentally sound. When the outfield misses a cut, it’s two bases. When the infield does, it’s one.” “Defense was our strong suit. We played phenomenal defense and it was an attitude every single day, because you’re not going to hit every day.” “But you can play defense every day. You can run the bases hard every day. You can do the intangibles every single day. And that’s what Buck was always paying attention to.”

Von Miller reveals after Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman suspended him, he packed everything he owned into his truck and started driving to Florida to transfer, when he called his he dad told him not to quit, so he turned around and led the nation with 17.5 sacks the next season “I had everything I owned in this blanket, and I went to my car. I threw it in the back and I’m driving home. I called my daddy. I’m like, ‘Daddy, man, I’m leaving. Coach Sherman kicked me off the team. I ain’t coming back until I do this and that.’” “I’m thinking my dad is going, ‘All right, we’re going to find something else.’ He said, ‘Pull that truck over, turn around, and go back to school. You’re not quitting.’” “I was like, ‘That was not the answer I was looking for.’ He was like, ‘You’re not just about to quit when it gets hard. You’re going to turn that truck back around. You’re going to go back to school and you’re going to fix it.’” “I had tears going down my face. I was like, ‘Man, this is going to be so hard to fix all of this.’ I turned around. We had a meeting. Coach Sherman told my dad the exact same thing that he told me, and my dad agreed with Coach Sherman.” “There was nowhere I could go. I just had to face the music. I had to face the truth. That spring was a hard one, but I got my grades up. I made it to all my classes. I went through the checklist of everything Coach Sherman wanted me to do.” “That following year, my junior year, was the best year that I had up until that day. I led the nation in sacks. I had 17 and a half sacks. My life had totally changed. That was all a testament to running straight through the storm. The shortest way through the storm is straight. I put my head down and I worked, and my life totally changed that offseason.”