You hear it on ESPN, read it in the papers, see it on the news: smack! Smack is a common form of vernacular used by players and sometimes coaches to establish or self-promote their performances. In short, it is trash talking. In every league, game, and team there is someone who has the gift of smack. Usually this person has an ego the size of Texas, humility the size of Delaware, and common sense the size of an M&M®. Smack-talkers usually just talk the talk, but fail to walk the walk.

In our efforts to achieve high esteem, many of us try to wear the right clothes, drive the right cars, or have the right cell phones. We figure if we have all of the "right" stuff, we will finally feel good about ourselves. We think our teammates will begin to think we are cool.

The problem with having the right material items is that, in a month, week or even a day’s time, those will no longer be considered cool. That self-image we thought we could purchase will suddenly be gone.

We entered summer league basketball with a young team. Our inexperienced guards struggled to get our offense working, especially against a high-pressure, man-to-man defense, so one day in practice I tried a new strategy. I taught my players several pressure-release, back-door plays that changed our focus and took advantage of the defense. We’d invite the pressure so we could cut and score lay-ups, but my players were skeptical.

We live in a performance-driven, presentation-focused, and public-image world. In the sporting world, much emphasis is put on game time. “How do I look?” and “How will I perform?” are questions in the forefront of our minds. We are thinking, lights, camera, action! In athletics, this drive is magnified. We are drawn more to the presentation than we are to the preparation. The reality is that what we do in private affects what we do in public.