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The Excuse File

excuses-2[Blind Gossip] This champion athlete occasionally does not perform up to their usual standards. While they do not wallow in the losses in public, there is something very interesting that consistently happens.

[Athlete]’s team will always leak something out right around the loss. It’s always something beyond [The Athlete]’s control. An injury, an illness, a personal situation. Something to either proactively or reactively excuse the poor performance.

Since the team does it instead of [The Athlete], it looks like [The Athlete] is a real pro who would never make excuses. That keeps their endorsement value high. That’s important because [Athlete] makes more from endorsements than from actual sports competition!

Sure enough, we took a look at what happened right before or after several losses, and there was always an excuse that made it seem like it was beyond the athlete’s control! Injury, illness, weather, a second injury, family situation, a second illness, a third injury, weather, etc.

Still a great athlete. Interesting strategy around protecting the brand, though!

Similar: How This Athlete Dodged A Bigger Scandal

Athlete:

[Optional] Complete this sentence: I once won _____ .

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JennyJustice says

    Cam Newton.

    I once won an Andy Gibb album for being first to call into a radion station and identify a song as by Chuck Berry.

  3. PizzaDog says

    This reads like a football or baseball player but I have no idea who.

    I once won a snowboard in a raffle, which was awesome because I loved snowboarding at the time, and went a lot.

  4. HotTeacher88 says

    Sounds like Serena. I won my high school science fair twice. Then I placed in the state science fair. I won the high school social studies fair and my elementary and middle school art contests. I won a district exempt speech contest and then the state level twice, middle and high school.

  10. jbecray says

    This is RG3. Always hurt, always an excuse, never has played up to the level of talent that he possesses. Never makes any excuses personally.

    I once won first place in my school science fair- twice actually ?

    • jbecray says

      Clues: red in the picture, changeable placard (if you are a Browns fan you understand the pain of an everchanging QB) , linked blind to Manziel.

  25. TheSalmon says

    My first thought was Serena Williams — but she often does make the excuses herself, usually right in the press interview room immediately after the loss.

  28. droopyorchid says

    I’m going to guess Novak Djokovich, family problems at Wimbkedon, blister on his toe at US open.

    I once won an Easter egg at school!

  36. AmericanExpresso says

    I feel like this athlete is Serena Williams…she’s lost some major matches recently and the lack of pronouns in the blind points to it being a woman.

  42. gaelgirl24 says

    Serena Williams earns about $8 million per year from tennis ($81.8 million over her career). Forbes indicates she makes about $20 million per year in endorsements. But it could be someone else? She has often cited injuries herself. Example: “I have been having some serious left knee problems. I wasn’t able to move the way I wanted to move. When you’re injured you’re thinking of other things when you should be just playing and thinking of your shots. My mind was just a little bit everywhere…

    • Lindylou says

      I was thinking Serena Williams too, but the blind says that the athlete’s reps do all the excuse making for them.

      Serena is quick to blame everything else but her poor performance and she does it during her press conferences, so I’d say she isn’t the subject of the blind.

      I’m going with Djokovic.

    • gaelgirl24 says

      I agree. Djokovic tends to skirt around injury talk and the like, but there are always excuses floating around. It’s an odd strategy because he’s one of the best players in history. A loss here and there shouldn’t destroy his endorsements. He will likely win at least three or four more majors, I’d guess.

  44. TeacherKat says

    Serena Williams? I was reading that she had a knee injury. And she just got knocked from the #1 ranking.

    I once won a participation medal. Ooh, actually I did win 2nd place at a high school thing years ago. Schools throughout the state came to compete and my partner and I got 2nd place. Not sure how, but we did!

  46. mikefox23 says

    Athlete: Novak Djokovic, US Open Final loss to Stan Wawrinka

    Complete this sentence: I once won the award for biggest sore loser.

  51. PriveNom says

    Tom Brady~~ Just b’c it seems like we’ve been hearing a lot about this, or that wasn’t his fault…etc… and he has GIGANTIC endorsement deals

    Complete this sentence:
    I once won a large bottle of Kahlua in Jamaica, on Christmas Day, for beating a bunch of (other) drunk ppl on an obstacle course race (For Dummies).

    • MrsBrady says

      Tom Brady nor the team never makes excuses for bad performance. If anything, he’s self deprecating and the team finds excuses unacceptable. If you know anything about the Patriots this statement is the antithesis of the Patriot way.
      My name is Brady but I’m no relation. 😉