Life has a scoreboard

Last Thursday, a whole lot of people got their panties in a bunch after Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo yelled at freshman Aaron Henry during a timeout in their first round matchup against Bradley.
Social media blew up with people who were outraged at the coach’s behavior, some demanding that MSU fire Izzo and that coaching behavior like his needed to be eradicated.
Media outlets devoted a great deal of time to coverage of the incident, escalating it from a moment between player and coach on a basketball court to a national topic of interest.
Why?
Because we live in a world where no one can be held accountable, no one can have their feelings hurt, and people who have no skin in the game consider it their right to spout off on subjects they know exactly zero about.
Why did Izzo yell at Henry, you might ask. He was calling the freshman out for his lack of effort on defense, which is his job as a coach.
Henry was not pulling his weight, nor was he doing his part to contribute to the success of his team.
He yelled at him to correct the situation. 
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt summed it up nicely during his commentary on 1 Big Thing when he said “life has a scoreboard.” We win and we lose as we go through life, whether it is blowing a job interview, making mistakes at work, making financial mistakes, getting into car accidents, and the list goes on and on and on. 
Unfortunately, we are up to our noses in a society full of people who immediately look for someone to blame when things don’t go the way they think they should.
Here’s the reality of what happened on the court that night. Henry needed to be called out, and the freshman said as much later. Izzo has been the same coach for a quarter of a century, and anyone who decides to play for him knows exactly his coaching style.
Izzo’s actions were defended by not only his current players, but former players such as Draymond Green, Miles Bridges, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Gary Harris who went public stating that Izzo has more love for his players than most any other college coach.
Charles Barkley passionately stood up for the coach saying, “I was so disappointed to hear all these jacka...s on other networks complaining about a coach actually coaching his team. Coach Izzo, you keep doing your thing. It’s all right for a coach to yell at a player. When did we get to the point where every time a coach yells at a player it becomes a national emergency?”
Here’s the thing. If his players aren’t worked up about the situation, if Michigan State isn’t worked up by the situation, why is anyone else?
Obviously this isn’t the first time people have gotten all in a tizzy over a coach’s actions, but this is one of the most public incidents and this ‘tizzy over Izzy’ has received national attention. 
I have argued for many years that people need to toughen up when it comes to being coached, so I am pleased to see how many people have come to Izzo’s defense. Maybe the amount of support that is getting air time will slow the roll of those who are so quick to disparage and attack coaches at all levels. 
Life has a scoreboard, and we won’t win if we don’t have the backbone to play. Izzo coached up Henry, and I hope nothing gets in the way of him continuing to coach all of his players.