Joe Maddon

You don't even see the third deck yet, the lights, whatever.

You don't read the papers.

You don't care.

So you're able to be productive and helpful.

But the moment the blinders come off,

You start to see everything, and man, I really dig on this stuff.

I want to stare.

Then you become very cautious, and you don't want to make mistakes.

You don't want anybody yelling at you or whatever, not playing you because of that.

So it morphs from happy to be here to like, damn, stage two survival.

I like this.

I want to stay here.

Dangerous spot, and guys in that level really...

Of course, they can help you win, but their motivation isn't right.

Their motivation is to not make a mistake.

Exactly.

And then here comes level three, and this is what you want to get to.

And I remember, for me specifically, even as a coach, I belong here.

I can do this.

You know, that's a really strong epiphany, that moment when you look around at your peers and you feel like you're as good as everybody else here, everybody else out here, and you can do this on a daily basis.