The scoreboard resets every game. Your reputation doesn’t.

Results are temporary in a way that behavior is not. Nobody remembers the exact score of a match from two seasons ago, but people remember who argued with the referee, who helped up the player they flattened, who went quiet when the team was losing. That record carries from season to season and follows you into rooms you have not entered yet.

Think about the next time things go badly for you, because that is when the record gets written. Decide in advance how you want to lose. It is much easier to choose that now than in the ninety seconds after the whistle.