Yesterday’s loss by the New York Jets was another painful
experience for this lifelong fan.
As I watched the mediocre Buffalo Bills move the ball
effortlessly up and down the field through what had been lauded as a tough Jets
defense, I lapsed into my annual "oh well, wait ’til next year"
lament.
Then, finally, a Jets player made a nice stop on one of the
Bills’ running backs. Immediately, the player began to dance, and strut, and
whoop it up, making all sorts of bizarre gestures of self-congratulations.
I know such antics have become commonplace in the circus
sideshow that is college and professional football. But have things not reached
a new low when an individual player, whose team has been pushed, pummeled and
pulverized all day long, decides to beat his chest in full view of 80,000 fans
and millions more on TV because of one good, but meaningless, tackle?
What’s become of sportsmanship? And, where is the
accountability? Why aren’t coaches schooling players on the nuances of when,
and more importantly, when not, to strut their stuff?
I wonder how this sort of behavior would translate to the
business world. Maybe the next time my firm finds out that it narrowly lost a
new business pitch, I’ll run out into the hallway and start doing a war dance,
throwing in a moon walk or two. Because, hey, we may have lost the business, but
I did one heckuva job answering the prospect’s question about the smartest ways
to beat the competition to the punch.
Owners of big time sports teams have a way of figuring out if the CEO isn’t performing (see my Steinbrenner blog). While Herm has a lot of excuses he can point to (i.e. unexpected/cataclysmic injuries, etc), the proof is, indeed, the bottom line. That said, my gut tells me the owners will give him one year to turn things around.
Re: the private sector, there’s no doubt Herm would be feeling the heat from his board by this time (assuming it wasn’t populated by a bunch of hand-picked lackeys).
First, yesterday was a tought game for us Jets fans not to watch. Not b/c they lost (yet again) but how they lost. Now, most fans blame the play of the defense, the interceptions, etc. but I blame the CEO himself- Mr. Herman Edwards. When Paul Hackett was fired and Heimerdinger was hired, we thought all would be well with the offense. Instead, we have seen the most conservative play calling of all time- even before Chad was injured. What this tells me is that Herm is so afraid of doing anything creative that he hopes the other team shoots itself in the foot.
Now, imagine the CEO of a major company telling his shareholders that rather than try to gain marketshare, his company will hope that their biggest competitors will have a scandal or other crisis arise causing them to lose market share. How long would that CEO last???
I openly question Herman Edwards and his in-game strategy and decisions. It just seems like he plays not to lose, but that really doesn’t work. Didn’t someone once say “You play to win the game?”
I would love to hear the RepMan’s thoughts on the issue I raised.
Interesting posting. I agree with the ridiculousness of the strut…but not just in instances like this (where the player made one good move in an otherwise rotten team effort). I think many of these players forget they get PAID to play the game. They shouldn’t be strutting or doing the chicken dance when they make a good play — it’s part of the job they get paid millions to do.
Some of these players feel it’s okay to strut because there’s an arrogance ingrained in their heads as soon as they show athletic prowess. We live in a country where sports stars are paid more — and often times valued more — than our business leaders. I’d jump up and down every time I made a good pitch, even if it didn’t result in a placement, if it meant I got to keep a million dollar+ salary. We need to reevaluate how important sports are at our colleges and universities and make it a standard to pay promising business students as much as their promising athletic peers receive.