A Lesson to be Learned from the Super Bowl

Faith and positive leadership skills were the keynotes!

Courtesy: sportressofblogitude.com

(HARRISVILLE, N.H.) - On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl when they defeated the Pittsburg Steelers 31-25 at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. This is old news already but the brilliance displayed by Mike McCarty, head coach for the packers, is not.

The night before the game, McCarthy gave his team a standard “We can do it” Rah-Rah speech but he took it one step further. He had Jewelers meet the entire team after that “We can do it” meeting and measure each of them for their Super Bowl rings. I believe that he is now rightfully credited with making the difference that won that game.

Let us look at what kind of coach Mike McCarthy is: Like any other coach, he gave numerous speeches and pep-talks throughout the year. He worked with each player giving advice, guidance, and support throughout the year.

He rested them when they needed rest, saw that they got medical attention as needed, training as required, and listened to their concerns . . . nothing new or different there. Every coach does those things.

Here is the thing that sets Mike McCarthy apart and above the other coaches: He truly believed in his team, his players, and himself and he showed the strength of his belief at every opportunity and always did so in positive ways. At the 11th. hour, he exhibited his faith in his team in a way that was glaringly obvious and unmistakable. There are those who would say that it was the individual player’s desire for those Super Bowl rings that made the difference.

I say it was McCarthy’s faith and positive leadership skills that made the difference on Super Bowl Sunday. His faith in them generated the desire to do whatever it took to prove that faith was justified.

Charles Woodson, cornerback for the Packers, left the field with a broken collarbone in the 2nd. quarter. His arm in a sling taped tightly to his body to immobilize the collarbone, Woodson asked McCarthy to be able to speak to his teammates during half-time.

Woodson spoke to his teammates about how close they were to winning it all and implored them to do it even though he was unable to help them physically himself. Then Woodson broke down. It touched the team seeing how much winning the Super Bowl meant to the 34 year old veteran.

In all endeavors, in the end, it is not about a ring or a medal that drives us to accomplish the impossible . . . it is about heart and brotherhood. It is the same thing that causes a man to keep crossing a field of fire to rescue his brothers at arms. It isn’t glory, it isn’t patriotism, and it damned sure isn’t fear of or respect for command.

McCarthy worked to build a brotherhood that permeated his entire team. His team came to understand that they were ALL brothers and none of them wanted to let their brothers down. We, the inhabitants of this planet, could learn quite a bit from Mike McCarty . . . but, that is just my opinion!

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