Tag Archives: seattle seahawks

Disappointed…in leadership

I watched the super bowl. My family and I were so excited to cheer for the Seahawks. We had lots of good reasons. We sort of adopted the Seahawks after many years of disappointment with the Minnesota Vikings. Yeah, call us bandwagon if you want but we started cheering for them in December of last year when my son said, “Dad, we need to find a new team.” So, I ordered him a Russell Wilson jersey and off we went. Little did we know that they would run through the playoffs and embarrass the Denver Broncos to win the city’s first super bowl.

So, we were ready this fall. With all the drama surrounding Adrian Peterson, we were solidly Seahawks fans again. They really played well towards the end of the season and their division fell apart and before we knew it, they were in the NFC Championship against the Packers. Being Minnesotans, we never like to see the Packers win, so that game was painful to watch. It looked like Green Bay was going to head back to the Super Bowl but the Packers found a way to lose and the Seahawks were winners again.

The whole world knows about “deflate gate” and when I asked my daughter, a non-football fan, who she was rooting for in the Super Bowl, she said “I don’t cheer for cheaters.” So, true. We were really hoping that good karma was on our side against New England. At the end of the game, I felt a little ill. Yes, I ate too much but I also couldn’t believe we lost. Then I searched my memory bank for some good sports quotes and came up with “you win some and you lose some” and “players win games; coaches lose them.” What really struck me today when I read about the aftermath of the Super Bowl and all the analysis of Seattle’s last play call, it was a study in leadership. When asked about the last play call, Pete Carroll, Seattle’s head coach, quickly said, “it was my fault.” No second guessing, no throwing anyone under the bus. He just took responsibility. As they day went on, the exhausting analysis continued and I heard the answer to the question of responsibility posed to Seattle’s offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell. He was actually the one most responsible for that play call and instead of following Pete Carroll’s lead, he blamed his wide receiver for not getting to the ball fast enough.

So, there you have it. Leadership 101 – Don’t cheer for cheaters and take responsibility for mistakes.

Here’s to comebacks

Have you been watching football lately? There have been some great comeback wins. We like comeback stories and I wanted to highlight a couple of recent football examples.

First, I’d like to highlight the North Dakota State University Bison from Fargo, North Dakota. On January 10, the Bison capped a great game with a last second comeback touchdown for the national championship. That would make a great story all on its own right? That’s not the whole story though, this was their fourth national championship in a row. Actually, the senior class on this team had a record of 58-3, amassing more national championships than losses during their playing careers. A feat never equaled at NCAA Division 1 football. After the game, first year head coach, Chris Klieman, said “With our guys, I never saw any doubt in their mind.” That’s amazing right – no doubt in their mind.

The other comeback was from yesterday in the NFC Championship. I have a Seahawks fan in my house who stopped watching the game in the second quarter and being a lifelong Minnesotan, I wasn’t pleased with the Packers’ dominance at the beginning of the game either. For 56 minutes, it looked like Seattle’s season was going to be over. But, after a late touchdown, onside kick recovery, another touchdown and two point conversion, Seattle was ahead for the first time in the game. The Packers came back to tie and send the game into overtime but Seattle scored on its first possession when Russell Wilson hit Jermaine Kearse for an amazing touchdown – his only catch of the day. Doug Baldwin, another Seattle wide receiver, summed it up this way, “As a true competitor, you can’t have any doubt…we believed that we were going to find a way to pull it out. And obviously we did that.”

I find it amazing that neither team had any doubt. I had doubts watching these games and I have doubts about my own abilities all the time, it’s human nature right? What enables people to overcome doubt? I suppose for a team you need to have trust in each other, solid coaching, and a great game plan. What about for you, how do you overcome doubt? A positive attitude, a support system that encourages you, what else? Here’s to never having any doubt – that’s one story coming out of football that I like.