LAST week’s column was all about spreading the word on American Football.
I hope I managed to convert someone to it, I really do.
If, by chance, you managed to stay awake for last Sunday night’s Super Bowl LI, then you are fully aware that American football contains more drama than most soap operas. If that was your first Super Bowl, I am sorry to say, they are not all like that, in fact, this was one in a million.
Down 28-3 in the second half, the New England Patriots looked dead and buried. Indeed the record for a Super Bowl comeback was 10 points. Yes, 10.
Fans had left the stadium, the Boston Globe had printed early editions with the headline, ‘A Bitter End’, claiming that the ‘Pats’ had lost. Such was the hopeless nature of their potential return.
The comeback was almost impossible. That was of course, if you were thinking about another team, another quarterback. For this current New England team, coached by the greatest living coach, Bill Belichick (below) and quarterback-ed by the greatest of all time, Tom Brady (above), is no ordinary sports team.
As a New York Giants fan, I am probably in the minority when it comes to my admiration for the New England Patriots. However, my interest in them is based on just three little words – “Do your job”.
This is the playing and coaching mantra of the team (check out the documentary of the same name, on YouTube)
It is so simple it is ridiculous. It works across all facets of the organisation. Take the Ireland rugby team, for example. Last weekend someone did not do their job properly and Scotland scored from a lineout using a back in the middle. Easily fixed if everyone had just done their job.
You can take these three little words and transfer them across all walks of life. You can take them from sport and apply them to almost anything.
I have written about this before and I probably will again. For the next week, just look at everything that goes wrong and ask, whose job was that. Then ask, how good could we all be, if we just did our jobs?
Mind blowing, isn’t it. . .
