True Giving, True Winning

Giving comes from a sense of duty to a community at large, no matter who or where the providers come from. Such giving has resonance if it comes from people who work to compete and win on the largest stages. Both were on display recently for two lucky high schools in New York City.


Last Wednesday, students from the Bronx Leadership Academy and the Business of Sports School were greeted with respected athletes, entertainers and media professionals as part of a successful philanthropic effort, “Giving and Winning”, sponsored by the La Belle Vie Foundation and Blazer Capital Management. These teens didn’t just meet any players, but men who grew up locally in Super Bowl champions Andrew Quarless (Green Bay Packers) and Jay Alford (Seattle Seahawks, formerly of the New York Giants).

Earlier that morning, the Bronx Leadership Academy welcomed these players with a raucous celebration of sorts; full of the energy that could be likened to a mini parade for champions. Yet, the afternoon provided a quieter and smaller gathering at the Business of Sports School where the players, along with BET Networks Vice President Rodney Gill and actress/former American Idol finalist Kinnik Sky spoke to students about the pursuit of great dreams.

Here at BOSS, this unique charter school in Midtown offers ninth and tenth graders a chance to learn about the industry surrounding the games they love. Several students were able to moderate the panel of these distinguished guests; asking about their pursuits for sports and entertainment success, how they prepared themselves for the future and what students can do to break into these competitive fields.

After the panel, Quarless, the Brooklyn-born, Long Island-reared tight end spoke to how children in urban communities are not usually given opportunities to shine as they could. “I feel that I have a story to tell that a lot of these kids can relate to,” said Quarless. “I’m only 22. I’m just four years removed from high school and it feels like just the other day, I was in their shoes, same classrooms with dreams. I’m just here to let them know that they can come true.”

Alford spoke about a similar desire to connect with the youth through his own experiences.“I grew up in the inner city and I didn’t expect any of this to happen. A lot of people counted me out. Through hard work, I proceeded to get to bigger and better things.”

Of course, the NFL lockout was top of mind for the kids as one of the students asked Alford his opinion on the battle between the owners and players’ union. These kids at BOSS are savvy enough to understand that athletic careers are short, so when Alford talked about his post-NFL aspirations of owning his own transportation company, it certainly intrigued some students. When asked after the panel how the lockout can affect those plans, the defensive tackle said the labor strife “put a damper on it, but I don’t think it’ll last too long”. Quarless expressed a similar optimism; “I feel that there’s a lot of greed involved, but I think they’re going an agreement soon enough.”

This wasn’t just a day to learn for the BOSS students, either. While Quarless doesn’t have his Super Bowl ring just yet, the Orange, New Jersey-native Alford proudly sported the jewels he won as a rookie with the Giants in 2007. Students crowded around him and took turns gawking and holding the ring. It was a stirring moment for these teens; they were able to see tangible forms of success in ways they may only have envisioned through the media or in the classroom.

Owners' Thought Process & the Rooney Rule

The mere mention of race in sports sends many of us into a tizzy. Sports are supposed to help us escape the daily travails of modern life by being above them, right?

Yet since we’re talking about an industry that is dominated by minority participants, the conversations are inevitable. The makeup of an NFL team doesn’t resemble that of almost every place of employment in the United States. This comes from an evolution of thinking; from thinking that non-whites have no place in the game to thinking that non-whites can’t be middle linebackers to thinking that non-whites can’t be quarterbacks. The third to last step of progress, it seems, is allowing them the chance to become head coaches (Commissioner and team owner being the final two).

The Rooney Rule has helped change the dynamics a bit, but as the recent hires in Seattle and Washington prove, there’s still some work to be done. We need to be honest with ourselves here when it comes to the Rule; beyond debating the merits of affirmative action/alleged reverse discrimination and required-but-fruitless interviews. The rule was put in place because qualified minority candidates were not considered for such tenuous positions.

In a sport where these leading managers are treated more like fast food fry cooks until “The One” comes to save the franchise, you would have thought many dues-paying position coaches and coordinators would have been gobbled up in efforts to changes fortunes of many teams. Yet, especially in the preceding seasons before the Rule was adopted in 2003, many middling retreads were rehired to be fired rather quickly.

Every franchise has changed head coaches at least once since 1994, yet since the interim tag was removed for Jeff Fisher in 1995, the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans are the only team in the NFL to have had one person at the helm. Since 1996 to be specific, there have been 96 head coaching changes, which in turn resulted in countless changes in the coordinator and specialty coaching positions.

The average team has changed head coaches slightly over three times – 3.09677419354839 to be exact – in the last fourteen years, including ongoing changes after the conclusion of the 2009 season. The Oakland Raiders will likely have their seventh different head coach in this span if Al Davis does fire Tom Cable as expected, yet fourteen different franchises have had at least four different head coaches during this period.

Ninety-six different introductory press conferences is a staggering number. Absolutely staggering.

Many people connected to the NFL believe that the Rooney Rule will only gain teeth if the league truly investigates and penalizes teams for meeting the requirements just for show. In addition, despite extending the policy to include senior football operation positions (General Managers, essentially), there are calls to look into coordinators and other members of the coaching staff to truly give the Rule wide sweeping effectiveness.

Yet, there will always be an issue with the Rooney Rule not only for racial reasons, but because there will always been such high turnover among head coaches. Ideally, the Rule exists because of such instability. The fact that owners and fans have thin patience and even thinner triggers shows that there will be more opportunities. Many owners suffer from “I want what he’s got” syndrome, proving the adage that the NFL is a copycat league. Yet, others seem to have issues beyond patience. Woody Johnson and Daniel Snyder believe in big, splashy hires. Al Davis & the McCaskey family don’t want to pay anyone big bucks. Ralph Wilson can’t seem to find the right mix of personnel and philosophy. Jerry Jones just wants someone to not show him up, even when things are good (see Johnson, Jimmy).

As much as all candidates should be given greater consideration, it’s extremely difficult to legislate what’s on the minds of these owners. For various reasons – quick financial windfalls being the biggest along with ego – they will go after proven head coaches more often than not. It takes a lot for an owner to decide to take a chance on someone who had never managed an entire team at this level before, regardless of ethnic makeup. It takes just as much for that owner to take his or her lumps in the beginning to find long-term success. Maybe that’s what may happen with Tampa Bay and Raheem Morris; rumored to have been canned after one season though the Buccaneers do not have the horses in the stable.

We look at Mike Tomlin for the Pittsburgh Steelers as a sign that the Rule works, even though the namesake of the provision, the Rooney family, owns the team. There’s a strong culture in the organization that allowed for him to find success, as there was for Tony Dungy to steward the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl title. Yet, no rule, no matter how great the intentions, will make an impact if these teams and owners don’t stop becoming case studies of chaos, mismanagement and impatience.

Say What?!?!: Better insights from Roy S. Johnson. The comments, however, go from atrocious to even worse.

Props

Before we get ourselves revved up for Week 3, a quick note about Props.

While the blog covers all aspects of sports from its action to its culture to its business, the idea of Props was to highlight some of the finer things specifically in a game or its broadcast. Yet, this hasn't been an ordinary week considering all that has gone on in the past seven days: Hurricane Ike, Wall Street, etc. So, in regards to Week 2, let's spread the love a bit, shall we?

Kickoff - FOX: For as many issues some of us (myself included) have with FOX's NFL coverage, they are daring in their graphics innovation. With a defensive player now equipped with a headset to speak with his defensive coordinator, fans want to know which player has the green dotted helmet. In the scrolling starting lineup graphic, there's a green box and radio label that surrounds the picture of player who adorns the helmet.
During the first Giants offensive/Rams defensive series, Joe Buck pointed out that is was Corey Chavous, the Rams' free safety who wore the helmet as his team was torched by the Philadelphia Eagles for over 500 yards in Week 1. Now, maybe it just gives fans and media a scapegoat when their defense looks sloppy, yet, FOX did this to help satiate one of the league's great curiosities.

1st Quarter - Darren Rovell: Before all hell broke loose on Wall Street, the last seemingly positive financial news this week centered around the valuation of NFL franchises. Forbes releases the worth of each franchise annually and delves into what makes the league's proverbial cash registers go 'ching!' every second of the day. Forbes said that the average worth of a team has reached over $1 billion, with nineteen teams clearing that mark. These days, the NFL seems to be like The Juggernaut, only getting stronger as it moves without anyone truly questioning its power. So we're supposed to believe that every team is really worth its stated value, right?
Rovell questions how the venerable magazine came up with the numbers and in some way, puts them in perspective with the economic realities here in the U.S. This is not to say that a lie is being told so much as Rovell is telling folks to not take everything as gospel.

2nd Quarter - Matt Forte: The Chicago Bears needed something to be happy about and there's no doubt that Forte has provided a reason to smile a bit more. Their quarterback situation has been in shambles for decades, no one can name one wide receiver in the franchise's history outside of Chicagoland and Cedric Benson burned them baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. He's been impressive for a guy that they did not plan on playing much and was relatively unknown coming out of Tulane. Granted, it's been two weeks, but 215 yards in two games for a rookie RB against a stout Carolina front seven and an Indianapolis team hyped to open a new stadium isn't a bad start.

Halftime - Gene Deckerhoff. Just the coolest voice in the game.

3rd Quarter - Ed Hochuli: If you haven't heard by now, the most famous referee in American sports became its most infamous because of a blown call that cost the San Diego Chargers a potential win against the rival Denver Broncos. Yet, respect should be due to the man for not only admitting to his error - no matter how great it is in the overall scheme of a 16-game season - but for not hiding behind the overall body of officials or stubbornly telling the public (and himself) that he believed he made the right call at the time and stands by it. The referee's job is difficult enough as is and Hochuli had every ample opportunity to partake in a little CYA. It doesn't change the outcome nor will it make any member of the Chargers organization any less upset, but at least everyone can move forward.
With that positive slant given, two things need to be understood. First, for those folks who are getting into a tizzy about the call, aren't there a few other pressing concerns in society than this? Secondly, when a team's fortunes seem to be predicated on a botched call or play, the reality is that it should never come down to that in the first place! If the final score of a football game is 39-38, as exciting as it may be to watch, it should be an alarm for such porous defense played on both sides. (Thanks to Shutdown Corner for the reference).

4th Quarter - Keary Colbert and Koren Robinson: They were the winners of the "Seattle needs healthy bodies at wide receiver" sweepstakes. "Because we all know" - in the words of Stephen A. Smith - that right now, the Seahawks have more trainers and paramedics than flankers at the moment.
In all seriousness, this could be one of the good stories in the NFL this year. Robinson been sober for 25 months and returns to the franchise that drafted him six years ago. For anyone that has ever watched how a person's alcoholism can disrupt and devastate life, you wish for more redemptive stories as his.