You have got to respect the man in the hoodie

So this weeks I was going to write something completely different - a post that originally came to mind around August/September last year and one that seems particularly relevant now however a man in a hood changed all that on Sunday so you will have to wait on that one, sorry to The English Major. Instead this week we look at the greatest coach in all professional sports and the person who has benefited from his genius. The man in the hoodie, the grumpy professor, the cheat (according to some/many) and the ball slinger that has benefited from his genius.

There can be no denying the greatness of the New England Patriots over the last 16 years. As much as I used to hate the team (due to a personal dislike of an individual) I have to admire and respect what they have done, and based on that I am a fan of the New England Patriots, it is hard not to be. They have been in 7 SuperBowls, won 5 and lost 2 (both to the NY Giants) with Tom Brady now the winningest quarterback in Super Bowl history having also played in more SuperBowls than any other player. He surely is the greatest quarterback in history. Well, hold on a sec, maybe not. I would venture to say that the combination of Belichick and Brady is the greatest combination of coach and athlete in any sport in the history of sports - apart from maybe Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson - 7 NASCAR Championships since 2002 is tough to beat - but is Chad Knaus actually a coach? Well is the Hoodie a coach or great team manager - he has all sorts of people (coaches) on his team that perform many of the functions that are required to make the team succeed, it's not like the Gas Monkey actually changes the tires on the number 48. Either way both of them are winners.

I would have to put the Hoodie ahead of the Gas Monkey based on 2008, the year that Brady was out and an untested quarterback Matt Cassel stood up and was managed by the Hoodie to an 11-5 season - not bad numbers for essentially a rookie however what gave him the stats that year, and what has given the Patriots (in my humble opinion) the amazing success they have had over the past 16 years is the program. Belichick and Brady, Knaus and Johnson, they have programs that work but the Hoodie has built his winning platform on a model where the majority of the players can be injured/traded/dropped without the overall team being drastically effected. The Patriots are not full of Hall of Fame Superstars, not the best team money can buy, not changed by a one hour special to see where LeBron wants to go play bouncy ball. They are a team that follows a program that the smartest man in football has proven is the formula to win. You hear of players that have accepted less money, dropped their salary requirements to stay with and assist the Patriots because they want to be on the winning team.

Says quite a lot about the coach, the players and the team in this age of greed and "it's all about me" attitudes. The knowledge that you could make more somewhere else usually has people packing the U-Haul and heading wherever the money is. It is nice to see people that want to work on a winning team versus the ones that want to work just for themselves.

I guess being well paid on a winning team is better than being an overpaid loser :)

Being on a winning team is something that is important in more than just sports obviously, and having a winning attitude is going entice people to want to be part of the team. If you are fortunate enough to work for a manager/owner/coach that has a history of success it might pay to remember that your success is most likely directly tied to the system that they have put in place. Also remember that the best systems have the ability to swap out players, so don't believe that all that success is because of you :)

Don't judge the coach or manager by the cut of his hoodie sweatshirt - judge them by their success.


This weeks version of a blog was bought to you by MATI Energy drinks and Capitol Creations Pizza. Unlike most posts I actually had to do some research using the greatest search engine ever - AltaVista - and boy I just cannot wait to use it again :) For those of you thinking that I now believe that the Patriots are the greatest team in professional sports please take a long hard look at yourselves and then these numbers - 85.6% vs 76.5% - 86.5% is the winning percentage of the greatest team in professional sports since 2000 (the All Blacks of course) - 76.5% is the Patriots winning % over the same timeframe with almost the same amount of games played, All Blacks have played about 20 games more (like I said AltaVista rocks). As always credit is given where credit is deserved and the same is done with respect. If you cannot respect what the Hoodie has done with the New England Patriots over the last 16 years then, in my humble opinion, you are an idiot and not a real sports fan. If you find that opinion offensive then you probably have never met me after a couple of beers :) Speaking of......

Work hard, play hard and earn your inspiration. Just remember there is a reason they are called champions :)

Happy Poets Day