The Dallas Cowboys beat the Washington Redskins last night 21-18 in an NFC East Battle. The Cowboys rolled to victory on the arm of 87-year old quarterback Vinny Testaverde and an unlikely touchdown pass from Richie Anderson, the veteran fullback. The victory put the Cowboys to 2-1 and the Redskins to 1-2 in the division, behind the juggernaut Philadelphia Eagles. However, the biggest story of this game had nothing to do what happened on the field, but on the sidelines as legendary coaches and renewed rivals Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells faced each other once again after a decade in between their last meeting. To be sure, the combined four Super Bowl Titles and countless wins brought a great deal of intrigue to this match up. Still, the hyperbole surrounding this game went beyond the annals of football and instead provided an interesting insight into the status of coaches in the hierarchy or modern day society.
The terms used to describe people like Coach Parcells and Coach Gibbs vary from “general”, “leader”, “commander” and “guru.” Although technically football coaches, they have become elevated to aura of all knowing sage. They are paid large sums of money to give speeches to corporations, they write books that provide supposed blueprints to success. In general, it is these men whom many others look to in order to place them on the path to success. How did we get to this? How did a man whose job is to control a group of athletes, be it in baseball, football, basketball or any other sport became the person who can tell us how to lead a successful life? We arrived her because there are no other military leaders to look to.
Think about it, most men like Parcells or Pat Riley or Bobby Bowden, all claim to be big military buffs, reading about men like Eisenhower, Patton and Perry. It was from these tactical minds that they picked up bits and piece of information that helped mold their coaching styles. However, now that our military operations have been transformed, there is no longer a central face to represent our armed forces, save for our President and I don’t think any up and coming coach is studying the lessons of his life, there is a severe shortage of people to canonize. Instead, we turn to the most obvious alternative, sports. Much has been said about the comparison between sports and war, and while it makes for great metaphors in reality they are two completely different entities. One involves life and death and has global consequences; the other is more concerned with zone coverage’s, sacrifice flies and half court offenses. Yet, in the publics thirst to have someone or something to look up to, these coaches have become our demagogues. Witness Bill Belichek on the cover of Fortune 500 with the word “Genius” appearing under his visage. Genius? Are we really going to bestow such a title upon him? For sure he won 2 Super Bowl titles and has helped shape the New England Patriots into the ideal franchise, but to call him a genius is to compare him to someone like Albert Einstein. As much as I love football, and make no mistake, I am an unabashed lover and fan of all sports, I have to rate the theory of relativity a little bit higher on the importance and impressiveness meter than winning an NFL title.
If step back from what is going and really observe it in its entirety you can begin to understand the absurdity of it all. Pat Riley, famed coach of the Lakers, Knicks, the Heat writes a book called “The Winner Within” and reaps tremendous financial gain. Huge companies adopt it as their credo for success, yet it is the words of a man whose success in life is based around coaching athletes to place a ball in the hoop. Simplicity is an tremendous virtue, and all too often under appreciated, but the idea of Pat Riley dictating company policy for anything outside the realm of basketball is asinine. Rick Pitino, coach of Louisville, is another who is a sought after motivational speaker. Companies are enthralled with hearing the words of a man who has achieved enormous success in college basketball. However, with that success they also get the man who helped destroy a once proud Boston Celtics franchise with horrible decisions that has left the team still recovering almost five years later. What about that? It is not the intention of this piece to tear down any visage of hero’s or role models or defile those who have achieved great things in sports, but merely acknowledge the absurdity of assigning accolades that were once reserved for those who accomplished truly landmark things to those who simply post a good won-loss record. Yes, you should respect Coach Parcells and Coach Gibbs for what they have accomplished on the field, but always remember that as much sports and life intertwine with one another, they are two separate entities and should be viewed as such.
