Tim Tebow is Courageous!

I love ESPN Radio. I listen to Mike and Mike in the Morning, The Herd, and The Scott van Pelt Show on a pretty religious basis. However, I get annoyed frequently by the fact that there are certain teams which could be considered 'favorites' based on the amount of time they spend talking about them. I tweeted this annoyance a while back with regards to the Boston Red Sox. Now that it is football season, my annoyance has moved to the New York Jets.

The fact that they spend an inordinate amount of time talking about the Jets means that they also spend an inordinate amount of time talking about back-up quarterback Tim Tebow. Note: I wrote 'back-up.' He's not even the starter, and yet he gets more air time than arguably ANY of the starters in the NFL. Now don't get me wrong, I like Tim Tebow. And that's difficult for me to admit, considering I am an Ohio State fan (see the 2007 BCS National Championship). He's a great guy and seems to be a strong Christian, which I think garners him the amount of press that he receives, but by most accounts, he is a below-average QB. And yet, he gets way more attention than just about everybody else in the NFL.

I think it's similar to 'Christian' movies. Several movies have been produced by Christians in recent years and have been released in mainstream movie theaters. They tend to garner a lot of press and conversation in the circles I find myself in because they are 'Christian' and promote good values. I remember someone talking about one such movie, Courageous, calling it amazing! So I watched it with high expectations. And while I valued what the movie promoted, it was NOT a good movie (if you think I'm being harsh, it currently has a 32% rating on RottenTomatoes.com, which qualifies it is a rotten tomato). It simply promoted good values, but as a work of art, it was subpar.

I think in many ways, Tim Tebow is Courageous. We like to talk about him because there is a large group of people who like what he stands up for. As a result, they are unable to see the fact that he can't throw an out pattern to save his life. I'm all for putting forth good role models, but let's not talk about them like they are relevant or outstanding in a particular field when it is clear that they are not. I'm all for promoting good morals, but do we have to use bad art to do it? Let's discuss things in their proper context. Let's not call a movie 'amazing' because it has good morals, and let's not discuss endlessly on sports talk radio a back-up (at best) QB because he is a nice guy.

What do you think? Does Tim Tebow get too much press? What is your take on 'Christian' movies?

Leadership Lessons from the NFL Draft

In just under two months, the Super Bowl for the Cleveland Browns will commence. It's called the NFL Draft. Being a Browns fan, this is one of the biggest sporting events each year as maybe, just maybe, THIS will be the Draft that turns things around for them (granted, we're still waiting for that to happen). And with the big prize being RGIII from Baylor, the excitement is palpable.

But this post is not about the Browns, but rather the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are slated to pick #3 in the Draft, right between the Rams at #2 and the Browns at #4. At the present time, there is all sorts of speculation and conjecture about what the Rams will do at #2. It is virtually guaranteed that a team - Cleveland, Washington, and Miami being the most likely suitors - will sacrifice several draft picks for the right to move up to that #2 position in order to draft RGIII, the electric QB from Baylor. At least one writer hopes that it ends up being the Browns.

What does that have to do with Minnesota and leadership? As it turns out, quite a bit.

In week 16 of the 2011 season, the Vikings beat the Washington Redskins 33-26. After the game, head coach Leslie Frazier seemed quite pleased with the results. The problem with that is that, by winning, the Vikings improved their record enough to move into the 3rd slot of the Draft instead of the 2nd. That being said, by winning that one meaningless game in December they missed out on an opportunity to pick up perhaps three first-round picks and probably more. As it stands instead, they will likely get a nice offensive lineman. Offensive linemen are good, but one of them compared to the haul of quality players they could have had certainly pales in comparison. Which raises the question:

Should they have tanked the season?

One writer suggests that winning that game was the worst thing the Vikings did with regards to the upcoming draft.

Would it have been better leadership to maybe put a gameplan in place to give them a better chance of losing and a better draft choice?

Perhaps.

A leader needs to know his current context and be able to look far down the road and see how the decisions he makes now will affect the long-term stability and quality of the organization. And if it would benefit the organization in the long run to make difficult decisions to sacrifice the good for the better, he must make those decisions.

OK, I'll admit it, I've never been an NFL player or head coach (not that this is news to anyone), and I don't know what I would have done in that particular position. But as a leader, part of my job is to look far down the road, not just at the task in front of me. I need to be able to see the preferred future and make decisions based on that, not on what will bring immediate gratification. If that means making decisions that tick people off or that look like the completely wrong decisions in the present, I still have to be able to pull the trigger. Jesus saw the long distance view when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Not my will, but Yours be done." His immediate right decision would have been to call on angels to save Him, but the preferred future called for a different, far more difficult decision. He sacrificed the good for the better. And that is what we must do as leaders.

What good present thing must you sacrifice for the your better future or that of your organization?

The Logo

I heard on ESPN Radio this morning that Jerry West - a.k.a., "The Logo" - has come out and said that the NBA logo should be redone using the silhouette of Michael Jordan instead of himself. Pretty humble, if you ask me. This started a discussion on the radio, "Who should be the logo for the various major sports?" This is in a similar vein to the sports Mount Rushmore. Not that anyone cares, here would be my major sports logo suggestions:

• NBA: Michael Jordan - He is arguably the best who has ever played the game and would be recognizable as a silhouette. The problem would be that his silhouette is already being used by his Air Jordan line.
• MLB: Willie Mays - I never really saw him play, but many consider him to be the best who ever played. Babe Ruth would just be too fat for a logo.
• NFL: Jim Brown - They were tossing around the name Roger Staubach on the radio. Really?! Jim Brown clearly was the best running back who has ever played, and arguable the best player period. If he had played longer - only nine seasons in his career - he would have put the rushing record so out of reach it would be laughable, even though they played fewer games per season than they do now.
• NHL: Wayne Gretzky - Is there seriously anyone else in contention?

Your thoughts?