Last night’s NFL Draft is good TV, even if you don’t enjoy football. But why? Because it creates drama. Now of course, most of the drama created is artificial and the true out come of the draft will not be seen for years. But really, we don’t care about that. We love to watch for the surprise pick, the unpredictable fall of highly touted stars, and of course the Raiders and their nonsense.
But having said all this, last nights biggest surprise was the young man who shouldn’t have been picked(at least according to Mel Kiper). Tim Tebow was drafted by the Denver Broncos as their 25th overall selection. So with this in mind, I thought I would share a couple of thoughts as to why Tim Tebow works…
Character Matters Period. Ben Roethlisberger is finding this out right now. What really happened between Ben and the young women who has made accusations against him may never come out, yet what got Roethlisberger suspended were a string of poor decisions. Each one of which reveal his character. I’m not saying Ben is evil or guilty, but multiple poor decisions show us something of who he is. Ben put himself in multiple bad places and now the NFL and the Steelers organization are making him pay the consequences for those decisions. When the Denver Broncos (who know something about knuckleheads, see Brandon Marshall) choose Tebow, they choose a young man who has impeccable character.
Leadership In case you haven’t heard, Tebow was a leader of two national championship teams and the field commander of a college football team that included numerous NFL caliber players. Oh, did I mention they have already built statues of his leadership moments outside the stadium at Florida. Tim may not be the most talented player, but he has been one of the most successful leaders in college football history.
Talent But he’s Talented enough. When everyone runs a 4.5 forty and everyone throws the football 65 yards down the field, what makes the difference? Intangibles. Or at least that is what they are called most often. What are they? I don’t really know. What makes Joe Montana a better quarterback than Ryan Leaf? You can’t really say other than the fact that Montana has a finger full of Superbowl rings. Talent isn’t enough. It is only useful when you pair it with other things. Allen Iverson is one of the most spectacular basketball players ever, yet he never won a championship because it was always his show. Point guard Derrek Fisher on the other hand, has won multiple championships because of selfless play and working within the system he plays. Tebow learned very early on that playing within the system allows the system to work. This is how his team one their first national title.
Winner Finally, Tebow is a winner. Even when his team is defeated, his attitude is that of a winner. Positive, encouraging, and driven to work harder, rally the troops, and make sure that this doesn’t happen again. Sure he’ll lose again. In Denver, he may lose a lot. But his mentality is that of a winner and you can’t teach that.
We can learn from sports and events like the draft. Often we like to pick high, grab the things that look great now, sacrifice late term picks for short term gain. But let’s remember that the bests teams almost always build their franchise in the late rounds. One pick doesn’t change the world. Consistent good choices over the long haul builds enduring success. If you don’t believe me, go look at the rosters of the Pittsburg Steelers and New England Patriots.
Labels: Leadership, NFL, sports, Tim Tebow
