THE BIG GAME Chris Byrnes I must admit to being more of a fan of Rugby football rather than Grid Iron, because rugby is a game where two teams of 15 players battle each other for two 40-minute periods. No substitutes, no padding, and no bringing on a completely new line of fresh guys when it comes time to run the ball up the field.
So I was only mildly interested in Super Bowl-36, and all my North American friends had dismissed the game because it was so clearly a miss-match. The St. Louis Rams would roll to such an easy victory; there would barely be a reason to watch the second quarter, let alone the second half. The Rams were favoured by 14 points, and billed as the "Greatest Show on Turf." The New England Patriots were supposed to finish last in the AFC East.
The St Louis Rams held true to professional decorum, unveiling the starters on their offense one by one. But the Patriots, who had nothing to loose and everything to gain decided they would throw away the rulebook and do things differently. I suspected I was about to witness something unusual as the New England Patriots bypassed the normal way of doing things, declining the traditional introductions that cater to individualism.
For the Patriots, it was simple -- jump together in the inflatable tunnel that stretched onto the field, bouncing enough to shake the city's questionable sub-sea-level foundation. They ran on the field as one. A team! Pro-bowlers, starters and "bench warmers", stars and those who live in the shadows -- each group was indistinguishable from the other as the team ran onto the field.
"The players wanted to do it that way; they wanted to come out as a team," Coach Bill Belichick said. "We've been doing it since September 11th."
He didn't have to resort to any speeches exhorting his players to work together and sacrifice for the greater good of the unit at large. He and his coaches had long ago taught these Patriots about the value of functioning as a team. That, more than any other reason is why the Patriots claimed their first Super Bowl victory with a 20 - 17 win over the St Louis Rams.
"That's the reason we won," Belichick said. "Because we played the game as a team."
"This is the perfect example of what happens when guys believe in each other," said Quarterback Tom Brady. At the start of the season, they were 50-1 long shots to win what was their first title ever.
The key play in the final drive was a 23-yard pass from Brady to Troy Brown to the St. Louis 36. Adam Vinatieri, whose trusty right leg made him the hero of the game, turns out to be a distant cousin of daredevil Evel Knievel. He proved that maybe "cool" really does run in the family. His 48-yard game winner flew straight through the uprights with plenty of room to spare. The clock turned to :00 and his teammates mobbed him.
Fittingly, at the end of a day cloaked in red, white and blue, a team called the Patriots not only turned this into a much better game than almost anyone could have imagined, but arguably the greatest Super Bowl of them all. They did it by coming up with a masterful defensive game plan and an amazing display of heart and resilience that has defined their entire season.
As I sat and watched all this unfold before me, I couldn't help but think there might be a couple of messages that we all could take away from this Super Bowl.
The Underdog: The radio station that the competition under rate or ignore always has the advantage. The old story of "when you're number one, there is only one-way to go…. and that's down" holds true. When six friends and myself put our first radio station on air on May 6th 1991, most operators in the market didn't give us a chance. After all, the world economy was still soft and most new businesses at that time failed within the first 6-months. And we were introducing a product into an already well served and over crowded radio market. Seven years later we sold our radio company. It had grown into the most successful and profitable radio operation in Australasia. Sometimes just getting on with the work while all those around you seek the limelight is not a bad approach. It clearly worked for the Patriots.
There Are No Rules: The Patriots won because they changed the way they approached the entire game. They came onto the field as a team and then unsettled the other side with their tactics and an underrated Quarterback. These guys put on a show and most people agree it was the best Super Bowl ever. We need to re-think how we do things in radio. Just because "we've always done it this way" is no reason to keep doing it. Ask yourself "What is the one thing that we could do differently, that would improve our product?"
Take A Chance: When Drew Bledsoe was injured, the Patriot coach selected 24-year old Tom Brady from San Matero California as the Quarterback. The 6'4" 220-Lb squeaky-clean lad had completed just one single pass in 2000. But this is a man who clearly has lots of talent, and is very calm under pressure. Who else would have taken the risk he took to put together a thrilling 9-play drive to position his team for the game winning field goal? Please don't think I'm suggesting you take your unknown night talent and make them the morning show anchor. But you need to keep your eyes open and always be spotting talent. Of course automation and cost cutting means we neither have the room nor the luxury to employ an overnight talent. But does it not make good sense to identify up and coming talent and figure out how to create a position on your station or perhaps in a smaller market where you can monitor their progress? That way, if one of your key players leaves or is traded you have someone waiting in the wings. As a PD, I always kept a "hot list" of people, so if my drive jock decided to leave, I knew exactly who I would be put in that slot.
Play As A Team: This is nothing new, but if there was ever a great example of individuals who bonded together and performed as a cohesive unit, we saw it in the New Orleans Superdome February 3rd. Do you have a true team of people on and off the air, who support each other and help each other up where ever possible? I knew a very talented jock in the early 80's who had that rare ability to open the microphone and truly relate and entertain. Off the air this young man was a major pain in the neck. He was like the worst kind of virus for staff moral, but his morning show ratings were through the roof. The final straw came when this man complained because the elevator was not on the ground floor when he arrived at work, and he was terminated. Radio, I hope, will always be more about people rather than equipment. And the stations that win will be the ones that understand that 1+1 equals more than 2!
Keep Your Head: If anyone had the right to get a little big headed it was Tom Brady. After all he won't have to survive much longer on his $298,000 league minimum salary, and can pretty much write his own contract. But Tom didn't go wild and race off to buy a new Porsche after the big win and getting the MVP award. The next day he went to Disney World with his parents and his 25-year old girl friend Laura Kinsman. She said it best "Tom is totally down to earth and more than anything else he loves his family." Most of us will find at least 15-minutes of fame in this business, and it's how we act during that brief moment in time that impacts the future. Tom by the way plans on being a U.S. senator one day. So far he has the New England vote locked up!
While I did not start out on February 3rd a fan of American Football and The Super Bowl, by the end I was hooked. |