Praising the Patriots

Bill Belichick, the head coach of the New England Patriots, constantly reads Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. The book (a quick- and must-read, if you haven’t read it) focuses on how 90% of the battle is won before you step on the battlefield, the importance of discipline and having your soldiers behind you and how deception is key in achieving victory.

Nowhere in the book does it dwell on superstar soldiers or making special concessions to high-salaried lieutenants with different rules. There is nothing to deal with petulance or mid-level captains who feel they are disrespected and deserve more. There is no quarter given for showboating or trash-talking (at least off the field).

As the Patriots celebrate their third championship in four years, there is no team that is more deserving of the “champion” moniker. Anyone who follows football can document the team’s achievements. But what makes the Patriots the very best champions in any sport is commendable to anyone seeking to develop a champion-caliber team of any sort.

There is a cliché so overworked it has almost lost its effectiveness: There’s no I in team. Tell that to the Philadelphia Eagles, whose talented receiver Terrell Owens spent every day making sure everyone knew the game was all about him. Tell that to Pedro Martinez, another gifted athlete who left the Red Sox because they didn’t give him the “respect” he deserved in his new contract. (Memo to Pedro: Respect is a two-way street.) There are an ugly rash of athletes whose scorn for teamwork and hubris are only eclipsed by the attention the media pays to them, giving them a soapbox they have neither earned nor deserved.

In contrast, look at the Patriots. Apart from Tom Brady, Adam Vinatieri and maybe Tedy Bruschi, can you name any of them? From Belichick on down, there is a startling lack of superstars, and nobody has a me-first or money-first attitude among them. Players sign for less money for an opportunity to play with General Belichick and what Sun Tzu has taught him, along with reams of game film and decades of football experience. Nobody complains if they don’t start, have high stats, have to play special teams or need to learn a new position.

The players, rookies and veterans alike, know that when you sign with the Patriots you’re joining a team where selfishness and ego are banned. Belichick’s word and edicts are the law and not meant to be bent or tested. Belichick’s staff even does homework on prospects’ character to see if they’ll accept this environment. Randy Moss may be a great player, but do you think he’d work out on this team? Or that his demands and behavior would be tolerated here? No way, and that makes the team better.

In the first Super Bowl against the highly favored St. Louis Rams, the Rams were introduced first before the game started. One by one they were introduced and ran out to the field. When it was the Patriots’ turn, they all ran out together because they wanted to be introduced as a team. Rams LB Don Davis saw that and knew there was going to be trouble. Today, Davis plays for the Patriots and is a rabid adherent to Belichick’s team-first philosophy, which he had previously disdained.
The closest thing to a team superstar is QB Tom Brady. When you consider what Brady has accomplished, you could still accept his achievements if he was a showboating, arrogant asshole who had the richest contract in the league, the most endorsements and the hottest girlfriend. But guess what? Brady doesn’t showboat and he’s not an asshole. In fact, he’s remarkably down to earth and doesn’t have the contract that Peyton Manning has (although it’s not shabby). The few endorsements he’s done include some of his teammates because that’s one of his “demands” when doing endorsements. He doesn’t have Manning’s stats or notoriety, but he does have a few things Manning doesn’t – three Super Bowl rings. All the guy does is study hard, win football games, and makes sure he thanks his teammates in public for their help. And if the top player on the team follows this path, that’s why the third receiver isn’t going to complain if he doesn’t get the ball thrown his way every time. OK, Brady has the hot girlfriend too, but he deserves her.

Of course, none of this would matter if the Patriots didn’t win. But they do win. All the Sun Tzu talk and team-first attitude wouldn’t work if Belichick wasn’t a football mastermind. But he is, and his accomplishments and learning from his mistakes have been well-documented. The NFL is also the toughest league to repeat as a champion because of the salary cap, free agency and other financial factors that make it very difficult to keep a team together. But it also keeps every team even and has saved the NFL from the financial disasters that plague Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. Sports are the one industry where capitalism is not the best solution.

In a world where many athletes are better known for their salary, rap sheet or big mouth than their accomplishments, the Patriots are the best example of leadership, sacrifice and championship any city could have. Charles Barkley was wrong about one thing – athletes are role models, and a team like the Patriots are the best you could ask for.