jday
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Dueling Banjos
I want you to hear a new version of Dueling Banjos. Anyone else is welcome.
~ James Dickey ~
This may not surprise you to read this of me, but I am stupid good at what I do for a living. So good, in fact, that I’d guess I am in the one percentile in America with the following performance statistic: For every dollar I make for my company via sales, I receive less the 2 pennies (1.86 pennies to be exact) in return (Nike would be so jealous). From this circumstance is born a fascinating dichotomy: Barring an egregious hand-tying infraction by yours truly, I will never be terminated and at the same time I will never be promoted…after all, there is very little opportunity for me to be more of a benefit to my company than in the capacity I currently serve them. That is the reality of my situation and for the lack of a better opportunity to provide for my family currently, I accept it.
Yep…just like that.
Such is life in sales where you get roped into a straight salary because you just spent the last 3 months on unemployment, as was the case 4 years ago August. At the time, with a stay-at-home wife and two young children in tow, I was of course willing to take anything at any rate of pay, whereas now walking into work every day feels like the equivalent of me bending at the waist and chanting, “Thank you sir, may I have another” for eight hours.
I’m not going to lie to you…at times this ugly truth can be depressing. But then I stop and look at the big picture. I live in a nice two-story house with a big back yard and a covered porch with a smoker and a grill situated underneath so that I can torch food in literally any Texas weather…save maybe a tornado. I have a beautiful wife who also happens to be a great house-keeper, cook and mother to my children. I have two intelligent, happy and healthy young boys who are presently getting all A’s and B’s in school. I have an awesome dog and 3 cuddly cats. Three hots and a cot a day with all the amenities.
Nothing can stop me, I’m all the way up!
~ Fat Joe ~
Ladies and gentlemen, I am truly blessed beyond measure and fully acknowledge I have done very little to deserve it.
And I think Cowboys nation should subject themselves to a similar exercise.
As Above, So Below
I skimmed the surface of this a few days ago in Spilt Milk, but to elaborate a little, I don’t necessarily think Linehan is a bad coach or playcaller (albeit fleeting, he has had success in this league); I just simply don’t think he’s the right coach/playcaller for a Dak Prescott led offense. In my opinion, that mismatched relationship owns the lion-share for the blame in what is wrong with the Cowboys offense and by extension, the team at large.
Borrowing from my own life experiences, despite the staggering disparity in my sales to income ratio, my team lead (at the behest of an outside sales consulting team my company has employed), on a weekly basis hands me calls she has evaluated and failed…rare do I receive a passing grade. And often times the unsatisfactory marks are attached to calls where I actually made the sale (they still haven’t been able to explain to me how that makes any kind of sense).
Of course, I’m unphased and unbothered by these evaluations and rarely (if ever) do I deign fit to look at the essay she provides explaining the scores (and most the time not even the scores themselves). At the end of the day I know that the individual responsible for signing my check could not care less if I adhere to their sale consultants idea of what a successful sales call sounds like. Money talks, a Jerry Jones platitude walks...and I make it rain so I'm sure my company is like...
Asking me to conform to a singular sales pitch that leans heavily on analytics would be like asking Da Vinci to paint Mona Lisa by the numbers. Consultant companies I am sure are great for people with little to no sales experience; but I’ve been in the sales game for over 20 years. Consumers don’t purchase by the numbers; they buy value, they buy when well-informed and confident in the product and they buy from a sales person they like and can trust. That is who I try to be on every call without fail….but I won’t be a pushy salesman and I will only rebuttal if it makes sense to the conversation. Otherwise, it’s “have a nice day and I hope to hear back from you soon.”
So, I smile and nod through every monthly meeting with my team lead, surrendering the occasional, “I’ll try that” and “oh, ok…that makes sense,” only to not use any of her suggestions and do it exactly the same way I’ve always done it….and this has been going on for a few years or so now.
Yep….just like that.
That, I believe, on a similar scale is what is happening to Dak; the difference being he simply hasn’t been around long enough to adopt my current approach as I suspect his predecessor (Romo) routinely did. Dak spent grade school, college and his first year as the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys winning by taking whatever the defense gives him; if they give him a lane, he’d move the ball with his legs; if they move up coverage to take away the run, he has demonstrated the ability to read defenses and beat them deep.
And now Linehan and Moore are attempting to school him in winning from the pocket. We as fans have seen this before with the likes of quarterbacks like Tebow, Vick, Kaepernick, McNabb, RGIII. You can either design your offense around the quarterback’s strengths or find yourself another quarterback. Those are your only two viable options at this level of football and at this point in their perspective careers….
Initially I did try for an entire month to apply the Sales Consultants recommended approach only to see my average sales amount get cut in half. But I completely understand the consultant companies concerns regarding my ignoring their advice now and obeying the scoreboard.
The fact that I am presently the companies #1 salesman (by a very large margin) and I’m doing it my way versus their way, I’d imagine, reflects poorly on their efforts and places at risk their contract with the company. They have my sympathy, but at the end of the day I can either choose to do it their way and watch my sales output plummet (and by extension eventually my employment) or I can do it my way, knowing full well that regardless of how I get the job done, my employer would be crazy to let me go….or promote me, but that’s for another story.
I’m guessing Linehan/Moore are experiencing a similar dilemma to that of my company’s sales consultant firm. Their function is to make Dak a better QB. But both Linehan and Moore’s experience as the signal caller when they lined up behind center was completely different from that of Dak’s. They both were pure pocket passers, whereas Dak gets it done leaning on his mobility. You can win with both kinds of QB’s, but you absolutely have to conform your playbook to the strengths of the Quarterback, whichever you choose. And therefore the play caller must also be prepared to call plays accordingly. The alternative is what we have seen thus far in 2018.
The Big Picture
Ladies and Gentlemen, it ain’t that serious. For players, coaches, the front office and other organizational employees, it is their livelihood, but for us fans it really is just a game. Whether the Cowboys win or lose, nothing really changes in our lives for better or worse so….
There are 32 teams being paid to do the same exact thing…the odds of your team getting to the playoffs without even factoring in differences in talent levels and coaching is already at 18 percent and to win it all, 3 percent leaving many of you with a 97% chance of having a really bad day/week/month either late this year or early next year. That is not a train I would hitch my happiness-trailer to, but that’s just me.
Furthermore, allow me to point out right fast that those above odds do not change the further your team gets away from their last appearance and since the current roster is nowhere close to what it was even 3 years ago, constantly bringing up how long it has been really makes no sense whatsoever….the reset button is hit every year so please stop with the “It’s been 23 years” like that has any relevance to the current roster, many of whom were not even alive yet.
That said, as I have intimated before, I really like this team; talent level and all. I still believe they are really close. A new offensive coordinator adept at utilizing QB’s like Dak, an upgrade at Safety, Tight End, and Defensive Tackle (if you’re being greedy) is all this team lacks from being a serious contenders. Truth be told, if you just fix the OC, the Cowboys would look like a completely different team from what we saw a few nights ago.
And no, I have not given up on Dak. He is certainly not elite as QB’s go, but that is not a prerequisite to win a Super Bowl, otherwise Brady, Brees, and Rodgers would be the only 3 quarterbacks winning Super Bowls over the last several years of their careers.
As human beings we are ridiculously fortunate to have the game of football for entertainment in the first place. If the Cowboys losing is the worst thing that has happened to you this week, I feel pretty confident in saying you’ve got it really good and have very little reason to complain.
And that is why, while I still enjoy talking and writing about Cowboys football, I am done complaining about things beyond my control. Doing so is a whole lot like…
Thoughts?
I want you to hear a new version of Dueling Banjos. Anyone else is welcome.
~ James Dickey ~
This may not surprise you to read this of me, but I am stupid good at what I do for a living. So good, in fact, that I’d guess I am in the one percentile in America with the following performance statistic: For every dollar I make for my company via sales, I receive less the 2 pennies (1.86 pennies to be exact) in return (Nike would be so jealous). From this circumstance is born a fascinating dichotomy: Barring an egregious hand-tying infraction by yours truly, I will never be terminated and at the same time I will never be promoted…after all, there is very little opportunity for me to be more of a benefit to my company than in the capacity I currently serve them. That is the reality of my situation and for the lack of a better opportunity to provide for my family currently, I accept it.
Yep…just like that.
Such is life in sales where you get roped into a straight salary because you just spent the last 3 months on unemployment, as was the case 4 years ago August. At the time, with a stay-at-home wife and two young children in tow, I was of course willing to take anything at any rate of pay, whereas now walking into work every day feels like the equivalent of me bending at the waist and chanting, “Thank you sir, may I have another” for eight hours.
I’m not going to lie to you…at times this ugly truth can be depressing. But then I stop and look at the big picture. I live in a nice two-story house with a big back yard and a covered porch with a smoker and a grill situated underneath so that I can torch food in literally any Texas weather…save maybe a tornado. I have a beautiful wife who also happens to be a great house-keeper, cook and mother to my children. I have two intelligent, happy and healthy young boys who are presently getting all A’s and B’s in school. I have an awesome dog and 3 cuddly cats. Three hots and a cot a day with all the amenities.
Nothing can stop me, I’m all the way up!
~ Fat Joe ~
Ladies and gentlemen, I am truly blessed beyond measure and fully acknowledge I have done very little to deserve it.
And I think Cowboys nation should subject themselves to a similar exercise.
As Above, So Below
I skimmed the surface of this a few days ago in Spilt Milk, but to elaborate a little, I don’t necessarily think Linehan is a bad coach or playcaller (albeit fleeting, he has had success in this league); I just simply don’t think he’s the right coach/playcaller for a Dak Prescott led offense. In my opinion, that mismatched relationship owns the lion-share for the blame in what is wrong with the Cowboys offense and by extension, the team at large.
Borrowing from my own life experiences, despite the staggering disparity in my sales to income ratio, my team lead (at the behest of an outside sales consulting team my company has employed), on a weekly basis hands me calls she has evaluated and failed…rare do I receive a passing grade. And often times the unsatisfactory marks are attached to calls where I actually made the sale (they still haven’t been able to explain to me how that makes any kind of sense).
Of course, I’m unphased and unbothered by these evaluations and rarely (if ever) do I deign fit to look at the essay she provides explaining the scores (and most the time not even the scores themselves). At the end of the day I know that the individual responsible for signing my check could not care less if I adhere to their sale consultants idea of what a successful sales call sounds like. Money talks, a Jerry Jones platitude walks...and I make it rain so I'm sure my company is like...
Asking me to conform to a singular sales pitch that leans heavily on analytics would be like asking Da Vinci to paint Mona Lisa by the numbers. Consultant companies I am sure are great for people with little to no sales experience; but I’ve been in the sales game for over 20 years. Consumers don’t purchase by the numbers; they buy value, they buy when well-informed and confident in the product and they buy from a sales person they like and can trust. That is who I try to be on every call without fail….but I won’t be a pushy salesman and I will only rebuttal if it makes sense to the conversation. Otherwise, it’s “have a nice day and I hope to hear back from you soon.”
So, I smile and nod through every monthly meeting with my team lead, surrendering the occasional, “I’ll try that” and “oh, ok…that makes sense,” only to not use any of her suggestions and do it exactly the same way I’ve always done it….and this has been going on for a few years or so now.
Yep….just like that.
That, I believe, on a similar scale is what is happening to Dak; the difference being he simply hasn’t been around long enough to adopt my current approach as I suspect his predecessor (Romo) routinely did. Dak spent grade school, college and his first year as the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys winning by taking whatever the defense gives him; if they give him a lane, he’d move the ball with his legs; if they move up coverage to take away the run, he has demonstrated the ability to read defenses and beat them deep.
And now Linehan and Moore are attempting to school him in winning from the pocket. We as fans have seen this before with the likes of quarterbacks like Tebow, Vick, Kaepernick, McNabb, RGIII. You can either design your offense around the quarterback’s strengths or find yourself another quarterback. Those are your only two viable options at this level of football and at this point in their perspective careers….
Initially I did try for an entire month to apply the Sales Consultants recommended approach only to see my average sales amount get cut in half. But I completely understand the consultant companies concerns regarding my ignoring their advice now and obeying the scoreboard.
The fact that I am presently the companies #1 salesman (by a very large margin) and I’m doing it my way versus their way, I’d imagine, reflects poorly on their efforts and places at risk their contract with the company. They have my sympathy, but at the end of the day I can either choose to do it their way and watch my sales output plummet (and by extension eventually my employment) or I can do it my way, knowing full well that regardless of how I get the job done, my employer would be crazy to let me go….or promote me, but that’s for another story.
I’m guessing Linehan/Moore are experiencing a similar dilemma to that of my company’s sales consultant firm. Their function is to make Dak a better QB. But both Linehan and Moore’s experience as the signal caller when they lined up behind center was completely different from that of Dak’s. They both were pure pocket passers, whereas Dak gets it done leaning on his mobility. You can win with both kinds of QB’s, but you absolutely have to conform your playbook to the strengths of the Quarterback, whichever you choose. And therefore the play caller must also be prepared to call plays accordingly. The alternative is what we have seen thus far in 2018.
The Big Picture
Ladies and Gentlemen, it ain’t that serious. For players, coaches, the front office and other organizational employees, it is their livelihood, but for us fans it really is just a game. Whether the Cowboys win or lose, nothing really changes in our lives for better or worse so….
There are 32 teams being paid to do the same exact thing…the odds of your team getting to the playoffs without even factoring in differences in talent levels and coaching is already at 18 percent and to win it all, 3 percent leaving many of you with a 97% chance of having a really bad day/week/month either late this year or early next year. That is not a train I would hitch my happiness-trailer to, but that’s just me.
Furthermore, allow me to point out right fast that those above odds do not change the further your team gets away from their last appearance and since the current roster is nowhere close to what it was even 3 years ago, constantly bringing up how long it has been really makes no sense whatsoever….the reset button is hit every year so please stop with the “It’s been 23 years” like that has any relevance to the current roster, many of whom were not even alive yet.
That said, as I have intimated before, I really like this team; talent level and all. I still believe they are really close. A new offensive coordinator adept at utilizing QB’s like Dak, an upgrade at Safety, Tight End, and Defensive Tackle (if you’re being greedy) is all this team lacks from being a serious contenders. Truth be told, if you just fix the OC, the Cowboys would look like a completely different team from what we saw a few nights ago.
And no, I have not given up on Dak. He is certainly not elite as QB’s go, but that is not a prerequisite to win a Super Bowl, otherwise Brady, Brees, and Rodgers would be the only 3 quarterbacks winning Super Bowls over the last several years of their careers.
As human beings we are ridiculously fortunate to have the game of football for entertainment in the first place. If the Cowboys losing is the worst thing that has happened to you this week, I feel pretty confident in saying you’ve got it really good and have very little reason to complain.
And that is why, while I still enjoy talking and writing about Cowboys football, I am done complaining about things beyond my control. Doing so is a whole lot like…
Thoughts?
