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Return Of The Jedi: Jason Garrett's Warrior Ethos
By Jim Scott @realdirkg
http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2015/8/21/9185531/return-of-the-jedi-jason-garretts-warrior-ethos
Century Link Field is widely regarded as the most difficult territory in the league. The Seattle Seahawks pride themselves on their home field advantage. No one gave the 2014 Cowboys a second thought. Once Bobby Wagner cut Tony Romo in half and the ensuing punt was blocked and returned for a touchdown, the writing was on the wall, or at least on the twitter accounts of sportscasters everywhere. No one comes back from that against Seattle, and certainly not the mentally weak Dallas Cowboys and their suspect quarterback.
We all know how that turned out, and a palpable shock ran through the league when the Cowboys undid meme after meme in quick succession. Tony Romo converted a clutch 3rd and 20 on a spectacular play. Dallas then ran the ball down Seattle's throat until DeMarco Murray walked into the end zone for the lead. Tyrone Crawford (who?) pressured Russell Wilson into a back foot throw that Rolando McClain (that quitter?) pulled down in spectacular fashion to seal the victory. The team had arrived.
In fairness to the Dallas media, many had been noting signs of this for a couple of years, but it mystifies me to this day that so many continue to be so obtuse about the secret. They laugh and joke and complain about Jason Garrett's robotic fixation on process and Tony Romo and Dez Bryant's stacking good days on good days. The media continue to treat these as brainless aphorisms in an attempt to avoid direct answers, and so overlook the painfully obvious.
The whole secret to the Garrett led Cowboys is that they really believe what they are saying.
What's past is past. We can't change it, only learn from it. All that matters is what we do now. How can I improve, right here, right now? What's the right thing to do in this moment?
This philosophy is summarized in a story Garrett told at Princeton this off season as he accepted an award for being a distinguished alumnus. It was a variation on a Buddhist parable, which generally runs like this: a man is chased by a tiger to the edge of a cliff. Below him, another tiger awaits. He sees a branch half way down and climbs to it. But two mice begin to gnaw away at it. In the midst of all this, the man sees a strawberry. He eats it and finds it to be amazingly sweet.
The story is not hard to interpret. There are many things beyond our control: the past (the tiger behind us), the future (the tiger in front of us), the inexorable movement of time towards our mortality (the mice), All that matters is what we can control. The strawberries are there. Only in the present can we act and change things for the better, however small those changes may be...
By Jim Scott @realdirkg
http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2015/8/21/9185531/return-of-the-jedi-jason-garretts-warrior-ethos
Century Link Field is widely regarded as the most difficult territory in the league. The Seattle Seahawks pride themselves on their home field advantage. No one gave the 2014 Cowboys a second thought. Once Bobby Wagner cut Tony Romo in half and the ensuing punt was blocked and returned for a touchdown, the writing was on the wall, or at least on the twitter accounts of sportscasters everywhere. No one comes back from that against Seattle, and certainly not the mentally weak Dallas Cowboys and their suspect quarterback.
We all know how that turned out, and a palpable shock ran through the league when the Cowboys undid meme after meme in quick succession. Tony Romo converted a clutch 3rd and 20 on a spectacular play. Dallas then ran the ball down Seattle's throat until DeMarco Murray walked into the end zone for the lead. Tyrone Crawford (who?) pressured Russell Wilson into a back foot throw that Rolando McClain (that quitter?) pulled down in spectacular fashion to seal the victory. The team had arrived.
In fairness to the Dallas media, many had been noting signs of this for a couple of years, but it mystifies me to this day that so many continue to be so obtuse about the secret. They laugh and joke and complain about Jason Garrett's robotic fixation on process and Tony Romo and Dez Bryant's stacking good days on good days. The media continue to treat these as brainless aphorisms in an attempt to avoid direct answers, and so overlook the painfully obvious.
The whole secret to the Garrett led Cowboys is that they really believe what they are saying.
What's past is past. We can't change it, only learn from it. All that matters is what we do now. How can I improve, right here, right now? What's the right thing to do in this moment?
This philosophy is summarized in a story Garrett told at Princeton this off season as he accepted an award for being a distinguished alumnus. It was a variation on a Buddhist parable, which generally runs like this: a man is chased by a tiger to the edge of a cliff. Below him, another tiger awaits. He sees a branch half way down and climbs to it. But two mice begin to gnaw away at it. In the midst of all this, the man sees a strawberry. He eats it and finds it to be amazingly sweet.
The story is not hard to interpret. There are many things beyond our control: the past (the tiger behind us), the future (the tiger in front of us), the inexorable movement of time towards our mortality (the mice), All that matters is what we can control. The strawberries are there. Only in the present can we act and change things for the better, however small those changes may be...
