Quarterbacks & A Weird Question

Amazon got me again, they kept showing me an advertisement so many times, I finally had to watch the movie.  It’s April, that means that the NFL draft will be coming up, Amazon knew this and so they kept showing me a movie from 2014, starring Kevin Costner. The name of the movie was Draft Day. It’s a movie all about the general manager of a struggling football team. The draft is coming up and he needs to make a big splash, or he will lose his job. He has an opportunity to trade up and take the best player in the draft. The player is a can’t miss quarterback who promises to change the franchise that picks him.  I found this movie to be super interesting because they somehow found a way to put some twists and turns into it. In the end, when Kevin Costner is deciding what to do, he keeps coming to the same question. He heard through the rumor mill that when this quarterback had a party for his twenty first birthday, none of his teammates showed up for the party. As a sports fan and someone who deals with people a lot, this made perfect sense to me. As time is winding down to make a final decision, he keeps asking everyone who all was at this party. They never mention in the movie why he wants to know the answer, but I think it’s important that everyone knows why this is important. If he was such a great leader, why were the people that he is supposed to be leading not supporting him on his birthday? Talent can get you pretty far, but if my job is on the line, or the well-being of my family is at risk, you need to have more than talent! You need to be able to see everything, make strategic decisions and have everyone follow you, no questions asked. In the heat of the moment, game on the line, you don’t have time to stop and explain or justify anything. Save the questions for film day. The same thing can be true at work, if it’s crunch time or super busy, you don’t always have time for questions. It may seem like this storyline works for movies, but how true is it in real life? I had half of this article written when something popped up on my Instagram, it was a split screen video. On the top was Lebron James when he became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and on the bottom was Alex Ovechkin becoming the NHL’s all-time leader in goals scored. Both records were supposed to be unbreakable. But what the video was pointing out was the difference in reactions from teammates when the record was broken. I was in so much shock that I had to go to YouTube to watch it. The first clip I watched was Lebron. The video was a little under three minutes long. The video showed Lebron scoring the basket and then he celebrated. That doesn’t sound unusual, except for the fact that he had no teammates around him. In the entire clip, not one teammate touched him. No hugs, no high fives, nothing. His family came out and they were with him, but every single teammate was at a distance. I have never seen anything like that. Then I watched the Alex Ovechkin goal. This clip was almost six minutes long. It showed him scoring the goal, and then he celebrated by diving headfirst onto the ice. Seconds later all his teammates were on the ground with him. As the clip kept going it showed him getting up and going to the bench, he hugged all the staff members of the team. Then the opposing team lined up and he went over and shook hands with all of them. The clips were the complete opposite of each other. Both players have won championships in the past, but in both cases, it’s been a while. If you have been reading my articles for a while, I’m sure you know that there is no debate on the greatest basketball player of all time. Don’t come to me with all your arguments, it’s Michael! No one ever questioned what Michael cared about most; the answer was always winning. Over the years his teammates might have been frustrated with him, but they loved that they won, and they loved that Michael was always pushing them to get better. When Michael was successful, they were successful. That means that when he accomplished something, everyone was right next to him celebrating with him. It seems like over the last few years, people have questioned Lebron and his priorities. No one ever questioned Michael about anything. So now it brings up the question, what kind of leader and teammate are you? Do the people around you celebrate with you? Are they happy when you have success? If you find yourself being questioned a lot or celebrating alone, it may be time to adjust the way you lead people.