Congratulations to the Steelers

The launch of this blog and the end of the football season with Superbowl XL today are not entirely coincidental since, for me at least, the end of the NFL season means an extra helping of time that won't be filled by other televised sports until September.

I do follow the Steelers and would like to congratulate the entire organization on a job well-done. Certainly they conducted much better games against the equine teams (Indy and Denver) in the playoffs, but they played solid defense and had flashes of brilliance on offense. In the larger sense, the best part of this win is how the Steelers built up to it. Despite some hard years and tough losses, Dan Rooney kept the right perspective. Wholesale changes weren't required. Painful playoff losses have led to coaching shake-ups or star free agent signings at other franchises, but they didn't in Pittsburgh.

High performance teams require respect, trust and a common understanding. All of these take time and stability to establish. Cowher did a good job of finding players who fit the philosophy and then finding schemes that made them productive. A lot of players left along the way (Thigpen, O'Donnell, Stewart, Burress). While they made good money, they weren't as successful as they were with the Steelers.

It would be nice to think that after the Patriots run and now the Steelers, a few of the self-aggrandizing players and owners sitting at home on Superbowl Sunday might think twice about destructive antics or throwing money at free agents, but that's not too likely. Patience is an extremely difficult strategy to follow in any high-stakes, highly public endeavor such as stock markets and pro sports. The businessmen who buy teams now mostly made their money on big bets and blockbuster deals, not incremental improvements. Players who make it to the pros are very talented and very successful and have a high degree of self-confidence. Fans and the media exacerbate these tendencies, so there is little likelihood that patient management and low-key teamwork will spread across the league like a bad rash in a kindergarten.

Now, of course, the challenge for the Steelers organization is holding things together in the face of success.