DaWidowMaker
Footballguy
Charlie Waters addressing "our" team....
http://www.dallascowboys.com/news.cfm?edit...4CDDE39BF398A72
IRVING, Texas - The first week of the regular season I received a call requesting an interview for a national radio show. That made sense. It's my first year as a color analyst after having played, coached and watched the game.
I was prepared to dive deep into the intricacies explaining the differences between the 3-4 and the 4-3 defensive fronts or how the game has evolved from the 70's-80's when I played, the 90's when I coached and up until now. This would be fun.
Then reality set in. For the 15 minutes of air time, 14 of them were covered up with "Terrell Talk". Typical. I couldn't imagine how big a distraction this guy would be for the players.
From that interview, though, I gleaned a reminder that all of us know and understand if you ever truly make it in the "league": The true Professional never allows anything to distract him from preparing for or executing his job.
But the bigger truth and more important revelation that is borne from that reminder is this: When someone is drafted by, traded to or signed to play for the Dallas Cowboys, he inherits an incomparable load of responsibilities that could manifest into distractions.
I know this sounds pompous, but it's just different being a Dallas Cowboy.
Those distractions are made up of a rich and successful history that rivals what the beloved New York Yankees have in baseball.
It carries with it a relentless expectation to not only win . . . but to win Super Bowls.
Wearing that star incites the competition that will be coming at you each week to muster up its very best game and because you are on "America's Team", the enemy's effort will be driven by an envious killer determination.
The front office and management team, from the secretaries to the owner, expect you to win at all cost. They will do anything for you, if they think it will help you win.
I know Texas is a big state, but keep the tradition intact and it will seem as though everyone in Texas knows and loves you. Lose, and be humbled and ultimately gone.
When the Cowboys win, your off-season will be blissful, and when you retire the transition will much smoother into the fraternal workplace.
Reporters will laude and praise you. Lose and they will criticize and doubt you.
If you win, that exposure from the press will build you into a national high-profile player. Every football fan in the entire country either loves and adores you, or hates and abhors you. There is no indifference.
You must realize that your Dallas Cowboys teammates are all high-profile players. They all know what you know. They, too, know about the pressure to win.
Each teammate is responsible for his job to contribute to the win. If you don't, you will be held accountable for your actions.
The team tradition, winning demands and fan adoration has been passed each year from one Cowboy team to the next, along with valuable lessons to meet those expectations.
After Dallas successfully buried the stigma of "next year's champions" from the 60's, it hasn't looked back. The franchise was then, and has been since, perceived to be and in fact, is, a winner, in the largest sense of the word.
Since then, each decade of winning had that same mantra. If anything got out of whack, the team would tighten the reins, and apply the formula to pay attention to themselves only, and it would be righted.
All else can wait. The life of a pro athlete is a selfish one. The pro athlete can not depend on anyone but himself to get prepared for a game.
Your family suffers, your good-ole-boy pool hall cronies get stood up, but you make sure you are ready and are able to look your teammates in the eye and voice to them, with conviction, that you have done everything possible to be ready and that you will be there if they need you. You can be counted on.
You will do nothing to ever hurt this team intentionally.
In 1970, our team lost 38-0 on Monday Night Football, to the then St. Louis Cardinals. That dropped our record to 5-4. Everybody wrote us off. No one believed we had a chance. It was a carry over of the 60's: "Can't win the big one."
Our team made a blood oath to one another to not talk to the press, not let anything bother us whatsoever. If we made a bad play, we would let it slide off. When the coach chewed us out for whatever, it would just bounce off. We had respect for our coach of course, but we were not going to let him "haunt" us.
None of us ever read the paper. Guys gave up their radio shows, interviews and promotions. We all decided that we, only, can make this team work.
It was borderline sophomoric, but we even had this silly way of greeting one another just to remind each other that we were in this thing together. It was called a "thick-skinned" handshake. I would tell you what it was but I fear Bob Lilly, Chuck Howley and Leroy Jordan finding out about it.
And that fear that I speak of is the way we held each other accountable. Anyone caught cruising at practice, would be ear-holed on the next play.
If someone would jump off-sides, he'd get blind sided before the practice was over. Dropped passes and missed assignments were handled the same way.
We went on a roll and won out the season with seven straight wins to the Super Bowl.
That formula encompassing an attitude adjustment, recognition of responsibility and commitment to one another has continued for the Cowboys until now, just as it did through the early 70's.
In 1978 a similar phenomenon went down. It happened again in 1992. And now, it's time for "it" to happen again.
Each time there was a crossroad. When the leadership recognized they were at that crossroad, the team had to rally around each other to change things for the better.
There is enough carry over of lessons learned from the past to bridge the voids and pitfalls that could destroy future teams.
I don't want to linger in the past and sell you on how much better the good ole days were, but you must learn from history. It's all a cycle.
It's now time for this team to stop living up to the low standards it's setting for themselves. Do not leave any preparation to chance.
Be accountable to yourself and to your teammates, not to some other agenda.
No one is ever bigger than the team. Get your publicity by making plays and contributing to the team wins. Winning is much more fun than an end zone celebrations.
Our storied franchise has no magical formula for success. It does, however, have enormous expectations. Distractions are just part of the Dallas Cowboy job description.
Donning the simple silver and blue uniform with the starred helmet carries with it an unparalleled reputation.
That reputation could be huge advantage, but only if the person inside that uniform and under that star recognizes that it is up to no one else but himself to change things.
Each week the enemy's attacks are minimal chinks in the armor compared to the gashes caused by ourselves. Distractions break concentration and impair judgment.
This Cowboy team is better equipped for success than any Bill Parcells has had to date. It's time for them to stop beating themselves. Listen to the lessons learned from the past and act on them.
http://www.dallascowboys.com/news.cfm?edit...4CDDE39BF398A72
IRVING, Texas - The first week of the regular season I received a call requesting an interview for a national radio show. That made sense. It's my first year as a color analyst after having played, coached and watched the game.
I was prepared to dive deep into the intricacies explaining the differences between the 3-4 and the 4-3 defensive fronts or how the game has evolved from the 70's-80's when I played, the 90's when I coached and up until now. This would be fun.
Then reality set in. For the 15 minutes of air time, 14 of them were covered up with "Terrell Talk". Typical. I couldn't imagine how big a distraction this guy would be for the players.
From that interview, though, I gleaned a reminder that all of us know and understand if you ever truly make it in the "league": The true Professional never allows anything to distract him from preparing for or executing his job.
But the bigger truth and more important revelation that is borne from that reminder is this: When someone is drafted by, traded to or signed to play for the Dallas Cowboys, he inherits an incomparable load of responsibilities that could manifest into distractions.
I know this sounds pompous, but it's just different being a Dallas Cowboy.
Those distractions are made up of a rich and successful history that rivals what the beloved New York Yankees have in baseball.
It carries with it a relentless expectation to not only win . . . but to win Super Bowls.
Wearing that star incites the competition that will be coming at you each week to muster up its very best game and because you are on "America's Team", the enemy's effort will be driven by an envious killer determination.
The front office and management team, from the secretaries to the owner, expect you to win at all cost. They will do anything for you, if they think it will help you win.
I know Texas is a big state, but keep the tradition intact and it will seem as though everyone in Texas knows and loves you. Lose, and be humbled and ultimately gone.
When the Cowboys win, your off-season will be blissful, and when you retire the transition will much smoother into the fraternal workplace.
Reporters will laude and praise you. Lose and they will criticize and doubt you.
If you win, that exposure from the press will build you into a national high-profile player. Every football fan in the entire country either loves and adores you, or hates and abhors you. There is no indifference.
You must realize that your Dallas Cowboys teammates are all high-profile players. They all know what you know. They, too, know about the pressure to win.
Each teammate is responsible for his job to contribute to the win. If you don't, you will be held accountable for your actions.
The team tradition, winning demands and fan adoration has been passed each year from one Cowboy team to the next, along with valuable lessons to meet those expectations.
After Dallas successfully buried the stigma of "next year's champions" from the 60's, it hasn't looked back. The franchise was then, and has been since, perceived to be and in fact, is, a winner, in the largest sense of the word.
Since then, each decade of winning had that same mantra. If anything got out of whack, the team would tighten the reins, and apply the formula to pay attention to themselves only, and it would be righted.
All else can wait. The life of a pro athlete is a selfish one. The pro athlete can not depend on anyone but himself to get prepared for a game.
Your family suffers, your good-ole-boy pool hall cronies get stood up, but you make sure you are ready and are able to look your teammates in the eye and voice to them, with conviction, that you have done everything possible to be ready and that you will be there if they need you. You can be counted on.
You will do nothing to ever hurt this team intentionally.
In 1970, our team lost 38-0 on Monday Night Football, to the then St. Louis Cardinals. That dropped our record to 5-4. Everybody wrote us off. No one believed we had a chance. It was a carry over of the 60's: "Can't win the big one."
Our team made a blood oath to one another to not talk to the press, not let anything bother us whatsoever. If we made a bad play, we would let it slide off. When the coach chewed us out for whatever, it would just bounce off. We had respect for our coach of course, but we were not going to let him "haunt" us.
None of us ever read the paper. Guys gave up their radio shows, interviews and promotions. We all decided that we, only, can make this team work.
It was borderline sophomoric, but we even had this silly way of greeting one another just to remind each other that we were in this thing together. It was called a "thick-skinned" handshake. I would tell you what it was but I fear Bob Lilly, Chuck Howley and Leroy Jordan finding out about it.
And that fear that I speak of is the way we held each other accountable. Anyone caught cruising at practice, would be ear-holed on the next play.
If someone would jump off-sides, he'd get blind sided before the practice was over. Dropped passes and missed assignments were handled the same way.
We went on a roll and won out the season with seven straight wins to the Super Bowl.
That formula encompassing an attitude adjustment, recognition of responsibility and commitment to one another has continued for the Cowboys until now, just as it did through the early 70's.
In 1978 a similar phenomenon went down. It happened again in 1992. And now, it's time for "it" to happen again.
Each time there was a crossroad. When the leadership recognized they were at that crossroad, the team had to rally around each other to change things for the better.
There is enough carry over of lessons learned from the past to bridge the voids and pitfalls that could destroy future teams.
I don't want to linger in the past and sell you on how much better the good ole days were, but you must learn from history. It's all a cycle.
It's now time for this team to stop living up to the low standards it's setting for themselves. Do not leave any preparation to chance.
Be accountable to yourself and to your teammates, not to some other agenda.
No one is ever bigger than the team. Get your publicity by making plays and contributing to the team wins. Winning is much more fun than an end zone celebrations.
Our storied franchise has no magical formula for success. It does, however, have enormous expectations. Distractions are just part of the Dallas Cowboy job description.
Donning the simple silver and blue uniform with the starred helmet carries with it an unparalleled reputation.
That reputation could be huge advantage, but only if the person inside that uniform and under that star recognizes that it is up to no one else but himself to change things.
Each week the enemy's attacks are minimal chinks in the armor compared to the gashes caused by ourselves. Distractions break concentration and impair judgment.
This Cowboy team is better equipped for success than any Bill Parcells has had to date. It's time for them to stop beating themselves. Listen to the lessons learned from the past and act on them.
