Sports Behavioral Styles
November 18th, 2004Why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t return to the Super Bowl -
As predicted last January, Tampa Bay did not return to the Super Bowl, In fact, they did not even make the playoffs. Tony Dungy’s (C) influence – playing disciplined, error-free, penalty-free football is important for every team. But the Warren Sapps, John Lynches and other Hi DI’s need that emotional boost that the (very low I) Tony couldn’t supply. Enter the (High DI, low C) John Gruden. His Oakland Raiders were the most penalized in football. Described as wild and crazy, the Raiders went to the Super Bowl the year after John left with his basic team and philosophy. He inherited a disciplined team from Tony, he added that emotional element that sparked the fire in the DIs, and they beat the mistake-plagued Raiders easily. But, as predicted, the discipline will wear as Tony’s memory fades. It happened faster than I thought, but look at how the Bucs lost this year – massive mistakes, penalties, lack of discipline.
Update – When Dungy’s Indianapolis Colts finally won a playoff game, dominating the Denver Broncos, he didn’t smile once. Whenever the camera panned him, you couldn’t tell if he was winning or losing! The only emotion he showed was when his team got flagged for lining up off-sides – intolerable for a perfectionist. He grimaced like he was in pain.
It must be a requirement for Indianapolis. Larry Bird was the same way. A few years back, when Reggie Miller drained the game-winning shot against the NY Knicks with time expired, and everyone in the arena was going crazy, Bird looked like he just received bad news, not good. “I ain’t gonna sing” fits Bird’s (low I) well (his only line in a musical commercial).
Steve Spurrier could fire up his college boys, but he had no discipline whatsoever of the pros. Mistakes, penalties, poor attendance at meetings, all plagued the (low C) Redskins.
Maybe they need the Tony’s C – look what he’s done at Indianapolis.
