TUNNEY-SIDE-OF-THE-STREET

#105 January 1 2007
Welcome to this week's message from the Tunney-Side-Of-The-Street. You are encouraged to share this with fellow workers, family and friends.

After further review -

The NFC East Divisional Championship was "at stake" during the Christmas game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. If the Cowboys won, they are the champs and most "experts" picked them to win. If you missed it, the Eagles won and placed themselves in a position of winning the NFC East, which they did in the final game of the year. The NBC announcers - Al Michaels and John Madden - both agreed this Christmas game was between the two TEAMS and not the T.O. show. Terrell Owens is the starting WR for the Cowboys, and during the first Eagles-Cowboys game (October 2006) was talked about more than the two teams.

It didn't work. T.O. grabbed the spotlight - again- not because he caught a lot of passes or even the winning touchdown, but because of his, "poor me" interview after the game. "It (the loss) was not my fault", T.O. proclaimed. "You know, I give my best but if you're not going to throw the ball my way throughout the game, but wait till late in the game - well, that's too late". Too late? If it were Jerry Rice, Laverneus Coles, Marvin Harrison or any NFL WR, I'm sure they would all say, "It's never too late" - particularly at the end of the game.

I had hoped to go through this NFL season with mentioning T.O. again (his "it's all about me attitude" has been talked about too much). However, this "not my fault" attitude is an important example to others. Not just to kids, but to everyone. Why do T.O.'s teammates tolerate this behavior of "it's not my fault"? Golly, T.O. when you do catch a pass for a touchdown, you create a "look at me" scene. So I guess it's YOUR fault if you catch it but - wait just a minute - not if you drop it? You lost me with that one.

My dad called this kind of attitude "Alibi Ike". I'm not sure who "Ike" was, but that expression was clear to me. NFL players and coaches tell me that at the professional level, when you can touch the ball, you MUST catch it. And if you don't, you're not ready to be an NFL player. However, when you do drop one, don't alibi or blame others.

Will you resolve in 2007 to step up and take responsibility for your behavior, especially when you err?

Look for my book
It's the Will, Not the Skill
Principles and philosophies of success
For more information about Jim Tunney, go to www.jimtunney.com
Visit my blog for the entire collection of my Tunney Sides:
http://tunney-side-of-the-street.blogspot.com

ARTICLE TAGLINE FOR JIM TUNNEY, Ed.D., CSP, CPAE

Copyright © 2003 Jim Tunney. All rights reserved.
You can visit Jim's website at http://www.jimtunney.com

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