What Makes A Winner?

Carter and I sat and watched the NFL games this weekend.Turns out my predictions were right, it is the Steelers and Packers. Why did I pick them? Well for one, I can't stand the Jets. But really, I picked them because they are winners. The Bears and Jets? The seem to have a knack for coming up short, just like my Ducks and Blazers often do.

Now without turning this into a bash on teams that lose a lot I have been wondering what makes up a winner?

If you take a minute, you can list the teams in each sport that always seem to win. Duke, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Steelers, Detroit Red Wings. Los Angeles Lakers. They are a select group. But every time your team plays them you know you think "We're screwed." If your team draws them in the playoffs or the tournament you immediately start thinking about what the next season will bring.

On the contrary there are teams who seem awesome but can't seem to win the big one. The Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Texas basketball. Now, I'm not trying to take shots at your favorite team. Some of these have even been winners at times but in those cases it is the exception rather than the norm.

So what makes a winner? How much does culture really play a part. Sometimes its just flat money that helps, other times it just seems like a persona. Same with teams that just flat out are horrible. It's a culture thing.

Raiders, Clippers, Pirates, Orioles. You know they are bad and even when they are good you know it is a fluke and by next year things will be back where they belong. They try all sorts of approaches but the results are always the same.

What I'm thinking is this, a culture of winning is a perfect mix of leadership and solid players. You can drop an amazing coach in a situation and get crap--just ask Bill Parcells. But you can sign tons of great players and get junk too--just ask the Blazers or Redskins.

So here's to realizing that whether its our home, our church, or whatever we do, excellence starts with us. It's not always about winning. In fact why we respect these teams isn't because they win everything every year, its because for the most part they are predictable....predictably great. What needs to change where we are so that excellence is the norm year in and year out rather than making one historic run of greatness every 25 years?