Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
In the past, it was the organization who catered to the players. Remember Eric Swann and all the things he refused to do, like play with a swollen pinkie? Remember fat cat free agents like Duane Starks who first confessed to signing with Arizona strictly for the money and then adroitly managed to miss as many practices and games as he possibly could? Remember Edgerrin James telling the media upon his signing that he came to Arizona because the coach wasn't hard on the players in practice and not to expect him around much in the off-season because he had his own way of preparing for the season?
Those days are gone my friends. Thank goodness.
First of all, Michael Bidwill deserves a great deal of credit for his effort to change the climate of the organization. Under the auspices of his leadership the franchise has morphed from a filthy, lumbering dinosaur into a brand new shiny BMW that is gracefully zooming past the other vehicles on the road.
Witness yesterday's Fan Fest. The organization put on a first-class spectacle that has every toddler's and his/her parents' mouths agape. There were Cardinal banners everywhere. There were photo ops, autograph signings galore, games, punt, pass and kick activities. The organization's outstanding preparation was epitomized by the framed Pro Bowl Jerseys of the 5 Cardinals who played in Honolulu. The players stood proudly over those framed jerseys (white jerseys that were perfectly tucked in at the sleeves to square up the bright red cardinals above the blue NFC numbers...even Anquan Boldin was able to wipe the frown off his face for a few moments to stand proudly over his frame.
What the organization did yesterday was remind itself and all of the players that the game of football is mostly about the fans. Without fans, there would be no football.
What the organization did yesterday is remind itself and all of the players that the dreams of a little girl or boy who hopes to accomplish something special are really no different than the dream of winning a Super Bowl. Dreams like these start with days like yesterday...they are seen in the twinkling eyes of a child.
What Michael Bidwill has done in bringing football dreams to Arizona is remarkable. He and his venerable father finally built the stadium they were promised over twenty years ago...and what a facility it is: it is simply unique. They brought in a head coach who actually decided to call them back after an intial interview to say that even though he was still one of the leading candidates for the Pittsburgh Steelers' head coaching job, he would take "the bird in hand" if it were offered to him.
Coach Whisenhunt has taken ALL of these birds in hand ever since he has arrived...and while the new stadium was the place for his Cardinals to fly on Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings, he needed the Bidwills to build him and his birds their coziest of nests: a brand new training facility, where all the birds would gather for nourishment and stength.
Coach Whisenhunt's message to his birds: WE DO THIS TOGETHER.
Together his birds have soared to new unchartered heights: 8-8 in his first year (6-2 at home, 3-3 in the NFC West) and 12-8 in his second year (8-2 at home, 6-0 in the NFC West and the NFC West Championship, the NFC Chamionship and the Cardinals' first ever berth in the Super Bowl).
One of the brilliant ways in which Whisenhunt changed the climate and culture in Arizona: he promised the best players would play and that each starting job was open for competition. To this philosophy Whisenhunt has remained perfectly loyal to his word. While it might have been better for the organization in the long run if QB Matt Leinart was the starter, Whisenhunt recognized that the team had a better chance to win with QB Kurt Warner over center. When RB Edgerrin James coughed up a costly fumble at Carolina after selfishly criticizing the coaches during the week for not giving him enough touches, Whisenhunt started rookie 5th round draft pick Tim Hightower heading into the team's most important three game stretch of the season: games at St. Louis, at home versus SF on a rare Monday Night Football telecast and an away game at Seattle where the Cardinals are usually trounced. The result: a three game sweep and with it the Cardinals' first NFC West Championship. At that same time Whisenhunt promoted another rookie, first round pick CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and DRC's 4th quarter interception versus Seattle sealed the deal.
But following this remarkable three game sweep Whisenhunt's birds became complacent...and suddenly they were caught in a horrible tailspin. After getting blown out at home by the Vikings and humiliated in the snow by the Patriots, Whisenhunt was privately seething. Instead of issuing the team a vitriolic harangue, he called them back to the nest for a highly structured and hotly-spirited practice on Christmas Day...a move that surely was unlikely to be popular with the players.
But you see, the players are no longer ruling this nest.
What Whisenhunt did was re-establish a tone within his team and the organization...a tone that carried the team to four straight victories and a lead in the Super Bowl that as stil holding up with 45 seconds remaining.
This weekend Whisenhunt was back at it coaching his team. He said he was looking forward to having all of his birds back in the nest this weekend, and how excited he was to get him and his birds back to work.
Of course, the start of minicamp brought with it some painful reminders of Cardinals' pasts...not simply the painful reminder of the last 45 seconds in the Super Bowl...but the reminders that LB Karlos Dansby one of his most highly paid birds---his franchise-tagged bird no less---(to the tune of $9M this year) was late arriving to the nest because he mixed up the practice times...and two of his more high profile and perenially disgruntled birds, WR Anquan Boldin and DE Darnell Dockett, would not be participating in the minicamp due to mysterious hamstring problems.
Whisenhunt handled these matter with exceptional aplomb...humorously and succinctly referring to these setbacks as "seasonal allergies" and a matter he would "have to look furher into."
In the past such divas would be catered to, defended and even kow-towed to...and even worse would be allowed to continue to rule the nest.
Not happening any more...
Instead, one might imagine that Whisenhunt has been relishing the twinkles in the eyes of his new birds as their dreams of becoming NFL players have begun to come true...in RB Beanie Wells the All-American who ran for 140 yards in the NCAA Championship two years ago...in OLB Cody Brown who led the Big East in sacks his senior year and helped to turn the once hapless UConn Huskies into a yearly Bowl team...in FS Rashad Johnson who arrived at Alabama as a walk-on and left there as the team captain and All-SEC performer...in CB Greg Toler who didn't even have a functional training facility to work out in at St. Paul's, a relatively new Division II school...in T/G Herman Johnson who was the biggest baby ever born in the state of Louisiana, and the biggest All-SEC LSU Tiger twenty-one years later...in OLB Will Davis who made a name for himself as a junior at Illinois when he switched over to DE from TE to lead his team in sacks with eight...in RB LaRod Stephens-Howling who proved at Pittsburgh that the smallest of players can play with the biggest of hearts...in G Trevor Canfield who led Cincinnati to the Big East Championship and the Orange Bowl his senior year...and many other UCFAs who have signed with the right team because the head coach doesn't care who was drafted or not once the training camp competitions commence.
What these new birds will learn, just as the older birds have been learning, Coach Whisenhunt's ingenuous mantra: WE DO THIS TOGETHER.
No bird has epitomized this understanding more than All-Pro SS Adrian Wilson who was so choked up with tears that he could hardly speak as the red confetti was streaming down from the University of Phoenix stadium rafters following the Cardinals improbable NFC Championship Game victory...but just yesterday said at the Fan Fest: "I am very proud of my teammates and I am very proud of what we have accomplished."
And Wilson wants and deserves a new contract but went to work anyway this weekend.
Message received...
Those days are gone my friends. Thank goodness.
First of all, Michael Bidwill deserves a great deal of credit for his effort to change the climate of the organization. Under the auspices of his leadership the franchise has morphed from a filthy, lumbering dinosaur into a brand new shiny BMW that is gracefully zooming past the other vehicles on the road.
Witness yesterday's Fan Fest. The organization put on a first-class spectacle that has every toddler's and his/her parents' mouths agape. There were Cardinal banners everywhere. There were photo ops, autograph signings galore, games, punt, pass and kick activities. The organization's outstanding preparation was epitomized by the framed Pro Bowl Jerseys of the 5 Cardinals who played in Honolulu. The players stood proudly over those framed jerseys (white jerseys that were perfectly tucked in at the sleeves to square up the bright red cardinals above the blue NFC numbers...even Anquan Boldin was able to wipe the frown off his face for a few moments to stand proudly over his frame.
What the organization did yesterday was remind itself and all of the players that the game of football is mostly about the fans. Without fans, there would be no football.
What the organization did yesterday is remind itself and all of the players that the dreams of a little girl or boy who hopes to accomplish something special are really no different than the dream of winning a Super Bowl. Dreams like these start with days like yesterday...they are seen in the twinkling eyes of a child.
What Michael Bidwill has done in bringing football dreams to Arizona is remarkable. He and his venerable father finally built the stadium they were promised over twenty years ago...and what a facility it is: it is simply unique. They brought in a head coach who actually decided to call them back after an intial interview to say that even though he was still one of the leading candidates for the Pittsburgh Steelers' head coaching job, he would take "the bird in hand" if it were offered to him.
Coach Whisenhunt has taken ALL of these birds in hand ever since he has arrived...and while the new stadium was the place for his Cardinals to fly on Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings, he needed the Bidwills to build him and his birds their coziest of nests: a brand new training facility, where all the birds would gather for nourishment and stength.
Coach Whisenhunt's message to his birds: WE DO THIS TOGETHER.
Together his birds have soared to new unchartered heights: 8-8 in his first year (6-2 at home, 3-3 in the NFC West) and 12-8 in his second year (8-2 at home, 6-0 in the NFC West and the NFC West Championship, the NFC Chamionship and the Cardinals' first ever berth in the Super Bowl).
One of the brilliant ways in which Whisenhunt changed the climate and culture in Arizona: he promised the best players would play and that each starting job was open for competition. To this philosophy Whisenhunt has remained perfectly loyal to his word. While it might have been better for the organization in the long run if QB Matt Leinart was the starter, Whisenhunt recognized that the team had a better chance to win with QB Kurt Warner over center. When RB Edgerrin James coughed up a costly fumble at Carolina after selfishly criticizing the coaches during the week for not giving him enough touches, Whisenhunt started rookie 5th round draft pick Tim Hightower heading into the team's most important three game stretch of the season: games at St. Louis, at home versus SF on a rare Monday Night Football telecast and an away game at Seattle where the Cardinals are usually trounced. The result: a three game sweep and with it the Cardinals' first NFC West Championship. At that same time Whisenhunt promoted another rookie, first round pick CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and DRC's 4th quarter interception versus Seattle sealed the deal.
But following this remarkable three game sweep Whisenhunt's birds became complacent...and suddenly they were caught in a horrible tailspin. After getting blown out at home by the Vikings and humiliated in the snow by the Patriots, Whisenhunt was privately seething. Instead of issuing the team a vitriolic harangue, he called them back to the nest for a highly structured and hotly-spirited practice on Christmas Day...a move that surely was unlikely to be popular with the players.
But you see, the players are no longer ruling this nest.
What Whisenhunt did was re-establish a tone within his team and the organization...a tone that carried the team to four straight victories and a lead in the Super Bowl that as stil holding up with 45 seconds remaining.
This weekend Whisenhunt was back at it coaching his team. He said he was looking forward to having all of his birds back in the nest this weekend, and how excited he was to get him and his birds back to work.
Of course, the start of minicamp brought with it some painful reminders of Cardinals' pasts...not simply the painful reminder of the last 45 seconds in the Super Bowl...but the reminders that LB Karlos Dansby one of his most highly paid birds---his franchise-tagged bird no less---(to the tune of $9M this year) was late arriving to the nest because he mixed up the practice times...and two of his more high profile and perenially disgruntled birds, WR Anquan Boldin and DE Darnell Dockett, would not be participating in the minicamp due to mysterious hamstring problems.
Whisenhunt handled these matter with exceptional aplomb...humorously and succinctly referring to these setbacks as "seasonal allergies" and a matter he would "have to look furher into."
In the past such divas would be catered to, defended and even kow-towed to...and even worse would be allowed to continue to rule the nest.
Not happening any more...
Instead, one might imagine that Whisenhunt has been relishing the twinkles in the eyes of his new birds as their dreams of becoming NFL players have begun to come true...in RB Beanie Wells the All-American who ran for 140 yards in the NCAA Championship two years ago...in OLB Cody Brown who led the Big East in sacks his senior year and helped to turn the once hapless UConn Huskies into a yearly Bowl team...in FS Rashad Johnson who arrived at Alabama as a walk-on and left there as the team captain and All-SEC performer...in CB Greg Toler who didn't even have a functional training facility to work out in at St. Paul's, a relatively new Division II school...in T/G Herman Johnson who was the biggest baby ever born in the state of Louisiana, and the biggest All-SEC LSU Tiger twenty-one years later...in OLB Will Davis who made a name for himself as a junior at Illinois when he switched over to DE from TE to lead his team in sacks with eight...in RB LaRod Stephens-Howling who proved at Pittsburgh that the smallest of players can play with the biggest of hearts...in G Trevor Canfield who led Cincinnati to the Big East Championship and the Orange Bowl his senior year...and many other UCFAs who have signed with the right team because the head coach doesn't care who was drafted or not once the training camp competitions commence.
What these new birds will learn, just as the older birds have been learning, Coach Whisenhunt's ingenuous mantra: WE DO THIS TOGETHER.
No bird has epitomized this understanding more than All-Pro SS Adrian Wilson who was so choked up with tears that he could hardly speak as the red confetti was streaming down from the University of Phoenix stadium rafters following the Cardinals improbable NFC Championship Game victory...but just yesterday said at the Fan Fest: "I am very proud of my teammates and I am very proud of what we have accomplished."
And Wilson wants and deserves a new contract but went to work anyway this weekend.
Message received...
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