Thanksgiving is my family’s favorite time of year. It’s all about being together, counting our blessings, feasting together, looking forward to Christmas and overdosing on football. We are (frustrated this year) Dallas Cowboys fans around here (my wife’s family were season ticket holders from Tom Landry and Don Meredith days). We bleed burnt orange as we follow the saga of Thee (not a misspelling) University of Texas Longhorns and the drama of the Big 12. So you can see that between cooking a turkey and getting Christmas decorations out, there will be a lot of football competing with the first Christmas music in the background (foreground).

I guess I’m feeling a bit guilty about this so I decided to share with you a few links and lessons from the world of sports in order to sanctify my guilty pleasure. Maybe you can convince your family that as you watch your favorite teams that you are not ignoring them, but that you are really contemplating the deeper spiritual and metaphysical implications that reside in these gladiatorial extravaganzas. All for their future benefit, of course. (For our friends across the world…I know…It’s not not the World Cup…I do disclose that we will also be watching the English Premier League as well as La Liga which we follow all year!)

Here are three questions to ponder before dessert and leftovers:

Item 1: What if sports provided the model for the overhaul of the financial system?
These thoughts were sent to me by my brother, Dave, a genuine sportsman-philosopher.  I thought it had some merit, kind of like that commercial with the firemen running congress.

I was thinking this week about how so many people are talking about the
effectiveness or fairness of spending taxpayer money to bail out failing companies, while neglecting the responsible companies, profitable companies, and families and individuals that sacrifice and budget and pay their mortgage, car and credit card debts on time.

That got me to thinking.

What if sports provided the model for the financial overhaul?

What do most profit-making sports leagues (NFL, NBA, etc.) do to help their failing franchises?

They don’t give boatloads of money to the failing franchises.
They don’t try to close them down.
They don’t impose new regulations on them.
They don’t ask them to change their ownership.

The agreed-upon solution to turn around failing sports franchises – TALENT.

What seems to be a universal sports business model is to give failing franchises the best of the upcoming ‘talent’ … a draft of talent, with the least successful teams getting first chance at the best talent.

That alone is supposed to be the solution to help them rise up and become successful franchises. The successful and the failing teams seem, in most professional leagues, to agree that this is an equitable and effective way to make struggling franchises profitable.

Just interesting to wonder what would be more effective government bailout package?

1) Putting the brightest business minds (a talent draft) into Fannie Mae, GM, AIG, Merrill Lynch, etc.?

2) Giving $700-billion to the same management that exists now?

Good thoughts, Dave.  Thanks.

Item 2: Are you tired of people making excuses?

We live in a world where people are constantly making excuses for their decisions and actions. Political leaders. Business leaders. Sports figures. Rick Reilly writes a refreshing and challenging post, Tired of athletes and their lame excuses? Kerry Collins is your guy.    I had to laugh at the excuses athletes from Barry Bonds (“I thought it was arthritic rub.”) to Marion Jones (confessing to Oprah, “I didn’t love myself enough.”) to tennis player, Lighton Ndefwayl (“My jockstrap was too tight.”  No wonder you haven’t heard of him.)

To all these excuse makers, Kerry Collins is the refreshing antidote.  After the 2001 Super Bowl loss in which he stunk up the field, Collins said to the press, “I sucked today.”

Do you find excuse making in your life or organization?  What does excuse making really accomplish?

The scriptures (see I told you we would get a spiritual lesson out of this!) tell us that we need to come clean, that we need to be honest with ourselves before God.  Otherwise we lie to ourselves, we lie to others, and we lie to God who already knows the truth.  And this excuse making is really just lying.  And it keeps us from experiencing God’s grace. Check out I John 1:8-10.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Item 3: Do you understand that your brand, your advantage comes from the community or tribe of fans you develop, not spectators?

Bill Simmons (see Attention: Home-field advantage has left the building) gives us the inside scoop on why his NFL picks have improved so dramatically after his 6-10 record for week one.  Does he have better judgment about the talent and the game plans of the teams?  Nah!  He stumbled on the fact that the new gazillion dollar SOTAS (State of the Art Stadiums) being built around the country are effectively negating home field advantage. (Not to left behind, Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys is finishing up a new stadium costing in excess of a billion dollars!)  Simmons statistically demonstrates this, but the more powerful evidence is the story he tells of Bug and Niko, super New England Patriot fans, season ticket holders since 1993.  These fanatics (fans) see themselves being gradually pushed away from the team their lives revolve around.  They’re being pushed to the upper deck by the preferred seats and the luxury boxes of the wine and cheese crowd.  Their tailgate party (Niko is considered the Wolfgang Puck of tailgaters by his pals) has been pushed out of the parking lot, (now reserved for premium access parking) over across the freeway, now a 45 minute walk to the stadium.

It’s a lesson that too many businesses forget.  The success of their brand depends on the enthusiasts, the tribe of fans who LOVE the product or service.  And even as we think about developing more profitable business models, we can’t forget the fan.  Otherwise, as Simmons notes, the results from one team to another start to look alike.  And then, you may have made some short term profit, but in the end, you may not end up with a winner.

Building and preserving community.  Taking care of your fans.  Putting people at the center of your strategy.  Some lessons to think about.  Hmm?  Again, doesn’t it seem that putting people first, building community, taking care of the “little guys” not just kowtowing to the rich – doesn’t all this sound vaguely familiar?

Okay, folks.  Now that we’ve handled that vague bit of guilt we may have been feeling…back to setting up the DVR, stockpiling nachos and beer, and plumping up the ol’ Lazy Boy.  Game on!!!

And HAPPY THANKSGIVING!