Discontent - A Lesson from the Sports World

It's the active time of the off season for the NFL which causes me to listens closer to ESPN Sports Radio than I usually do. Summer is the start of the organized team activities, trades, injury lists, and other things that get all of my juices flowing for the upcoming football season - which is the only sport that I follow avidly. And along with all the NFL news on the radio is basketball playoffs and finals, NHL Hockey finals (Go Wings!), and the never ending baseball season.

There is something I've seen happening a couple of times last year in college athletics. This year I've seen it happen in the major league sports and it's becoming standard operating procedure. This year the coach of the Detroit Pistons, Flip Saunders, was canned for not being able to bring the team to a national championship. Basketball people will argue that Flip is not a playoff coach and that the regular season means nothing - the post season is all that matters. Saunders has an impressive resume in the NBA. For the Pistons alone he set franchise records for wins during regular season play and coaching the NBA All-Star game in 2006. Saunders is a great coach that has done a lot for the Pistons. As a reward for all he's done - we fired him. Seems odd to me.

My second example is from the world of horse racing - Big Brown. Hopes were high that this horse would be the one who would take horse racing's Triple Crown for the first time in 30-some years. Bets were made and winnings were counted even before the gates opened and the bells rang. After winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes Big Brown came up a bit short at the Belmont. The scuttle on sports radio before and after the race were as different as night and day. The hero of the dirt track was now scorned and all but loaded on the trailer headed for the glue factory.

I'm no sports guru. I don't pretend to have the insight that Mike and Mike have. J.T. The Brick will forget more about sports than I will ever know. However sports and Hollywood seem to be where a lot of Americans get role models for things. Our children take cues from athletes and emulate them. So, my question is this - is there a link between firing coaches for doing their jobs well and how we look at the performance of people in the work place? What about our children? Have you though about firing your wife for doing a really good job of coaching your kids and being the GM of your house?
Is there a connection between berating a horse that "should have" won the Triple Crown and what we expect of our children and our spouses?

Maybe the larger question is how much is enough? What is the win-loss record on your child's report card? Is it a championship report card or is there a loss on the record? It's not all A's? Okay - is it good enough? Is your wife a trophy, is her salary at least $50,000, and does she keep the house running like June Cleaver? Is she a Triple Crown package? No? At what point is she good enough to have your love, acceptance, and appreciation?

These are things I'll be thinking about this week. Thanks for stopping by.