I See An America

Keyshawn Johnson in his day was labeled a destructive influence in the locker room (as witnessed by his book, "Just Give Me The Damn Ball") pretty much in the same category as TO and Randy Moss of the current generation of NFL players. As usual, the media loves its labels--it is quick to give them and much slower to take them away.

Follow up:

But if we dig a little deeper, and spend some time listening to Keyshawn on ESPN pre-game we find that he is articulate, intelligent, and admires the hell out of Bill Parcels--one of the great no-nonsense, disciplinarians in the coaching ranks. And if we talk with Norv Turner, Randy's head coach the last two years he was in the purgatory called Oakland, Norv has nothing but great things to say about Randy. On the other hand TO has gone from locker room meltdown to locker room meltdown no matter where he's played. And there-in lies the difference.

Keyshawn and Randy and TO all want to win. The difference is that Keyshawn and Randy just want to win. TO demands that he be the cause of winning. We didn't hear one peep out of Randy all last year when Tom Brady went down and Matt Cassell took most of the season to gain the confidence and situational knowledge to involve Randy in the passing game. We heard far too much from TO about this player's faults, and that player's faults. All three players may have at one time been train wrecks. Two of them grew to be inspirational leaders on their teams, one of them remains a train wreck. TO, take a time out and start looking in the mirror.

Which brings me to the point of this article. President Obama now has at least three strikes on getting his cabinet filled, not even 30 days into office. I expect more, I really do. This may not be fair (I never expected anything from his predecessor so I was never disappointed) as I am absolutely holding Obama to a higher standard than any president of recent vintage. Sure, it's early days yet, but I hope that Obama learns from this, grows from this, and starts thinking things through a little better. He has already accomplished great things just by being elected, now it is time for him to prove that he is the leader we need for our times. And please sir, do your due diligence a little more thoroughly so we don't feel like saying "Come on man."