Whether you’re a fan of football or not, you were probably one of the estimated 100 million strong who tuned into watch last night’s Super Bowl. Parties pop up all over the world to watch this event.

Some even tune in to watch a football game.

Obviously Saints and Colts fans were watching to cheer for their respective teams. Old rockers like myself wanted to see if “The Who” could still make it through a set without suffering cardiac arrest. (The Super Bowl has come a long way since “Up With People” huh?) But the vast majority of the water cooler talk this morning I would imagine are the Super Bowl commercials that advertisers invested millions per spot to create brand recognition and buzz.

One of those advertisers the last 23 years had been Pepsi. But Pepsi decided to opt out this year not because they couldn’t afford the $12 million it would cost to air two spots during last night’s game. They opted out because they’re betting that “the days of mass-market media as the sole vehicle to reach an audience are officially over”.

Yep, you read that right, and an article forwarded to me last week lays out a whole new strategy for Pepsi that will focus on Social Media instead of Mass Media. For Pepsi, the Social Media platform is a much stronger and longer lasting medium for a yearlong initiative and their “Pepsi Refresh” campaign.

Granted, people still talk about Cindy Crawford’s appearance a couple years ago during the Super Bowl. (My personal favorites happen to be the E-Trade Babies that are absolutely hilarious!) The new Pepsi initiative however, in order for it to work, requires far more than a laugh, brand buzz or Monday morning water cooler talk.

“This is such a fundamental change from anything we’ve done in the past,” says Lauren Hobart, chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “It’s a big shift. We explored different launch plans, and the Super Bowl just wasn’t the right venue, because we’re really trying to spark a full-year movement from the ground up. The plan is to have much more two-way dialogue with our customers.”

The plan for Pepsi is to create a “charitable initiative that can build goodwill”. Pepsi wants to give away $20 million in grant money to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education. You don’t start an initiative like that by spending $12 million in advertising dollars during the Super Bowl. It defeats the purpose, especially when there’s a better – more powerful medium that enables interaction between the company and the consumer who will guide this money to worthy projects.

Will this goodwill initiative spawn new customers and help Pepsi’s bottom line? It may not be enough for a Coke fan like myself to switch, but I do find Pepsi’s initiative refreshing enough to write about it – which could lead others to switch. (For the record, it does shed a whole new light on Dr. Pepper, which is a Pepsi brand I do drink.) For some it could tap into brand loyalty in a way that Mass Media could never do – especially during an event like the Super Bowl that’s designed for entertainment and not social change. That’s why I think Pepsi hits the mark with their choice to opt out of the Super Bowl this year and move to Social Media instead.

In my opinion, it’s a perfect marriage for goodwill and social change.

Social Media is just that – “social”. We’re social beings and the platforms available such as Twitter and Facebook enable big name companies to interact and promote not only their brand, but their cause. You’d be hard pressed not to find a company in this day and age who doesn’t have either a Facebook fan page or Twitter account, or both. Not to say some still don’t have one, but if you’re looking to build your company both mediums appear to be a top priority because they enable the company to interact with their customers in ways never thought possible before.

Like this story – Re-Tweet it. Something you find interesting or strikes a chord with you – write about it and link to it on your Facebook wall. Both platforms can do far more than announcing to the world you’re getting ready to get ready to go out next Friday night. And the thing is – people and companies are beginning to see the power these social platforms have. They’ve quickly turned into tools that promote meaningful change and perhaps, for companies like Pepsi – a better bottom line.

Aside from talking about all those over the top and extremely entertaining Super Bowl commercials there’s really very little value for me or you after that. Not that I have anything against brand buzz or hype. I buy into it just as much as the next guy – especially if it technology or travel related. But this shift Pepsi is taking this year takes a strike directly at this long standing medium and makes a very bold statement that there is another way – a better way to get your message and brand out to the masses.

I think about the ZamZuu video that’s on our Rep Accounts, and I see those quotes about the internet, Facebook, old ways of doing business, and traditional advertising being dead.

Couple that with what Pepsi is doing?

Do you think both could be dead wrong?

Possibly. But I don’t think the odds are that overwhelming when you have big names like Pepsi jumping from Mass Media to the Social Media bandwagon. You don’t just stop doing things after 23 years without some very close and careful analysis.

It’s certainly a very bold move. But those of us in YTB, know all about being bold don’t we?

Can’t wait to see how both shake out. ;-P

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UPDATE: Don’t know why I should be surprised that everyone else is looking for this poem as well. (More than likely wanting to read it and possibly copy it for themselves.) Want your own copy of the poem “Don’t Quit”? I created a PDF that you can print out and hang where you want. Mine is on the bathroom mirror.

Enjoy!

~~~~

The NFL Network has aired the newest release of it’s Emmy Award-winning ‘America’s Game’ with “The Story of the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers”. You know me, I not only had to watch it, but it’s permanently saved on my TiVo to watch for years to come.

Each episode of America’s Game is a personal portrait told by the men who lived it and felt it. The story of the 2008 Steelers is told through the eyes of head coach Mike Tomlin, Troy Polamalu and Ben Roethlisberger.

I love the heart and the mentality of a champion and believe there is something we can not only learn but implement in our own lives to help us achieve our goals and dreams.

I wish I had a video of this one segment I could share with you, but it’s simply not available anywhere on the internet just yet. Instead I’ll have to share it with you in print.

Roethlisberger developed his resiliency on the field as a quarterback at Miami University under then-head coach Terry Hoeppner. Coach Hep, who died of brain cancer in 2007, remained a main source of inspiration for Roethlisberger through his favorite poem, “Don’t Quit.”

Roethlisberger on Coach Hep: “He just was an amazing person. More than a coach, I really was like a son to him.”

Roethlisberger on the poem, “Don’t Quit”: “[Coach Hep] would read it to us once or twice a year. He would get really into it and emotional about it. It was really something special, especially when he passed, so I put the poem up in my locker so that every day I could see it and know that no matter what, don’t give up, don’t quit.”

Just the title alone prompted me to do a quick search for this poem and found it so meaningful and inspiring, I wanted to share it with the rest of you.

“Don’t Quit”

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest! if you must; but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow;
You might succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit;
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.

~ Anonymous

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A couple weeks ago, I got an e-mail from good friend Charlie Howe with a very funny mock ESPN Press Release that President Obama and Roger Gadel would be dividing Pittsburgh’s 6 Super Bowl Trophies to teams that were less fortunate. Namely, the Detroit Lions who went 0-16 this past season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, who by virtue of hard work, excellent team play, stellar draft choices, responsible investing of free agents, careful hiring of coaches and excellent community service and commitment to their fans, has prospered greatly during the past 30 years and have won six Super Bowl Trophies. But President Barack Hussain Obama’s plan calls for the Pittsburgh Steelers to carry the larger burden of the NFL’s less successful teams. Obama went on to further proclaim, “In these difficult times we are all in this to work together. We must reclaim the NFL Championship Dream for every team, for every city and for every fan.”

While something like this sounds obsurd I began to realize a couple years ago that that’s exactly what we are teaching our children. One holiday tradition that I first noticed this was the Easter Holiday we just enjoyed yesterday. Before my children entered into grade school, they were enrolled in an academy which had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. I also noticed the same practice in our neighborhood egg hunt for the kids.

Parents would go out and hide the eggs based on a level of difficulty appropriate for the age before sending the kids out in a group to collect and find the eggs. Watching the event, you would see kids who were going all out in gathering up the eggs, while others seemed to wonder aimlessly around not really all that concerned with the activity at hand. At times two kids would race towards the same egg, but only one was able to put the egg in their basket.

After the event the kids would gather with their baskets. A few baskets would be overflowing with eggs, while others would have a paltry one or two eggs.

Not to worry, as the baskets were collected by adults the kids were whisked away to another activity while the adults divided all the eggs equally between the baskets, giving each child the exact same amount per basket. No matter how hard or little each individual child worked to collect the eggs, each was granted an amount deemed appropriate and fair.

For children, I really don’t have a problem with dividing up the eggs, until this equal division of property, money, or belongings becomes a right as an adult. I realized what an early age we teach our young this idea of taking from the “haves” to give the “have-nots”. This practice should be used with children as a lesson in sharing and giving of our resources. It becomes a problem however when it’s taken out of context and this “larger burden” is taught throughout our school years, trapping many as they grow up with this limiting belief into adulthood.

I’ve seen this type of limited thinking for years, but it’s become especially prevalent since the economic recession hit and a gallup poll I found support that thorey of growth. And for some reason, this increase has nothing to do with what they themselves are doing to create that perception. (Heaven forbid we take responsibility for our own circumstances.) Just like the Super Bowl Trophies, it’s not an excellent work ethic, stellar choices, responsible investment of money, careful attention to picking the right mentors to model and learn from, or a commitment to their family to prosper to become one of the haves instead of the have-nots.

Unless an individual actually learns what natural abundance is all about, people are held hostage by this limiting thinking. For those who have learned that it’s not a problem with limited resources (only beliefs) they don’t have a problem with sharing resources, money, or knowledge. We realize that like Doritos, you can eat all you want, we’ll make more. For some, it almost seems effortless, natural in a way. If you look at nature, it doesn’t struggle, it doesn’t hoard, nor does there seem to be any shortage of resources for each blade of grass, leaves growing on trees, or flowers blooming during this time of year. You do have to provide the proper amount of sunlight, water, and nourishment while nature takes care of the rest without any further effort on your part. You couldn’t stop it even if you tried.

My newsletter is a perfect example of abundance. By giving away what I know in knowledge about YTB to others based on my years of experience with the company, I’ve been given other opportunities and resources that support me. The more poeple I help, the more resources I have at my disposal. Old beliefs would have kept me from offering this out to everyone because the belief was there’s not enough. But because I understand the context of the teaching as a child during the egg hunt, I now reap the rewards.

We run into this fear of not enough especially in Network Marketing, all the people at the top who got in early, make all the money. They obsess over this “fact” not realizing that the theory they’re so fearful of has ever come to true. Yet they spend a considerable amount of time and energy warning everyone that comes across their path that someone is going to loose out. And like the innocent children who wondered around aimlessly during the egg hunts that were held all over the country, they as adults are left with empty promises and no money to speak of because their too distracted about what they learned while growing up.

Most NFL fans only look at the 6 Super Bowl Trophies right now and if you’re a fan of another team, look in envy of the 6 Super Bowl Trophies. Especially Cowboy fans. (Isn’t that right Charlie?) They look at the last 40 years when Chuck Noll was hired as head Coach and the dynasty that he started back in the 70′s. Nobody considers the first 40 years of their existence in the NFL when they lived in the basement with only a handful of winning seasons during their first 40 years. They were certainly one of the have-nots during that time and the laughing stock of the NFL.

When Chuck Noll was hired in 1969, he changed that way the team drafted, the way they practiced, and the way they thought about basic techniques and drills. In making these small adjustments, he changed the direction and the destiny of the team from a basement dweller to Super Bowl Champion. Instead of looking for a handout, taking from the haves as a have-not, change those childhood memories and thinking that there’s not enough and begin to think and work like those more successful than you are. That my friend is the REAL American Dream of Hope in this country. You don’t need a hand out, you don’t need the Government, and you certainly don’t need that limiting belief any longer. If you do what other successful teams or people do, you’ll begin to reap the rewards of their success.

It’s never too late to start, and your chances of creating something based on proper thinking and action, instead of waiting for some hand-out will greatly enhance your chances of success and happiness. It’s not easy, it takes some time, and there is a considerable amount of doubt the creeps in from a considerable amount of screaming and yelling going on by those who only want what’s fair based on what they were taught as a child.

It’s time to grow up and become an adult and stop complaining and start creating.

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The Super Bowl Media Day has come and gone…without one good soundbite. We all love a good controversy, or a telling storyline. I remember Super Bowl XL and there were some great stories involved in that Super Bowl. Cowher had another chance to get the monkey off his back. Jerome Bettis was back in his home town. The Steelers were a 6th seed winning on the road finally landing in Detroit. And Joey Porter…he stole the show.

Ah yes, Joey Porter. One of the biggest loud mouths I can ever remember on the Steelers roster. Talk about a guy who had something for an opposing teams bulletin board each and every week. Problem was, he could back up what he said each and every week on the playing field.

As I watched Media Day yesterday, everyone said the right things, everyone was respectful, and nobody crossed the line.

Where’s the fun in that?

If you look at both rosters, there really isn’t anyone who sticks out. Sure, there are players that stand out, but there’s a difference between those that talk the talk, and those that walk the walk. Hines Ward is one of the best all around football players you’ll ever see on a football field. The man not only has the all time Steelers record for receptions, overshadowing both John Stallworth and Lynn Swann, but the man can land one of the most devastating blocks you will see from ANY NFL player on ANY field. He also excelled at every position he was asked to play at Georgia while he was here.

But has he really made any headlines in regards to a comment or quote? Not really, he’s to soft spoken, and if you met the guy in person you would have no idea that man could wallop the punch he does as a future Hall of Fame receiver.

Look at the drastic difference in Coach’s between XL and XLIII. Nobody would dare get in front of Cowher during a game because if his extruding chin didn’t get you, the spit coming out of his mouth would. Tomlin on the other hand is one of the coolest customers I’ve ever seen, and other than Tony Dungy, have never seen a more steady, level headed Coach. (Although, unlike Dungy, I have seen some great passion on the sidelines on game day.)

Then there’s Big Ben who spent a considerable amount of time answering questions presented by a 10 year old and got into talking about Madden Football rather than a 2nd Super Bowl ring.

On the other side of the field you have Curt Warner. A man that’s heading to his 3rd Super Bowl and has captained two teams who had done nothing for years before he got there. But again, as a football player, he’s known for “The Greatest Show on Turf” not smack off the field. Fitzgerald is one of the brightest talents in the NFL when it comes to receivers and truly see him as one of the best in the game. About the only controversy anyone can come up with this week is wide receiver Anquan Boldin and the outburst on the sidelines with Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley in the NFC Championship game. Haley by the way was a ball boy back in the 70′s during Pittsburgh’s Super Bowl runs. His father Dick Haley was responsible for drafting Hall of Famers Franco Harris, Mel Blount, Mike Webster, Jack Lambert, Lynn Swann and John Stallworth.

We also can’t forget the other Steeler connection here, Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm who were with the Steelers during Super Bowl XL before they defected to Arizona after Cowher retired from Coaching. But I think there was more hype last year during the regular season over who made the right choice when the two teams met in Arizona, and Arizona won.

My hope is that this will be one of those games or the ages. I know that’s going to be hard to do two years in a row. Last years Super Bowl was one of the best I had ever seen. (Even if Pittsburgh wasn’t involved.) Come to think of it, that one had a ton of drama without many Media Day sound bites. Patriots had a chance to go undefeated, and that’s what made it a highly charged, and most viewed Super Bowl in history.

This you can sure of. Pittsburgh has a very loyal and extremely large following. It’s by far the best traveled fans in the NFL. There really isn’t even a good second place team you can think of, that’s how drastic it is. (Take a look at the sea of Terrible Towls in Super Bowl XL on the next highlight re-run if you don’t believe me.) Both the Cardanals and the Steelers are two of the oldest in the NFL, although Arizona wasn’t their home back in 1933, Chicago was. (Greenbay, and NY Giants the only two other teams around back then.) With the Cardinals moving from Chicago to St. Louis, and then to Arizona, they never really had a chance for multiple generations to follow them like Pittsburgh did. And don’t think that we Steelers fan’s who have moved out of Pittsburgh are bringing up a new generation with anyone other than the Steelers.

You can take the boy out of the city, but you can never take the Steelers out of the boy.

I guess well have to wait for the game at this point. I will tell you that I’m thoroughly enjoying all the old Super Bowl re-runs on the NFL Network. Night before last they played back to back Steelers Super Bowls that lasted 2 1/2 hours. Sure I have them all on DVD, but seeing them broadcast so everyone, especially Dallas fans who took a beating as “America’s Team’ back then, has a special meaning.

Hey…if you can’t find a sound bite, create one, right?!

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When the “Cowher Power” era ended in January of 2007 I had hoped that Ken Whisenhunt would take his place.  Ken’s a Georgia Tech Alumni, and from Augusta, Georgia. Ken was also Pittsburgh’s offensive coordinator the same year the Steelers drafted Ben Roethlisberger (2004). That year Roethlisberger went on to set an NFL record with wins in his first 13 career starts en route to Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. The next season he became the youngest QB in NFL history to win a Super Bowl. (Pittsburgh’s 5th Super Bowl victory and Lombardi Trophy.)

When Mike Tomlin’s name appeared, I had never heard of him before he was hired as Pittsburgh’s 3rd Head Coach since 1969. He came out of nowhere and like anyone you never heard of before, you have doubts as to their abilities and effectiveness to lead an NFL team to the playoffs. About the only thing I felt comfortable with was that Tomlin got his NFL start as a Coach with Tony Dungy down in Tampa.

Tomlin did however make an almost immediate impact in a positive way. Tomlin liked the so-called Tampa 2 cover scheme popularized by Dungy and assistant Monte Kiffin in Tampa Bay, one that had its roots in Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain defense of the 1970s — a defense that played a 4-3. Dungy played on one of those four Steelers Super Bowl-winning teams.

But Tomlin didn’t rush to install the 4-3 and instead retained defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, a proponent of the 3-4 and zone blitzing schemes. Tomlin matched his defenses to the skills of the players he had — and that produced the leagues #1 overall defense this year.

Tomlin was quoted in a 2007 Press Conference, “You’ve got to be flexible and do what your guys do well.”

Smart guy. It was a remarkable move, and one that looks to have certainly paid off. Not many have that type of humility to admit they might not have the best “game plan” in order to achieve success. Tomlin realized however, that the defense he was inheriting was not only built for 3-4, but it was successful under the guidance of Dick LeBeue.

Ken Whisenhunt on the other hand, took a team, and a culture that has not seen a Championship in over half a century and has guided them to the Super Bowl in only his second year. While I don’t know Arizona as well as Pittsburgh, I believe many of the same talent is still there when Whisenhunt landed the job two years ago. In a way, what Whisenhunt has done with the Cardinals is even MORE remarkable than what Tomlin has done. Tomlin’s team and philosophy was already there, for decades, just like Whisenhunt’s. The difference is that Whisenhunt needed to change the team’s thinking and structure in order to make it a winner.

Whisenhunt took what he knew best, that being a philosophy and thinking to turn a struggling team who’s only had one winning season since 1990 and landed them in the World Championship. Not to take anything away from Mike Tomlin, because what he has been able to maintain as a winning attitude says something about his leadership, but Ken Whisenhunt just created one of those “Extreme Makeovers” that Pittsburgh first started to see back in 1969 with the hiring of Chuck Noll. (After some 40 years of losing.)

I received a comment here on the blog and also have gotten e-mails and phone calls that Pittsburgh should be able to handle Arizona in the Super Bowl. With the Leagues best defense this year in the NFL, it certainly makes the match up attractive. However, before I go pounding my chest over any match up, I need to look at the last three weekends of playoff football. I recall the same speculation from experts who thought Atlanta, Carolina, AND Philadelphia should advance and all three teams will be at home in a little less than two weeks watching Arizona play against my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl.

That’s why they play the game.

I wasn’t sure about this match up or if I even liked the idea of an Arizona vs Pittsburgh Super Bowl. Honestly, like most everyone else, thought Pittsburgh vs Philidelphia would be printed on the tickets. Now that it’s had some time to digest, I like the connection, because I like Whisenhunt and the story he brings to this event.

Not everyone that follows the NFL will appreciate it the way I do. But then again, I’m not the average NFL fan. I love the game, the League, and my team. I have for as long as I can remember. Of course, winning 5 Championships tends to lend a hand in that.

We’ll have to see if we can start adding rings to the other hand on February 1st, 2009.

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January 12^th, 1975. I don’t remember many dates from my childhood, but I remember that one. I was 10 years old at the time, growing up in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, Pa. The center of my world revolved around a place that I had never even heard of before, and a Championship game that consumed my day. What was supposed to be the first Super Bowl to be played indoors was instead played at Tulane stadium, because the Super Dome was not yet complete for Super Bowl IX.

36 years later that team remains the only NFL team to win four Super Bowls in six years, yet what might separate the Steel Curtain Steelers of the 1970s from other NFL champions is what they did off the football field. Lynn Swann is running for governor of Pennsylvania. John Stallworth founded an aerospace company in his native Alabama that employs hundreds. Franco Harris launched a successful bakery and is one of the most visible NFL players from the 1970s, making numerous public appearances. Jack Ham runs his own company in Pittsburgh and is a color analyst for NFL games on Westwood One radio and for Penn State’s vast radio network. Dwayne Woodruff must be called “Your Honor.” A successful Pittsburgh attorney, he was elected an Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge last year. Mel Blount, runs a youth home for disadvantaged youngsters in Canonsburg, Pa. Tony Dungy, obviously is the Head Coach for the Indianapolis Colts. And of course, Terry Bradshaw might be the most recognizable TV studio host in NFL history. And I knew them when!

All these players have moved on. I’ve since moved away from Pittsburgh, and have resided in Atlanta the last 14 years. You can take the boy out of the city, but you can never take the Steelers out of the boy. I love football, but more importantly, Steelers football. I still never miss a game because of a wonderful product called TiVo, but watch the vast majority of the games live thanks to NFL Sunday Ticket. My daughter watched her first football game with me only days old in Piedmont Hospital for a Monday Night Football game against the Tennessee Titians.

I took a look at the series of draft picks that built the Dynasty of 70’s. 1969: Joe Greene, DT, North Texas St. 1970: Terry Bradshaw, QB, Louisiana Tech 1971: Frank Lewis, WR, Grambling 1972: Franco Harris, RB, Penn St. 1973: J.T. Thomas, DB, Florida St. and 1974: Lynn Swann, WR, Southern Cal. Now let’s take a look at some of the last few years that built the team that made Super Bowl XL: 2001: Casey Hampton, DT, Texas 2002: Kendall Simmons, OG, Auburn 2003: Troy Polamalu, SS, USC 2004: Ben Roethlisberger, QB Miami (Ohio) and 2005: Heath Miller, TE, Virginia. That’s some key drafts that between 2001 and 2005 that could arguably be the best since 1969 through 1974.

I don’t know about another run of 4 Super Bowls in 6 years for this team. I do like our odds in this Super Bowl, and I enjoy dreaming about what this team could be in the next few years. With free agency, it will most certainly be more difficult to keep this team in tact. However, the Steelers have been the model of consistency year in and year out for as long as I can remember. I’ve only known two Head Coaches in the long history of following the Steelers. I was 5 when they hired Chuck Noel in 1969. Since Bill Cowher has was hired 14 years ago, there have been 95 Head Coaching changes in the NFL.

I’ll close this weeks entry with a Prayer for Super Bowl XL.

Our Father, who is Art Rooney in Heaven, football be thy game.
Thy kingdom come, 4 Super Bowls won, on earth as it is at Heinz Field.
Give us this day our playoff victory, and forgive us our penalties,

As we defeat those who play against us.
Lead us to a playoff victory, and deliver us to Detroit.
A-Ben

Go Steelers!

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