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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