keasley45
Well-known member
its entirely different in a team sport or any 'team'. Pretty much a common thread when you interview most championship teams and certainly for the team that Pete built here - personal bond and having eachother's back is paramount to success. You hear about lineman hanging out together, DBs, offensive players... its a common thread. And the issue here is NOT that Russ didnt hang out. Its that he apparently ALIENATED himself from those who were bonded and carried the identity of the team. Not answering calls or routing calls through your PA is a step WAY above not hanging out with the guys on the weekend.Do you hang out with or have everybody’s personal number at work? Or do you just go your on separate way when you leave work? No different for a football player
I thikn Russ carried some resentment toward those he saw as getting credit for the success of the team, while he was relegated to being seen as the manager. The chip he's carried his entire life at being told he wasnt good enough... i think he assigned it to the LOB, Lynch, and anyone who he felt criiticized him or by virtue of simply telling it like it was - from his perspective, became an obstacle to his success, or the image of it. He then worked worked the system until the spotlight was his and his alone. He went from 'we are great' , to I'm great. From 'we win as a team', to 'I'm tired of carrying the team'. If you look at the psychological fingerprint of what happened here, you cant look at all of whats coming to light in isolation. Teammates and coaches from NC STate saying he played up his own character while pushing down others. Teammates in Seattle saying he wasnt a team guy and didnt put in the work to see the results the way others did. His actions prior to leaving when he unapologetically made his goal about the MVP chase and being great - and then labeling the defense as what was keeping him and the offense from succeeding. The venegeful way he went about slandering the organization and his teammates when he left, and before that, when he discovered they wante dto trade him.
You can try to look at each of these things in isolation and write them off as being the result of angry or jealous teammates. But when you have sooo many guys saying the same thing now, consistently and that his own actions in the circus he created in Denver support it, along with accounts from teammates there... Its bordering on 'OJ Simpson was framed' levels of insanity.