Scott Cordischi On Sports: Bruschi Calls Out Pats Veteran Players
Friday, July 19, 2013
Tedy Bruschi is 1000% correct!
The former Patriots linebacker who now serves as an NFL analyst for ESPN was asked a few days ago about how he feels regarding the recent turmoil his former franchise is going through. The outspoken Bruschi had a lot to say. Here is some of what he said on ESPNBoston.com:
"If I were sitting in that locker room right now, and they asked me to speak in front of them, I would look all those veterans in the eyes and say 'Take more ownership of your team. Your voice needs to be just as loud as Belichick's. You own that team just as much as Robert Kraft. ... In your mind, in your soul, in your heart, own that team like it's yours.' That's the way I felt. Even though I'd be walking with the owner, or walking with the head coach, I felt like I could say anything, I felt like I could take responsibility for my team and tell them whatever I wanted to tell them, however I wanted to say it. Taking some of these goals too literally can be a problem. 'Ignore the noise, do your job' -- sometimes you have to listen to the noise and sometimes you have to make it stop. 'Do your job' -- help someone else do theirs, once you figure yours out. Taking it to that next level."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhile the Patriots certainly miss play-makers like Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, Ty Law, Willie McGinnest, Mike Vrabel and others on the defensive side of the football, the team also misses the leadership that those and other former players brought to the table.
In all due respect to the likes of Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo, they are not the vocal leaders that guys like Bruschi, Harrison and others were. They need to be!
So does Tom Brady.
There are times when we see a fiery Brady yelling at his teammates on the sidelines during a game, but is there that constant fear of a tongue-lashing from Brady should a player not do his job? Not really.
Despite being family men themselves, guys like Bruschi and Harrison acted as if nothing were more important in their lives than the sport they played and the franchise they played for and their teammates knew it.
Bruschi is right. It’s time for some veteran players to assume a vocal leadership role in that locker room that matters. Maybe then this franchise will get back to making headlines for their accomplishments on the field as opposed to their transgressions off of it.
-If anyone was wondering if Providence College men’s basketball coach Ed Cooley and his staff would have trouble recruiting top-notch players to PC as it enters the new Big East, I think we have our answer. 6’-7” Jalen Lindsey (Huntington Prep) was a great way to start.
-I am a life-long diehard Boston Red Sox fan but I absolutely LOVE Mariano Rivera. It seems strange to say that about someone who wears Yankee pinstripes, but what’s not to like about Mo? In addition to being the greatest closer of all-time, he is a class act both on the field and off of it. Where he also won this and many other Red Sox fans over was on Opening Day 2005 when he was introduced at Fenway Park to a loud ovation from Boston fans for having blown the save in game 4 of the ALCS. Rivera not only took it in stride, he tipped his cap to the crowd as if to say, “I get it. And I’ll play along with you on this one.” The Yankees and the sport of Major League Baseball will miss him when he retires following this season.
-Given that the Celtics are entering the “rebuilding” mode, I think I’ll adopt the Brooklyn Nets as my second favorite NBA team this season and THE team I hope will knock off the two-time defending champion Miami Heat.
-Speaking of the Nets, am I the only Celtics fan who isn’t angry or disappointed in Jason Terry? Granted, Terry did not have a great season in his one year with Boston, but it wasn’t for lack of effort or commitment. In fact, Terry has had nothing but great things to say since being acquired by Boston and even after he was traded away. Heck, the guy even had a tattoo of a Leprechaun added to his body upon signing with Boston. Now that’s commitment. He has said many times that he regrets not having a better season last year, but I’ll give the guy a pass and just say that it wasn’t one of his better years. I wish him luck just as I do KG and Paul Pierce in Brooklyn.
-The Boston Herald’s Ron Borges had a good piece on soon-to-be Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Parcells this week which you can read here. I will always have a soft spot for the Tuna in my football heart as he is the man who turned the fortunes of a once sad Patriots franchise around.
-Watching the British Open from Murfield this week just reminds me that playing golf in Scotland (preferably at the Old Course – St. Andrews) is one of the things on my bucket list that I have yet to scratch off.
-Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel has been pretty much a train wreck since winning the Heisman Trophy following his redshirt freshman year with the Aggies. The latest controversy to envelope the star had him politely being asked to leave the Manning Passing Academy for high school quarterbacks run by Archie and Eli Manning. Manziel claims that he overslept and that his alarm didn’t go off (thank you Tyler Seguin) and denies that he missed the morning activities because he was out partying the night before.
-Did you see where up and coming PGA Tour star Jordan Spieth won his first career even on the Tour at the John Deere Classic last week? That’s the same Jordan Speith whose brother – Steven – will be a freshman guard on this year’s Brown University men’s basketball team.
-Kudos to CVS and to Tedeschi Food Shops for taking this week’s issue of “Rolling Stone” magazine off of their shelves after seeing accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover.
-I just returned from Pennsylvania where we took a family trip to Hershey Park and Amish Country in Lancaster. A few observations from the trip: First, Hershey Park has some GREAT roller coasters for those into that type of thing like yours truly. It is also a huge amusement park, larger in total area (121 acres) than Disney’s Magic Kingdom (107 acres). Also, we went on a horse & buggy ride through the farms of Amish Country and our buggy was driven by a celebrity……sort of. For those of you who have ever seen the show “Amish Mafia” on Discovery Channel, Steve, who flipped over a buggy on the show, was our driver. He was an interesting character to say the very least.
