My favorite team is the Chiefs, yes, and I mean that. But right behind them is baseball's Giants. I've mentioned a number of times in this blog that growing up in the Bay Area I've been a Giants, 49ers, and Warriors fan. I also like the Royals, and now living in southern California my team here is the Angels. Not much of a fan of anyone else in pro sports.
I mention the Giants because last week I'd brought up the whole principle of got-it in a team, and we all witnessed the gruesome characteristics of being plagued with not-got-it as the Chiefs were against the Steelers.Thing is, the San Francisco Giants got it.
They really do.
They've earned a World Championship in major league baseball three times in the past five years, a truly amazing achievement in today's world of shifting allegiances and ridiculous parity. This past year the Giants had the worst record of all playoff participants, yet they did what it takes, yet again, to run the table and win the World Series.
How do they do it? Yes, it is a matter of they got it, but there are indeed some things that can be identified that help make that happen. Thing is, being a Giants fan for so long and suffering for so long with a team that simply did not have any got-it for long long long periods of time, I can see the difference. I believe the key is in that leadership. And it isn't even in ownership.
It is just in leadership.
The club president of the Giants is a man named Larry Baer. He was there when the Giants were rescued from going to St. Petersberg in 1992 and worked his way through the organization until he oversaw all three of the Giants championship runs.
The general manager is a man named Brian Sabean. He's been there since 1996 and is, I believe, the longest serving GM with one team in the majors right now. He had an immediate impact in orchestrating a division title in 1997 and molded a team that went to the playoffs in 2000, 2002, and 2003. He then built these recent World Series teams.
The director of player personnel is a man named Dick Tidrow. A former major leaguer himself, he has been with the team for 21 years. He is in charge of all the drafting and signing and developing players. He's got his hands in everything having to do with the actual players who end up on the field.
The pitching coach is a man named Dave Righetti, who's been with the team for 15 years, and is respected as one of the best pitching coaches in the game. I believe he is the longest serving pitching coach with any one team.
I could name a dozen other people in the organization, including a number of former players who have vital roles in making the Giants ball club arguably the finest in the game. What do all these individuals have in common?
First, they've been there for so long providing a strength and stability that makes the Giants organization the envy of pro baseball. Secondly they are just really really good at what they do.
Notice I didn't talk about the owner. The owner of the Giants for their 2010 championship was Bill Neukom, I haven't the faintest idea who this guy is -- nothing against Mr. Neukom. The owner now is, guess what -- I don't even know. I really don't. Now yes, I could find out right now on the web, but I've realized that unless he's just plain rotten, it doesn't matter.
If you have these guys already in place and treat them well and pay them nicely...
Then you got it: you got it.
You have that infinitely invaluable got-it.
I could write and write and write about the Giants, but this blog is about the Chiefs. I'd even like to put in a good word for the Royals, who got to the World Series to play the Giants mostly from the payoff on the deft management and resilient patience of their top guy, Dayton Moore. I'm sure an instrumental part of that came from David Glass, who even with the reputation for being a lousy owner has just let Moore do his thing to build that marvelous team.
What does this have to do with the Chiefs?
Well, a couple things. The first thing is a purely selfish thing. The Giants have won a record nine straight playoff series, and doing it with the best got-it you could ever see displayed on an athletic field. Meanwhile the Chiefs have lost a record eight straight playoff games, and while we won't have the chance to lose a ninth this year, after Detroit and Cincinnati win their playoff games a bit later here, the Chiefs will hold the distinction of going the longest without a playoff win -- last one, 1993 postseason. The Giants being great now with such greatness takes the edge off of the Chiefs sustained crappitude in this area.
But the thing all Chiefs fans can take away from this is this.
There is great hope for this team.
Even after decades and decades of the worst not-got-it in the San Francisco Giants, they still turned it around and have become one of the greatest baseball teams in major league history.
The Chiefs have had decades and decades of the most putrid not-got-it, and what I see is the progression of a nice turnaround that starts with front office stability we haven't seen for a long time. Maybe, just maybe ten years from now I can write in my blog about the front office personnel of the Chiefs like I did there about that of the Giants.
See, that's the key thing here. Like the bountiful details of success with the who's who in the Giants organization, the Chiefs simply need to build on that and keep working it. And the thing is, it doesn't start with Clark Hunt. Yes, I know he's vitally important, but I still can't see anything that Clark has done or not done that has impacted the Chiefs in a negative way. Everything I've seen about him, at least as he's grown into his ownership role, has been above board. Yeah maybe I don't know everything, but the organization stuff I've seen this year has been pretty solid.
Who does it start with? It starts with John Dorsey, big-time. As I've said many times before, we are so due for someone who's smart, solid, insightful, courageous, a character guy who knows football. Remember who we've had before. Jack Steadman. Steady those grimace reflexes. Carl Peterson, a great football guy but terrible personnel guy. Scott Pioli -- steady... steady...
It seems Dorsey knows what he's doing out there, is learning and growing and is willing to take time to do it but at the same time has a deep sense of urgency, and one of the best things of all, is not toxic. Yay!
Then you've got Andy Reid. Even though he's coached for a while, he's got to take in the Bruce Bochy approach and just be here for a while. Bochy is, like, 58 or something, but he's been guiding the Giants for eight whole years and it looks like he's not ready to stop any time soon. We really need Reid to keep doing what he's doing for eight years, at least.The sustained success of those guys, Dorsey and Reid and the others who're committed to the long-term, especially right now at this critical time, is the most significant factor in getting the Chiefs to be competitive next year with, most importantly, an amount of got-it that'll actually get us deep in the playoffs.
See, that's why I'm just not that distraught about not making the playoffs this year (today by virtue of the Ravens win). It is a perverse kind-of perspective, yes, I know, but come on Chiefs fans. Let's face it.
This is one less year we have to lose in the playoffs again.
Please please please don't get me wrong. I'd much much much [infinity] want to be in the playoffs than not, even if we would've had to face Indianapolis again.
But what we need for next year is a bit more establishment of the front office guys workin' it so the team we have next year is the one with the got-it.
Draft a big strong wide receiver. Develop a left guard and right tackle. Get the expected improvement from Eric Fisher. Plug a Ray Lewis-type guy in the middle of the run defense. Get Alex Smith to open it up more. Re-sign Rodney Hudson and Justin Houston -- who, by the way, was half-a-sack away from setting an NFL record in quarterback sacks for a season.
I'm sure I'll have more analysis of this sort later in this blogging effort.
When did this season go sour? Was it the Oakland game where one simple easy interception we didn't make late in the game cost us? Was it the Arizona game where we totally got jobbed on those awful calls against our tight ends? Was it the Pittsburgh game where the truckloads of got-it the Steelers had just crushed us? Was it either of the games against Denver -- definitely not those, let's just face it, the Broncos are just flat-out better than we are at this point.
No, it was the very first game of the season when we couldn't beat a lousy Tennessee team. I think back on that game and think about what I was thinking about this team we were playing, and wondering, is this Titans team really any good? It looks like it's not much, but they sure are giving us a beat-down. Later in the season we stormed back to make a good showing while Tennessee wobbled to a final 2-14 record. Wow.
This final game of the season was a nice one, beating a surging Chargers team who just needed to win here against us to get into the playoffs. Our pass defense was terrific, holding Philip Rivers' offense to a single touchdown. That to me is amazing. Great launching point for next year.I could say more about this or that, but again, right now I'm just looking to see our leadership do its job and we can have great things happen next year. When I think of more things to write about I'll probably blog again. Like, hey, wow, we beat the Chargers twice in a single season, something we hadn't done since 2003.
Wow.
Maybe the got-it is just, just starting to stick.
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(Just a note about the Giants 2014 regular season record. It was 88-74, the same as that of the Pirates and A's who also qualified for their respective wild-card games. The best record was the Angel's at 98-64.)
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