I suppose we can understand why a supermodel, who lives in the dog-eat-dog world of fashion design, would blame someone other than her husband for the Patriot's loss against the Giants in this last weekend's Super Bowl match. We can understand her loyalty to her man. But she sure does not understand how to create effective teams. And she probably also doesn't understand how her remarks could potentially undermine the leadership role of the man she so clearly wants to extoll.
Gisele Bundchen ripped into the Patriots receivers for the failed plays she believes cost her quarterback husband Tom Brady a fourth Super Bowl ring. The Brazilian supermodel was caught on camera lambasting No. 12's teammates after Sunday's game in Indianapolis. "You [need] to catch the ball when you're supposed to catch the ball," she is heard saying. "My husband cannot [expletive] throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can't believe they dropped the ball so many times." Maybe a futebol analogy would help this person understand. When a striker misses what would be the game-winning shot in the last minute of a soccer match, if you blame that person you have ignored the role of the entire team over the previous 89 minutes. Why did the defense fail to keep the other team from scoring? Why weren't there more shots taken by our team earlier in the game? Why did some players let up during earlier stages of the game? Why didn't the coach spend more time working on certain skills, tactics, and strategy during practice sessions? And so on. In this 60-minute Super Bowl game, there were many opportunities to have achieved a different result, but it just didn't happen. There has to be one winning team and one losing team. When you win, you enjoy the moment, knowing you were lucky sometimes as well as good. When you lose, you hate the result, and you relive every moment that could have made a difference in the score. What you don't need is someone who does not understand team dynamics assigning blame to individuals. Brady's teammates apparently feel betrayed by Gisele's words, with a source saying, “It's like knocking someone when they are down."
Let's hope they can find it in their hearts to be more understanding than she was. Knowing this team, its coach, and its owner, I am confident they will be.
