Actions Speak Louder than Words

CBN.com - Whether you like him or not new Dallas Cowboy coach Bill Parcells the football mentor is a man of his word. In a career that has seen him inherit three dismal teams in varying states of disarray, Parcells guided each of them from the NFL gutter to the play-off penthouse and beyond. In each case, he achieved what he said he would do make losers into winners.

Parcells, nicknamed the Big Tuna, took over a struggling New York Giants team in the middle of the strike shortened 1983 season and led them to the play offs the next year. They went on to win their only two Super Bowls during Parcells tenure.

In New England, Parcells took over a Patriots team that was at the depths of despair on the field and off. Still trying to shake itself of a sexual harassment scandal three years prior, Big Tuna took a 2-14 team the year before he arrived to the play-offs in his second season. Furthering that success, the Pats made a trip to the Super Bowl in his fourth year at the helm.

Parcells success continued when he returned to New York to coach the Jets in 1997. He miraculously guided a team that won only one game the year before he arrived to a respectable 9-7 mark his first season. In his second year, the Jets went 12-4 on their way to the AFC Championship.

There is little question Parcells skills as a coach are nearly unparalleled. The rascally 61 year old is a master of getting the most out of even the most marginal players. He does so with a curmudgeon flair that utilizes psychological mind games, heavy handedness, and the coaching strategy of a seasoned battle general. His unorthodox tactics have led to a 138-100-1 record in regular season games and a remarkable 11-6 in the play-offs. Among those 17 play-off games are two Super Bowl championships. Unfortunately, with that incredible display of gridiron mastery comes an ego that is sometimes difficult to control. Just ask New England Patriots owner Robert Craft.

In a highly documented dispute that spilled over into the media, Parcells left the Patriots following their 1996 Super Bowl season because he wanted control of all player personnel decisions in addition to his coaching duties. In a quote that is now legendary in New England football lore Parcells stated something to the effect, "If I am going to coach this team the way it should be coached I should be allowed to select "the groceries" that I will be using." In essence, Kraft told him to take his grocery cart and go shopping somewhere else.

Highly respected as a coach, Bill Parcells the person does not appear to be a man of his word. While he is brilliantly skilled as a motivator and football tactician, as a person Parcells seems flawed.

Most notable is that he is a man of many contradictions. After leaving the Jets following the 1999 season Parcells said he never wanted to coach again. Adding proof to that contention was the publication of his book entitled "The Final Season: My Last Year as Head Coach in the NFL." Seven years earlier he went on the record as saying the Patriots head coaching position would be his "last coaching job, without question." Just last season, the Big Tuna actually signed a contract to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (a job that eventually went to Jon Gruden) only to back out of the deal shortly thereafter. I understand that for every situation there is a circumstance that can alter the decision making process but there is certainly a pattern here.

The largest example of his contradictory track record rests with his most recent decision to coach the Dallas Cowboys. He will be working for an owner, Jerry Jones, who is perhaps the most controlling boss any football coach could have. Not only the owner, Jones is also the teams general manager, spending many of his Sundays on the sidelines, not the owners box but the sidelines. He is a hands on owner through and through. In the past, Parcells has abhorred this. For those of you scoring at home, this is the chief reason Parcells left the New England Patriots. He wanted to do more than just coach. As I mentioned earlier, he wanted complete control over personnel decisions. Regardless of what might have been said at his introductory press conference with the Cowboys, at the end of the day Jerry Jones, not Bill Parcells, will ultimately be making all player decisions. I have to believe this will get the best of him before his four year contract is up.

While this situation will certainly be interesting to watch as the Parcells/Jones relationship unfolds, I am reminded that as Christians it is our responsibility, our duty if you will, to live our lives with a sense of integrity. We are to be people of our word not of contradictions.

Whether you choose to believe it or not, people in the non-Christian community scrutinize our every movement, often holding us to a higher standard. If we display types of behavior that do not reflect their perceptions of how a Christian should act and live, than we are sending messages that are contradictory to what we believe.

In

To be held in high regard, as Christians we should be known for our truthfulness, morality, kindness, loyalty, faithfulness, and as Christian recording artist Bebo Norman would say, our "realness." There should be no false heirs about us or what we represent.

The value of character is very important not only because people in our community view us based on how they perceive us as Christians but more importantly how we live our lives for God.

Our main goal in life should be to develop our outward character based on our inner qualities that God has placed in us. In other words, we should strive to live our lives based on high moral standards, showing love for others, and to be consistent in what we believe.

No one can possibly live their lives without flaw, Bill Parcells is certainly a testament to that, but we can strive to conduct our lives the way God intended us to live them as believers in Jesus Christ.

Tell me what you think