The Culture of Winning

After the Rockies defeated the Royals on Saturday night, I was watching the post game report on FOX Sports Rocky Mountain and Tim Ring of The Rockies Post Game Report was interviewing Garret Atkins, who had just hit his first homerun in over a month.

Ring started out with a question about how Atkins had been slumping. He followed it up with a question about how the Rockies had been slumping. Then when he sent it back to the studio he tossed it with something along the lines of “It may be too late for the Rockies, but they won tonight.” (They are less than 10 games out and it is only May!)

This is not the culture that produces champions. This is the culture that produces mediocre season after mediocre season.

There are two types out there. There are the types that have the aura of winning and those that don’t. When you are on a team that perpetual contain winners and those with positive attitudes towards winning, your team has the confidence it needs to win games. Sure, there is skilled involved in winning, but there is also the idea of winning.

Duke basketball, Ohio State football, Yankees baseball, Lakers basketball. Players on these teams know they are playing in a winning atmosphere and act like it on the field/court/diamond like it. Then there are other teams out there, who may have a winning season or two, but the culture doesn’t promote winning. Penn State basketball, Kansas football, Devil Rays baseball, Hornets basketball.

Think about it. How is it possible that the Yankees have been winning World Series for almost 100 years, while their AL East rivals, who also have an unlimited bankroll, have only won 2 in the past 90? How is it that Duke can be universally feared in college basketball for 20 years, while their intrastate rivals Wake Forest and NC State are just blips on the hoops roadmap?

In order for the Rockies to start changing their ways they need to universally have a winning attitude. I do admit that attitude alone won’t win ball games, but if the #8 hitter has the confidence that he can get a clutch hit, then he will get the hit more times than if he thinks he will strike out.

Half of sports are pure athletic ability, half are mental. Why can’t Shaq hit free throws? Because he doesn’t believe he can. Why do pitcher’s ERAs inflate when they are traded to perennial losers? They don’t have faith that their team can come through and over pitch.

The Rockies need to maintain a positive attitude, and keep it throughout the season. The wins may not rack up this year, but eventually the entire team will catch onto a winning idea and will start believing in themselves.

The Rockies have one of the best 1-6 lineups in the NL. Speedy Taveras, clutch Tulowitsky, Holliday, Helton, Atkins, Hawpe. Coupled with timely hits from the bottom of the lineup and what you have is a team that should score a lot of runs…. With the right attitude.

Now don’t get me wrong. Don’t believe that I don’t think Helton isn’t an all star “clubhouse guy.” Don’t, for a second, believe that I don’t think he brings it to the table everyday and wants to win more than anyone in the league. I know he does. I know all of those guys do. Losing stinks. I just think the culture makes it easier for them to lose than win. I think the crowd, the commentators, the media, the bloggers (maybe even this one, although I hope not), all contribute to the losing ways.

We know they have the talent. We know they have the desire. They just need the right attitude. They need the right culture.

==Personal Interesting Note==
During Sunday’s 12 inning affair against the Royals, Matt Holliday was up in the bottom of the ninth and they flashed a stat that Holliday has one walk-off HR in his career. It is an interesting personal note because on Thursday night in my Englewood softball league (scores, standings, schedules on www.whosinfirst.com) I hit a walk off HR in the bottom of the 6th to bring home an 18-16 victory. It was the second walk-off of my softball career, having hit a walk-off grand slam a year earlier.

- SEO, TEO