Monday, November 12, 2007

Leading Through Failure


As many of you know I am an Ohio State football fan. I was in Columbus on Saturday when the Buckeyes were beaten by Illinois. Ohio State truly was beaten. Sure there were some mistakes by the Buckeyes and the officials, but make no mistake about it-Illinois deserved to win.

As hard as it was to take the loss for me, I know it is 100 times tougher for the players. Kirk Barton who is a senior captain had this to say:

"You just feel like a failure as a captain when you lose a game like this," said Barton, the only fifth-year senior on the team, and a co-captain. "You hope you can lead your guys out of the murky waters we were in. I take a lot of responsibility for that.

"You feel like a failure if you can't get a win on Senior Day. It takes a little bit away from your captaincy if you can't lead your team the way you need to. ... I hope you print this because I want all the young guys to remember how it feels for my Senior Day."

That is so refreshing to hear. No finger pointing, no excuses. Simply taking responsibility. Now that's leadership.

1 comment:

Jim said...

Let's hope they can lead us to victory this weekend.