When the New York Yankees take the field Sunday evening, in the third and final game of a pivotal series with the Boston Red Sox, they face the reality of losing five games in a row with the American League East and the AL Wild Card still hanging in the balance.
But prior to dropping a 7-3 decision to the Red Sox, which dropped them to one and a half games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the division, the Yankee organization invited a respected former National Football League head coach into their locker room to give the team a pep talk intended to reverse their recent fortunes.
According to NYPost.com, NBC’s Football Night in America studio color analyst Tony Dungy delivered a five-minute message to the Yankees about the coping mechanisms that should be employed as the pressures associated with playing down the stretch build to a crescendo.
"I talked about family experiences and hanging together down the stretch. It's not necessarily the team with the most talent that wins but the team that executes the fundamentals," Dungy said before the Yankees’ third consecutive loss. "It's nothing they haven't heard before, but I have a son that doesn't listen to anything I say."
With all due respect to Dungy, a best-selling author and a national spokesman for Family First’s fatherhood program All Pro Dad, it’s quite likely the Yankees weren’t listening to much of what Dungy had to say either; and it’s highly debatable whether Dungy should have been brought in to speak at this stage of the season.
After getting acclimated to playing in the New York City pressure cooker and indoctrinated to the rich tradition of Yankees baseball, which has resulted in a record 27 World Series Championships, Derek Jeter and company are no doubt well versed on how this time of the year drastically differs from any other.
There is very little a former NFL head coach can impart in five minutes that will significantly impact how the Yankees have been playing over the past several days. A visit during spring training would have been a nice touch, as was the one from Olympic gold medal sprinter Michael Johnson, but when the pennant races grow increasingly tight it is the manager’s responsibility to provide the guidance and leadership necessary to maneuver a team through the rough patches.
Is it possible that Yankees manager Joe Girardi needed to hear Dungy’s words to help him navigate through a rough patch of his own?
Girardi welcomed Dungy’s appearance, a man who has drawn his admiration, according to the Post report. "He talked about team and family and the things athletes go through at this time of the year," said Girardi, who read Dungy’s book and subscribes to his website.
On the flip side of the coin, coaches and managers go through just as much at this time of the year, especially those of the most valuable sports brand in the world.
And considering that Girardi’s third year as the Yankees skipper has been the most trying of his managerial career, it could be argued that Dungy’s visit was as much for Joe Girardi as it was for the team HE should be addressing with inspiring pep talks.
Either way though, if the Yankees director of mental conditioning felt the need to bring in Tony Dungy to motivate the team, a little over one week before the MLB playoffs begin, then the Bronx Bombers are in more trouble than can possibly be imagined.
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Tony Dungy’s pep talk smells of desperation from NY Yankees
