Remaking The Kansas City Chiefs--Tenacity Or Temerity?

Tenacity is normally thought of as a desirable quality. Tenacious people, it is thought, generally get what they want because they just keep trying.  They don't get put off or discouraged no matter how many failures they encounter along the way.

Temerity, on the other hand is generally viewed as rash contemptuousness.  It's essence is that of foolhardy contempt for the consequence of a decision or action. Notice the use of the word contempt.  This is not the same thing as taking a well intentioned but uneducated swing and striking out.  This is when you intentionally piss into the wind knowing full well you're going to get it right back in your face--and still you do it anyway.

In this writers opinion, Scott Pioli was an example of Temerity.  He didn't care about the consequences because his ego told him that HE was right and nobody else got it.  For good or ill, it's the reason he's now providing idiotic play by play of the upcoming NFL draft on NFLN.  He pissed in the wind and got wet.  I wouldn't mind that so much if he hadn't pissed all over my team in the process.

For that, I can find no forgiveness.  He wanted to break away from Hoodie and Clark gave him his wish.  He finally got to experiment with his way and completly screwed over my team at the same damned time.  Think of it this way--we just wasted four years of football and now have to most likely wait another 2-3 to see the kind of improvement that will get us a contender.  IF we get a contender.  All because Poindexter was smarter than any other kid in the class.  If that don't piss ya off, then you simply don't understand that Pioli's contempt was for YOU, the Chiefs fans (in addition to everybody else in the universe but we're the only ones that matter--right?).  He stuck his finger in our faces, stuck out his tongue at us and flipped us the bird all in one fell swoop.  Because he didn't care what we thought.

I wrote a post over at AP some time back about the fans being too petulant at times.  You'll find that post here.  At the time, I was disappointed in what I perceived as a much too quickly applied fan attitude that it was time to pull the plug on Haley/Cassel et al.  I still think we would have been better off to continue (at least for the rest of the season) with Coach Haley.  In retrospect, the Crennel switch gives me more ammo in supporting that theory.  Either way though, Pioli's attitude was worse than any fan could muster.  He is the example of absolute power corrupting absolutely.

You will not find any thank yous or apologies for Scott Pioli in my realm.  The guy had his shot and he completely blew it.  The reasons are varied and too many to count.  You can argue that any of them ultimately lead to his demise, and you'd be right.  The reality is that all of them, taken in the whole as the extremely bitter pill for this fan base that they are, put Scott's ass squarely in the outdoor with Clark's boot poised to kick it the rest of the way out.  All it took was for Andy Reid to indicate that moving on was needed (thank the good Lord) for Pioli to find himself sitting on the stoop at Arrowhead with his boxful of trophies and wall hangings talking to NFLN on his formerly Chiefs paid for cell phone.  So much for temerity.  Tell your story walking butt head, before I call a cop.

So now what?  What can we expect from Mr. Andy Reid?  More Temerity or will we get a dose of Tenacity?  Andy has already proven a certain amount of tenacity, don't you think?  He played his cards from the sideline in Philly for 14 years.  He kept winning enough to get him close to the promised land several times in that span and instead of blowing up when failure hit, he put his head down and tried again.

This is an admireable quality in any coach.  I just hope that what Andy experienced in Philadelphia doesn't influence him to want to fall to the dark side in terms of temerity.  I mean, after 14 years of doing some of what he wanted and some of what (theoretically anyway) was forced down his throat by management the last several years, could it be that Andy is looking at this opportunity through a window glazed with some temerity?  Could he be planning to damn the torpedoes, and go full steam ahead?

In some ways, Clark could have even bolstered this attitude in Reid in the way that he persued Andy on the open market.  When is the last time you remember hearing about an NFL owner flying in by private jet immediately upon learning that a HC prospect had become available and then meeting with them for 9 hours at the airport of all places?  If you were Andy Reid, do you think you might just believe that this owner was as desperate as desperate gets to have you on staff?

Then, to add wood to the "You are the greatest HC that's ever lived" fire, Clark tells Reid that the world is his in terms of management.  You don't like Pioli?  Fine.  Say the word and he's gone.  You don't want to answer to a new GM?  Fine.  Say the word and I'll change the hirearchy so that you report directly to me.  You want to choose the next GM so you know you'll get along?  Fine.  Say the word.

How many jobs have you ever had where you were given this amount of lattitude in doing your job?  Would this make you a bit more temerity prone in your daily routine?  Think about it.  Clark did a 180 when the Pioli Plan blew up in his face.  He's decided that the HC should be the primary shot caller with a GM and owner as the other two legs of the triumvariate to maybe keep that HC in line should they begin to start drafting Todd Blackledges and asking for FA money for Jamarcus Russels.

No matter which way this thing goes, there will be a reckoning if things don't go well.  So far, I can't really tell much about Reid.  He says a lot, but much of it has no real content.  Given his history, this is to be expected.  If you think Todd Haley used coach speak, be prepared for Reid to barely speak.  He sounds a lot different than Haley but he doesn't really say any more than he did.  Romeo didn't speak intelligently at all, even apologizing to players because he didn't mean what he said in press conferences.  I have a hard time featuring Reid doing that.

Things are heating up this off season and we will begin to see a clearer picture very soon.  I just hope that the tenacious Andy Reid has gotten a second wind, because an Andy Reid full of temerity, could do more damage on purpose than an egotistical Scott Pioli did out of ignorance.  What if the temerity stricken Andy Reid in 1999-2000 had chosen Akili Smith or Tim Couch?  I dare say we wouldn't be talking about his 14 year tenure in Philadelphia.

The Chiefs are once again at an important crossroads in team history.  I found a very interesting video about Mr. Reid who sat down with Steve Sabol for an interview several years back.  Watch it.  Then tell me, Andy Reid--Temerity or Tenacity???