Whitlock brings us all back down to earth
 

Joy.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/col...y/1359400.html

Most of us are no different from Larry Johnson.

We have an extreme aversion to admitting when we’re wrong, which causes us to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

Yeah, I know, you think if Lamar Hunt wrote you a check for millions of dollars, you’d be the ultimate team player, happy and content regardless of your role. You think you’d be the kind of leader Marcus Allen was when he played for the Chiefs.

I doubt it. Fame and money magnify our flaws, and we all have flaws, the majority of them we’re reluctant to admit.

Larry Johnson’s major flaw is just like yours and mine. He can’t sincerely admit when he’s dead wrong. We can’t either.

Oh, we might utter a half-hearted “I’m sorry,” but we’ll expend the majority of our energy rationalizing or lying about our inappropriate behavior. We want our errors to vanish and memories of them to disappear just as quickly. We rarely muster the courage to address our failings head-on.

Later today, I’ll arrive in River Falls, Wis., site of Chiefs training camp. I’m excited — if not optimistic — to see how the Chiefs deal with their two most important failures.

Larry Johnson and Brian Waters, in my opinion, are Kansas City’s most talented players. To some degree, they can dictate the ease of Todd Haley’s transition from hot-headed offensive coordinator to respected NFL head coach. If Haley can inspire Johnson and Waters to play up to their potential, it will be considerably easier for the Chiefs to rebound from last season’s 2-14 disaster.

Inspiring Johnson and Waters for an entire 16-game schedule is likely to come down to whether Johnson wants to confront and acknowledge the errors of his previous ways and whether Haley and general manager Scott Pioli are willing to acknowledge the disrespectful manner in which they welcomed Waters to the new Chiefs organization.

If the involved, offending parties are anything like the rest of us, this won’t go very well. Johnson won’t change his brooding, selfish behavior, and the bad blood between Waters and the new men in charge of the Chiefs is likely to linger.

Problems don’t magically go away. And yes, I read the mature and positive words Johnson spoke about his relationship with Haley and Pioli. Larry, as he’s prone to do when he’s looking to enhance his contract leverage, sounds focused and content.

The problem is he doesn’t sound reflective. He doesn’t sound like someone who is aware of how he contributed to and drove the problems he’s experienced.

Larry might argue that he’s simply following the advice of his new head coach. Haley offered every player on the roster a clean slate. Haley claims he doesn’t care about what transpired before he got here. He’s going to judge players solely on the behavior they exhibit while he’s head coach.

Sounds great on paper. But we’re a product of the lessons we’ve learned from our previous experiences. Learning lessons takes time. Most people don’t like to study, especially themselves.

We prefer to start over. We prefer to file bankruptcy. We prefer to repeat the same behavior until we pay the ultimate price — death, divorce, termination, etc.

It’s my contention that Haley and Pioli made a fatal mistake in their initial handling of Waters, Kansas City’s Pro Bowl left guard. In their zeal to establish law and order inside the Arrowhead Stadium practice facility, Haley and Pioli alienated the player who should be their strongest locker-room leader.

Now, a friend with deep knowledge of NFL culture argues that Pioli and Haley had to knock out the baddest player on the block in order to get the attention of Larry Johnson and everyone else on the roster. My friend argues the knockout punch unloaded on Waters was calculated and necessary.

I respectfully disagree. I see the move as foolish and arrogant with short-term benefits.

Haley wants to be a reincarnation of Bill Parcells, a noble and worthy aspiration. The risk Haley runs is being the second coming of Tom Coughlin, who nearly lost his job before the Giants rode a hot streak to the Super Bowl in Coughlin’s fourth season in New York. And by Coughlin’s fourth season, he’d already reinvented himself as a kinder, gentler coach.

Coughlin privately and publicly acknowledged his errors. He did what most of us refuse to do. He examined himself and truly changed.

Whitlock's greatest writing ability is to sort of string you along, making you think he's pulled his head out of his ass, and then take a sharp right or left, thereby reinforcing what you knew all along:

He's a ****ing douchebag.

I think the major problem with this is that Haley and Pioli didn't orchestrate anything.

Waters initiated it.

And then he got too big for his britches.

Let's see here...LJ shut his mouth, worked hard, bought into the system, showed up for 99 percent of OTAs, lost 15 pounds, passed the conditioning test and is kicking ass and taking names (Pollard's) at camp.

Waters raised a stink, took a few months off, showed up for 3 days in the Spring, failed the conditioning test and now is pouting and won't speak to reporters.

Who's the bad guy, again?

Exactly. You don't walk in unannounced on the first day of free agency and demand a sit-down with the new boss who is trying to orchestrate a trade for the most important position on the team.

"Douchecrock" is being absurd with his knob-slob of Waters.

Oh Fatlock

I was getting way too excited about the Chiefs being back. Whew.....thank god for Whitlock.

Seriously though, LJ has been a good boy since the regime change and you can't realistically ask for much more than that following some of the past seasons. No matter the way in which he was told, Waters needs to get it through his thick skull that he's just one of 53 players. He may have talent and a strong locker room presence, but the message needed to get across that the Chiefs aren't about a select number of individuals getting special treatment and I do believe the message was delivered. He can continue his pissy fit....we'll eventually find a replacement who'll play ball.

....and is Whitlock trying to be perma-banned from Arrowhead completely? Pioli's got the front office on lockdown and nobody's got any inside track on what their next move will be. Retaliating with articles like this won't end well....

Um, I have to disagree. The Pioli Trinity is above this O-lineman ... There is a certain order that has been established here, and Waters isn't above any of it. Get in line pal.
I like how Whitlock pretty much calls out EVERYONE here. Pioli, Haley, LJ, Waters ... nicely done, seriously ...:clap:

Who cares?

Money talks and bullshit walks.

We'll all know soon enough which is which.

I'm pretty sure all Haley wants to be, is the head coach of a successful football team. And if that's what you want to do, why not make sure your players are in shape?

As for Brian "I put the "off" in offseason" Waters... Either do it, or GTFO.

People still consider Waters a team leader, and LJ a cancer...lol Times have changed. One guy's busted his ass, and the other's acted like a spoiled, self entitled prima-donna.

(Odd, for a lineman.)

STFU and get to work, Waters.

Nicely put...
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Signed award winner