What makes a real man? Is it who he sleeps with? Or is it the way he conducts his life outside of the bedroom as well?
Those who hunger for the good old days when "men were men," and practiced "old-school values," might be a little surprised to learn something about the ultimate gridiron embodiment of those values: Vincent Lombardi. The man who said "Winning isn't everything. It is the only thing." The man who coached in a hard-nosed, never-give-an-inch style, always demanding more of his players when they had already done their best. The man who believed in the concept of being a role model, on and off the field.
To my utter surprise, it turned out that one of Lombardi's old school values was tolerance. Not just toward different races and religions, but also for the love that dare not (until more recently) speak its name. Don't believe me? I don't blame you. Nevertheless, it's true.
Lombardi understood, as fewer and fewer people do nowadays, that real American exceptionalism consists not of depending on one type of person, but on everyone. Not on depending on "stars," but on the entire team. And not on ostracizing those who are different, but on finding a place where they can fit in.
We seem to have forgotten about that type of exceptionalism. Maybe learning more about Lombardi can help us to recall it, and promote it. That is, if we really care about "old-school values."
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