When Pride Still Mattered Chapter 23 - In Search of Meaning
The title of this chapter is “In Search of Meaning,” and at the end, I can’t help but wonder if Lombardi ever did find meaning in his work.
A few things we know, both about Lombardi and human beings in general: finding satisfaction is hard, finding it in our work is even harder, and reaching the peak of our field is often not as satisfying as we hope it will be.
So did Lombardi ever find meaning? The previous two chapters outlined his struggle with winning being not just a thing unto itself, but the only thing in his profession worth considering. He spoke long and often about how he wanted his players to be men of character and how he hoped their character would transcend sport and bleed over into their every day lives, but we also have ample evidence of how the man who wanted his players to love each other wasn’t particularly loving to the people in his life who needed him the most.
Was it all worth it? Would he do it all again? Again, I can’t help but wonder. Knowing what it cost to become VINCE LOMBARDI, would he pay it again? We have numerous quotes in this chapter about being willing to pay the price, but part of the hook for paying the price to be great is that you don’t necessarily know what the cost is going to be. That’s what makes the investment so difficult; you don’t actually know what it takes to reach the top because every climb is different.
I wonder if Lombardi, at the end of his life, or maybe just at the end of his time in Green Bay (rapidly approaching in the book), knowing what it took to do all that he did, would pay it all again. Or would he rewind and stay merely Vince the lawyer or Vince the insurance salesman, a boisterous dad who was home by 5:30 every night for dinner and cheered loud at his son’s football games and was supportive of his daughter and pleasant to his wife?
Interesting notes
Here’s an apt summary of Vince Lombardi: “Lombardi was not a creative thinker, but he was a methodical gatherer and organizer.” I think you can go far as a coach (and in a lot of other areas) by just knowing everything there is to know about your field, and Lombardi certainly mastered that.
There’s a bit more about Lombardi’s faith in this chapter, and it’s completely unsurprising that a man predisposed to love history finds the truest expression of his faith in the pre-Vatican II teachings of the Catholic church.
It fits perfectly with the characterization of Paul Hornung as one of Lombardi’s sons that he would ultimately want to leave his “father” behind and go to New Orleans. Even though Lombardi helped make him all that he was, he still needed to escape the shadow.