INTERNAL MOTIVATION

If the Vikings weren't going to win the Super Bowl, I was glad that New Orleans won the prize. How great is their coach Sean Payton? New Orleans has good players ... but not close to the Vikings or the Colts ... they won because of their coach. That onside kick to start the second half was a brilliant move ... and ballsy, very ballsy. If they don't recover the kick and the Saints lose the game, the media and "fans" would never let it go. But, they would have lost anyway - that was the only way that they were going to get back into the game.
What's amazing is that most coaches don't have enough feel for the game to even realize the desperate situation and then have the guts to pull the trigger. I've watched baseball playoff games when during the late innings, the team at bat (who is losing) had men on base, one out and a 3-0 count ... and the coach gave him the take sign ... sure enough it's a fat fast ball for strike one ... and now the batter has lost most of his advantage, winds up popping out, and the threat is over, and then they bring in a reliever like Rivera and the game is over ... they HAD to let that guy swing (Morneau) on 3 -0 ... unbelievable and hard to watch. Thank God for Sean Payton. Do any of you remember when Billy Martin used to manage the Twins? They stole home 9 times that season! They were really fun to watch, but Calvin fired Billy after only one season - even though they won their division ... Calvin couldn't handle creative, exciting, intuitive baseball ... he liked it by the numbers ... he'd probably love Childress.
Most coaches don't coach to win as much as they coach to keep their job ... understandable, but not fun to watch.
Golf as a sport/business,game, etc is in that situation. Golf is not growing ... in fact it's shrinking. How come? Well, this isn't rocket science ... people don't want to play. What about money? Isn't that the big issue? Not really ... if people really want to play, they'll find the money ... look at liquor stores - are they folding? No, people are finding the money for booze. So the problem is motivation ... isn't the answer to find what motivates people to play golf? Instead, we have all of these "Grow the Game" initiatives that are mostly ways of throwing money around and hoping something happens. Sort of like what's been happening to our economy ... let's not solve the motivational issues that are at the heart of our nation's economic problems - no, let's throw money at our problems in terms of bailouts and let's hope magic happens.
People - especially scientists - don't want to face that most problems are problems of motivation - and I mean internal motivation. Programs of the carrot and stick, stimulous-response, monetary rewards and threats ... only go so far and last only so long. Companies, teams, and societies break down when its members' internal motivation breaks down ... that is the real issue ... always was and always will be ...