This writer asks the right question, but of course won't delve into answering it below the surface level. The Cardinals, year in and year out without fail, have been one of the blackest teams in the NFL ever since moving from St. Louis after the 1987 season. And other than a very brief short-lived resurgence after Ken Whisenhunt became head coach, they've also annually been among the dregs of the league during the same time frame.
Why not note, as the black sportswriter Jason Whitlock has, that surrounding Tom Brady and Peyton Manning with some players from the same backgrounds and life experiences instead of nothing but ghetto dwellers, has paid very successful dividends for New England and Indianapolis? Does Kevin Kolb, who is now drawing all kinds of vile hate from the media and DWFs despite very limited experience as a starter, have any chance of success given Arizona's long-standing "culture"?
The Arizona Cardinals have a culture problem?
by Adam Green
Culture is a funny thing with regards to sports.
Like chemistry, a winning team tends to have it good while a losing team tends to struggle.
One of the greatest clichés in all of sports, part of the Cardinals' resurgence was attributed to the change in culture brought by Ken Whisenhunt.
Just more than one full season removed from a playoff game, are the Cardinals back to the Dave McGinnis-era of one heartbeat, three wins?
Those teams didn't really expect success, and that attitude was reflected in the team's many poor performances.
Following the latest rough game by the 2011 Cardinals, Kevin Kolb pointed to an issue with work ethic and desire, something Todd Heap may have confirmed.
"I think it's a different culture and it's something that we need to change," Heap told Arizona Sports 620's Burns and Gambo earlier in the week, discussing the difference between Baltimore, where Heap was, and Arizona, where he is. "There are certain teams and certain organizations where - and it's not an organization - but…where you know that everybody on that team expects what's going to happen on Sunday.
"And when it doesn't happen it's like the worst thing in the world. I think we need to get to that point where we expect - where everybody in that locker room - expects what's going to happen on Sunday."
Fans may be back to expecting the worst, but the players too? I hoped thought the franchise was past this.
Then again, the quote can be taken any number of different ways.
Is the tight end giving us canned athlete response, saying culture needs to change if his team is struggling? You know, the standard "I left a good team and joined a bad one, the culture must be to blame" thing?
Or, perhaps, could there actually something rotten in the state of Denmark? Is it possible that the Arizona Cardinals, thought to be long past their days as the place where careers go to die, have regressed back to being the "Same Old Cardinals?"
If so, it sure didn't take long.
"We fought the same battles when I was in Arizona," Kurt Warner told Burns and Gambo, noting that it happens wherever a player goes. "You have to find ways to be able to do it."
Warner and the Cardinals found ways before, but since he retired the Cardinals are struggling in that department, meaning either the players aren't terribly good or the coaching staff is struggling to do its job.
Does a team need to have a positive culture in order to win games or does winning beget the right attitude? The Cardinals are going to find out, one way or another.
http://arizonasports.com/category/green-blogs/20111013/The-Arizona-Cardinals-have-a-culture-problem/
