What has changed most clearly from Lombardi's era is … the dramatic shift in the balance of power between players and their bosses because of big money and free agency. Would that shift have necessarily led to the Old Man's failure and broken heart? Only if one believes that his leadership style was inflexible and wholly dependent on his not-so-benevolent despotism. But that is buying into the myth of Lombardi. The reality is that behind his seemingly quaint notions of spartan discipline, team love, and obedience to the leader, he was surprisingly adaptable. … Had he livedlonger, he would have persisted in that philosophy, adjusting to the changing times and in so doing making the times bend a little to him. …
Source: David Maraniss. Esquire, September 1997, p. 80.
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