I’m an Atlanta Falcons fan. I will repeat that; I’m an Atlanta Falcons fan. No, I don’t know why! I’ve lived here my entire life and I’ve been a fan of all of them; the Braves, Hawks, Falcons and now the Thrashers. Yes, Atlanta sports have sucked pretty much my entire life… well except for the Braves who went from worst-to-first in 1991 and then one 14 straight division championships. I was part of the “where were you when Sid slid” generation, so I do hold the belief that any Atlanta sports team can overcome the odds and win the big one. Hell, I remember when the Hawks were the only thing close to a decent sports team here. Now, they suck too!

I have hopes for the Falcons, grim as they may be. They just hired a new GM that seems to have a decent pedigree and, hopefully, they’ve learned their lesson about hiring ego-driven pieces-o-shit college coaches after the Bobby Petrino “hey Falcons, bend over and grab your ankles” debacle. But we’ll see… we’ll see! I’ve gone from Steve Bartkowski to Michael “save the franchise” Vick… which means that I’ve also gotten to live through the “don’t you think my pit-bull is cute, oops I electrocuted him” era as well. But I digress.

One of the discussions that arises in talking to candidates/clients in other cities is this: “Didn’t the Falcons trade Brett Favre?” Yes, they picked Brett up in the 2nd round of the 1991 draft and traded him to Green Bay a year later for a 1st round draft pick. Who did they get for Favre? I have no freakin clue, but he wasn’t as good… that much I know. Favre went on to start like 1,000 games in a row for Green Bay, win a Superbowl and break just about every record he possibly could along the way. Great trade Jerry Glanville… ass!

Truth be told, Glanville couldn’t have known how amazing Favre would be. No one did. Hell, the draft announcer mispronounced his name on national television. But, someone in the organization saw something in Brett enough to draft him high and put him on the roster. The only problem; they never gave him enough time to develop. Instead the Falcons lost game after game with loser QBs like Bobby Hebert and Jeff “draft bust” George. Way to go birds!

But, Green Bay took the chance. Their GM was even quoted as saying that the team would “sink or swim” with the Favre trade. I think they’ve been floating along just fine for quite some time. And, now, after all those years and talks of retirement or being traded, Brett Favre is most likely going to play in this years’ Superbowl. If you ask my friend Motorcycle, it’s a conspiracy not unlike that of the “John Elway – Superstar QB or Evidence of a Huge Conspiracy Brought About by the NFL and Believed by Countless NFL fans” that he often speaks of.

I’ve tried to stress this countless times: you have to take chances on candidates sometimes. I know it’s hard to take that deep breath, swallow and just go for it. But, sometimes you end up getting a Brett Favre out of it. Sometimes you get that superstar Account Exec or Media Sup that turns your agency upside down and shakes all the loose change out of it. You get the money saver, the glue that holds the team together… the “jellyfish” candidate (if you would’ve read any of my blogs, you’d know what that means!). All it takes is a chance for some of these cats. And, they need it! They’re unknown and treading water in a sea of anonymity. But here’s the thing, they’re really fantastic at what they do. No one knows it yet, but they’re the new badass in town! And, usually they can be yours for nothing more than a fair salary and a little bit of love. Don’t you want to get out there and find your Brett Favre? Actually, I’ll do you a favor; I’ll find ‘em for ya! ‘Cause that’s just the way I am beeesch!

Wow, that was the longest set-up story for a blog ever. I’m some kind of recruiting genius or something!

“Stupidity has a certain charm – ignorance does not!”
Frank Zappa

[tags]Bret Favre, Candidate, Agency, Media Sup, Hiring Revolution[/tags]