or the folks who weren't in the meeting rooms and on the practice field, I would tell you the story of how Coach Lombardi approached us when he first came to Green Bay. I had already been there for three seasons, and we had not had much success.

His charisma, his manner was very, very impressive. One of the first things he said was, "We're going to RELENTLESSLY pursue perfection -- even though we know full well that we won't catch it, because nothing is perfect." Put the "relentlessly" in capital letters because that's how he said it.

There was just a magnetism in that session that was overwhelming. He was a tough and demanding individual and, because I came from a military family, I was loving that. We were so well prepared in how we approached everything that, when it came down to the game, it was going to work -- or you got down to time where it needed to work.

At the same time, he was very fair and objective. One time in my first or second year, he just chewed my butt out in a big group meeting. I had made some errors, some small things, but he really got into me. Later that day, I asked permission to see him. I said to him, "I know I made some mistakes, but the next time I do that, I would ask you respectfully to do it in the privacy of this office. I have to lead these men, and I can't do it to the full extent if you're undermining me in front of them."

Well, he looked at me and he apologized and said, "It will never happen again." And, nope, it never did.

Bart Starr  wrote: