Obligatory Sports Post

A Bidwill concerned about the family name? Thats the sense that the Republic conveys in their piece about Cardinals executive Michael Bidwill.

Michael Bidwill is 40, went to his first Cardinals training camp in Lake Forest, Ill., when he was 4 or 5 and was a ball boy at 9. In all that time, the Cardinals have had 11 winning seasons and one playoff victory. That track record earned Bill Bidwill the notoriety of being one of the worst owners in professional sports. Growing up, Michael, the second oldest of five children, heard the comments about his dad and the team, and he admits they hurt."

But I wouldn't say I let it hurt too much," he says. "It hurts in the right ways - it motivates me, but it doesn't discourage me."

He says that in a pleasant voice over breakfast in a restaurant just a few hundred yards from where he parked his plane. That voice should not fool you, those close to him say, because it's impossible to exaggerate how important it is to Bidwill to change the way people view his family.

"It's personal with him," says Rod Graves, the team's vice president for football operations. "It's not only the football team his family owns, but it's his family's name."

It's time for the organization to put-up or shut-up at this point. Two consecutive well-run drafts have Denny Green poised on the verge of something very good. If Bidwill wants perceptions to change, then the results on the field need to change.

I give them credit because it's obvious that they are working. Ultimately though, legacies are built with acts not just intentions. Put a successful team on the field and things will turn in time.