‘Lombardi’ premiering Saturday on HBO

Published 4:00 am Thursday, December 9, 2010

REASON TO WATCH: Bio of pro football’s greatest coach.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: “Winning isn’t everything — it’s the only thing,” and it pretty much was the only thing after 1959, when Vince Lombardi arrived as head coach in Green Bay, Wis., leading the Packers to championships in 1961, ’62 and ’65, and wins in the first two Super Bowls (’67 and ’68). This documentary follows Lombardi from his days as a successful high school football coach, through the glory years in Wisconsin.

MY SAY: There are some people who actually think winning isn’t everything, and it is obvious that those people are not football fans. Winning was the single-minded dedication to this principle that has kept the name Lombardi so firmly affixed to the popular imagination.

But the problem with pithy, powerful and rather forbidding catchphrases is that they tend to obscure the humanity of the person who said them. Lombardi’s family and team loved him more than they feared him, and were inspired by his allegiance to the basics, his basics — hard work, loyalty, dedication. Maybe Lombardi has a little something to say to all of us.