With the annual “March Madness” of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments about to get underway, I’m sure you are all furiously researching the odds of who will win and filling out your brackets for the home, office or friend pool. It’s become probably one of the most popular and collective sports activities next to watching the Super Bowl.

You can just about guarantee I’ll have at least one pool filled out and sitting on my counter as I wait to see who wins and loses and whether or not the champion I’ve chosen gets knocked out early or makes it to the Final Four. This year, I actually have to confess I filled out five of the doggone things. I went with some conventional picks as winners in some and on a couple I just went crazy and chose a bunch of long shots. Seems like you just never know how the tournaments are going to shake out.

I hope you all get the win! Unless you are in the same pool as me, then I hope you get second! :)

The tournament reminds me of an old saying I’ve heard from more famous coaches than I can count. “Are you playing for the name on the front of the jersey or the one on the back?” Simple. Yet profound.

I guarantee you the team that wins the NCAA Men’s or Women’s tournaments will coalesce around playing for the team on the front. The teams that simply can’t put it together and make their way through the brackets, inevitably have too many players focused on playing for the name on the back. Their own. Because they’re selfish and inconsiderate and refuse to see the bigger picture. I have yet to see a single individual succeed in winning a basketball tournament by themselves.

The same is true in politics. In fact, it’s probably more relevant. Unfortunately too many of our political leaders run for office, take our donations, then go to Washington and vote based solely on their desire for re-election money rather than voting for the needs and wishes of their constituents. The idea of working together, as a team, to make our country stronger, appears to be a foreign concept if not a foreign language to our leaders.

Too often today “we the people” are left scratching our heads as “they the leaders” are focused on fattening their wallets and fanning the flames of partisan bickering. Too often we are left holding the bag when elected officials are making promises without concern for what it all means for our future. We’re living on borrowed time folks. While our leaders may sometimes think it’s the case, last I checked, money still does not grow on trees.

If the regulatory decisions and increased pressure on our industry hasn’t hit you yet, count yourself lucky. Whether it’s insurance, banking, logistics, payment processing, compliance, exports/imports or any other major component of our shooting sports businesses, make no mistake, we are in a fight for the future. They want to control what you say, what you do, what you make and how you tell your story. It’s undemocratic and it’s un-American.

So, as we work our way through this critical election year, when all of these men and women will be asking for our votes and your money, ask yourself, whose team are they on? Are they on your side? Are they focused on the priorities of the entire American team? Or, as so many seem to be,  are they focused on things important only to themselves or their political party.

You may have seen that NASGW recently made a donation to the NSSF’s new Protect Liberty Political Action Committee (PAC). With all that’s happening (or in many cases, not happening) in our political world, we in the shooting sports industry need to focus our effort and attention on helping to elect strong advocates for the Second Amendment. I hope that you and your company will consider offering your support and financial resources to the Protect Liberty PAC and other worthy efforts. We’ve got to strongly support groups and causes that will help put people who share our beliefs in important positions. We’ve got to be playing for the name on the front… not the one on the back.

Until next time,