It was a perfect game. All the excitement and tension was kept in place right up to the suspended final second. Ah, the triumph of the underdog over both critics and impossible odds. The same was true of the commercials. Coach Tom Coughlin defied his own critics and earned his one (now reported to be four) year extension by coaching a previously undisciplined Giants to a breathtaking victory against the 18 and Doh! Patriots. And another corporate team leader silenced observant doubters, standing proudly on the sidelines as his team�s actions spoke for themselves. John Lasseter is going to Disneyland.

Where the Giants� Tom Coughlin was publicly criticized for being too interfering, with some players driven into retirement and publicly stating that it was Coughlin who drove them there, John Lasseter has been under similar scrutiny from Wall Street and Disney pundits. Some inside the Mouse House�s animation shop felt Lasseter�s �my way or the highway� approach was going to end up costing the company as much talent as the Sweeny Todd-like blind and (some felt) vengeful butchery of David �slasher� Stainton and Tom �the demon barber� Schumacher before him.

Coughlin took a lot of hits when Tiki Barber exited the field in 2005, claiming he and the team had been �outcoached�. Similarly, Lasseter endured a lot of criticism in his first year as head of Walt Disney Animation Studio (formerly Walt Disney Feature Animation), including being too tough and a little too eager to make an example of those who do not play by his rules, best exampled by the still embarrassing, poorly defended and painful dismissal of the gifted Chris Sanders. But both Coughlin and Lasseter showed last night that they�ve returned their trust to their players. Like Coughlin, Lasseter has heard loud and clear from his bosses and his team, and he�s responded. The special sixty second �Wall*E� trailer that aired late in the second half of last night�s Super Bowl broadcast is the best example yet as to why Pixar in general and Lasseter in specific were worth every dollar Disney spent to bring them into the fold.

Tom Coughlin took his first cue from his own players, who wanted more leadership on the field and less interference from the sidelines. Lasseter, so it appears, has done the same. He has also done exactly what the best coaches do in bringing home a winning season � keep the pressure on where it counts, know who to put in the game and when (although Sanders� departure still feels and looks foolish, Lasseter�s betting on Chris Williams is not that different from Coughlin�s gamble on Eli Manning who replaced the veteran Kurt Warner in the middle of the 2004 playoffs, and he was swift to fix mounting concerns over �Rapunzel� by adding a co-director, Dean Wellins), and he�s improved communications with his players. As a result, he�s built, or re-built a program where the players call more shots than the coach.

Lasseter is back in his best role, that of producer, and he�s hung up his directorial hat (at least for the duration). He�s also giving control back to the filmmakers, something that they hadn�t experienced under previous administrations, and something Lasseter looked like he was struggling with during his first year on the job. Word inside the shop is that he�s much more present and much, much more accessible. �Out of sight, out of mind� was the rule for a very long time at a Disney guided by executives like David Stainton and Tom Schumacher, the former being nearly invisible in his last year at Feature Animation, and the latter being out of hi�well, I�ll let you follow the idiom. Lasseter is now much more visible in Burbank than he was at the start, and the fear of his fickle fist is not as heavily felt. He�s proven that he means business, and his approach to fixing �troubled projects� was as much a surprise to the folks in Burbank as Coughlin�s infamous ban on beards and bling was to his Carolina Panthers. But �he�s a kinder and gentler John Lasseter�, as one insider put it, and it appears he�s pleased with his starting line-up, enough to leave them to do their work with full support from producers he trusts. He�s reported from every corner to be excited and very enthusiastic with the progress of �Rapunzel�, particularly since having paired animation-impresario-turned-director Glen Keane with Wellins. And he�s stayed well out of the way of Disney veterans Ron Clements and John Musker on �The Princess and the Frog� allowing the team to follow an organic path to the development of their story, and trusting the process. (Still unexplained, however, is the extended absence of Don Hahn, the most Oscar nominated Disney animation producer since Walt. Hahn�s proximity to Lasseter�s predecessors may have played a role here, and Lasseter�s unapologetic approach to shaping up the ship could have made Hahn reluctant to stick around for any more stormy sailing than he�d already endured.) The best evidence of change may have been the little taste of �Wall*E� last night, because it showed just how great a Lasseter dynasty could prove to be.