ALWAYS BE IN PURSUIT

"The second you think you've

arrived, someone passes you.

You have to always be in pursuit."

-Joe Torre

A "LITTLE" CHANGE CAN MAKE A "BIG" DIFFERENCE

The following comes from my Ron White ezine newsletter:

I love baseball.

I love going to a game alone, with friends or watching it on TV. I can talk baseball for hours, and even reading about it is interesting for me. Therefore, it should be no surprise that I’ve played on a softball team. I am a decent fielder; however, I take tremendous pride in my hitting. One season, there was only one at-bat that I did not get on base. In other words, I either received a walk or made a hit 29 out of 30 at-bats. At the risk of sounding boastful, that is an extremely impressive statistic!

However, as sometimes occurs in every aspect of life, I went into a slump the very next season. During this season, I went six consecutive at-bats without a hit or a walk. I even struck out once swinging! It was very frustrating for me. I quickly became the worst hitter on the team. I was embarrassed and didn’t know what to do, and then I remembered Ernie Banks....

Ernie played baseball in the 1950s, and he lightened his bat by 3 ounces. He went from hitting 19 home runs to 45 home runs—all because of 3 ounces! So I took a cue from Ernie Banks and I lightened my bat by 3 ounces. It was amazing! I began clobbering the ball all over the field. I finished the season on a hitting tear.

How much is 3 ounces? Very little—but also a lot. Is your life in a slump? If it is, my guess is that you don’t need a major overhaul. Ninety-five percent of the time, dramatic changes can be seen with just minor tweaking. The difference between $50,000 and $500,000 a year may be the result of minor improvements. If you are not getting your desired result, ask yourself, “Is there anything that I can change just a little in my daily routine to see dramatic results?” Perhaps, a 20-minute daily workout, better time management, reading a book a week or some other idea.

Sometimes a small change is all that it takes. You may be surprised how much 3 ounces is!

IT'S ABOUT THE "TEAM"

"Everyone outside our locker room things that I'm the premier guy, but inside here we're all one equal group and that's how we approach it. That makes it easier for all of us...whoever's on that floor together, we're playing for each other, so it's not just me or Russell or Jeff, it's Kevin Ollie and Etan Thomas, Serge Ibacka -- its everyone on this team and that's how we look at it."

-Kevin Durant

WHAT BILL PARCELLS LOOKS FOR IN DRAFTING A QUARTERBACK

From Smartfootball.com comes Bill Parcells' four rules for drafting a quarterback:

1. He must be a senior, because you need time and maturity to develop into a good professional quarterback.

2. He must be a graduate, because you want someone who takes his responsibilities seriously.

3. He must be a three-year starter, because you need to make sure his success wasn’t ephemeral and that he has lived as “the guy” for some period of time.

4. He must have at least 23 wins, because the big passing numbers must come in the context of winning games.

Blatant Homerism also notes that of the seven quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl in the 2000s, five — Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning and Trent Dilfer — met all four requirements when drafted.

Check out article at: http://smartfootball.com/

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

I wonderful piece on the importance of attitude from Jim Rohn:

The process of human change begins within us. We all have tremendous potential. We all desire good results from our efforts. Most of us are willing to work hard and to pay the price that success and happiness demand.

Each of us has the ability to put our unique human potential into action and to acquire a desired result. But the one thing that determines the level of our potential—that produces the intensity of our activity and predicts the quality of the result we receive—is our attitude.

Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control.

No one else “makes us angry.” We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude. What someone else may have done is irrelevant. We choose, not they. They merely put our attitude to a test. If we select a volatile attitude by becoming hostile, angry, jealous or suspicious, then we have failed the test. If we condemn ourselves by believing that we are unworthy, then again, we have failed the test.

If we care at all about ourselves, then we must accept full responsibility for our own feelings. We must learn to guard against those feelings that have the capacity to lead our attitude down the wrong path and to strengthen those feelings that can lead us confidently into a better future.

If we want to receive the rewards the future holds in trust for us, then we must exercise the most important choice given to us as members of the human race by maintaining total dominion over our attitude. Our attitude is an asset, a treasure of great value, which must be protected accordingly. Beware of the vandals and thieves among us who would injure our positive attitude or seek to steal it away.

Having the right attitude is one of the basics that success requires. The combination of a sound personal philosophy and a positive attitude about ourselves and the world around us gives us an inner strength and a firm resolve that influences all the other areas of our existence.

THE HIGH FIVE EFFECT

Via Coach Eric Musselman comes a piece of an article from Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun about a common denominator of good teams and players that care:

It was only after it was explained to Chris Bosh that the touchiness was referring to his penchant for high fiving teammates or making some physical connection of congratulations after a free throw or good play that Bosh caught on.

“Oh yeah, I’m a big fan of the high five,” a relieved Bosh said. “It’s a little thing, but even coming out of games I try to give everybody on the bench a high five because it keeps everyone in the game ... High fives are cool. It’s fun.”

The study, which was referenced in a recent New York Times article, showed Bosh and Boston’s Kevin Garnett touch their teammates more than any other player in the NBA and that “with few exceptions, good teams tended to be touchier than bad ones.”

DON'T SPREAD THE EMBARRASSMENT

“Players always want to blame someone else or circumstances out of their control for their problems. It’s an embarrassing state. Many of today’s players don’t want to be embarrassed, so they spread the embarrassment. The coach didn’t play him enough or he didn’t get enough shots or he has a banged up finger. You find a way not to accept the blame. The better players learn to say, ‘I played bad, but tomorrow I’ll play better.’ A lot of younger players are afraid to admit they have bad nights, but everybody has bad nights and it’s how you rebound from those bad nights that dictates what kind of player you are going to be.”

—USA Today interview with Michael Jordan—