12.13.2009
WORDS OF WISDOM
Believe while others are doubting.
Plan while others are playing.
Study while others are sleeping.
Decide while others are delaying.
Prepare while others are daydreaming.
Begin while others are procrastinating.
Work while others are wishing.
Save while others are wasting.
Listen while others are talking.
Smile while others are frowning.
Commend while other are criticizing.
Persist while others are quitting.
Plan while others are playing.
Study while others are sleeping.
Decide while others are delaying.
Prepare while others are daydreaming.
Begin while others are procrastinating.
Work while others are wishing.
Save while others are wasting.
Listen while others are talking.
Smile while others are frowning.
Commend while other are criticizing.
Persist while others are quitting.
12.10.2009
PETE SAMPRAS - TED WILLIAMS
Ted Williams, the great Boston Red Sox slugger, once said that all he wanted out of life was that when he walked down the street, people would point and say, "There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived." Early in my career, I adopted a similar attitude. It may strike some as arrogant, but that's the kind of fuel you need to really reach the heights of achievement. There were times in my career when I would step up to the service line at a crucial moment in the heat of combat in a big match and pause to drink in the atmosphere. Fired up by adrenaline, I'd look toward the crowd and defiantly say to myself, "All right, everybody, now I'm going to show you who I really am!"
Most champions have that kind of aggression, that competitiveness. It comes with the territory. You don't survive long with a target on your back without it.
Most champions have that kind of aggression, that competitiveness. It comes with the territory. You don't survive long with a target on your back without it.
12.08.2009
STEVE NASH - LIVING SUGAR FREE
Last winter I was talking with a friend about what I needed to do to stay healthy out on the court. (At 35 it’s not getting any easier.) When the topic of nutrition came up, he urged me to go see his naturopath, Dr. Suneil Jain, here in Arizona. Now, I have tons of people looking after my well-being — coaches, doctors, trainers, my wife — so I’m always skeptical about seeking new advice. But I’m glad I went.
Jain pushes a whole-foods diet, one that consists of lots of raw fruits and vegetables. Okay, but I’m not giving up my steak dinner. Then Jain started talking about how important it is to cut sugar out of your diet. What? My first thought was that that would be impossible, but he made a convincing case. Jain told me that the average American eats about 92 grams of sugar a day, when the human body needs only about eight grams for energy, an amount that should always be satisfied through natural sugars from fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains. Refined sugars, he told me, impair your immune system. In fact, one teaspoon of refined sugar suppresses our white blood cells for up to six hours, making it a lot easier to catch a cold. I really can’t afford colds during the season, so that’s all I needed to hear: I cut out refined sugars cold turkey. No M&M’s at the movies, no energy bars, no Gatorade — I even had to be more careful when going to Jamba Juice, because sometimes they use sugar-filled juice from concentrate. After a few months, I stopped craving sugar entirely.
The difference was instantaneous: I slept better, I recovered from workouts more easily, and I had more energy. When we started training camp in September, we were doing two-a-days — four or five hours on the court — and I never got sore. Even more telling is the fact that this summer I traveled all over the world for my foundation, bringing team sports to war-ravaged countries. I was missing out on sleep and still training the whole time, but I never got sick. I’ve got to think it’s because sugar wasn’t wearing me down.
No doubt, this lifestyle is not easy — sugar gets sneaked into just about everything, so I have to pack my own food. But it doesn’t bother me, because the way I feel is so worth it.
Jain pushes a whole-foods diet, one that consists of lots of raw fruits and vegetables. Okay, but I’m not giving up my steak dinner. Then Jain started talking about how important it is to cut sugar out of your diet. What? My first thought was that that would be impossible, but he made a convincing case. Jain told me that the average American eats about 92 grams of sugar a day, when the human body needs only about eight grams for energy, an amount that should always be satisfied through natural sugars from fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains. Refined sugars, he told me, impair your immune system. In fact, one teaspoon of refined sugar suppresses our white blood cells for up to six hours, making it a lot easier to catch a cold. I really can’t afford colds during the season, so that’s all I needed to hear: I cut out refined sugars cold turkey. No M&M’s at the movies, no energy bars, no Gatorade — I even had to be more careful when going to Jamba Juice, because sometimes they use sugar-filled juice from concentrate. After a few months, I stopped craving sugar entirely.
The difference was instantaneous: I slept better, I recovered from workouts more easily, and I had more energy. When we started training camp in September, we were doing two-a-days — four or five hours on the court — and I never got sore. Even more telling is the fact that this summer I traveled all over the world for my foundation, bringing team sports to war-ravaged countries. I was missing out on sleep and still training the whole time, but I never got sick. I’ve got to think it’s because sugar wasn’t wearing me down.
No doubt, this lifestyle is not easy — sugar gets sneaked into just about everything, so I have to pack my own food. But it doesn’t bother me, because the way I feel is so worth it.
LEE TREVINO
Lee Trevino is out on the manicured grounds of his expansive French-colonial mansion in North Dallas when a visitor is admitted through the front gate. TAt the moment, he's thinking of doing the same to a beaver that has been taking chunks out of his property.
"All my life living around here, never seen a beaver," says Trevino, who turns 70 on Dec. 1. "I've been doing research on them, but it's been hard to find him. I know one thing: He never stops working. Tough little dude."
Trevino could have been describing himself, for no golfer has ever come farther on industriousness and grit. After picking cotton in Texas fields when he was 5 years old, dividing his golf baptism between the caddie yard and the range, beating all comers on a par-3 course with a taped-up Dr Pepper bottle, and then becoming a man in the Marines, Trevino joined the tour at 27, a folk hero in the making. In his second year he won the 1968 U.S. Open, the first of four times Jack Nicklaus finished second to Trevino in a major. Trevino would win 29 times, including six majors, on the PGA Tour. Amid the success, he lost two fortunes and then lost his game after being hit by lightning. But he fought back with a second act that included winning 29 more tournaments on the Champions Tour.
These days, Trevino plays only a few tournaments and shoots over par more than he's under, but he's more engaging and entertaining with fans than ever. His focus is on his wife of 26 years, Claudia, and their children, Olivia, 20, a drama major at Southern California, and Daniel, 17, who lives at home and is on track to play college lacrosse.
Golf Digest prompted Trevino's mercurial mind to reflect on such things as his Dickensian background, Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and occasional golf partners George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice. In the process, Trevino issued an impromptu manifesto on the state of golf. He also had a message for Paul Goydos, who in defending the current era of players opined that "there are 10 Lee Trevinos" on tour today.
"Tell him you were at my house," Trevino said with a smile, "and you tell him to send me the list of the 10 guys out there who have won six majors and 29 tournaments. Give him my address."
Golf Digest: What's the story on this house?
Lee Trevino: I was meant to be in this house. I grew up about five miles from here. I used to rabbit hunt around these creeks as a kid. This house was built in 1939, same year I was born. And we'd come down here, see this house, and we thought it was a castle. Never seen anything this big. Now I'm back to my roots.
Those roots included a lot of tough times. Is it hard for you to look back?
I never think of yesterday. Can't do anything about it. I'm a positive guy. When you really deep down look at it, we go to bed every night, get up every morning, stay here for 70 or 80 years, and then we die. What the hell are we doing? Claudia taught me the answer: Those two kids. To make them the best people, so they'll be productive, help others.
Have you left competitive golf behind, mentally?
Oh, yeah. I left that quite a while ago. When I realized I couldn't win, that took everything out of it.
What was the caddie yard like back then?
We had about 80 caddies at Glen Lakes Country Club. I lived right next to the course, across from the seventh hole, in a little house with my grandfather, my mother, my uncle and my two sisters. No running water, no electricity. There were a couple of white caddies, maybe three Mexican kids. Everyone else was black, all from Second Avenue, because that was the only place blacks could be in Dallas at the time. Sometimes, three or four of them would come over and sleep on our porch so we'd be first off in the morning.
My mentor at Glen Lakes was a guy called Cryin' Jessie. I took care of him until he died about four years ago. He was a caddiemaster around here forever, but when I was 8 years old, he took me under his wing, taught me how to caddie, kept me out of trouble, made sure nobody messed with me.
You were a good caddie, and you beat the other kids in golf. Did it occur to you that you might have special ability?
Hell, no. When you're poor, you know nothing about the future, you know nothing about the world, nothing that goes on outside 300 yards around you. S
But you were good at everything you did?
I thought that was just the way you were supposed to be. In those days, nobody ever told me "Good job" or gave me a compliment. You did it until you did it right.
Why were the Marines so important to you?
The Marine Corps was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Back when I went in, they tested to see if you were tough enough to be a Marine, and to stay there. So they would beat you up all the time. The drill instructors would hit you with sticks, and they'd kick you, they'd knock you down. I got hit in the jaw the first 15 minutes I was there. One of the drill instructors said I wasn't being still. We were standing at attention, and it was the receiving hall in San Diego. And the guy hit me right in the mouth with his fist. Knocked me down. I got back up and just stood there, at attention. It wasn't going to discourage me. I'd been hit harder than that at home.
The thing is, I was looking for discipline. A lot of kids today who end up getting in trouble and going to jail, they actually want discipline. See, discipline is actually attention, you know what I'm saying? That's what I lacked. If they told me I had to go back in the Marines now, hell, I'd love it.
Yet you dropped out of school in eighth grade. Why?
I was pretty smart, but I had no support cast. Nothing at home and nothing at school. Everybody was from a farm, and if you didn't come to school, nobody gave a damn.
When you got out of the Marine Corps, golf was your main thing. At the time did you have a long-range plan?
No, I didn't know anything about the tour or that you could make a living playing golf. I saw Jack Nicklaus at the 1963 PGA that he won at the Dallas Athletic Club, but I had never heard of him. I was just trying to beat the guys I played with at Tenison Park. I wasn't winning much money, but I was paying rent and having a good life. I think the most I ever won in one day was less than $100.
It was success to me, but it made me like Dracula: Once I tasted a little bit of blood, I wanted more. I guess I was smart enough to understand that if I was going to get more, I was going to have to give more. Getting out there and doing it. Mastering it. Figuring it out on your own. And the more I practiced, the more I could see the improvement. In leaps and bounds.
How so?
Because I learned how to teach myself. When you're doing something really well, if you don't have it on film where you can see it, you'd better be able to close your eyes and see it, so you can dissect why you're doing that. I didn't have any film, so my stuff was all in my mind. See, if something happened to me in the middle of a tournament, I didn't have to call Butch Harmon or somebody to say, "What am I doing wrong?"
When I learned a shot, I wanted to know why. And I would test things in practice until I knew exactly why. That's how I earned my confidence.
What's so remarkable is that because you stayed around Dallas, you never really tested your game against the best players. You got out on tour by qualifying for the 1967 U.S. Open at Baltusrol and finishing fifth. As soon as you did, you had great success, ending up as the Rookie of the Year. Were you surprised?
I didn't know what to think. For a long time I had this doubt that I belonged because of where I came from. And I would hear a lot of pros say I couldn't last with that swing. My safety net that I fell back on was work.
What's your main memory of winning the 1968 U.S. Open at Oak Hill?
Oak Hill, it was kind of like playing at home in Dallas. No one noticed me; no one cared. They actually thought I was with the grounds crew. When I finished playing the first day after shooting 69, I sat by the practice green in a golf cart drinking a beer, and not one person came by to say hello, how you doing, nice round or anything. They had no idea who I was. Hell, I had only 13 clubs in my bag -- I carried only one wedge.
Winning the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion, beating Nicklaus in a playoff, changed your self-image?
That was the pinnacle, the turning point of my career. When I beat the best in the world -- not only tied him in four rounds but then beat him in a playoff -- that was when I actually believed in myself for the first time: 1971.
Jack says you were the toughest to play against head-to-head because he knew you were always going to be in the fairway. Could you sense he felt that way?
No question. That can wear on you. I didn't make a lot of mistakes. But really, it was reverse psychology. That's why I beat him. Because every time we'd lock horns, I know he was thinking, No way this guy should beat me. No way do I want to lose to this guy. And that's all he's thinking about. Me, I'm not thinking about anything. I'm not supposed to beat him.
How did you deal with tournament pressure?
Pressure was never really there for me. It was there, but it wasn't. Where I came from, and where I'd gotten, I was playing with house money.
You're close with comedian George Lopez.
George and I grew up a lot alike. His dad left him when he was, like, 1. It wasn't a happy childhood. And George has kind of been like me, went on his own for most of his life. Where I was playing and hitting balls on the public courses, he was doing comedy on the street corners and the little bars.
We're currently witnessing the greatest sustained run in history. You're a big fan of Tiger Woods. Why?
This guy is it. He is I-T. He is No. 1. Nicklaus was my man. I always loved Nicklaus' game. But Tiger, I study him. I love the way he plays.
We've both done the same things. Played golf, hit balls. Win a tournament, then out there Monday morning pounding them sumbitches. Win another tournament, out there another Monday morning. Messing with clubs, working on this, working on that. Finishing a practice session, going home and all of a sudden saying, "Oh, I just thought of something," and going right back out there. I did that a lot.
What was the thing you guys did better?
Because we learned the game differently, on bad grass and good grass and a lot of bad lies, we had more shots. When we got those manicured golf courses, the game seemed so easy. That's what happened to Johnny Miller when he'd go crazy low in the desert. So I don't think the best players are as complete today, simply because they didn't have to learn what we had to learn. Being a shotmaker was a forced necessity. Today's golf laboratory is sterile. It doesn't call for anything.
"All my life living around here, never seen a beaver," says Trevino, who turns 70 on Dec. 1. "I've been doing research on them, but it's been hard to find him. I know one thing: He never stops working. Tough little dude."
Trevino could have been describing himself, for no golfer has ever come farther on industriousness and grit. After picking cotton in Texas fields when he was 5 years old, dividing his golf baptism between the caddie yard and the range, beating all comers on a par-3 course with a taped-up Dr Pepper bottle, and then becoming a man in the Marines, Trevino joined the tour at 27, a folk hero in the making. In his second year he won the 1968 U.S. Open, the first of four times Jack Nicklaus finished second to Trevino in a major. Trevino would win 29 times, including six majors, on the PGA Tour. Amid the success, he lost two fortunes and then lost his game after being hit by lightning. But he fought back with a second act that included winning 29 more tournaments on the Champions Tour.
These days, Trevino plays only a few tournaments and shoots over par more than he's under, but he's more engaging and entertaining with fans than ever. His focus is on his wife of 26 years, Claudia, and their children, Olivia, 20, a drama major at Southern California, and Daniel, 17, who lives at home and is on track to play college lacrosse.
Golf Digest prompted Trevino's mercurial mind to reflect on such things as his Dickensian background, Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and occasional golf partners George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice. In the process, Trevino issued an impromptu manifesto on the state of golf. He also had a message for Paul Goydos, who in defending the current era of players opined that "there are 10 Lee Trevinos" on tour today.
"Tell him you were at my house," Trevino said with a smile, "and you tell him to send me the list of the 10 guys out there who have won six majors and 29 tournaments. Give him my address."
Golf Digest: What's the story on this house?
Lee Trevino: I was meant to be in this house. I grew up about five miles from here. I used to rabbit hunt around these creeks as a kid. This house was built in 1939, same year I was born. And we'd come down here, see this house, and we thought it was a castle. Never seen anything this big. Now I'm back to my roots.
Those roots included a lot of tough times. Is it hard for you to look back?
I never think of yesterday. Can't do anything about it. I'm a positive guy. When you really deep down look at it, we go to bed every night, get up every morning, stay here for 70 or 80 years, and then we die. What the hell are we doing? Claudia taught me the answer: Those two kids. To make them the best people, so they'll be productive, help others.
Have you left competitive golf behind, mentally?
Oh, yeah. I left that quite a while ago. When I realized I couldn't win, that took everything out of it.
What was the caddie yard like back then?
We had about 80 caddies at Glen Lakes Country Club. I lived right next to the course, across from the seventh hole, in a little house with my grandfather, my mother, my uncle and my two sisters. No running water, no electricity. There were a couple of white caddies, maybe three Mexican kids. Everyone else was black, all from Second Avenue, because that was the only place blacks could be in Dallas at the time. Sometimes, three or four of them would come over and sleep on our porch so we'd be first off in the morning.
My mentor at Glen Lakes was a guy called Cryin' Jessie. I took care of him until he died about four years ago. He was a caddiemaster around here forever, but when I was 8 years old, he took me under his wing, taught me how to caddie, kept me out of trouble, made sure nobody messed with me.
You were a good caddie, and you beat the other kids in golf. Did it occur to you that you might have special ability?
Hell, no. When you're poor, you know nothing about the future, you know nothing about the world, nothing that goes on outside 300 yards around you. S
But you were good at everything you did?
I thought that was just the way you were supposed to be. In those days, nobody ever told me "Good job" or gave me a compliment. You did it until you did it right.
Why were the Marines so important to you?
The Marine Corps was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Back when I went in, they tested to see if you were tough enough to be a Marine, and to stay there. So they would beat you up all the time. The drill instructors would hit you with sticks, and they'd kick you, they'd knock you down. I got hit in the jaw the first 15 minutes I was there. One of the drill instructors said I wasn't being still. We were standing at attention, and it was the receiving hall in San Diego. And the guy hit me right in the mouth with his fist. Knocked me down. I got back up and just stood there, at attention. It wasn't going to discourage me. I'd been hit harder than that at home.
The thing is, I was looking for discipline. A lot of kids today who end up getting in trouble and going to jail, they actually want discipline. See, discipline is actually attention, you know what I'm saying? That's what I lacked. If they told me I had to go back in the Marines now, hell, I'd love it.
Yet you dropped out of school in eighth grade. Why?
I was pretty smart, but I had no support cast. Nothing at home and nothing at school. Everybody was from a farm, and if you didn't come to school, nobody gave a damn.
When you got out of the Marine Corps, golf was your main thing. At the time did you have a long-range plan?
No, I didn't know anything about the tour or that you could make a living playing golf. I saw Jack Nicklaus at the 1963 PGA that he won at the Dallas Athletic Club, but I had never heard of him. I was just trying to beat the guys I played with at Tenison Park. I wasn't winning much money, but I was paying rent and having a good life. I think the most I ever won in one day was less than $100.
It was success to me, but it made me like Dracula: Once I tasted a little bit of blood, I wanted more. I guess I was smart enough to understand that if I was going to get more, I was going to have to give more. Getting out there and doing it. Mastering it. Figuring it out on your own. And the more I practiced, the more I could see the improvement. In leaps and bounds.
How so?
Because I learned how to teach myself. When you're doing something really well, if you don't have it on film where you can see it, you'd better be able to close your eyes and see it, so you can dissect why you're doing that. I didn't have any film, so my stuff was all in my mind. See, if something happened to me in the middle of a tournament, I didn't have to call Butch Harmon or somebody to say, "What am I doing wrong?"
When I learned a shot, I wanted to know why. And I would test things in practice until I knew exactly why. That's how I earned my confidence.
What's so remarkable is that because you stayed around Dallas, you never really tested your game against the best players. You got out on tour by qualifying for the 1967 U.S. Open at Baltusrol and finishing fifth. As soon as you did, you had great success, ending up as the Rookie of the Year. Were you surprised?
I didn't know what to think. For a long time I had this doubt that I belonged because of where I came from. And I would hear a lot of pros say I couldn't last with that swing. My safety net that I fell back on was work.
What's your main memory of winning the 1968 U.S. Open at Oak Hill?
Oak Hill, it was kind of like playing at home in Dallas. No one noticed me; no one cared. They actually thought I was with the grounds crew. When I finished playing the first day after shooting 69, I sat by the practice green in a golf cart drinking a beer, and not one person came by to say hello, how you doing, nice round or anything. They had no idea who I was. Hell, I had only 13 clubs in my bag -- I carried only one wedge.
Winning the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion, beating Nicklaus in a playoff, changed your self-image?
That was the pinnacle, the turning point of my career. When I beat the best in the world -- not only tied him in four rounds but then beat him in a playoff -- that was when I actually believed in myself for the first time: 1971.
Jack says you were the toughest to play against head-to-head because he knew you were always going to be in the fairway. Could you sense he felt that way?
No question. That can wear on you. I didn't make a lot of mistakes. But really, it was reverse psychology. That's why I beat him. Because every time we'd lock horns, I know he was thinking, No way this guy should beat me. No way do I want to lose to this guy. And that's all he's thinking about. Me, I'm not thinking about anything. I'm not supposed to beat him.
How did you deal with tournament pressure?
Pressure was never really there for me. It was there, but it wasn't. Where I came from, and where I'd gotten, I was playing with house money.
You're close with comedian George Lopez.
George and I grew up a lot alike. His dad left him when he was, like, 1. It wasn't a happy childhood. And George has kind of been like me, went on his own for most of his life. Where I was playing and hitting balls on the public courses, he was doing comedy on the street corners and the little bars.
We're currently witnessing the greatest sustained run in history. You're a big fan of Tiger Woods. Why?
This guy is it. He is I-T. He is No. 1. Nicklaus was my man. I always loved Nicklaus' game. But Tiger, I study him. I love the way he plays.
We've both done the same things. Played golf, hit balls. Win a tournament, then out there Monday morning pounding them sumbitches. Win another tournament, out there another Monday morning. Messing with clubs, working on this, working on that. Finishing a practice session, going home and all of a sudden saying, "Oh, I just thought of something," and going right back out there. I did that a lot.
What was the thing you guys did better?
Because we learned the game differently, on bad grass and good grass and a lot of bad lies, we had more shots. When we got those manicured golf courses, the game seemed so easy. That's what happened to Johnny Miller when he'd go crazy low in the desert. So I don't think the best players are as complete today, simply because they didn't have to learn what we had to learn. Being a shotmaker was a forced necessity. Today's golf laboratory is sterile. It doesn't call for anything.
12.06.2009
WHITE AMERICAN BASKETBALL PLAYERS
Click on the link below for the special from Outside The Lines...
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4718857&categoryid=2459788
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4718857&categoryid=2459788
12.05.2009
THE ANTELOPE AND THE LION
Every morning when the sun rises in Africa the antelope and lion wake up and get ready for their day.
The antelope is a herbivore and knows that his food is provided for him. He eats some grass and berries off trees but he is always tentative and looking over his shoulder because he knows somewhere out there the lion is roaming the land.
The lion is a carnivore. When he wakes up each morning he doesn’t know where his next meal is going to come from. As he roams the land he is always on the prowl and always on the attack fighting for survival. He is a natural born killer.
When you wake up each morning are you the antelope or the lion?
If you’re the antelope be careful because someday the lion is going to get you.
The antelope is a herbivore and knows that his food is provided for him. He eats some grass and berries off trees but he is always tentative and looking over his shoulder because he knows somewhere out there the lion is roaming the land.
The lion is a carnivore. When he wakes up each morning he doesn’t know where his next meal is going to come from. As he roams the land he is always on the prowl and always on the attack fighting for survival. He is a natural born killer.
When you wake up each morning are you the antelope or the lion?
If you’re the antelope be careful because someday the lion is going to get you.
10 WAYS TO LEAD
1. TAKE THE TOUGH JOBS
The ability to accomplish difficult tasks earns others' respect very quickly
2. PAY YOUR DUES
You have to pay the price. You will find that everything in life exacts a price, and you will have to decide whether the price is worth the prize.
3. WORK IN OBSCURITY
If people paid their dues and gave their best in obscurity, ego is usually not a problem.
4. SUCCEED WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE
Good leaders find a way to succeed with people who are hard to work with. Why do they do it? Because it benefits the organization and team.
5. PUT YOURSELF ON THE LINE
You cannot play it safe and stand out at the same time. If you are going to take a risk, you need to put yourself on the line.
6. ADMIT FAULTS BUT NEVER MAKE EXCUSES
You will have greater crdibility with your leader if you admit your shortcomings and refrain from making excuses.
7. DO MORE THAN EXPECTED
If you do more than is expected of you, you stand out, and often there can be wonderful results.
8. BE THE FIRST TO STEP UP AND HELP
When you help someone on the team, you help the whole team. And when you help the whole team, you're helping your leaders.
9. PERFORM TASKS THAT ARE "NOT THEIR JOB"
A good leaders goal is to get the job done, to fulfill the vision of the organization and its leader. That often means doing whatever it takes.
10. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average man, you are not cut out for positions at the top.
The ability to accomplish difficult tasks earns others' respect very quickly
2. PAY YOUR DUES
You have to pay the price. You will find that everything in life exacts a price, and you will have to decide whether the price is worth the prize.
3. WORK IN OBSCURITY
If people paid their dues and gave their best in obscurity, ego is usually not a problem.
4. SUCCEED WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE
Good leaders find a way to succeed with people who are hard to work with. Why do they do it? Because it benefits the organization and team.
5. PUT YOURSELF ON THE LINE
You cannot play it safe and stand out at the same time. If you are going to take a risk, you need to put yourself on the line.
6. ADMIT FAULTS BUT NEVER MAKE EXCUSES
You will have greater crdibility with your leader if you admit your shortcomings and refrain from making excuses.
7. DO MORE THAN EXPECTED
If you do more than is expected of you, you stand out, and often there can be wonderful results.
8. BE THE FIRST TO STEP UP AND HELP
When you help someone on the team, you help the whole team. And when you help the whole team, you're helping your leaders.
9. PERFORM TASKS THAT ARE "NOT THEIR JOB"
A good leaders goal is to get the job done, to fulfill the vision of the organization and its leader. That often means doing whatever it takes.
10. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average man, you are not cut out for positions at the top.
TIM TEBOW - SELFLESSNESS IS COOL
Every college sport, football included, is in constant recycling mode. Stars come. And they go, bound to a four- or five-year clock. New ones come, and they go.
But in Tim Tebow's case, the routine isn't … well, so routine.
A week ago, his coach at Florida was moved to tears as the senior quarterback approached his final game at home, against Florida State. Countless cameras and cellphones flashed as Tebow ran through his final series of plays. He and the Gators won big, preserving their No. 1 BCS ranking.
Tebow has won a Heisman Trophy. Depending in part on how he performs Saturday, he could become the second player in the award's 75-year history to collect a second. He owns two national championship rings, and beckoning in Pasadena is a shot at a remarkable third in four seasons.
That would seem a fitting denouement for a rare 22-year-old whose talent, virtue and timing — have rendered him perhaps the most exalted college athlete of all time.
Vince Dooley once coached for 25 Hall of Fame seasons at Georgia and has seen his fair share of talented football players and this is what he had to say about Tebow, “Athleticism. Leadership. Charity work. His faith. You name it. I've never seen anybody who had all that in one package," he says.
"That's what puts him in a class by himself."
The son of missionaries, Tebow inherited his mother's and father's religious devotion and social conscience. He goes on missions. He has spoken and prayed in prisons, in an orphanage, in a leper colony. He's a frequent hospital volunteer.
Taking his cue, Florida coach Urban Meyer and his family took a mission trip two summers ago, and Tebow's teammates have joined him in a charity fundraiser the last two years in which they compete in tire-flipping and other strongman events.
"It's almost like selflessness is now a cool thing," Meyer says of Tebow's impact on those around him.
Package that decency into the 6-3, 240-pound body of an elite athlete. Add instinct, natural leadership, an inextinguishable will to win — and not only the will but a knack for winning.
Tebow's record as a starter at Florida is 34-5. He and the Gators (12-0) carry a two-year, 22-game winning streak into their showdown with Alabama (12-0).
He doesn't duck the attention. "There are a lot of athletes out there with a lot of platforms and a lot of opportunities to influence a lot of people and, unfortunately, there aren't many who take advantage of it and use it in a positive manner," Tebow says. "That's very disappointing. They could have huge impact on kids' lives and people's lives and even on communities and states and countries."
He concedes, "There've been moments, there've been days, when you get tired, you get frustrated, you get exhausted. You want people to believe you're doing things for the right reason, but sometimes people just look at the negative. 'It's fake. Or it's this or that.' … That's when my faith really encourages me that everything happens for a reason and God has a plan."
Fire and devotion…
ESPN was apt in entitling a documentary of his 2005 senior season of football at Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, Fla., Tim Tebow: The Chosen One.
Tebow's presence has grown significantly since then. A Google search of his name delivers more than 600,000 entries. You can choose from nearly 2,500 Tebow-related links on YouTube. He has graced more Sports Illustrated covers — six in the last 16 months, sharing a seventh with two other players — than any other college athlete.
Last Saturday, after Tebow took the field against FSU and continued his tradition of inscribing a Bible verse on the glare-reducing black patches beneath his eyes, his chosen "Hebrews 12:1-2" was Google's third-most popular search term. When he cited "John 3:16" during the national championship game against Oklahoma last January, it was the day's No. 1-searched-for term.
He resonates nationally in a sport in which public interest tends to be regional. And his appeal transcends football.
When Tebow and Florida ran through their final practice of the past spring, Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean was seen scribbling notes to the side. He was in the area to recruit, he said, but he also wanted to see how the Gators coaches ran things. And he was fascinated with their quarterback.
"We used Tim in different video hits this year," Crean explained, "to show just toughness personified, doing whatever it takes, great leadership, never flinching in the pocket."
At Tennessee, budding women's basketball star Taber Spani points to Tebow as her role model. She was home-schooled as he was. Her Christian beliefs run deep, too, and the freshman guard from Lee's Summit, Mo., says Tebow's mission work inspires her to do the same.
Plus, "I love the fire he plays with," says Spani, the daughter of former Kansas State and Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Gary Spani. "It reminds me a lot of my dad when he played football. I think his spirit is contagious, and it spreads throughout the entire team as well as the fans. The way he leads his team is something I aspire to do here."
When he was a freshman and a backup to Chris Leak on the Florida team that won the 2006 national championship, Tebow commonly saw the field in short-yardage and goal-line situations, running for eight touchdowns and throwing for five more. By the time the Gators won it all again in 2008, Tebow was their centerpiece.
With a 66% completion rate, 84 TD passes and 15 interceptions in 53 career games, the left-hander is on pace to be the highest-rated passer in major-college history — his mathematical efficiency rating of 170.4 now bettering the record 168.9 set by Boise State's Ryan Dinwiddie from 2000 to 2003. Tebow also has piled up more total yardage (11,389) and been responsible for more touchdowns (140 passing and rushing) than any other player in SEC history.
"In terms of what he has accomplished and the character he's shown and the things he's done to make the world a better place and live up to his values, it's very impressive."
But in Tim Tebow's case, the routine isn't … well, so routine.
A week ago, his coach at Florida was moved to tears as the senior quarterback approached his final game at home, against Florida State. Countless cameras and cellphones flashed as Tebow ran through his final series of plays. He and the Gators won big, preserving their No. 1 BCS ranking.
Tebow has won a Heisman Trophy. Depending in part on how he performs Saturday, he could become the second player in the award's 75-year history to collect a second. He owns two national championship rings, and beckoning in Pasadena is a shot at a remarkable third in four seasons.
That would seem a fitting denouement for a rare 22-year-old whose talent, virtue and timing — have rendered him perhaps the most exalted college athlete of all time.
Vince Dooley once coached for 25 Hall of Fame seasons at Georgia and has seen his fair share of talented football players and this is what he had to say about Tebow, “Athleticism. Leadership. Charity work. His faith. You name it. I've never seen anybody who had all that in one package," he says.
"That's what puts him in a class by himself."
The son of missionaries, Tebow inherited his mother's and father's religious devotion and social conscience. He goes on missions. He has spoken and prayed in prisons, in an orphanage, in a leper colony. He's a frequent hospital volunteer.
Taking his cue, Florida coach Urban Meyer and his family took a mission trip two summers ago, and Tebow's teammates have joined him in a charity fundraiser the last two years in which they compete in tire-flipping and other strongman events.
"It's almost like selflessness is now a cool thing," Meyer says of Tebow's impact on those around him.
Package that decency into the 6-3, 240-pound body of an elite athlete. Add instinct, natural leadership, an inextinguishable will to win — and not only the will but a knack for winning.
Tebow's record as a starter at Florida is 34-5. He and the Gators (12-0) carry a two-year, 22-game winning streak into their showdown with Alabama (12-0).
He doesn't duck the attention. "There are a lot of athletes out there with a lot of platforms and a lot of opportunities to influence a lot of people and, unfortunately, there aren't many who take advantage of it and use it in a positive manner," Tebow says. "That's very disappointing. They could have huge impact on kids' lives and people's lives and even on communities and states and countries."
He concedes, "There've been moments, there've been days, when you get tired, you get frustrated, you get exhausted. You want people to believe you're doing things for the right reason, but sometimes people just look at the negative. 'It's fake. Or it's this or that.' … That's when my faith really encourages me that everything happens for a reason and God has a plan."
Fire and devotion…
ESPN was apt in entitling a documentary of his 2005 senior season of football at Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, Fla., Tim Tebow: The Chosen One.
Tebow's presence has grown significantly since then. A Google search of his name delivers more than 600,000 entries. You can choose from nearly 2,500 Tebow-related links on YouTube. He has graced more Sports Illustrated covers — six in the last 16 months, sharing a seventh with two other players — than any other college athlete.
Last Saturday, after Tebow took the field against FSU and continued his tradition of inscribing a Bible verse on the glare-reducing black patches beneath his eyes, his chosen "Hebrews 12:1-2" was Google's third-most popular search term. When he cited "John 3:16" during the national championship game against Oklahoma last January, it was the day's No. 1-searched-for term.
He resonates nationally in a sport in which public interest tends to be regional. And his appeal transcends football.
When Tebow and Florida ran through their final practice of the past spring, Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean was seen scribbling notes to the side. He was in the area to recruit, he said, but he also wanted to see how the Gators coaches ran things. And he was fascinated with their quarterback.
"We used Tim in different video hits this year," Crean explained, "to show just toughness personified, doing whatever it takes, great leadership, never flinching in the pocket."
At Tennessee, budding women's basketball star Taber Spani points to Tebow as her role model. She was home-schooled as he was. Her Christian beliefs run deep, too, and the freshman guard from Lee's Summit, Mo., says Tebow's mission work inspires her to do the same.
Plus, "I love the fire he plays with," says Spani, the daughter of former Kansas State and Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Gary Spani. "It reminds me a lot of my dad when he played football. I think his spirit is contagious, and it spreads throughout the entire team as well as the fans. The way he leads his team is something I aspire to do here."
When he was a freshman and a backup to Chris Leak on the Florida team that won the 2006 national championship, Tebow commonly saw the field in short-yardage and goal-line situations, running for eight touchdowns and throwing for five more. By the time the Gators won it all again in 2008, Tebow was their centerpiece.
With a 66% completion rate, 84 TD passes and 15 interceptions in 53 career games, the left-hander is on pace to be the highest-rated passer in major-college history — his mathematical efficiency rating of 170.4 now bettering the record 168.9 set by Boise State's Ryan Dinwiddie from 2000 to 2003. Tebow also has piled up more total yardage (11,389) and been responsible for more touchdowns (140 passing and rushing) than any other player in SEC history.
"In terms of what he has accomplished and the character he's shown and the things he's done to make the world a better place and live up to his values, it's very impressive."
KOBE - GAME WINNER
Down by two with 3.2 seconds left, Kobe Bryant merely wanted to drive for a tying basket. His foot slipped when he got the ball, and Miami’s defense forced Bryant to throw up an off-balance 3-point shot.
Yes, everything went wrong on the Los Angeles Lakers’ final possession but Kobe somehow made it all right.
Bryant banked in his final shot over Dwyane Wade’s outstretched arm at the buzzer, ending the superstars’ sensational duel and sending the Lakers to their eighth straight victory, 108-107.
Bryant scored 33 points, but his falling bank shot from straightaway likely will rank among the most incredible highlights of his career.
“It was the luckiest shot I’ve ever taken, by far,” Bryant said.
“A great player hits an unbelievable shot. There are a couple of guys around the league that make big shots, but there ain’t many, and he’s one of them,” said Wade.
The matchup between U.S. Olympic teammates was the center of an action-packed game.
Neither star was perfect, Bryant shot an air ball on a potential game tying shot with 24 seconds to play.
After Wade put Miami ahead 102-100 with 49 seconds left on an awkward one-handed shot from the baseline, Miami appeared to sew it up when Wade’s two free throws put the Heat up 106-102 with 9.3 seconds to play.
“I only get a chance to play against them twice a year, and I take on the challenge and I enjoy it,” Wade said. “I enjoy the competitive nature that I know Kobe’s going to bring every night, and I’m going to bring the same things. I think he understands that as well, so it was a good battle going back and forth. He got the last laugh this time.”
Yes, everything went wrong on the Los Angeles Lakers’ final possession but Kobe somehow made it all right.
Bryant banked in his final shot over Dwyane Wade’s outstretched arm at the buzzer, ending the superstars’ sensational duel and sending the Lakers to their eighth straight victory, 108-107.
Bryant scored 33 points, but his falling bank shot from straightaway likely will rank among the most incredible highlights of his career.
“It was the luckiest shot I’ve ever taken, by far,” Bryant said.
“A great player hits an unbelievable shot. There are a couple of guys around the league that make big shots, but there ain’t many, and he’s one of them,” said Wade.
The matchup between U.S. Olympic teammates was the center of an action-packed game.
Neither star was perfect, Bryant shot an air ball on a potential game tying shot with 24 seconds to play.
After Wade put Miami ahead 102-100 with 49 seconds left on an awkward one-handed shot from the baseline, Miami appeared to sew it up when Wade’s two free throws put the Heat up 106-102 with 9.3 seconds to play.
“I only get a chance to play against them twice a year, and I take on the challenge and I enjoy it,” Wade said. “I enjoy the competitive nature that I know Kobe’s going to bring every night, and I’m going to bring the same things. I think he understands that as well, so it was a good battle going back and forth. He got the last laugh this time.”
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