Beating the Odds
Are You Great?
Spring has brought the usual array of new baseball books, and one of them should catch the eye of coaches everywhere.
It’s called “The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent and IQ is Wrong,” by David Shenk.
The content shouldn’t come as any surprise if you’ve read books like “The [...]
Being the Best
We just finished two weeks of watching athletes who fought to be the best. Now March Madness gives us another example.
Tina Charles recently became UConn’s career leader in scoring and rebounds and stands as quite possibly the best player in the country entering the tournament season.
“She told me when she came to Connecticut, that she [...]
Problems and Possibilities
Every problem disguises a possibility.
And so it is with all the snowstorms, which, among other things, have complicated life for baseball and softball coaches around large parts of the United States.
Fields are covered with snow. One coach in Virginia told me he doesn’t expect to even see green until April.
Even so, the schedule will not [...]
Canada’s New Hero
I first heard of Sidney Crosby years ago when a sports writer friend mentioned a young man who was supposed to be the next Wayne Gretzky. Hockey insiders had even anointed him “The Next One.”
Now, of course, this young man no longer has to be the next Gretzky. It’s quite enough for him to be [...]
How Did America Get So Good?
Today the United States sets the record for most medals ever won at a Winter Olympics. Whether the men’s hockey team captures the gold or the silver against Canada, America will own 37 medals.
By contrast, 30 years ago, when the 1980 U.S. hockey team pulled off the Miracle on Ice, the entire American squad won [...]
Miracle Anniversary
Last night’s U.S. men’s Olympic hockey victory over Team Canada came nearly 30 years to the day after the “Miracle on Ice,” in which the Americans stunned the Soviet Union.
If anything, the victory over Canada underlines exactly how unbelievable the “Miracle on Ice” was. At least this year’s American team is made up of National [...]
The Power of Inspiration
Olympic ski champ Picabo Street can now claim two gold medals — her own and Lindsey Vonn’s.
Street captured her own in the 1998 Super G Olympics, and served as the inspiration for Vonn’s gold in this year’s Olympic downhill.
Victor Hugo said, “Inspiration and genius–one and the same.”
Vonn got a dose of inspiration — and genius [...]
Walking the Walk
So the father was lecturing his son.
“When Abraham Lincoln was your age, he was walking eight miles to school,” the father said.
Replied the son, “When Abraham Lincoln was your age, he was president.”
See? Kids can lecture, too.
So it not enough for parents and coaches to talk the talk.
“What you do speaks so loud I cannot [...]
Sports’ Biggest Story
Through it all … the Olympics … the NBA All-Star Game … the Super Bowl … the biggest sports success story could well be coming from Storrs, Conn.
That’s home to the UConn women’s basketball team, which extended its winning streak to 64 games yesterday with a victory over St.John’s.
Who dominates like the Huskies do? Not [...]
The Olympic Flame
Today Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News writes about the American team’s high hopes in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver: “While you were dozing these past four years, your fellow Americans somehow became proficient at biathlon, ice dancing, snowboarding, luge, Nordic combined, women’s bobsled and a lot of events that normally make you [...]
