Over the years, the press corps has used the preview week to pose some questions that have gone down in history.

Try this one, offered three decades ago to Oakland quarterback Jim Plunkett, who came from two special needs parents, one of whom had died.

“Jimmy, I want to make sure I have this right,” the reporter said. “Was it dead mother, blind father, or blind mother, dead father?”

Then there was the reporter who asked Dallas running back Emmitt Smith, “What are you going to wear in the game Sunday?”

Hmm, my uniform?

Anyway, reporters aren’t the only ones who ask stupid questions. As peak performance guru Dave Cross points out, we ask them of ourselves all the time. And these questions keep us from becoming great.

Here are some stupid questions, as laid out in the mental training masterpiece “Volleyball Cybernetics.”

Why does it always happen to me?

Why can’t I get better?

What’s the use?

Why is life so unfair?

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Here’s the problem with asking yourself stupid questions. Your mind is a powerful computer, and once you ask the question, it will work hard to provide an answer. But, as they say, “garbage in, garbage out.” If you ask a powerful computer a stupid question, it will give you a stupid answer.

For instance, if the question is, “Why does this always happen to me?” then the answer might come back, “Because you’re a loser.”

And that’s a really stupid answer. So instead, ask yourself smart, productive questions like:

What have I learned?

How must I change to get the results I want?

What must I do today to take action?

Whom have I helped today?

By asking the right questions, you can start getting the right answers, whether it’s Super Bowl Sunday or any other day.

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TotalGamePlan offers Winner’s Workshops for schools, sports teams and businesses. The emphasis is on motivation, skill-building and teamwork. To bring a Winner’s Workshop to your group, just email coachtully@totalgameplan.com or call (973) 800-5836. To order a copy of “Ten Things Great Coaches Know,” click here.

One day, when Wayne Gretzky was already the greatest hockey player in the world, he was practicing with his team, the Edmonton Oilers. Walter watched from the stands.

Afterwards, the two drove home together.

“You just wasted two hours of your life,” Walter Gretzky told his son. “If you’re going to practice, then do it right.”

No word on what happened the rest of the ride home. Maybe there was a sullen silence.

But Walter Gretzky’s comments are a reminder that even the world’s best need a wake-up call now and then. It can come from a coach, a family member, or an unexpected loss. That’s what happened to the Soviet hockey team when the U.S. Olympians defeated them in 1980.

Performers must be, in the words of golfer Bobby Jones, “everlastingly on the lookout against the self.”

Slumps often begin when things are going well. When results are good, performers never notice little flaws creeping into their game. The flaws only get discovered when results begin to fall.

Walter Gretzky knew his son well enough to know whether or not he was working hard. Trouble is, as Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has said, you can fool yourself about how hard you are working.

Don’t fool yourself about your practice ethic.

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TotalGamePlan offers Winner’s Workshops for schools, sports teams and businesses. The emphasis is on motivation, skill-building and teamwork. To bring a Winner’s Workshop to your group, just email coachtully@totalgameplan.com or call (973) 800-5836. To order a copy of “Ten Things Great Coaches Know,” click here.

Watt intercepted an Andy Dalton pass and returned it for a touchdown, leading the Houston Texans past the Cincinnati Bengals in the first game of the NFL playolffs.

Watt’s, play according to Houston defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, came from hours and hours of the right kind of practice.

“When you do it practice, you’ll do it in the games,” Phillips said, referring to Watt’s exceptional practice habits. “You’d be surprised how many times he’s done the exact same thing in practice. We were probably surprised he hadn’t done it (in a game) before.”

“He does it every day in practice.”

Not so long ago, Watt wasn’t working with the kind of focus that he’s shown recently. His early college career was spotty, and he found himself down in the dumps and delivering pizzas. At a certain point, he regained his motivation and realized he didn’t want to be a pizza guy for the rest of his life.

He won’t. He got his career back in order, was drafted in the first round by the Texans, and practiced with fanatical attention to batting down passes. All the practice added up.

Ed Smith, best-selling author and creator of the One Minute Motivator, says, “Your short-term actions multiplied by time equal your long-term accomplishments.”

That certainly is true in Watt’s case.

Shinny is a simple variation of ice hockey in which one player tries to keep the puck, and all the others try to get it away from him.

There was a time when all Canadian boys played it because it was so easy to start a game. All you needed was ice, a puck and sticks. Nowadays, I’m not so sure how many people play it, because organized leagues start at such a young age.
Sigl and I were talking about practice, and how important it is to make sure that athletes compete not only in games but in the hours that lead up to it. Shinny is a simple form of competition: you have to learn to keep the puck or you will lose it. In trying to hold the puck or capture it, players are developing their skills and their competitive instincts. It’s a basic form of deliberate practice.

While waiting to give a talk in Minnesota last summer, I was two athletes practicing on a basketball court. Each player would shoot a three-point shot and a layup. If both shots went in, the player got to try again. If one shot missed, it was the other player’s turn.

It was a brilliantly designed practice in which both players got to work on important skills.

On the playgrounds of New York, this principle is on display in the simple basketball ritual of “I’ve got winner.” If you win, you stay. If you lose, you leave the court and wait the next turn. It’s a way to force people to either improve or leave the court all the time.

Whatever sport you’re coaching, work hard to use competition in practice. It will help develop what North Carolina women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance calls that “wonderful practice intensity.”

I wonder how many of the players in the Winter Classic ever played shinny. And I wonder, with the temperature at 13 degrees while I write this, how many young people are playing it right now!

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TotalGamePlan offers Winner’s Workshops for schools, sports teams and businesses. The emphasis is on motivation, skill-building and teamwork. To bring a Winner’s Workshop to your group, just email coachtully@totalgameplan.com or call (973) 800-5836.

That’s because Cruz has emerged as one of the top wide receivers in the NFL after being passed over by every team in the league. That’s right. Less than two years ago, no one wanted the player who today is making plays that show up on ESPN highlight packages.

“I’d be lying as we all would if we said we envisioned this,” offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said in this New York Post article.

People go undrafted for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they seem too small. Sometimes they lack a work ethic. And sometimes the people in charge of drafting just make a mistake. Cruz’s emergence is a reminder to all coaches about cuts. Keep as many players as you can. You never know which player will blossom. Look beyond the physical package for signs of desire and improvement.

Cruz has definitely shown a desire to get better. This time a year ago, he was improving through off-season meetings with Giants wide receivers coach Sean Ryan. Once a week or more, Cruz and Ryan watched film together, and did that until March.

“I didn’t have to call and chase the guy down,” Ryan said. “He was here when he was supposed to be here. I’ve got to give all the credit to him because he has no obligation to be there.

“He took notes and he studied it. Even though it wasn’t on the field, he got a lot of the offseason mental reps and mental part of it before the lockout ever took place. It was important to him, and he understood that. And he got a jump in that way. I think his preparation has been a big part of [his emergence].”

Cruz is still looking at film. Last night, after helping the Giants defeat the Dallas Cowboys to qualify for the NFL playoffs, he spoke about the week before the team’s game against the Falcons.

“If we pay attention in the film room, we should be fine,” Cruz said.

He’ll being paying more attention to the film than teams paid to him.

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TotalGamePlan offers Winner’s Workshops for schools, sports teams and businesses. The emphasis is on motivation, skill-building and teamwork. To bring a Winner’s Workshop to your group, just email coachtully@totalgameplan.com or call (973) 800-5836.

“It is not in the pursuit of happiness that we find fulfillment, it is in the happiness of pursuit,” said Denis Waitley.

What a perfect message for you and those around you! Whether it’s a sports season, a business venture, or anything at all, enjoy the journey.

It’s not always easy, of course. Life has its peaks and valleys. But if you can breathe deeply, look at the sky occasionally, and keep your eyes on your goal, then the journey belongs to you.

Too many people have reached their goal, only to find it hollow and unsatisfying. That’s because they were so busy getting to the goal that they forgot to live. How does the song go? You’ve got to stop and smell the roses.

This is more than just touchy-feely stuff. It’s at the heart of peak performance. Psychologists remind athletes to get into the process, and forget about the product. Once you’ve set your goal, the concentrate on doing the things necessary for you to reach your goal.

Legendary basketball coach Dean Smith, reflecting on his great career, doesn’t mention the titles. He remembers the people.

Share this with your team, whatever that team may be. Enjoy the journey!

It all begins in the few precious hours before Dick Clark comes on TV and the ball comes down in Times Square. With one fun exercise you can create a year to remember.

Just use the Banquet Technique. It comes in three steps.

First, imagine that this time next year you are a guest at a banquet that celebrates your achievements. Imagine what you would like the speaker to say. Be as specific and vivid as possible. What did you accomplish? Who was with you? How did it feel? How did it look? Enjoy this exercise. Hear the speaker. See the look of admiration from others at the banquet. It’s like goal-setting, except that in your mind it has already happened. So visualize as richly and deeply as you can. There is no cost to dream. For instance, if you’re a college football player, picture yourself in the NFL. If you’re in the NFL, picture yourself headed to the Pro Bowl. If you’re an entertainer, imagine yourself performing with Katy Perry. If you’re an up-and-coming comic like my friend Logan Hobson, see yourself on Comedy Central. Seeing such a dazzling future will motivate you

Second, take stock of where you are right now. How far are you from where you want to be? As peak performance coach Dave Cross likes to say, “The road to improvement begins with an honest self-assessment.” New York Rangers Coach John Tortorella asks his players to assess themselves constantly. There’s no point in fooling yourself. This is a private exercise; there’s no one there to judge you.

Third, develop a strategy that will take you from where you are to where you want to be. Here’s a hint: Success is simple. (Not easy, simple.) Usually you can create a great future by identifying ONE thing that you must do every day, then making sure you DO it. If you want to call it a New Year’s Resolution, OK.

Chose the one thing that suits you. For me, that one thing is blogging. For others it may be diet, regular exercise, daily attendance at AA meetings. Give it some thought. Remember, champions identify what needs to be done and make sure it gets done.

To summarize, see the future you want. Assess where you are now. Develop a plan to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Happy New Year!

“Strong opinions. Good listener.”

It made me think. Is such a thing possible?

How about you? Do you think those two qualities can exist side by side in a person? Can you really care, at the same time, about what YOU think and what OTHERS think?

Looking at the political gridlock in Washington, DC, for example, you get the feeling that things might be a bit better if there were more listening and fewer opinions.

“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood,”said listening expert Dr. Ralph Nichols. “The best way to understand people is to listen to them.”

“Silence is a source of great strength,” said Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu.

When it comes to New Year’s Resolutions, you could scarcely go wrong by aiming to be a better listener.

There’s a wonderful story about a CEO who used a simple technique to interview potential salesmen. He would have dinner with them. If they put salt on their food without tasting it, the CEO would immediately disqualify them. In his eyes, adding salt without tasting the food was a way of acting without getting all the facts. And in his mind, salesmen should always listen to get all the facts.

“(Russian revolutionary Vladimir) Lenin could listen so intently that he exhausted the speaker,” said British political theorist Isaiah Berlin.

“Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf,” goes a Native American proverb.

When it comes to coaching, you need listening on both sides. The players must listen, but so does the coach. A good guideline is for coaches to listen as intently as they want their players to. You can motivate by simply paying attention to what others say.

“The biggest compliment was when someone asked what I thought and then attended to my answer,” said American philosopher Henry David Thoreau.

“No man ever listened himself out of a job,” said Calvin Coolidge.

So maybe the most productive job is to listen!

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TotalGamePlan offers Winner’s Workshops for schools, sports teams and businesses. The emphasis is on motivation, skill-building and teamwork. To bring a Winner’s Workshop to your group, just email coachtully@totalgameplan.com or call (973) 800-5836.

Normally, that would not have meant much to me, but since I am a coach who is trying to teach others how to coach, the word “simple”really stood out.

Just the other day, I saw a coach who had forgotten about simplicity. This coach was using a drill that was so complicated neither the athletes nor the other coaches could accomplish much.

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent,” said Einstein. “It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.”

When you make the drills too complex, athletes waste their mental energy learning the drill instead of trying to acquire skill. Complex drills can lead to frustration and wasted time. They can de-motivate instead of motivate.

Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, whose paper “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance” lays out the conditions for optimal learning, specifically mentions the structure of drills.

“The design of the task should take into account the preexisting knowledge of the learners so that the task can be correctly understood after a brief period of instruction,” the article says.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” said Da Vinci.

So whether you’re trying to make pea soup or planning a practice, or making New Year’s Resolutions, keep it simple.

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TotalGamePlan offers Winner’s Workshops for schools, sports teams and businesses. The emphasis is on motivation, skill-building and teamwork. To bring a Winner’s Workshop to your group, just email coachtully@totalgameplan.com or call (973) 800-5836.

Pettit writes: “The more neurological pathways a young athlete has experienced, the more likely they are going to be able to adjust in the future, which is why developing athletes should be encouraged to play more than one sport.”

Not everyone follows this advice. One of the most frequently asked questions comes from parents who want to know whether their athlete should specialize or diversify.

Pettit has a simple answer.

“The best collegiate, and Olympic players are almost without exception multi-sport athletes early in their career,” he writes.

Coaches, naturally, can get selfish on this question. Most would prefer their athletes to play their sport 12 months a year.

On the other hand, in small schools, sports programs could barely exist if their athletes played only one sport.

I’d love to hear more about the science. Does anyone know anything about the “neurological highways?”

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Mike Tully speaks to sports, business and educational groups. He also works one-on-one with student-athletes on skill-building and game performance. He is co-author of “Ten Things Great Coaches Know.”