John Wooden
Preparing for a Great 2012
“Only you can control your future.” — Dr. Seuss
Last night we went to a Japanese restaurant, the kind where the chef puts on a show while cooking your dinner right in front of you.
His showmanship was one thing, but what really impressed me was the preparation. Great care had gone into cutting the vegetables and [...]
The Deal You Make Every Day
On this date 92 years ago, the Boston Red Sox sent the contract of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000.
Boston owner Harry Frazee needed money to get out of debt. So he made the deal.
We all know how the deal turned out. Ruth became a Hall of Famer, the Yankees became baseball’s [...]
How to Make Today a Masterpiece
On a day like today, when Butler and UConn play for the national title, what would UCLA legend John Wooden say?
Wooden, after all, won 10 of these games in a 12-year span, including seven in a row. He died in 2010, but coaches all over the world look to his words for help and guidance. [...]
Wooden Wisdom
John Wooden thought of himself as a teacher. If you want to be a great coach, you must be one, too. Here is a poem that Wooden recited from memory. It underlines your value as a coach:
No written word, no spoken plea
Can teach our youth what they should be
Nor all the books on all the [...]
Learning from Losing
By falling to Dallas over the weekend, the New Orleans Saints lost a streak but gained a chance to fix what is wrong with them.
Every team has problems, but victory has a way of hiding them. And losing has a way of spotlighting those problems.
“You can learn a line from a win and a book [...]
Not a Positive Experience
What a blue Christmas in the world of sports!
Tiger Woods, with his image in tatters, faces a public divorce. Chris Henry, a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, is reported on life-support after a domestic dispute with his fiancee. Kansas football coach Mark Mangino resigns amid allegations he mistreated his players.
One after another the reports [...]
Total Investment
We’ve called in an expert. Trying to coach our middle school basketball team as best we can, we got an instructional video starring John Wooden.
Wooden, legendary coach at UCLA, did not disappoint. Before mentioning even one word about dribbling or shooting, Wooden defined success. He said that to him, success means being able to hold [...]
Controlling What You Can
Yesterday Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals hit two more home runs, prompting a reporter to ask Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa if Pujols deserves to be voted this year’s Most Valuable Player.
Answered LaRussa, “Those kinds of questions are distractions, and I don’t answer them.”
Though the reporter probably didn’t appreciate LaRussa’s response, it reflected the [...]
The Urgency of Today
A friend of mind loves to recall his favorite example of a call to sports talk radio.
He was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike at 3 o’clock on a Sunday morning, when someone called the radio station and asked this question: “How do you think the Portland Trail Blazers will do this season?”
My friend laughs [...]
Getting a Life
At the coaching camp we’re attending in New Hampshire, the instructors begin with a fun little game: Who came the farthest distance be to here?
The game ended quickly when a young woman raised her hand and said, “Japan.”
It turns out that there also is a woman here from Frankfurt, Germany. And a man from Central [...]
