What Makes a Team Magic?
A couple of years ago we had a softball team that could do no wrong. When we called bunt, they dropped the bunt down, when we needed a rally in the bottom of the 6th, we got the rally, when we played a team that should beat us, we found a way to win.
It was terribly nerve-wracking! Every game close, but somehow we won. Teams that come to mind are the 2008 Tampa Rays, the Florida Marlins pulled this off twice! How about the Colorado Rockies? All teams that didn’t really have super-stars, but they had “magic”. Where does it come from? This year I think it comes from our bright lime-green uniforms, but I have to wonder how? Why?
I have heard coaches and players at all levels speak of this before. The most magic team I ever witnessed was Joe Gibbs’ Redskins when Mark Rypien threw to the three amigos. The guy couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, but put him in a game and he would heave it down field 50 yards and Gary Clark would run under it for a touchdown! I remember having one game like this in the front yard of Riverside Elementary School. I would close my eyes, heave, and someone would catch it! Amazing stuff!
But why does this happen? What combination of attributes come together to create true magic? I am not talking about total dominance, anyone can put together dominant teams, I am talking about magic. That, “can’t do anything wrong” feeling. The kind where you turn to your friend and say, “she’s gonna hit” and she does, where does that come from and how do we continue to tap into it?
I guess if someone knew the answer to this they would be a billionaire, for now, I am just going to enjoy the ride! Anyone have any ideas?
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A Passing of the Torch
OK, that may be a little dramatic, but I had a cool thing happen tonight at the city council meeting. Each year our league has to renew its land use agreement w/ the city. This is generally a non-event as there are no real changes, but we always prepare for questioning just in case a council member or the mayor has any questions. We also show up in full force as a board and try to show our support for the council.
As with all city councils, there was a few items before ours and we have to sit through the long debates. My friend and fellow board member sitting next to me bent over and said, “I can’t believe I am at a city council meeting”. She then told me she was just about to turn 30! OK, I feel old! It was cool though, I told her that was about the age I attended my first meeting so we had a bit of a passing of the torch.
I remember it clearly. It was in Loudoun County and there was a park being proposed that offered four direly needed baseball fields and soccer fields as well. We usually battled w/ soccer over green space, but on this we were united. The place was packed! The county council was shocked to see so many in the room and moved our item to number one on the agenda. I am pretty sure they came to shoot it down, but they approved the measure based on the attendance and the people’s voice.
That was a major moment in my life. I realized that people really can make a difference and that we do control our own destiny. And while it is often not an easy path, change can occur, right can overcome wrong, and the people’s will can be imposed.
I only hope that I can serve as a model to help those that follow and demonstrate to those we mentor and coach. We all think we are doing good and right, most of us have good intentions in whatever path we take and choose. Together we can make the world better.
We were short a few sponsors for teams this year and I sent out a blast email to everyone in the league. A parent sponsored a team because she thought it was the right thing to do. Not a business, nothing to advertise, simply a message. This is it:
“Life’s about choices,
Make good ones”
They wished only to convey a simple message to the young ones around them. They asked nothing in return, and in fact, they actually paid to sponsor a team for the privilege.
They have already impacted one life, mine. I hope this has the same effect on every coach and board member around the world reading this as it has had on mine. I choose to put the kids first, every decision I make involves that though process. Please do the same.
What choices have you made today that impacted someone elses life? Were they good choices? Please share them.
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Tryouts Tonight!
We had our first round of tryouts tonight and everything went great! One thing I noticed was how well schooled the kids were. We have been blessed with very good coaching across the board and it shows in the mid-range age 8-11 year old players. There were no kids, other than the brand new ones, that weren’t fairly fundamentally sound.
The other part of the equation was that they actually performed those fundamentals properly! This just goes to show that they are learning them and capable of performing them when “in the spotlight”. It is important to make sure they understand they are in the spotlight every time they field a ball be it practice, a game, or in the back yard. Fundamentally sound players will excel more often than not.
Travel practice tomorrow, then final round of tryouts on Thursday!
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Girls Must Be Social
I have often wondered why my softball teams would play so well when I had them dead to rights before the game would start. They would chitty-chatty during the entire warm up session, and then, when it came time to play, they got down to business. Then when we were strict from the beginning, they would not perform. This video provides some insight into the reason.
My favorite quote from the video: “Boys must play well to feel good, girls must feel good to play well.”
That is brilliant!
Anyway, enjoy.
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Misc. Ramblings
That time of the Year
Went to the Festival of Lights last night and between taking picture for MyTopiaCafe.com and walking two feet before running into someone I knew, I really didn’t get much done! I did have a chance to down a couple of the Four Townes Moose Lodge’s fantastic burgers and I am pretty sure my kids had a blast.
Then on to the parade
Then today was the Christmas Parade. I do love a parade! This year we had a ton of kids marching and we had them all stop at the judge’s booth and recite the pledge. Very loud and very cool!
Did you check out the reflexes on George Bush?
Those that don’t know, the President had a pair of shoes thrown at him today during a press conference. Great reflexes! If you see it on TV you can see him laughing while it is happening! Classic!
Caylee Anthony
Isn’t it amazing that Caylee was less than 2 minutes away from the house the whole time? All the chaos, all the protesting, everything, they were right around the corner from where that poor little angel was dumped!
No gambling
No gambling in my home town. That’s what city council decided. Don’t know how I feel about that, but they better come up w/ some commerce or our taxes will be shooting through the roof!
Payroll Services
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Clinics are fun
My son said he didn’t want to play on his travel team Saturday Morning. Then, after reconsidering, he went to practice to try it one more time. When he left he said, “That is the most fun I have ever had playing baseball”. Just goes to show you that while they say they don’t want to go, and they would probably rather sit in front of the TV, once they get there, they usually have fun. Make them get off the couch!
Time to reflect and enjoy those around us
Many of us don’t have the budget we have had in the past for Christmas presents. I am one that falls into that category, but I refuse to let it get me down. For the next few weeks I plan to focus my energies and my passions on enjoying how blessed I am to have a healthy, beautiful family. I don’t care how many toys we have, though we still have too many, that is not relevant over holidays. What matters is making sure everyone in my family knows how much I love them.
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Tired of Bail Outs
I don’t usually like to get political or even serious in this blog, but I just received a news flash that the Federal Government (Read me and you) is going to give $25 Billion (that’s 25 thousand, million) to the auto companies. That’s our money, mine and yours. Personally that will cost me over $400!!!! It costs our league roughly $25,000 for the players alone, assume each has a mom and a dad and that means that the parents and kids of our league just paid $75,000 to bail out an industry that is completely responsible for their own demise!
Do you know what our tiny league of 300 players could do with $75,000!!!!! We could put lights on the field that doesn’t have them and host state tournaments that would bring INCOME into our league, our city, out county, and our state, because nobody visits the greater Orlando area without dropping a couple grand!
This is insane! As many of you know, I have been rich, I have been poor, and I have been in between. I will be that way all my life, it is the nature of my character. I have presided over failed businesses and successful ventures, that’s life. This shtick about the economy will collapse w/o the auto industry is total crap.
The fact is, they spend to much to produce a car, their benefits and pension plans are ridiculous, and they pay their workers too much. Did you know that I heard on the TV the other morning that it has $2,000 in costs in a car vs. their competitors because they have so much overhead! And we, the ones struggling and wondering if we can even afford to buy our kids Christmas presents are going to just give them $25,000,000,000!!!!! Insanity.
Want to bet me who has contributed most to all the campaigns of those in Washington?
Yeah, yeah, fill me up w/ BS about how we can’t exist w/o them.
Isn’t that what they said about Eastern Airlines?
Isn’t that what they said about General Electric?
Let me ask you something, has your life changed drastically since we stopped manufacturing television sets in the United States? My answer is YES! I can afford a BIGGER BETTER SET!
I don’t have the facts in front of me but I would hazard a very confident educated guess that a lot more money is spent on electronics than cars and they are ALL made outside of the United States. I would also bet that the electronics industry makes a TON more money now than they did when the product was manufactured here! Why? Because we ship the low pay jobs overseas, and we use the cheap products to turn ridiculous profits on things like service and programming!
Oh, that means the lower income worker has no jobs. What? You think that there are no construction or cleaning, or local assemble, or custom cabinet, or electrical jobs created though the service industry? How far do you have to drive to get to an AT&T or Sprint store? You think those buildings simply rose from the ground through divine intervention? It seems like it because we are SO DAMN GOOD AT BUILDING THEM! Why? Because we pay per job so people want to finish them fast! Not per hour so people want to move slower!
Obviously, I am very passionate about this. Maybe the auto dealers need to go bankrupt. Get rid of all their obligations, move down here to FL where labor is cheap, and compete like the rest of us have to do. Or maybe we can pass the BAIL EVERY BAD BUSINESSMAN ON THE PLANET OUT BILL and have a fund for everyone that fails in business. Hell, I will be the first in line!
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Time flies, but does it?
Every day it seems that life goes by faster and faster, but does it really? How often do you take the time to just sit back and reflect on everything that has taken place over the last year? The last 5 years? The last 10 years? It is amazing how much occurs in those short time spans.
Look back over any period of your life a year or more and it is amazing what you have accomplished. We need to remember this, especially in down times like this. Ten years in my life are pretty major. Ten years ago it was 1998. I was five years into my voice/data company and on the verge of huge success!
The .com revolution was about to begin and we were positions perfectly to capitalize on it. It was a wave that we surfed for about 4 years. Those were some good times! I am still paying the tax man to this day because of the boon we had then!
We had a thriving business, a boat, a condo on the lake, a condo in Myrtle Beach, brand new cars, and 50 employees. It truly was a license to print money. But just as fast as the good times came, they came crashing down as well. I was fortunate enough to be based just outside of Washington, DC and the growth there was exponential. But so was the demise.
During the boon times, we would get calls every day begging us to send fiber technicians out at $125/hour. There were not enough workers to meet the demands. People were building and building and we were installing miles and miles of cable and the electronics to support them. Again, it was out of control. All good things must come to an end.
First it was MCI going bankrupt, they set up there headquarters right in our backyard, they were a huge source of business for everyone in the area, then AOL left town. It was not pretty. The subsequent effect caused many businesses to go bankrupt and we were shorted over $200K in receivables. Could we have survived? Probably, but we would have had to completely reinvent the company, there was no longer much need for wiring, everything was going wireless and we were in no position to compete w/ those companies.
I tell this story not to depress you during the times we find ourselves in, nor to pity myself, but to show you how much can change in that short time. Ten years ago I was on the verge of huge success, why can’t I be now? Why can’t you be now? Look back at your life ten years ago, hell, I only had 3 kids and two babies then! Now I have 3 kids playing ball and another that will start next fall!
Now do this, it is truly a great exercise, look back 10 years, see yourself, where you were, what you were wearing, who your friends were, where you were hanging out, what city you lived it, who your girlfriend or wife was, what job did you have? Then take all that change that has happened in the last ten years and project it forward! Do the same exercise.
-See yourself
-Where do you want to be?
-Were will you be hanging out?
-What city will you live in?
-Who will be your girlfriend/wife?
-What job will you have?
-What career path will you take?
The only thing I know for sure is, wherever life takes you, you control that path. You make those decisions. As Yogi says, “When you come to a fork in the road take it”. One of my favorite sayings back in the good old days of my company was, “the only bad decision is no decision”. Failure to act results in no results. Even if we make bad decisions, we still learn from them and that is a positive. If baseball and softball teach of nothing at all, it is that we need not dwell on our failures, but learn from them and make our successes that much better. For a failure only means we are one step closer to success.
Where will you be in 10 years?
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Water Under the Bridge
Two weeks ago we had a major incident in a game that involved a team and a league with which I have very much respect. They are our closest friends, as far as competitive leagues go, and we often help each other out. It was an unfortunate and disturbing situation that could have festered and grown into a long-term feud.
Today we had to play the same team again. Our coaching staff and team made a conscious decision to “let bygones be bygones” and just show up, play our best, and allow the kids to have fun no matter what the circumstances. It seems their team did the same and, even though we lost the game, we had a fantastic time at their park.
Again Ms. Peevie, both teams truly had a choice. I will repeat again what one of my old girlfriends used to say quoting her mother, “If you are looking for trouble, you will find it.” This is so true. I would translate that to this situation as “If you are looking for a fight, you will find it.” Had either team shown up “looking for a fight” they probably would have found it somewhere.
But that’s not what happened. What happened is all the adults involved took the high road and taught the kids on both teams how to put our differences aside, focus on the objective at hand, and just go out there and play the game. This was obvious from the time warm ups started and I am proud to say that I was part of it.
How many times in your life have you had a dispute, argument, disagreement, or outright fight with another person, only to end up being best friends? Why is it that this happens? So often we look to that person next to us and say to ourselves, “How did I ever end up teaming up w/ this guy?” My assistant coach during the spring is a guy I have the utmost respect for, but when we were on different teams we were always at odds. Now together, we are very powerful.
Who was it that said, “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer?” So what happens when our enemies become our friends? What human dynamic causes this to occur so often? Passion is an emotion from which we derive so much pleasure, but it is also a major cause of dispute. This is prevalent throughout all societies.
My first Real Estate instructor was the most colorful instructor I ever studied under. He used to take the boring legal parts of the real estate game and paint them with passion so vivid that his students would get lost in the particular dispute he was discussing. He would always end every one with one or the other parties saying, “it’s the principal of the thing.” At this point he suggested we pack our stuff up, walk out of the room, and let the attorneys figure it out since they were the only ones who were going to get paid now anyway.
Coaches are passionate about their teams, parents are passionate about their kids, kids are passionate about the game, this is a recipe for conflict. If we recognize and understand this, we can overcome anything that occurs “on the field.”
I preach to my kids every game, “what is the most important pitch?”. The next one of course. We can’t change the one before it no matter what the outcome. Therefore, if we as the adults put prior “pitches” behind us and focus on “the next pitch”, we are certainly better off. If we hold on to hostilities, no matter how justified, we are simply “looking for trouble”. Do we really want trouble? Is this what we want to teach our kids? Do we tell our kids as they go off to school, “go get in trouble today honey.” Of course not, we say “have a nice day”, or some other semblance of good wishes.
So why do we so often show up at games “looking for trouble”? Don’t we know we are certain to find it? Today anyway, everyone involved decided to put our troubles behind us and let the kids enjoy the game. I am proud to say I was a small part of this situation and know in the future, our relationship with this particular league remains in tact, as it should.
Who is your best friend right now that you fought with initially? Please tell us the story, we would love to hear it!
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Little League to Stick With AIG
I don’t know whether this is good or bad, but it appears they have done extensive research on the matter so I am good with it. This is why we pay our charter fees, so they can figure out important stuff like this.
Excerpt from Little League Letter:
As you may have heard in recent media reports, American International Group (AIG), the company through which Little League International offers liability and accident insurance to local Little Leagues, has experienced significant losses associated with the current worldwide financial condition. Those losses led federal officials recently to authorize taxpayer-backed loans that must be repaid by AIG with a defined period.
Little League International wants to assure local leagues that it has thoroughly reviewed its insurance plans, including those offered to local leagues through AIG. Little League agrees with the position of state insurance officials that the financial issues facing AIG do not affect its strong position in the well-regulated insurance segment.
AIG recently announced its intent to sell a number of attractive businesses to generate sufficient liquidity to help repay the loan balance. At this time, the plan does not include selling AIG’s domestic and international commercial property casualty businesses, which include Lexington Insurance Company and National Union Fire Insurance Company, the specific AIG companies with which Little League contracts for liability and accident insurance, respectively. Even if these companies were sold to a new carrier, the policies would remain in place.
Local Little League policies will continue to be underwritten by AIG for 2009. They will be handled through the Little League International Risk Management Department in Williamsport, as has been the case for decades.
Do you think they should have changed insurers?
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ClickSmart Jacksonville Realtors Page
I was checking out new locations to market my Realtor skills when I came across a pretty cool site about Jacksonville Realtors. It lists five very qualified Realtors that can help you sell or buy property in the greater Jacksonville area.
The Realtors have to go through a screening process and meet minimum requirements to be included on the ClickSmart list. So rather than a long list of everyone, like we find everywhere on the internet, ClickSmart actually qualifies these Realtors so when you choose to use one, there is a good chance they are professionals.
Realtors in Jacksonville must have completed at least 10 transactions in the past year, be a member of the local board, be properly licensed by the state, and must never been disciplined by any state real estate commission or department. Fairly hefty requirements.
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