Sunday, August 31, 2008
Those Welty Millionaires
"Professional football. To me the hardest part of being a professional football player is on the one hand you're a millionaire on the other they blow a whistle and you have to run around after a football. To me the whole idea of being a millionaire is somebody throws a football at me. Maybe I catch it, maybe I don't. I would think you get someone to hand you the football at that point. 'Here you go, sir, that's another touchdown for you. Would you like a fresh-squeezed orange juice before the next play?'" -- Jerry Seinfeld
Alabama Upsets Clemson In Opener
ATLANTA, Ga. -- Nick Saban may face his toughest task yet: Holding down runaway expectations for his inexperienced Alabama team.
Crimson Tide's $4 million-per-year coach gave Alabama backers a reason to think big Saturday night, leading 'Bama to a thorough 34-10 beating of No. 9 Clemson 34-10 at the Georgia Dome.
Fast Facts
• Alabama won its 12th straight game against Clemson and extended its win streak in season openers to seven games.
• Nick Saban won his 99th career game.
• Alabama outrushed the Tigers 239-to-0, its fewest since rushing for minus-1 yard against Boston College in 1947.
"Nobody can be satisfied with a one-game performance," Saban said. "This will be a challenge for our team and it'll be interesting to see how they respond."
Still, as the Alabama band broke into Queen's "We Are The Champions," at the end, you had to wonder if they were honoring the Crimson Tide's past, with 12 national titles and years of dominance in the Southeastern Conference under Bear Bryant, or gazing into the near future.
"It's still early. We still got a long way to go," cautioned quarterback John Parker Wilson, who threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third. "But we've got a good group of guys here who can do it."
Especially if the Tide play like this.
Alabama's defense held Clemson to zero rushing yards to help bat a top-10 opponent for the first time since topping No. 5 Florida in 2005. That was part of the last hurrah for former coach Mike Shula, who followed that 10-2 season with a 6-7 campaign that ended his time with the Tide.
Alabama lured Saban from the NFL last season to lead the 12-time national champs back to glory. Based on the opener, Saban and the Tide are on their way.
Saban hopes his players understand how far they have to go.
Wilson finished 22-of-30 for 180 yards and, with his career total completions now at 500, surpassed Brodie Croyle's old record of 488.
"I think we got something special here," Wilson said.
The Crimson Tide defense held the Tigers' heralded "Thunder and Lightning" backfield of James Davis and C.J. Spiller to 20 yards combined.
The Tigers managed only 188 yards, way off their 403-yard average from last season.
Saban's latest recruiting class included such high-profile prospects as receiver Julio Jones, an Internet sensation who fans have buzzed about for months. Still, Alabama didn't figure to hang with the Tigers, an experienced bunch who entered the season with higher hopes than just their first Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 17 years.
Right from the start, though, Alabama showed it matched up fine with the ACC's favorite.
The Tide ran the ball easily on Clemson's defense, which was ninth in the country a season ago. At one point, Alabama had outgained the Tigers 114-1. By the time, tight end Nick Walker had slipped behind three defenders for a 4-yard TD catch, Alabama was ahead 20-3 midway through the second quarter.
Just for good measure, Jones collected his first college TD pass, a 4-yarder from Wilson that put Alabama up 31-10.
Leigh Tiffin added four field goals, including a 54-yard kick that was Alabama's third longest of all time.
Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper, voted the favorite to win ACC player of the year, was continually pressured and off target throughout.
The Tigers, down 23-3 at the half, got a burst of life when Spiller broke for a 96-yard kickoff return TD to start the second half, then forced the Tide into their first punt of the night a series later.
Clemson, though, could get little going.
"Maybe we needed a wake up call," Harper said. "We'll have to keep working hard this week and correct our mistakes."
So, for the second time in eight months, they left the Georgia Dome with more questions and answers.
"We can't hang our heads down now," Clemson's Davis said.
That could be difficult since the Tigers just can't help but stumble whenever they close in on success.
They lost to lightly regarded Maryland in 2006 at home, 13-12, when victory would've sent Clemson to the ACC title game.
Then last year, the Tigers were beaten 20-17 by Boston College in a showdown for a spot in the league's championship game.
Clemson concluded the season with a 23-20 overtime loss to Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, missing out on its first 10-victory season since 1991.
This was the year, many thought, that Clemson and embattled coach Tommy Bowden would shake off their reputations for not winning the biggest games. Alabama was where it was supposed to start.
Instead, Bowden again must refocus a team filled with veterans and leaders running out of time.
"We were whipped pretty bad," Bowden said.
Clemson's loss also concluded a demoralizing day for the ACC. Earlier, defending league champion Virginia Tech fell to East Carolina, while Virginia was defeated at home by No. 3 Southern Cal 52-7.
The Crimson Tide have won 12 straight against Clemson, although the teams hadn't met since 1975 when the late Bryant laid a 56-0 humiliation on the Tigers.
Maybe Alabama and Saban will soon have more in common with the Bear's championship teams.
Crimson Tide's $4 million-per-year coach gave Alabama backers a reason to think big Saturday night, leading 'Bama to a thorough 34-10 beating of No. 9 Clemson 34-10 at the Georgia Dome.
Fast Facts
• Alabama won its 12th straight game against Clemson and extended its win streak in season openers to seven games.
• Nick Saban won his 99th career game.
• Alabama outrushed the Tigers 239-to-0, its fewest since rushing for minus-1 yard against Boston College in 1947.
"Nobody can be satisfied with a one-game performance," Saban said. "This will be a challenge for our team and it'll be interesting to see how they respond."
Still, as the Alabama band broke into Queen's "We Are The Champions," at the end, you had to wonder if they were honoring the Crimson Tide's past, with 12 national titles and years of dominance in the Southeastern Conference under Bear Bryant, or gazing into the near future.
"It's still early. We still got a long way to go," cautioned quarterback John Parker Wilson, who threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third. "But we've got a good group of guys here who can do it."
Especially if the Tide play like this.
Alabama's defense held Clemson to zero rushing yards to help bat a top-10 opponent for the first time since topping No. 5 Florida in 2005. That was part of the last hurrah for former coach Mike Shula, who followed that 10-2 season with a 6-7 campaign that ended his time with the Tide.
Alabama lured Saban from the NFL last season to lead the 12-time national champs back to glory. Based on the opener, Saban and the Tide are on their way.
Saban hopes his players understand how far they have to go.
Wilson finished 22-of-30 for 180 yards and, with his career total completions now at 500, surpassed Brodie Croyle's old record of 488.
"I think we got something special here," Wilson said.
The Crimson Tide defense held the Tigers' heralded "Thunder and Lightning" backfield of James Davis and C.J. Spiller to 20 yards combined.
The Tigers managed only 188 yards, way off their 403-yard average from last season.
Saban's latest recruiting class included such high-profile prospects as receiver Julio Jones, an Internet sensation who fans have buzzed about for months. Still, Alabama didn't figure to hang with the Tigers, an experienced bunch who entered the season with higher hopes than just their first Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 17 years.
Right from the start, though, Alabama showed it matched up fine with the ACC's favorite.
The Tide ran the ball easily on Clemson's defense, which was ninth in the country a season ago. At one point, Alabama had outgained the Tigers 114-1. By the time, tight end Nick Walker had slipped behind three defenders for a 4-yard TD catch, Alabama was ahead 20-3 midway through the second quarter.
Just for good measure, Jones collected his first college TD pass, a 4-yarder from Wilson that put Alabama up 31-10.
Leigh Tiffin added four field goals, including a 54-yard kick that was Alabama's third longest of all time.
Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper, voted the favorite to win ACC player of the year, was continually pressured and off target throughout.
The Tigers, down 23-3 at the half, got a burst of life when Spiller broke for a 96-yard kickoff return TD to start the second half, then forced the Tide into their first punt of the night a series later.
Clemson, though, could get little going.
"Maybe we needed a wake up call," Harper said. "We'll have to keep working hard this week and correct our mistakes."
So, for the second time in eight months, they left the Georgia Dome with more questions and answers.
"We can't hang our heads down now," Clemson's Davis said.
That could be difficult since the Tigers just can't help but stumble whenever they close in on success.
They lost to lightly regarded Maryland in 2006 at home, 13-12, when victory would've sent Clemson to the ACC title game.
Then last year, the Tigers were beaten 20-17 by Boston College in a showdown for a spot in the league's championship game.
Clemson concluded the season with a 23-20 overtime loss to Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, missing out on its first 10-victory season since 1991.
This was the year, many thought, that Clemson and embattled coach Tommy Bowden would shake off their reputations for not winning the biggest games. Alabama was where it was supposed to start.
Instead, Bowden again must refocus a team filled with veterans and leaders running out of time.
"We were whipped pretty bad," Bowden said.
Clemson's loss also concluded a demoralizing day for the ACC. Earlier, defending league champion Virginia Tech fell to East Carolina, while Virginia was defeated at home by No. 3 Southern Cal 52-7.
The Crimson Tide have won 12 straight against Clemson, although the teams hadn't met since 1975 when the late Bryant laid a 56-0 humiliation on the Tigers.
Maybe Alabama and Saban will soon have more in common with the Bear's championship teams.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Politics And Religion
While driving around recently I overheard some of the Democratic National Convention, and the old adage came to mind about finding happiness by avoiding talk of politics and religion. I'd thought that the common bond between the two was that each is basically an exercise in opinion -- in trying to change the minds of others. It did strike me, though, now that we're in election season, how much energy politics and religion spend convincing us how great one person is, and how bad the alternatives are.
Life's A Beach (Ball)
"Think of your company as a beach ball. Picture the beach ball as having a red stripe, a green stripe, a yellow stripe, and a blue stripe. Let's imagine you are the president of the company. That's you standing on the blue stripe. The blue stripe is where you live, every day, day after day. If someone asks you what color your company is, you look down around your feet and say, 'My company is blue.'" -- Susan Scott
Problems arise though, because your other departments stand on other stripes. And if everyone simply nods politely, or refuses to acknowledge that there are other colored stripes on the ball, then things stay the same or move backward.
It applies to personal lives as well as business -- we win when we follow that basic tenet of humility... acknowledging that there's more than one view, more than one right way to do things, one that might be a better fit than ours.
Problems arise though, because your other departments stand on other stripes. And if everyone simply nods politely, or refuses to acknowledge that there are other colored stripes on the ball, then things stay the same or move backward.
It applies to personal lives as well as business -- we win when we follow that basic tenet of humility... acknowledging that there's more than one view, more than one right way to do things, one that might be a better fit than ours.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Easy Credit
"[Hall of Fame coach] Red Holzman once told me that the true measure of a star was his ability to make the people around him look good." -- Phil Jackson
Outside the lines of the court, is there an easier way to do that than to give credit where credit is due?
- Your co-worker catches a mistake that would have ruined the project. Why not tell the boss?
- Your insurance claim rep was friendly and helpful. Why not call the service hotline with praise?
- Your waiter went the extra mile. How about an extra tip or a comment card?
- Your spouse did the laundry. How about a hug?
Outside the lines of the court, is there an easier way to do that than to give credit where credit is due?
- Your co-worker catches a mistake that would have ruined the project. Why not tell the boss?
- Your insurance claim rep was friendly and helpful. Why not call the service hotline with praise?
- Your waiter went the extra mile. How about an extra tip or a comment card?
- Your spouse did the laundry. How about a hug?
Wooden Sandwiches
"I also attempted to combine a compliment with a criticism when possible. Most people don't like criticism, even when it's for their own good. An acknowledgement - praise - offered as part of the criticism reduces their resistance; for example: 'I like your aggressiveness on defense. Can I see some of that when you drive to the basket?'" -- John Wooden
At another meeting, from another speaker, I heard someone describe the "sandwich" approach to constructive feedback. For example: 'Your work's been really accurate. The only problem is the curse words in the delivery. Can you try to cut that way back, so that it matches the rest of the professionalism of your writing?' Positive-negative-positive.
The pessimistic view is that it doesn't "cut to the chase," is cowardly of the coach or misleading to the player. I think that reality is twofold. First, words are more powerful than they're given credit. A baldly negative comment is like starting a fire in the woods without proper enclosure -- that which was intended for good turns into destruction. Second, people are basically good. Pointing out fault without compliment is inaccurate in most cases.
Mixing positive with negative does require skill, though. It becomes misleading or deceptive when the two are completely disconnected.
"Nice tie Jim. How the hell did you lose the Farkinson account? At least you get to shake it off while driving home in that sweet convertible of yours."
At another meeting, from another speaker, I heard someone describe the "sandwich" approach to constructive feedback. For example: 'Your work's been really accurate. The only problem is the curse words in the delivery. Can you try to cut that way back, so that it matches the rest of the professionalism of your writing?' Positive-negative-positive.
The pessimistic view is that it doesn't "cut to the chase," is cowardly of the coach or misleading to the player. I think that reality is twofold. First, words are more powerful than they're given credit. A baldly negative comment is like starting a fire in the woods without proper enclosure -- that which was intended for good turns into destruction. Second, people are basically good. Pointing out fault without compliment is inaccurate in most cases.
Mixing positive with negative does require skill, though. It becomes misleading or deceptive when the two are completely disconnected.
"Nice tie Jim. How the hell did you lose the Farkinson account? At least you get to shake it off while driving home in that sweet convertible of yours."
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
McDonald's 10th Friend Disputed
The addition of Heather Banks (formerly Holtz) as a Facebook friend has moved me into double digits, prompting speculation that I may be desperate.
Banks, who attended St. Matthew grade school and Driscoll Catholic High School with me for various stretches, had last been in touch with me nearly 20 years ago.
Banks could not be reached for comment.
Officials are skeptical of the "friend" claim's legitimacy, noting that Banks didn't sign my yearbook. In a related study, officials also disputed my diploma.
"To complete four years of high school and have such a blank yearbook is madness," the report's conclusion read.
Banks, who attended St. Matthew grade school and Driscoll Catholic High School with me for various stretches, had last been in touch with me nearly 20 years ago.
Banks could not be reached for comment.
Officials are skeptical of the "friend" claim's legitimacy, noting that Banks didn't sign my yearbook. In a related study, officials also disputed my diploma.
"To complete four years of high school and have such a blank yearbook is madness," the report's conclusion read.
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