Thanksgiving

Ok, so I was going through some clinic notes from over the summer, and came across something from Don Meyer (check link on side). He has 3 rules...

1. Learn about yourself
2. Find your unique talent and develop it
3. Give your gift away, every day

At the time, it was just something that he said that I wrote down. But looking back I can really feel the depth of them. You definitely need to fully understand yourself first. You need to know what you believe in, how you work, what your strengths are, your weaknesses, etc... Once you understand yourself, then you know what you can do and can't do, what you're good at and not good at. Once you know everything there is to know about yourself, you will be able to notice something that is unique and something that you are passionate about. Once you know what it is, then you can develop it further and it can be your mark on the world. But once you have obtained all this knowledge, it's useless if you don't give it away! Show someone else what you already know so that your knowledge starts to permeate the culture that is around you. What good is knowledge if it is not shared?
I know that over the past 3 years I have really shaped my view of basketball and life. It is something completely different than what I started with. Most of it has been formed through going to clinics, reading books, searching the internet, going to college, and just simply being around people with positive attitudes that care about the game of basketball.
Due to the fact that it is Thanksgiving weekend, here is a link to another of Coach Meyer's wonderful free handouts that deals with Thanksgiving. Handout
Happy Thanksgiving!

Team First

The ultimate team player? To me it's someone that is a little surprising. When you think of a team player who do you think of? The guy who does all the dirty work, makes nice passes, will go get the offensive rebound because no one else is going to, the lock-down defender who doesn't score more than a bucket a game, the guy who will lay his body out to get a loose ball? Have an idea yet? What if I put a restraint on it and said it had to be a Major League Baseball player. Does that change the criteria for a team player? It has to be the guy who is hustling for an extra base? The outfielder who dives or hurls himself into the wall to bring back a homer? The first-baseman or catcher who lets nothing pass by them? Well, in this day and age of professional sports, does Curt Schilling make the bill? He is pretty much automatic in the post season. Which equals lots of wins. He has proved himself over and over. He pitched with a bloody sock. He should have gotten some huge deal for what he's worth right? Wrong, Schilling realized that he has made over 100 million dollars because of baseball. He knows that he is set for life. He took only 8 million for his one year deal. I know this is amazing numbers to you and I, but look at it this way; he could have got a lot more somewhere else. He chose to help out his own team, whom he loves playing for. He is letting them use his money on someone that could help his team. In this age of money and salary caps (which in baseball is there, but not there) this is a true class act. As much as Kobe claims to not have any players around him, do you think that he would take a huge pay cut to let the Lakers bring in some quality players? I am not knocking Kobe at all, he just always seems to be wanting to get out of L.A. all the time. Wouldn't it be great if all the big money guys did this? I think Phil Jackson tried to have the same salary for one of his CBA? teams. It didn't go over too well, I wonder if people thought they were actually better than they were? This would definitely be something to look in to. I am amazed at Curt Schilling for this and applaud him. Leave a comment about the same salary for every player on a team question. I think it's an interesting topic. Have a good day!