Rookie Coach,
I have gone through the book numerous times and still find "new" things every time... or I begin to understand and see things differently.
It is highlighted, underlined, stickied, and has notes written in the columns.
I find I re-read sections based on the ages and skills of the kids I am coaching. I am all about games and letting them teach the game; so I love Tom's games that he has in the book.
Don't get too overwhelmed the first time. Get through it once, mark it up, and then go back to the sections you want to re-read. My understanding of it is a work in progress... and that is after five years of first reading it!
Enjoy!
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall (2009)
ISBN 978-0-307-26630-7 $29.95 CDN
Just completed this book on the weekend. Not about hockey, but about ultra endurance running and the Tarahumara Indians of Copper Canyon Mexico. Lots of useful (for me at least!) philosophy inside. I found it quite compelling reading and couldn't put it down until I was done! The parts about the extremes that Dr. Joe Vigil, a US cross-country coach, would go to gain more knowledge, even at the age of 65, was very inspiring to me. This fellow certainly seems to be passionate about his work and a life-long learner! This book really spoke to me on a deep level. I have included several excerpts that really hit home for me. They might not hit home for you, but if you read the book, perhaps they will have much more meaning to you! Change the words "running" to "coaching" and see what they mean to you. Enjoy the read!
Dr. Vigil can be read about from Chapter 13 (pp77) through to the end of Chapter 18 (pp 120) of the hardcover version of the book. Sounds like a master coach or a 'coach whisperer' to me!
pp 77 Intro to Dr. Vigil and his sense of drive:
The secret to Vigil's success was spelled right out in his name: no other coach was more vigilant about detecting the crucial little details that everyone else missed... he out-scienced them; he studied the tricks... He'd tracked down the old masters and picked their brains, vacuuming up their secrets before they disappeared into the grave. His head was a Library of Congress of running lore, much of it vanished from every place on the planet except his memory. His research paid off sensationally.
pp 85 On creativity, curiosity and possible solutions:
Coach Vigil was a hard - data freak, but... he loved the fact that ultra running had no science, no playbook, no training manual, no conventional wisdom. That kind of freewheeling self-invention is where the big breakthroughs come from, as Vigil knew...
pp 90 During part of the1994 Leadville (Colorado) running race - 100 miles... some observations of the top runners:
"Everybody else walks up that hill," Ken Chlouber though, as Juan and Martimano churned up the slope like kids playing in a leaf pile. "Everybody. And they sure as Hell ain't laughin' about it." ... "Such a sense of joy!" marveled Coach Vigil, who'd never seen anything like it, either. "It was quite remarkable." Glee and determination are usually antagonistic emotions, yet the Tarahumara were brimming with both at once, as if running to the death made them feel alive. Vigil had been furiously taking mental notes... but it was the smiles that really jolted him. "That's it! Vigil thought, ecstatic. I've found it!" Except that he wasn't sure what "it" was...
The revelation he was hoping for was right in front of his eyes... Over the previous few years, Vigil had become convinced that the next leap forward in human endurance would come from a dimension he dreaded getting into: character... not ... "grit" or "hunger" or "the size of the fight in the dog." In fact, he meant the exact opposite. Vigil's notion of character wasn't toughness. It was compassion. Kindness. Love...
Vigil knew it sounded like hippy-dippy drivel... but after spending nearly fifty years researching performance physiology, Vigil had reached the uncomfortable conclusion that all the easy questions had been answered; he was now learning more and more about less and less. He'd figured out the body, so now it was on to the brain. Specifically: How do you make anyone actually want to do any of this stuff? How do you flip the internal switch...That was the real secret of the Tarahumera: they'd never forgotten what it felt like to love running... But the American approach - ugh. Rotten at its core. It was too artificial and grabby, Vigil believed, too much about getting stuff and getting it now: medals, Nike deals, a cute butt. It wasn't art; it was business...
pp 94 Dr. Vigil's philosophy:
Vigil could smell the apocalypse coming, and he'd tried hard to tell his runners. "There are two goddesses in your heart," he told them. "The Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, give her all your love and attention, and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous, and follow you." Ask nothing from your running, in other words, and you'll get more than imagined... All he wanted was to find one Natural Born Runner - someone who ran for sheer joy, like an artist in the grip of inspiration - and study how he or she trained, lived, and thought.
pp 98 On Emil Zatopek, Czech long distance runner, winner of 3 gold medals in 1952 Olympics, and The Answer:
"His enthusiasm, his friendliness, his love of life, shone through every moment," an overcome Ron Clarke said later. "There is not, and never was, a greater man than Emil Zatopek." So here's what Coach Vigil was trying to figure out: was Zatopek a great man who happened to run or a great man because he ran? Vigil couldn't quite put his finger on it, but his gut kept telling him that there was some kind of connection between the capacity to love and the capacity to love running... Maybe Ron Clarke wasn't being poetic in his description of Zatopek - maybe his expert eye was being clinically precise: His love of life shone through at every moment. Yes! Love of life! Exactly! ... He'd found his Natural Born Runner. He'd found an entire tribe of Natural Born Runners, and from what he'd seen so far, they were as joyful and magnificent as he'd hoped. Vigil, an old man alone in the woods, suddenly felt a burst of immortality. He was onto something. Something huge. It wasn't just how to run; it was how to live, the essence of who we are as a species and what we're meant to be... But there has to be transferable skills, right? Basic Tarahumara principles that could survive and take root in American soil? ... He didn't have all the answers yet - but watching the Tarahumara whisk past... he knew where he could find them.
pp 118 On Dr. Vigil's methodology of training:
What Vigil had going was real Spartan warrior stuff - a survival of the fittest program that combined a killer workload with the freezing, windswept Colorado mountains." ... He was about living lean and building ones soul as much as ones strength.
"Practice abundance by giving back".
"Improve personal relationships".
"Show integrity to your value system".
"Eat as though you were a poor person".
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Like I said, taken as excerpts, these lose a lot of their meaning if you haven't read the book... if anybody else has read the book, or want to chime in with their thoughts, feel free.
I think these statements came from Marcus Luttrells' Lone Survivor book... awesome stuff!
They are filming a movie this year, based on his the true story in his book. It is supposed to come out in 2013.
1. We cannot fight evil with evil.
2. Right is right and wrong s wrong.
3. Relativism is a lie. Wrong cannot be justified.
4. Never compromise your values.
5. Silence in the presence of wrongdoing is complicity.
6. We all make mistakes. Don't make excuses; make corrections.
7. It's never too late to do the right thing.
Taking Note: No Guarantees
Gregg Drinnan, Wednesday, October 5, 2011
First off, a disclaimer. I was working at the Brandon Sun and covering the Brandon Wheat Kings when Don Dietrich was a defenceman on their roster.
Over the last few years, we have communicated infrequently, but often enough that I consider him a friend.
Now . . . let’s get on to the book.
While attending the 2010 Memorial Cup in Brandon, I picked up a copy of Dietrich’s book. And then, foolishly, I put it on the next-to-read pile and it got forgotten.
I rediscovered it recently and have since read it.
If you are a hockey fan, you absolutely have to get a copy of this book. Why? Because it will make you giggle. It will make you howl with laughter. And it will make you weep. You can't ask for anything more than that.
It is titled No Guarantees, with this subtitle: An Inspiring Story of Struggle and Success in Professional Sport and with Parkinson’s and Cancer.
Written by Dietrich, with his wife, Nadine, and journalist Brad Bird, this is an account of Dietrich’s hockey career and his personal battle with Parkinson’s Disease and a particularly lethal kind of cancer.
Understand that this isn’t a weepy biography by some old beaten up hockey player who feels life owes him something.
No, it isn’t.
Rather, it is a terrific read about a boy’s journey to manhood, about a young hockey player’s travels to retirement and beyond. It’s about a man who married a Penthouse Pet and, with her, raised three sons, two of whom went on to play in the WHL.
Dietrich provides a realistic look at life in the WHL, from the travel to the fighting and beyond.
But it is the tales he tells of his days in the AHL, the NHL and Europe that are so wonderful and often so hilarious.
Dietrich’s writing on being a rookie in the training camp of the Chicago Blackhawks — and also of being a young man from smalltown Manitoba (Deloraine) thrown into Chicago — is priceless.
———
At one point, the night before the first on-ice session of training camp, a group including Doug Wilson, Terry Ruskowski, Steve Larmer and Dietrich is about to order dinner in a Chicago restaurant.
Dietrich tells the story . . .
I’m looking at this menu and I see it’s stuff that I don’t know — and then I see, sirloin steak. That’s what I’m going to take. And I’m paranoid, because I’m looking around and trying to watch what other guys are doing and I’m trying to play the part. I’m sitting with four NHL guys and three or four future NHLers, and I’m just pumped. I’m just above everything. I’m sitting there and the girl comes up and she says, “So what’ll you have?” And she’s looking right at me.
I’m thinking, Why me? So I said, “I’ll have the sirloin steak.”
She said, “How would you like it done?”
Well, all my life it just came to me on the plate. At home, Dad cooked it on the barbecue and put it on the plate. At my billets, Ma Muirhead and Marnocks in Brandon, I came to the table and it was on the plate. Every Saturday night we had steak at home, it was on the plate.
I’m sitting there thinking, what does she want? I know Mom puts it in the oven. They don’t boil steak. I’m sitting there and I’m starting to sweat and the guys are looking as if to say, “C’mon, we want to order.” So I sat there and said, “Cook it.”
The table erupted in laughter.
———
Later, in an episode you may recall, Dietrich ended up at the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. He was to have played for Team Canada, however the Americans protested the inclusion of Dietrich, who had played six NHL games, and Mark Morrison, who had played two. The IOC upheld the protest, so Dietrich headed for home.
His retelling of his time in Sarajevo is an incredible story, and his journey home is even beyond that. You will read this part of the book and wonder how it was that the kid from Deloraine didn’t disappear forever somewhere in that European winter.
This is a soft cover book that is 200 pages in length. The writing is a little rough around the edges, which only adds to its authenticity. There are some incorrect spellings — Chris Nilan is Chris Nyland, Steve Yzerman is Steve Izerman, Pelle Lindbergh is Pelle Lindburgh — but they don’t ruin what is a great read.
There are marvellous stories from his days playing in Europe and a lot of insight into what a fringe NHLer goes through when he realizes his career is over.
And then, on Page 175, Dietrich is diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. On Page 184, he finds out he has leiomyo sarcoma, which his doctor tells him is “one of the most active and deadly cancers there is.”
That was late in 1999.
In recent times, Dietrich has discovered that “at my home rink in Deloraine when my old pal (Parkinson’s) leaves me alone, I just go out on the ice.”
He helps everyone from six-year-olds to oldtimers, he told me in an email on Tuesday.
“You see,” he added, “Kelly McCrimmon told me one time, ‘Dieter, you have a wealth of knowledge in that noggin up there . . . why don't you start friggin sharing it’.
“SO I DO. LOL.”
Dietrich closed the email with this:
“So I have been doing good my friend thanks to hockey, the greatest game there is!!”
———
You can find No Guarantees at amazon.com ($20.87) or at trafford.com (also for $20.87).
Order a copy today. You won't be disappointed. I guarantee it.
-----
Earlier this week, I offered up a review of a book written by Don Dietrich, a former defenceman with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
I was remiss in not mentioning that Dietrich spent part of last weekend in Winnipeg, where he was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame . . . not as a player, but as a builder.
Here, from the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame newsletter, is Dietrich’s bio:
“Don Dietrich of Deloraine, a former defenseman and captain of the Brandon Wheat Kings, soaked up a lot of knowledge as a player in the AHL, NHL, East Coast League, with Team Canada and in Germany and Switzerland. He has passed on this knowledge as an assistant coach in Switzerland and, after returning home, as a coach with the Southwest Cougar midgets, the SWHL Deloraine Royals and as a scout for the Spokane Chiefs. Dietrich has been an active member of Canada’s national coach mentorship program, doing ‘one-on-one’ mentoring, as well as clinics. Despite personal health problems, he was instrumental in developing the Breakfast Club where young players have come out twice a week to practise their skill development.”
Hockey in our countries needs more Don Dietrichs. And if you missed it scroll further down on this blog and read all about his book. Then get on the Internet and order one. You won't be sorry.
Gregg Drinnan
The Lost Dream: Book on Frost, Danton disturbing
JOE WARMINGTON, QMI Agency, Oct 5 2011
TORONTO - "OPP detectives are currently reading the book with interest." — an OPP source.
The book is called The Lost Dream but perhaps The Lost Opportunity would have been an appropriate title, too.
The lost opportunity to prosecute.
The allegations in this new book about the bizarre Mike Danton and Dave Frost circus not only bring to the surface freakish allegations of abuse but also raise questions into the effectiveness and capability of the Ontario’s Crown attorney’s office.
Award-winning Sun Media sports columnist Steve Simmons’ new book on the sad but riveting story of a hockey agent and of his client — a relationship that ended with Danton behind bars for trying to hire someone to kill Frost — is now available.
It’s the stuff of movies.
But for Danton’s younger brother, Tom Jefferson, himself once a promising hockey star with the Oshawa Generals, the story is not only non-fiction but a real life nightmare.
It turns out not only was one son involved in this horror show but two, if Tom’s story is to be believed.
“This man destroyed an entire family,” Danton’s father Steve Jefferson, told me at Simmons’ book launch Tuesday at Betty’s. “It’s just not right.”
Chapter 4 of the The Lost Dream, published by Viking Canada, is a description of an all-out, heinous and horrific sexual, physical, mental and emotional assault on a 13-year-old boy with Frost in supervision.
The now 24-year-old Tom Jefferson tells Simmons that in the summer of 2000, when he was 13-years-old, he was taped up, sexually assaulted, forced to dance on a table naked and shot at while his brother and others looked on in hysterics at Dave Frost’s cottage near Kingston.
If you have a weak stomach, stop reading now because what comes next is as shocking as it is appalling.
The younger Jefferson describes a scenario where he was climbing a tree on the shores of Loughborough Lake when “all of a sudden, Dave pulls out a rifle and points it at me. The tree is wobbling and I’m getting nervous about it and he tells me to keep climbing across or he’s going to shoot me. He took a couple of shots (with a pellet rifle) and missed me. He took another shot that hit the branch right in front of my face. So I’m hanging on as best I can and trying to follow along all the way to the end, and he’s got this gun pointed at me, and I held on to the branch as long as I could before falling into the shallow water.”
Frightening. It gets even worse.
Jefferson describes one evening where Frost said to him “‘I bet you have a small d--- like your brother, eh?...Before I could do anything he pulled me by my shorts over to him, and reached his hands down my pants and grabbed a hold of a d--- and just held on to it.”
He alleges Frost then said: “Well, Sheldon (Keefe) has a pretty big c---. Why don’t you pull it out and show Tommy what a real d--- looks like.”
As difficult as it is to imagine it deteriorates even further when young Tom says he was forcefully confined.
“They tape my legs to the bunk bed,” Jefferson is quoted in The Lost Dream. “I’m pulling away and trying to get loosen it and Frost is slapping me...Then Frost grabbed my penis and taped it around and around. Everyone was laughing, taking pictures — and I know that because the pictures were later found (at Sheldon Keefe’s parents house).”
The OPP still have these photographs.
So I know what you are thinking. Why the hell was none of this put before a judge and jury?
Frost says it’s because “it’s all ridiculous” and that “I wasn’t even there for a lot of what was alleged.”
In an e-mail Wednesday Frost said that the whole book is one-sided — Simmons didn’t talk to him or any of the other principals involved.
“Everyone who was present at the cottage was interviewed during the investigation,” Frost wrote. “They all cooperated with police.”
And as he points out, there were no charges laid against anyone present at the cottage.
“This is significant in itself but this (book) was born out of hatred and money from the side of Steve Jefferson,” Frost writes. “It’s really that simple.”
It’s the million dollar question and raises the idea that perhaps not only should there be further investigation into these allegations but also into what transpired.
“It should have been (brought up in court),” said several OPP detectives who know the case well. “Simmons describes a heated argument with the Crown (over) why it wasn’t and I confirm...it was bloody heated. The thing is not only did police believe Tom’s story, we also had photographs of the dancing on the table and of the incident with the gun. It was evidence backed up with photographs that was our point of view to the Crown.”
In the end, however, the prosecutors, believing there was no reasonable prospect for a conviction, decided not to pursue this avenue.
“It was my word against theirs,” Tom tells Simmons.
Now his father Steve and mother Sue are hoping that perhaps there will be a change of heart in the Crown’s office and Tom’s story can be presented in open court. “I don’t see why not,” Steve said. It was an assault on a 13-year-old. What else do you call it? I would just like it put before a jury to see what they think. That’s not asking too much. I want to ruin his life, just like he ruined mine.”
In order for it to end up back in a courtroom one of the witnesses, including Mike Danton now playing hockey in Sweden, would have to change his or her story, my OPP sources tell me.
Stay tuned because in this sick but real life drama, who knows what could happen next.
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REVIEW: The lost dream: The story of Mike Danton, David Frost, and a broken Canadian family
Book by Steve Simmons
Reviewed by Michael Friscolanti on Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Mike Danton tried to hire two different people to murder his agent, David Frost. The first, a strip club bouncer, ignored the hockey player’s frantic phone messages. (“Help me out any way you can, please,” Danton said in one voice mail. “It’s a matter of life and death.”) The second would-be hit man—a police dispatcher, of all things—tipped off the FBI. Danton was arrested on April 16, 2004, just three days after scoring his first and only NHL playoff goal.
Behind bars and on the brink of suicide, the St. Louis Blues forward spent hours on the prison telephone, talking to the one man who had always been in his corner: David Frost, the same person he conspired to kill.
“Do I have to worry about my safety anymore?” Frost asked during one conversation, recorded by authorities.
“No you don’t,” Danton answered. “I gotta go.”
“Okay, do you love me?” Frost asked.
“Yes,” Danton whispered.
“Say it.”
“I love you.”
How Mike Danton arrived at that moment—professing love for a man he desperately wanted dead—is a mystery many journalists have tried to unravel over the past seven years. The Lost Dream, by Toronto Sun columnist Simmons, is the most exhaustive attempt yet. Based on dozens of interviews, court transcripts—and a few wild rumours—Simmons crafts a chilling account of how a 12-year-old budding hockey star from Brampton, Ont., fell so deep under David Frost’s spell that homicide became his only escape.
Neither Frost nor Danton agreed to speak to Simmons, and both have repeatedly refuted the U.S. government’s version of events. (They now claim that the real target of Danton’s murder-for-hire plot was his estranged father, not Frost.) The truth, of course, is obvious to anyone who reads the court file—or listens to those prison recordings. But as the book makes clear, in David Frost’s world, only one opinion matters.
http://nhlgms.com/index.php
I haven't read this but I keep getting it sent to my email.... "Behind the Moves" NHL GM's tell how winners are built. I'm curious to see how it is.
Quote by: Erichttp://nhlgms.com/index.php
I haven't read this but I keep getting it sent to my email.... "Behind the Moves" NHL GM's tell how winners are built. I'm curious to see how it is.
Thanks Eric. I am going to search it out! Hadn't heard of it before now... release date is "Autumn, 2011" and the cost is $100.
Back in the Bigs - Book Review
Gregg Drinnan, Kamloops Daily News, October 13, 2011
Yes, they're back . . .
If you’re a hockey fan, chances are you were in front of a TV set on Sunday and watched at least part of the game from the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.
This was the regular-season return of the Jets to Winnipeg and not even a 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens could ruin the atmosphere.
And if you’re a hockey fan chances are pretty good that you really will enjoy Back in the Bigs, a book loaded with photos and the story of the Jets as written by Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press.
Turner and the photographs tell the story of the Jets, going all the way back to the days of Ben Hatskin — was he, you know, connected? — and the Junior Jets.
Turner tells the complete story, too.
When you think of the Winnipeg Jets, chances are you think immediately of the big line — Ulf Nilsson between Bobby Hull and Anders Hedberg — or maybe Dale Hawerchuk.
It’s true that time and distance make the heart grow fonder, so you may have forgotten that despite the presence of the likes of the four aforementioned players, the Jets never were a rip-roaring success in Winnipeg.
Oh, the fans loved the Jets the day it all ended — the Detroit Red Wings beat the host Jets 4-1 in a playoff game on April 28, 1996. The Winnipeg franchise was then relocated to Phoenix.
But travel back in time with Turner and read about how the Jets, featuring Hull, Hedberg and Nilsson, rarely sold out the Winnipeg Arena when they played in the now-defunct World Hockey Association.
And things didn’t get much better when the NHL ended the war between the leagues by begrudgingly accepting four teams, including the Jets.
Turner touches on all of that and, by the time Winnipeg is gearing up to welcome back the second-coming of its Jets, you are wondering how a team that struggled for acceptance as a WHA team and later as an NHL entry can make a go of it this time around?
More than anything, though, there are great hockey stories in this book. Stories of how Hatskin landed Hull and how Hedberg and Nilsson came to play in Winnipeg, even though neither player had even visited North America. Remember, too, that the Jets had more Europeans on their roster than just those two skaters.
There is lots here, too, on the fiery John Ferguson, who during his stint as general manager was the face of the Jets.
Turner also delves into Winnipeg’s lengthy stay in the American Hockey League — its franchise was the Manitoba Moose, an affiliate of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks. If you are wondering how it is that Craig Heisinger, a former trainer with the Brandon Wheat Kings, moved from the Moose, where he started as the trainer, to the Jets, where he now is director of player operations, you need only read about his going nose-to-nose with Brian Burke, then the Canucks’ GM.
Through the pages of this book you will get a look at Mark Chipman and David Thomson, the two men most responsible for the Jets’ return to Winnipeg. And you’ll read all about how it happened.
There also are a whole lot of terrific photos and it’s great to see some of the older ones from the archives of the late, great Winnipeg Tribune, most from the always capable camera of Jon Thordarson.
(Hard cover, Viking Canada/Winnipeg Free Press, 208 pages, $35)
Ron MacLean shares opinions on hockey and details life with Grapes
The Canadian Press, 2011-10-16
"Cornered: "Hijinks, Highlights, Late Nights and Insights," Ron MacLean with Kirstie McLellan Day, HarperCollins Canada, 307 pages, $33.99.
TORONTO - He doesn't like the salary cap, thinks the ice surface is too small, and believes a string of rule changes have "put hockey on a road to hell paved with good intentions."
Ron MacLean may be thought of as Don Cherry's setup man in some quarters but the veteran "Hockey Night in Canada" host is not short of his own opinions.
MacLean gives his side of the story in "Cornered," co-written with Kirstie McLellan Day. The book is subtitled "Hijinks, Highlights, Late Nights and Insights."
"Cornered" is a lot like MacLean himself—entertaining, erudite and all over the place.
Comfortable in his own skin, the 51-year-old native of Red Deer, Alta., has no problems in opening up, from what his house cost to not having kids with wife Cari.
"I sometime feel that without children to sort of rein me in and give me responsibility, I've never really grown up," MacLean writes. "I've been able to play hockey, go out with my buddies and become obsessive about work. I'm selfish in a way that children don't allow you to be. I'm not saying that is a good thing or a bad thing, It's just the way it is."
MacLean literally opens the book on his life, detailing what he makes throughout his career although he doesn't share his current salary. He does acknowledge making $475,000 going into the contentious 2002 contract negotiations that triggered a flurry of public support for him.
"I think I end up in the book around a half-million and I'm not far off that now," he said in an interview.
"I've always believed in transparency," he said by way of explanation. "That book isn't me totally laid bare but it's very close. ... People have this perception that Ron's this saint sitting next to Don, getting bullied. Well it's often the other way around, of course."
"Cornered" does lift the cover on the MacLean-Cherry dynamic—a life built "around conversations over beers at night."
The two like to throw some light beers into a bucket filled with ice and cold water—"You have to have a lot of water so the cold transfers quickly," he explains—and decide what to talk about on "Hockey Night."
"That's our favourite time," MacLean said. "And it's probably a favourite time on Wednesday night when I play beer-league hockey, go back to the pub afterwards and just talk about everything under the sun."
In his foreword, Cherry credits MacLean for him lasting 25 years on TV.
"I feel he is like my defence partner on the Rochester Americans, Darryl Sly," Cherry writes. "He carried me on the ice for years. I had my strengths—tough in front of the net, I could fight and hit. But Darryl did all the legwork for me."
From a man who admits he is not giving of compliments, it is the highest praise. And when raised, it clearly pleases MacLean.
Cherry, he says, is misunderstood and his "smarts" underrated. There is far more than garish suits, high collars, and endless bluster.
"A lot of depth in Don," MacLean said. "Extremely well read, extremely bright.
"It's so nice to be with somebody that is so quick-witted," he added. "As I always say he's little quicker because he doesn't weigh the consequences the way I might. But that's a joy in our business, because everything else is so scripted and so structured. It's lovely to see someone live by their wits."
Cherry may not mince words, but he usually thinks ahead, MacLean added.
"He works at it," he said. "He doesn't just shoot from the hip. He sits and stews about what he's going to say for days on end."
Interestingly, the book comes out in the midst of yet another Cherry controversy. "Coach's Corner" came with an apology Saturday night as Cherry backed off comments made during the season opener about a trio of former tough guys.
On the issue of hockey, MacLean worries that the game has become too much about "the instant gratification of the goal."
"To quote U.S. founding father Thomas Paine, 'Be careful not to admire the plumage and ignore the dying bird,' " he writes.
On the subject of "Coach's Corner," MacLean details the many missteps but also his dissatisfaction at times when he saw unwarranted interference from the CBC higher-ups.
"It's a very tricky dance," he said of the network's journalistic-rights-holder dichotomy, a tangle complicated by the CBC's role as public broadcaster.
He also shines a spotlight on his much publicized contract dispute, calling it "a three-day circus."
"It was like a car accident for me and I was glad to be done with it," he said. "Grateful for the process and grateful for the support, obviously, but clearly glad to get through it."
Readers will leave "Cornered" with a better handle on the author.
MacLean's unfettered enthusiasm for events like "Hockey Day in Canada" makes far more sense when one reads about a youth that saw multiple stops across the country.
"Two things shaped me: the rink rat and air force brat," he explained. "And being an only child ... All those friendships, all those invitations you got were such a huge relief because you were so lonely when you moved into each new location.
"So it's just such a joy to go do 'Hockey Day' and know that you're giving those folks a chance to be recognized the way I felt I needed when I was a kid and pretty vulnerable."
MacLean says he had past offers to write a book but cites McLellan Day, a friend, as the one who convinced him to finally take the plunge.
"I'm really grateful I did, in hindsight," he said. "We all find navel-gazing and that kind of thing a little bit awkward. I think when you do this for a living, you get so much blame and acclaim that you had enough of it. But I'm glad I did it."
Adds MacLean: "It gives you an idea of what to hate about me and what to like about me."
Gerry James did it all in storied sports career:
Gerry James, A.K.A. Kid Dynamite, was a rare breed of athlete who played for both the Blue Bombers and the Maple Leafs.
JIM BENDER, QMI Agency, Oct 20 2011
WINNIPEG - The first reaction to a book just released about CFL legend Gerry James is that it came out about 40 years too late.
After all, he starred at running back, kick returner and placekicker during the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ glory years back in the 1950s and early ‘60s.
Yet, his biography still resonates today and Kid Dynamite, The Gerry James Story (Oolichan Books, $35) by Ron Smith is a must-read for both diehard Bombers and CFL fans, and even some NHL observers.
James is one of only two players to ever play pro football in the CFL and pro hockey in the NHL playoffs. Lionel (Big Train) Conacher was the first. James is the only one to win the Grey Cup back in 1959, then play in the Stanley Cup final in the same season, 1959-60. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were swept by the powerful Montreal Canadiens.
James, who became the youngest lad to ever play in the CFL at 17, also became the very first recipient of the Schenley Award for Most Outstanding Canadian in 1954, and won it again in 1957. He would also become the first to follow his father, Eddie (Dynamite) James into the CFL Hall of Fame.
James not only set a number of CFL records, he was also such a good hockey player that there was a tug-of-war for his services. He would play both for a while, then stuck with football.
After his two-sport career was over, James became a successful junior hockey coach.
“It (the book) was Ron’s idea,” said James, who will be the Bombers honourary captain when they play the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday, his 77th birthday.
“I decided it was important to start celebrating people who had excelled in sport in Canada,” said Smith, who golfs with James on the West Coast where they live.
“We thought this would be a good time to bring forth a number of things in the book in regards to my career and what kind of influence I’ve had with people in regards to hockey and coaching hockey and that kind of stuff,” said James, who will be at the Bomber Store to sign his book on Friday, 5-7 p.m.
The book reveals some rather surprising details of both his careers, the relationship with his dad and the fact so few knew he played with almost no sight in one eye after getting hit with a puck. And he still resents the way Bombers head coach/GM Bud Grant released him in 1963.
“A highlight was running back a kickoff (for a TD) in 1957 in the Western Final against Edmonton,” said James, who suffered the broken hand in that match. “We went to the Grey Cup Game and we were bruised, battered and broken pretty much.”
James, who was born in Regina but spent his teenage years in Winnipeg, will never forget his NHL highlights.
“Just playing in that 1960 final against such a great Montreal Canadiens team,” he said. “The other one is the first game I played in the NHL. It was in Montreal when I was still playing junior in Toronto (1954-55). Eric Nesterenko got hurt and I was called up to play on a line with Ted Kennedy and Sid Smith which, of course, was a top line with the Leafs at the time. To go into the Montreal Forum and play against all those greats was just a great thrill.”
The most embarrassing moment of his Bombers’ career came when he missed a convert twice, but got a third chance due to Lions’ penalties.
“Finally, (receiver) Farrell Funston comes into the huddle and says, ‘I’m open for the pass.’ I was laughing so hard that I kicked it right into (centre George) Druxman’s butt,” he said.
Looks good Kai. I am going to try to source it too. Also, waiting for the release of "Behind the Moves" where NHL GM's tell how winners are built.
You will have to do a quick review once you have a chance to read it!
Book Review: Behind the Moves: NHL General Managers Tell how Winners are Built
www.hockeynow.ca, Posted in BC Edition, Alberta Edition, Ontario Edition, Product Reviews, October 19, 2011
Review by Brian Burke, President & General Manager, Toronto Maple Leafs
By now you've already heard about a book that I am truly excited about, Behind the Moves: NHL General Managers Tell how Winners are Built. Finally, a book has been compiled about the National Hockey League's general managers, and by an author for whom I have great respect.
Behind the Moves is part encyclopedia, part history book, part manual for would-be managers. And it's your ticket to the general manager's office, where you'll find out all about the trades, the championships, the negotiations with agents, and the day-to-day dealing with owners and the media. You'll enjoy it, and you'll learn a lot, too.
NHL GMs are busy guys, but I and 34 of the top GMs all-time have personally invested significant time, energy, and materials into the making of this book, giving you totally unique insight into pro hockey. Behind the Moves is not an outsiders account, it's an insider's view of what's truly involved in being an NHL GM! For me, it has been a true honor to be associated with so many iconic hockey personalities through the making of Behind the Moves; friends and colleagues like Glen Sather, Pat Quinn, and George McPhee, but also legends whom I was fortunate enough to overlap with like Bill Torrey, Emile Francis, and Sam Pollock. Like each of them, I am proud of our game's history and tradition and the men who shaped the teams that have excited fans over the years. And because I was so impressed with the concept of Behind the Moves, I jumped in and wrote the book's Foreword.
I believe that the NHL's general managers have been the brains and the conscience of the game since the league opened for business in 1917. Yet, surprisingly, little has been written about them. But is there a more important job on the team than the guy who puts the team together?
Like you, I've always been interested in knowing what other managers thought, so I could maybe learn to emulate certain types and avoid the other kinds. Behind the Moves is that playbook for all managers and those aspiring to get into, or move up in, the game. You'll hear directly from the GMs who all share an undying passion for the game; past managers, current managers, champions, tenured veterans, innovators, old-schoolers, educated men and men with diplomas marked "Original Six."
If you're looking for the plays and strategies to cultivate winners, Behind the Moves is the guidebook, Go buy it now at www.nhlgms.com
The Lost Dream - Review
TAKING NOTE, Gregg Drinnan, Oct 30 2011
Every hockey parent should read The Lost Dream, a book written by Toronto Sun sports columnist Steve Simmons. The book’s subtitle is The Story of Mike Danton, David Frost, and a Broken Canadian Family. . . . This book tells an ugly, ugly story, one with which you may be familiar as Danton — he was Mike Jefferson before changing his name. . . . There are so many angles to this story that it is impossible to list them all there. . . . Just read the book if you get the opportunity. . . . My only real quibble is with the book’s title. It should be: The Lost Family.
From a Volleyball Coaches blog whom I follow (I've put the link below to the blog should you want to also follow along) come a book recommendation that I think would interest some on the site.
I have not read it as I just read the blog but the review is listed at the link as well if you want to read it.
The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Anyone Else
By: George Anders
I've added it to my wish list so if someone reads it, please post a review.
http://usavolleyball.org/blogs/growing-the-game-together-blog/posts/3344-the-rare-find
Thanks Eric. Looks good. I have it on hold at the public library and might try to order it from Amazon too. I also enjoyed the Volleyball blog. I bookmarked it myself! I will let you know my thoughts once I read it.
Interesting enough, I have always thought perseverance / resiliency is one of the most critical factors, if not THE most critical factors, in becoming successful... I look back at all the trials and tribulations I had as a person who wanted to coach hockey at the highest levels... and had I given up on my dream too early, I would have never achieved them! This is what I tell the coaches I mentor. Without playing pro, it is tough to rise to the highest levels... and it is getting harder all the time with former pros populating major junior, Tier 2 junior, etc...
The Navy Seals have a saying, "Not Dead, Can't Quit".
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Here is an overview:
The Rare Find
by George Anders
Portfolio | October 18, 2011 | Hardcover
One of the nation's biggest music labels briefly signed Taylor Swift to a contract but let her go because she didn't seem worth more than $15,000 a year. At least four book publishers passed on the first Harry Potter novel rather than pay J. K. Rowling a $5,000 advance. And the same pattern happens in nearly every business.
Anyone who recruits talent faces the same basic challenge, whether we work for a big company, a new start-up, a Hollywood studio, a hospital, or the Green Berets. We all wonder how to tell the really outstanding prospects from the ones who look great on paper but then fail on the job. Or, equally important, how to spot the ones who don't look so good on paper but might still deliver extraordinary performance.
Over the past few decades, technology has made recruiting in all fields vastly more sophisticated. Gut instincts have yielded to benchmarks. If we want elaborate dossiers on candidates, we can gather facts (and video) by the gigabyte. And yet the results are just as spotty as they were in the age of the rotary phone.
George Anders sought out the world's savviest talent judges to see what they do differently from the rest of us. He reveals how the U.S. Army finds soldiers with the character to be in Special Forces without asking them to fire a single bullet. He takes us to an elite basketball tournament in South Carolina, where the best scouts watch the game in a radically different way from the casual fan. He talks to researchers who are reinventing the process of hiring Fortune 500 CEOs.
Drawing on the best advice of these and other talent masters, Anders reveals powerful ideas you can apply to your own hiring. For instance:
* Don't ignore "the jagged r?sum?"-people whose background appears to teeter on the edge between success and failure. Such people can do spectacular work in the right settings, where their strengths dramatically outweigh their flaws.
* Look extra hard for "talent that whispers"- the obscure, out-of-the- way candidates who most scouting systems overlook.
* Be careful with "talent that shouts"-the spectacular but brash candidates who might have trouble with loyalty, motivation, and team spirit.
Each field that Anders explores has its own lingo, customs, and history. But the specific stories fit together into a bigger mosaic. In any field, there's an art to clearing away the clutter and focusing on what matters most. It's not necessarily hard, but it requires the courage to take a different approach in pursuit of the rare find.
Cornered: Hijinks, Highlights, late Nights and Insights
Ron MacLean
I just picked this one up. I believe Tom coaches Kirstie McLellan Day's daughter... a goalie(?) on his girls Midget AAA team. Looking forward to being entertained!
From the Publisher
Ron MacLean has been a Saturday night tradition for twenty-five years. Known for his quick wit, arched eyebrows and encyclopedic hockey knowledge, MacLean is the skilled ringmaster of Canada's most watched weekly program. He has interviewed the greatest players, coaches and personalities of an era. He is a master of seeking the best in substance and entertainment from his guests, as well as from his opinionated and often irascible co-host, Don Cherry, on "Coach's Corner."
And he has never written a book, until now. Cornered is packed with inside accounts - some inspiring, many hilarious - from his early days as a part-time radio announcer and weather forecaster in Red Deer, Alberta, to his time hosting Hockey Night in Canada and the Olympics. Perhaps no other journalist has witnessed first-hand more Canadian sports milestones in the past quarter century. From Gretzky to Catriona, Mario to SalÉ and Pelletier, MacLean has been there with an eye for detail and an appreciation for what makes a great story.
About the Author
RON MacLEAN, host of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada for twenty-five years, began his broadcasting career in 1978 as an all-night DJ in Red Deer, Alberta. In 1984, he moved to Calgary to host Flames telecasts on Channels 2 and 7. MacLean joined CBC in 1986, where he hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs' telecasts on HNIC, before becoming the full-time national host in 1987. He has also hosted CBC's coverage of the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, World Cup Hockey, the Calgary Stampede and Battle of the Blades. MacLean has been recognized with ten Gemini Awards, including Best Host in 2004 and 2006. He and his wife, Cari, live in Oakville, Ontario.
KIRSTIE McLELLAN DAY has written five other books, including the #1 bestselling memoir of Theo Fleury, Playing with Fire, and the bestselling memoir of Bob Probert, Tough Guy, as well as Above and Beyond, a biography of cable magnate JR Shaw, Under the Mat, a memoir with Diana Hart of the Hart wrestling family, and No Remorse, a true-crime story. The mother of five lives with her husband, broadcaster Larry Day, in Calgary, Alberta.
Format:Hardcover
Dimensions:336 Pages, 6.5 x 9.5 x 1.2 in
Published:October 3, 2011
Publisher:HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10:1554689740
ISBN - 13:9781554689743
This is an interview with the author of the book I posted earlier. Daniel Pink was the author of "Drive" a book on motivation that is a good read. You are better served however watching the www.ted.com video instead as it will save you lots of time.
How to find great talent: 4 questions for Bloomberg View’s George Anders
from Daniel Pink by Dan Pink
Here’s a question that bedevils everyone from Fortune 500 boards seeking a replacement CEO to school principals hiring a new algebra teacher, from families looking for a great electrician to baseball teams searching for a better shortstop:
How do you find extraordinary, game-changing talent?
George Anders is a top-shelf business journalist, a veteran of the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and now Bloomberg View. For the last couple of years, he’s tried to answer that question by hanging out with the best talent spotters in the world – the U.S. Army’s Special Forces, a squadron of basketball scouts, the folks at Facebook, and many more.
The result is The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else, which hits stores today. (Buy it from Indie Bound, BN.com, Amazon.com or 8CR.) I had a chance to read the galleys several months ago – and I enjoyed it so much I asked George if he’d do a short interview explaining some of the core concepts for PinkBlog readers.
***
You looked at talent both widely and deeply. What’s the big insight you had after completing this book that you didn’t have when you began it?
Everybody should be searching for resilience, and hardly anyone does. Being able to bounce back from adversity is crucial in just about every field I examined. You need resilience to be a great CEO, a great teacher, soldier, investor, etc., etc. But when we hire, we’re taught to regard setbacks — regardless of what came next — as flaws in a candidate. So when we prepare our own resumes, we hide our stumbles. That’s wrong! We should cherish people who have extricated themselves from trouble in the past.
I was especially intrigued by your idea of the “jagged resume” in part because I realized that I myself sorta had one of these way back when. Tell us what you mean by that term and why it matters.
Steve Jobs is a perfect example. Both in the 1970s and the 1990s, his life was a wild blend of great strengths and apparent failures. He had this awesome imagination, persuasiveness, ambition and design aesthetic. But he was a college dropout who later got forced out of one company (Apple) and couldn’t make a success of another (NeXT.) You could come up with lots of reasons why his resume was too erratic — too jagged — to make him a good bet. But to appreciate someone like that, you need to see why his strengths matter so much, and why his apparent flaws aren’t important.
You also write about “talent that whispers” — and why it’s sometimes undervalued. Give us an example and explain why we should notice this expression of ability.
Look at the amateur baseball draft, where some teams stop picking after 30 rounds because they assume all the good players have already been grabbed. Every year or two, a future All-Star sits unclaimed. Mike Piazza, the great catcher, was a 62nd round pick. Weird but true. Especially when you’re dealing with young, unproven people, some candidates show just a glimmer of promise. Their talent whispers. Don’t scoff at them. Look to open the door, just a crack, so that when long shots come of age, they’re more likely to be working for you than for the competition.
Let’s say a PinkBlog reader wants to be a “rare find” him or herself. What are some specific things he or she should be doing to stand out from the crowd?
Find the frontier. If you want to be extraordinary, restlessness is a virtue. It’s also a great traveling companion for resilience; if you can combine the two of them, your chances of finding society’s greatest opportunities in any particular decade are huge. Hang out with people just as driven and passionate as you. The great hotbeds of talent are self-sustaining because competitive internal friendships guide rapid progress. When in doubt, come back to autonomy, mastery and purpose. Those are keepers!
The Story of the NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy
Canadian Press, Nov 5 2011
A new book by retired hockey player Georges Laraque suggests the NHL has a problem with performance-enhancing drugs.
Laraque says in the book that he knew a lot of players — both talented players and tough guys — who used steroids while he was on the ice.
He says players used different drugs to get stronger and to stop feeling the pain.
Laraque says the league began to tackle the problem in his final years in the league by setting clear rules against performance-enhancing drugs.
But he says that hockey now needs to take action against human growth hormone that players have started using in recent years.
The NHL and its players' association have not yet responded to Laraque's claims.
The former enforcer last played in the NHL in 2010 with the Montreal Canadiens.
His new book, published by Viking Canada, is called "The Story of the NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy."
Testing for performance enhancing substances was included in the collective bargaining agreement reached by the NHL and the NHL Players' Association in 2005.
Under that agreement, every player in the league is subject to three "no-notice" tests from the start of training camp through the end of the regular season.
Unlikeliest Tough Guy
Georges Laraque
Calgary Sun TV interview.
"Gretzky was the worst coach I ever had..."
The English version comes out Wed Nov 8.
http://www .calgarysun .com/2011/11/07/laraque-gretzky-worst-coach-i-ever-had
West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life
West's book pulls no punches
Kerry Eggers, The Portland Tribune, Nov 10 2011
“West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life,” is not so much an autobiography as a confessional.
Jerry West bares his soul in the book recently released (Little, Brown and Co.). And if I tell you it’s a good read, I’m not doing it justice.
At 73, the Hall of Fame basketball legend reveals the inner demons that have left him feeling both cursed and blessed in his time on the planet.
As he looks back at a wildly successful life, West describes himself as a “tormented, defiant figure who carries an angry, emotional chip on his shoulder and has a hole in his heart that nothing can ultimately fill.”
That’s pretty heavy stuff, but West pulls no punches.
“It’s a very honest book,” the man whose silhouette serves as the NBA’s logo told me in an interview last weekend.
Boy, is it.
It’s a stream-of-consciousness piece of work, bouncing from time to time and subject to subject, including his rather unhappy childhood as the fifth of six children of Howard and Cecile West in backwoods Chelyan, W.Va.
He offers a glimpse of those early years, when he enjoyed solo hikes in the Alleghenies with his Daisy Red Ryder BB gun, and later a Remington shotgun, in tow. Of shooting baskets on a makeshift hoop in a neighbor’s dirt yard. Of leading the East Bank High Pioneers to the state championship in 1956.
The dark times, though, tell the overriding story. Howard – for 27 years a machine operator for an oil company – was and continues to be the bane of Jerry’s existence, long after the father’s death.
The senior West was physically abusive to all in the household, particularly Jerry. It left him scarred for life.
“I’d go into my room after being beaten – not hit, but beaten – and I remember just sitting there, filled with every disgusting thought, hating the mere sight of him,” West writes.
Finally, after one beating, West pulled out a gun and challenged his father: “If you ever do this again, something ugly is going to happen.”
“I had a fear of going home,” West writes, “and when you’re little, it’s a helpless feeling.”
The bitter relationship with his father left West less than affectionate with his own five sons, which sadly remains the case today.
“There’s a barrier there,” he writes, “that I seem unable to remove.”
(Though I should say, I’ll wager his kids love him dearly, and he them.)
The other childhood tragedy that left an indelible mark was the death of his older brother, David, in the Korean War at age 21. Jerry idolized David – who had plans to become a Methodist minister – and often wondered why he wasn’t the one to die far too young. The impact on the family was enormous.
“My mother was never the same after David’s death,” West writes.
West’s solace as a boy, as you might guess, was spending hour upon hour shooting baskets or playing the game. He describes his affinity for basketball as “an addiction,” with an unhealthy win-at-all-costs mentality that brought him to some of the greatest heights in the sport’s history, yet left him feeling unfulfilled.
West led West Virginia to the 1959 NCAA finals, losing by a point to California (he was the tournament’s most valuable player). He won one NBA championship as a player with the Lakers but lost six times to Boston in the finals, including 1969, when he won the finals MVP award – the only member of a losing team ever to be so honored. The prize was a Dodge Charger, and “I felt like putting a stick of dynamite in it and blowing it up.”
“Not only do I not think of myself as a hero,” he writes, “I actually think of myself as someone who had come in second more times than he cared to remember, who was a prince far more often than a king.”
I don’t want to give the impression that the book focuses entirely on West’s depression. Though there is little play-by-play or self-gloating about his enormous accomplishments, he modestly covers his ascension from small-town star to professional superstar to big-time executive with just the right touch of accuracy and sentimentality.
I’ve interviewed West a few times over the years and found him accommodating, revealing and eminently likable. Though I’m doubtful he recognized the name when I left a voice message, he returned my call within a day – not because an interview would help him sell the book, I’m sure, but because he is a decent sort who felt it was the right thing to do.
When I asked him what convinced him to sit down with Jonathan Coleman and write the book – a project that took three years to complete – the answer was basically to set the record straight.
“People want to praise athletes for a lot of different things,” he said. “I have had some wonderful things said about me, and some personal, ugly things said about me that are less than who I am.
“I always felt there was a balance. I never once believed I was as good as people thought I was, or that I was something other than what I was.”
Since the book was published, West told me, “I’ve received letters and notes and telephone calls from people thanking me for writing a book like this. They said it will help me cope with their own situations. I hoped it would be a book that would (emphasize) that you can live a productive life, even though you have crazy stuff inside that never seems to go away.”
While West is a learned man, a voracious reader and a bit of a Renaissance man, basketball is at the core of his being. It has caused him, at once, great joy and great pain.
“So much of my angst was caused by basketball,” he said. “And that’s the only thing in my life I have had some success at.
“I didn’t want this book to be pointing fingers or be critical. Reliving these things hasn’t been very pleasurable at some times. But maybe it will help people live through some awkward times and, at the same time, understand this was my life.”
West walked away from the Lakers front office after the team won the 2000 NBA championship. At the time, there was simply no more to give. He didn’t attend Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference finals game between the Lakers and Blazers, because he couldn’t bear to watch.
“It was ridiculous what I was doing,” he told me. “I was getting no joy out of it. My relationship with (Laker owner) Jerry Buss, for instance, was incredible. He was so encouraging to me, somebody really special in my life. But it got to the point where it wasn’t right for (the Lakers) and it was terrible for me.
“It’s just who I am. The only thing I care about is winning. When you put so much of yourself into it, sooner or later you’re going to burn out. It was unhealthy for me, and unhealthy for the Lakers. I became so obsessed with trying to be perfect, to have perfect teams, to have players everyone would respect. It was a sickness to some degree.”
West later spent five years as president/general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies – a move endorsed by his second wife, Karen, as a better place to raise their two children. He left that franchise in a much better situation than when he arrived, but seems to reflect more on the failures than the successes.
I asked West if writing the book has been cathartic for him.
“Sometimes it has been,” he said, “and sometimes not. In the last week or so, I started thinking again about my relationship with my father. Thinking about the things I’d have wanted to ask him. ‘Why me? What did I do wrong?’
“It’s a part of an insecurity that I’m not very proud of. And really, I’m not a victim. I learned so much growing up about how to be responsible, and to have a big imagination.”
After last season ended, West accepted a position as advisor and member of the executive board with the Golden State Warriors. He will continue to live in Los Angeles, but will offer his wealth of knowledge and experience as a talent evaluator – “I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” he said – as well as provide guidance for the club’s business model.
“They need to build a better corporate base to allow them more financial freedom,” he said. “These are very bright people. I’ve already learned a lot by being around them.
“It’s going to be fun. Hopefully I can help make a little difference.”
West makes this observation:
“I’d rather have had the career I did than have the peace of mind. I couldn’t have had both. I’ll take the trade. At times I felt special.”
In the years he has left, here’s hoping he’ll dwell more on the charm than the torment.
The Ri9ht Decision: A Mathematician Reveals How the Secrets of Decision Theory Can Help You Make the Right Decision Every Time
by James Stein, Ph.D. - McGraw Hill, 2010
About the book
When it comes to making the right decision, don’t leave it up to chance
Professor and mathematician James Stein demystifies Decision Theory and shows you how you can apply the principles of this exciting new field of mathematics to help you make the right decisions in all areas of your life. The Right Decision is peppered with intriguing ‘Decision Exercises’ to make complicated ideas seem simple, revolutionizing the way you think and make choices.
Stay in a predictable job with little advancement or take a riskier one with more money? Have surgery or wait? Remain in a current relationship or take a chance on another person? Author James Stein argues that there is a right decision to these and all other questions and he gives you the tools you need to make the right one no matter what.
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I absolutely hated math in school and university, (the author didn't really talk much about math at all - good!) but I finished it in one sitting and it made me think a lot - exhausting, really. It requires lots of logic, and although I thought I possessed some, I doubt it now!
He provides lots of historical / real life case studies where he sets up a scenario and provides three possible action steps... then provides a relative 'score' for each of the three and an explanation on which one works best; given the setup.
I was actually quite brutal in my choices - kind of discouraging.... He has a group of exercises at the end of the book; I am going to re-read some if the book, then try these exercises to see if I can get better!
I initially tried to put this stuff into a coaching / philosophical framework (Decision Theory - how does this relate to decision training in sports?), but had to give up as I couldn't relate many of the case studies to sports / coaching. However, I really liked the preface as this was the easiest to put into coaching terms.
It is written in an easy-to-read manner, but because most of it really makes me think, I have to re-read things twice or three times sometimes. So not a 'leisure' book but a 'learning' book. Don't try this one on a tired brain... and it will take some time to get through it... thinking is hard work!!!
Former NHL heavyweight Laraque shows softer side in new biography
NHL player Georges Laraque jokes around with a Haitian boy outside Grace Children's Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, June 8, 2010. During a NHL career that lasted more than a decade, Georges Laraque was almost exclusively known for how well he could use his fists. But the former heavyweight opens up in a new biography and shows there's a lot more to him than fighting and hockey.
The Canadian Press, 2011-11-28
TORONTO - While overcoming the odds to carve out a NHL career that lasted more than a decade, Georges Laraque was known almost exclusively for how well he could use his fists.
But there's a lot more to the former heavyweight than fighting and hockey.
Laraque opens up and tells his own side of the story in "Georges Laraque," co-written with Pierre Thibeault. The book is subtitled "The Story of the NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy."
It takes readers from Laraque's difficult upbringing in Montreal through his career in the NHL while touching on subjects ranging from racism to Laraque's humanitarian trips to Haiti and Tanzania and his decision to become a vegan.
"I break stereotypes in that book," he said in a recent interview. "The vision that people have is of this black tough guy and all he did was fight for a living. I try to show more than that."
Laraque also manages to sprinkle in enough anecdotes to satisfy the hockey fan. A skilled forward in his minor hockey days, he began fighting in the QMJHL in an effort to realize his dream of playing in the NHL.
When first presented with that opportunity by former Edmonton Oilers coach Ron Low in 1995, Laraque turned him down and asked to be sent back to junior instead.
"All the things I told him to justify myself were in fact pure lies to hide the real truth," Laraque writes. "There was only one reason I wasn't going to play in the NHL that year and it had nothing to do with the excuses I gave him.
"That reason? Fear."
Laraque eventually overcame his fear and developed into arguably the best fighter of his era. Over time, he also gained a reputation as a straight shooter who enjoyed speaking to reporters.
However, some of those relationships were challenged shortly after the release of his book when media outlets, including The Canadian Press, focused on passages where he claimed steroids had been a problem in the sport and called Wayne Gretzky "the worst coach I've ever played for."
After those stories were written, Laraque was asked about little else while promoting the book.
"If you read the entire book, those two little things are outdone by so many other things that I'm talking about," he said. "The goal of the book is not even to talk about hockey, it's to talk about other stuff."
He was concerned his message would get lost.
Laraque embarked on the project with hopes that his story could serve as inspiration to others. Growing up to immigrant parents and playing a predominantly white sport, he was a longshot to ever see the bright lights of the NHL—yet he managed nearly 700 career games with Edmonton, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Montreal.
He truly is the "NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy."
In retirement, he's continued to passionately pursue other interests and become the unlikeliest deputy leader of the Green Party, the unlikeliest vegan and the unlikeliest environmental activist, among other things.
Laraque is comfortable in his own skin. That much is clear after reading about his life.
"If I started to live my life by worrying about what people thought of me, I would live in a bubble on the moon," he said. "When I joined politics and the Green Party, I got criticized. Once I became vegan, I got criticized. When I started defending animals, I got criticized.
"Everything I do I get criticized, but I don't care because that's the stuff I believe in and put my heart in to."
It has been mentioned on here before and many have talked about Malcolm Gladwell. Well, this article is an interview with him in which he discusses the theme of his next book.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2877
I'll save you the time if you want though, here is the part that discusses it in the article.
Cappelli: Tell us about your book in progress.
Gladwell: I am interested in power and looking at relationships between the powerful and the powerless. But I'm still at a very early stage of feeling it out, so I don't have much to report.... It's a bunch of different ideas that I'm pursuing to try to understand [what happens] when someone weak confronts someone strong.
Cappelli: Was there an example that you saw that kicked it off for you, the equivalent of the lawyers in the New York firms?
Gladwell: Well, Arab Spring, obviously. I'm not using that example in my book, but that got me thinking. These are ideas I've been playing with in some of my articles in The New Yorker for the last couple of years, and so it's been in the back of my mind. It just took a while to figure out how I wanted to attack the book.
Another blog that has a book for free to download if you choose is listed below.
http://practicetowin.com/
Good for any teacher. It is about how to learn from a Professor from UCLA. He just finished a book that is available to download for free via the site. You can also buy it on amazon.com and all proceeds go to charity.
It is geared towards golf so aside from picking up some tips in regards to coaching, hopefully we can all improve our handicap!
Playing against Bobby Orr
(From The Last Season, Roy MacGregor’s 1983 novel on the life and times of NHL enforcer Felix Batterinski):
Roy MacGregor, Globe and Mail, Nov. 29, 2011
… Bobby Orr would get the cover of Maclean’s. I almost got the cover of Police Gazette after the Billings incident. My rep was made. The North Bay Nugget’s nickname for me, Frankenstein, spread throughout the league. I had my own posters in Kitchener; there were threats in Kingston and spray-paint messages on our bus in Sault Ste. Marie; late, frantic calls at the Demers house from squeaky young things wanting to speak to the “monster!” They didn’t know me. I didn’t know myself. But I loved being talked about in the same conversations as the white brushcut from Parry Sound. … We met Oshawa Generals in that year’s playoffs, and the papers in Oshawa and Sudbury played up the Batterinski-Orr side of it. “Beauty and the Beast,” the Oshawa Times had it. The Star countered with “Batterinski’s Blockade,” pointing out that the Hardrocks’ strategy was to have Batterinski make sure Orr never got near the net, though no one ever spoke to me about it. I presume it was understood.
On March 28 we met on their home ice, the advantage going to them by virtue of a better record throughout the season. I said not a single word on the bus ride down, refusing to join Torchy in his dumb-ass Beatle songs, refusing even to get up and wade back to the can, though I’d had to go since Orillia. My purpose was to exhibit strength and I could not afford the slightest opening. I had to appear superhuman to the rest of the team: not needing words, nor food, nor bodily functions.
If I could have ridden down in the equipment box I would have, letting the trainer unfold me and tighten my skates just before the warm-up, sitting silent as a puck, resilient as my shin pads, dangerous as the blades. The ultimate equipment: me.
I maintained silence through the “Queen” and allowed myself but one chop at Frog Larocque’s goal pads, then set up. Orr and I were like reflections, he standing solid and staring up at the clock from one corner, me doing the same at the other, both looking at time, both thinking of each other. We were the only ones in the arena, the crowd’s noise simply the casing in which we would move, the other players simply the setting to force the crowd’s focus to us. Gus Demers had advised me to level Orr early, to establish myself. Coach Therrian wanted me to wait for Orr, keep him guessing. I ignored them all. They weren’t involved. Just Orr and me.
His style had changed little since bantam. Where all the other players seemed bent over, concentrating on something taking place below them, Orr still seemed to be sitting at a table as he played, eyes as alert as a poker player, not interested in his own hands or feet or where the object of the game was. What made Orr effective was that he had somehow shifted the main matter of the game from the puck to him. By anticipating, he had our centers looking for him, not their wingers, and passes were directed away from him, not to someone on our team. By doing this, and by knowing this himself, he had assumed control of the Hardrocks as well as the Generals.
…[But] I had seen how to deal with Orr. If the object of the game had become him, not the puck, I would simply put Orr through his own net….
… I felt my left blade slip and my legs stutter. I saw him slipping farther and farther out of reach, my strides choppy and ineffective, his brief, effortless and amazingly successful. I swung with my stick at his back, causing the noise to rise. I dug in but he was gone, a silent, blond brushcut out for a skate in an empty arena.
I dove, but it was no use. My swinging stick rattled off his ankle guards and I turned in my spill in time to see the referee’s hand raise for a delayed penalty. I was already caught so I figured I might as well make it worthwhile. I regained my feet and rose just as Orr came in on Larocque, did something with his stick and shoulder that turned Frog into a lifesize cardboard poster of a goaltender, and neatly tucked the puck into the corner of the net.
The crowd roared, four thousand jack-in-the-boxes suddenly sprung, all of them laughing at me. Orr raised his hands in salute and turned, just as I hit him.
It was quiet again, quiet as quickly as the noise had first burst through. I felt him against me, shorter but probably as solid. I smelled him, not skunky the way I got myself, but the smell of Juicy Fruit chewing gum. I gathered him in my arms, both of us motionless but for the soar of our skates, and I aimed him carefully and deliberately straight through the boards at the goal judge.
Orr did not even bother to look at me. It was like the theory you read about car accidents, that the best thing you can do is relax. Orr rode in my arms contentedly, acceptingly, neither angry, nor afraid, nor surprised. We moved slowly, deliberately, together. I could see the goal judge leaping, open-mouthed, back from the boards. I saw his coffee burst through the air as we hit, the gray-brown circles slowly rising up and away and straight into his khaki coat. The boards gave; they seemed to give forever, folding back toward the goal judge, then groaning, then snapping us out and down in a heap as the referee’s whistle shrieked in praise.
I landed happy, my knee rising into his leg as hard as I could manage, the soft grunt of expelled air telling me I had finally made contact with the only person in the building who would truly understand. …
Excerpted from Wayne Gretzky’s Ghost: And Other Tales from a Lifetime in Hockey. Copyright © 2011 Roy MacGregor. Published by Random House Canada. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved
Books, books and more books
TAKING NOTE, Gregg Drinnan, Kamloops Daily News, Dec 1 2011
The calendar has turned to December. Which means that it won’t be long before panic sets in. What to buy so-and-so for Christmas?
Well, if you happen to be shopping for a book lover or two, here is a brief look at some of the books I have read in 2011, and, no, they aren’t all sports-related:
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Back in the Bigs: The subtitle is How Winnipeg won, lost and regained its place in the NHL, and the subtitle pretty much sums it up. This is an over-sized book — although not quite coffee-table size — written by Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press. It is loaded with anecdotes involving the Jets, going back to the days of Ben Hatskin and the Junior Jets and taking you through the times in the WHA with Hull, Hedberg and Nilsson, to the NHL with Hawerchuk and onto the AHL and the Manitoba Moose. Turner spins some fine stories and the photos are awesome. If you look closely enough, you will even find F Jordan DePape of the Kamloops Blazers in one of the photos taken at The Forks. (Viking Canada/Winnipeg Free Press, hard cover, 208 pages, Cdn$35)
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The Big Short (Inside the Doomsday Machine) — Written by Michael Lewis, who also wrote Moneyball and The Blind Side, this is the story of the fall (?) of Wall Street in 2008. Upon finishing this book, you will pause and say to yourself: “This is a work of fiction, isn’t it?” . . . Unfortunately, it isn’t. And, as a result, you will never look on politicians or Wall Street-types the same way again. (Norton, soft cover, 291 pages, US$15.95, Cdn$20.00)
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Blood, Sweat and Chalk — If you are a football fan, you won’t want to miss this one. Written by Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated, it is subtitled The Ultimate Football Playbook: How the Great Coaches Built Today’s Game. Layden visited with a number of football’s most influential coaches and numerous other footballers and produced a real gem. It will help you understand the genesis of such things as the Wildcat, the Wishbone, Air Coryell, the West Coast Offense, the Zone Blitz, the BYU Air Raid and on and on. Layden does it in layman’s terms, too, so it’s a fun and easy read. (Sports Illustrated Books, hard cover, 255 pages, Cdn$31.95)
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The Devil and Bobby Hull — Long-time hockey fans think of Bobby Hull and see him, adorned in a Chicago Black Hawks’ sweater, swooping down the left side of an NHL ice surface and firing a slapshot from the top of the circle. Or playing tic-tac-toe with Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg while with the Winnipeg Jets. Author Gare Joyce, however, knew there was a lot more to Hull’s story than that, and he tells that story right here. Subtitled How Hockey’s Original Million-Dollar Man Became the Game’s Lost Legend, this is the mostly sad story of a one-time hockey superstar. Upon reading Chapter 11 – there are 12 chapters – you will have tears in your eyes as Joyce draws obvious inferences between Hull’s inability to maintain some thoughts and the possibility that he may have suffered an untold number of concussions during his playing days. (Wiley, hard cover, 274 pages, US$26.95, Cdn$32.95)
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Eight Million Ways to Die — Written by Lawrence Block, this book won the Shamus Award and was short listed for the Edgar. It was first published in 1982 and introduced private eye Matthew Scudder to the masses. You can’t lose with this one. Awesome. I stumbled on it on a discount shelf somewhere; see if you can do the same. (William Morrow, hard cover, 318 pages, Cdn$23.50)
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Evel (The High-Flying Life of Evel Knievel: American Showman, Daredevil, and Legend) — No less an authority than the late Jimmy (The Greek) Snider once said of Evel Knievel that the odds were about “three-to-one this guy is crazy.” Veteran writer Leith Montville proves it in this book. When I started reading this book, I wondered why I was bothering. But it quickly became a page-turner. Why? Because it was amazing what Knievel, who wasn’t something of an oaf and a boor, was able to accomplish simply with his overly abrasive personality and perhaps the biggest set of cojones in American history. By the way, when you get to the end of this one you realize Jimmy The Greek was wrong. The man was crazy. Period. (Doubleday, hard cover, 398 pages, Cdn$31.00, US$27.50)
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I Am Not Making This Up — Al Strachan covered the NHL and its teams for almost 40 years. He was on the Montreal Canadiens beat for a time, but he made his name in Toronto where he wrote for The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Sun. He also was a regular on Hockey Night in Canada’s Hot Stove Lounge – it hasn’t been the same since he departed – and a regular thorn in the side of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. You can bet, then, that Strachan has lots and lots and lots of stories, some of which are related here. At 224 pages, this is a quick, light read, one that will keep you enthralled if you are a veteran hockey fan. It also leaves you wanting more and thinking that there just might be a sequel or two or three or four to come. And a recent visit to a bookstore did indeed find a new Strachan book. (Fenn Publishing Company, soft cover, 224 pages, Cdn$22.95)
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Junior Hockey’s Royal Franchise: The Regina Pats: If you’re a fan of junior hockey, you won’t want to miss out on this one. It was written by Darrell Davis, a veteran Regina Leader-Post sports writer whose late father, Lorne, once coached the Pats and later scouted for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, and Ron (Scoreboard) Johnston, who knows everything there is to know about this team. Johnston spent the better part of 13 years doing the research; Davis later supplied the words. This book is loaded with anecdotes and lots of terrific photos. There aren’t a whole lot of really good books out there that involve major junior hockey or its teams. This is one of them. If you‘re interested in this one, contact the Regina Pats at their office. (Published by The Leader-Post Carrier Foundation Inc., hard cover, 272 pages, Cdn$49.95)
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The Last Boy — Subtitled Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, this is one of the two best books I read in 2011. I finished it in mid-February and knew then that I wouldn’t read a better one during the calendar year (although, as you will see further into this piece, I later declared a tie). The Last Boy was written by Jane Leavy, who also wrote the terrific Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy. Unlike the book on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ left-hander, though, this is a devastating book if you are of a certain age. If you grew up as a fan of the M and M boys (Mantle and Roger Maris), this will destroy the myth of Mickey Mantle, All-American boy, moreso than did Jim Bouton’s groundbreaking Ball Four. Mickey Mantle, it turns out, was a tortured soul — oh, was he! — and a prime example of why we shouldn’t put our athletic heroes on pedestals. . . . There also is a lot of neat baseball stuff here, and Leavy’s research and writing on some of Mantle’s tape-measure homers is exceptional. The work she did in tracking down Donald Dunaway, the man who as a boy got the ball that Mantle hit out of Washington, D.C.’s Griffith Stadium on April 17, 1953, and the resulting chapter helps make this an exceptional book. (Did you know that Roy Clark, later to become a country music star and a friend of The Mick’s, and his father were seated along the first-base line when Mantle went so deep?) . . . (HarperCollins, hard cover, 456 pages, US$27.99, Cdn$32.99)
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The Lost Dream — Written by Toronto Sun sports columnist Steve Simmons and subtitled The Story of Mike Danton, David Frost, and a Broken Canadian Family, this should be a must read for every parent whose has even one son playing minor hockey anywhere in North America. This is the horrible story of what happened to one family when its hockey-playing son got tangled up with David Frost, a minor hockey coach who later became a player agent. There is a tangled web here and you will be stunned at some of the names that became entangled in it. Danton, of course, later went to jail after a failed attempt to have Frost assassinated. My only real quibble with the book is its title; it should have been The Lost Family. (Viking Canada, hard cover, 255 pages, Cdn$32.00)
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The Man from Beijing — The Los Angeles Times refers to author Henning Mankell as “Sweden’s greatest living mystery writer.” This book is a prime example as to why that very well may be true. Yes, this is a novel and, yes, it is a mystery. However, it is anything but your average who done it. This one involves a Swedish judge, the changing times in China and how that country’s government is/was impacted and a whole lot more. A perfect read for a couple of wintery evenings. . . . (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, soft cover, 454 pages, US$15.00)
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Never Look Away — If you’re into beach/cabin fiction, here’s one you’ll quite enjoy. Author Linwood Barclay, a former Toronto Star columnist, tosses twist after twist at you in the story of David Harwood, a small-town newspaper reporter, in what is a satisfying read. There might be one twist too many near the end, but that really is nit-picking. Great for a rainy day because you won’t put it down. (Seal Books, soft cover, 496 pages, Cdn$10.99)
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No Guarantees — Subtitled An Inspiring Story of Struggle and Success in Professional Sport and with Parkinson’s and Cancer, this is Don Dietrich’s story. From the farming community of Deloraine, Man., Dietrich played for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings before moving on to play in the AHL, NHL (with the Chicago Blackhawks) and in Europe. He tells some hilarious stories as he wanders through hockey’s hinterlands and, in the end, you will weep as he comes face-to-face with Parkinson’s Disease and cancer. When others wanted to give up on him in hockey and in life, he chose to move forward. Get this book and read it; you won’t be disappointed. (Trafford Publishing, soft cover, 200 pages, Cdn$20.87)
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Playing With Fire — This is Theo Fleury’s story in all its blazing colours. Finish this book and you will wonder how it is that Fleury still is alive. It is absolutely mind-numbing all that he has gone through since he left a rocky childhood life in Russell, Man., to play hockey in Winnipeg for Graham James. The abuse, the alcohol, the drugs . . . something should have killed him. Fleury doesn’t pull any punches here, and he throws a lot of hockey players under the bus. He bares his soul and admits to his mistakes, but doesn’t preach. This book should have come with a language warning. It’s interesting that Kirstie McLellan Day helped Fleury with this book and then moved on to write the late Bob Probert’s book, Tough Guy, which also is freely littered with hockey talk. (HarperCollins, soft cover, 350 pages, Cdn$19.99)
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The Rebel League — Subtitled The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association, this is that story. “No one seems to remember the WHA wrestled the game away from a handful of NHL owners and took it to new markets,” writes author Ed Willes, a sports columnist with the Vancouver Province, “that I opened the door for Europeans, and that it offered a generation of players their first chance at a real payday.” Willes tells that story here and, yes, there are assorted anecdotes, some hilarious, some funny and others unbelievable. If you are a hockey fan, you will enjoy this one. (McClelland & Stewart, soft cover, 277 pages, US$17.95, Cdn$22.99)
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Roger Maris (Baseball’s Reluctant Hero) — Authors Tom Clavin and Danny Peary do a masterful job of portraying Roger Maris, the man who wasn’t sure how badly he wanted to break Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record. This follows Maris from his early years in Hibbing, Minn., to his formative years in Fargo, N.D., from Roger Maras to Roger Maris and beyond. The writers paint a picture of a tortured man, especially in 1961 as he hit 61 home runs, but one whose family meant everything to him. It also is an honest and ugly portrayal of baseball when the owners were the lords of the diamond. For example, the way the New York Yankees treated Maris in 1965 as he struggled with a hand injury was criminal. Front and centre, too, is Maris’s relationship, or lack of same, with the New York media, something the authors claim may well be the reason that Maris isn’t a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Read this book and hear what former teammates have to say and you will reach the same conclusion. (Touchstone, soft cover, 430 pages, Cdn$18.99, US$15.99)
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The Snowman — One of the benefits of the Stieg Larsson trilogy — The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo et al — having been such a raging success in North America is that book nooks have been all but inundated by works from other Scandinavian writers. Jo Nesbø, a Norwegian, is one of those writers. While I had heard of his work, I had never picked up one of his novels until coming across The Snowman. This book involves Harry Hole, a hard-bitten cop who is involved in a number of Nesbø books. But this work has an edge to it that not a lot of other writers are able to capture. I definitely will be reading more about Det. Hole. (Vintage Canada, soft cover, 454 pages, Cdn$19.95)
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The Third Rail — Michael Kelly is a private investigator. He used to be a cop. In this first-rate detective novel, Kelly ends up in the middle of a really messy situation in Chicago. It involves cops and shooters and a female judge. You knew there had to be a love interest. Right? The best part of this novel, however, is author Michael Harvey’s style. Back in the day, Mickey Spillane was the man. With his writing, Harvey has torn a page out of Spillane’s book . . . (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, soft cover, 281 pages, US$14.95, Cdn$16.95)
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Unbroken (A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption) — This was the other best book I read in 2011. Written by Lauren Hillenbrand, the author of Seabiscuit, it tells the story of Louis Zamperini, who may have been the first person to run a four-minute mile had the Second World War not gotten in the way. He ended up on a life raft in the South Pacific and then in Japanese POW camps. His story -- from brawling, thieving youngster to world-class runner to airman to prisoner of war to Christian – is emotionally draining and terrifically uplifting. Don’t miss this one; it was named 2010’s top book by Time magazine. (Random House, hard cover, 473 pages, US$27, Cdn$31)
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War Without Death (A Year of Extreme Competition in Pro Football) — I love nonfiction books that are basically diaries, written in chronological order. This one, by Mark Maske of the Washington Post, is a terrific look inside the NFC East during the 2006 NFL season, providing great insight into how the big boys operate. The contrast in operating styles between the likes of owners Daniel Snyder (Washington Redskins), Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys) and Jeffrey Lurie (Philadelphia Eagles) is striking. This really is a great sports book. (Penguin, soft cover,393 pages, US$16.00, Cdn$17.50.)
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Willie Mays (The Life, The Legend) — Willie Mays deserves this book. Written by James S. Hirsch. a former New York Times and Wall Street Journal reporter, it was written with Mays’ authorization. This is a long, well-written book that details Mays’ life and career, from his days as a youngster growing up in Birmingham, Ala., through his major league life and beyond. The best thing about this book, and there are many, is that it clears up the misconception that continues to hang in the air, like fog at Candlestick Park, about the last days of Mays’ career. He didn’t finish up as a bumbling, stumbling outfielder; he really didn’t. But he didn’t finish with the New York Mets, who had a manager, Yogi Berra, who, for whatever reason, chose to forget about him. (Scribner, hard cover, 628 pages, US$30, Cdn$$36)
Here are two outstanding books about coaching. I highly suggest you take a look at them!
1) InsideOut Coaching: How sports can transform lives - Joe Ehrmann
2) The Double-Goal Coach - Positive coaching tools for honouring the game and developing winners in sports and life - Jim Thompson
For Christmas, I ordered a bunch of books... not all about coaching but a wide variety as I enjoy many different topics! Here they are:
1) The Man Watching: Anson Dorrance and the University of North Carolina Women's Soccer Dynasty - Tim Crothers
2) The Boys of Winter - Wayne Coffey
3) Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind - John Gilbert
4) A Passion to Win - Lou Nanne with Jim Bruton
5) The Game - Ken Dryden
6) Georges Laraque: The Story of the NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy - with Pierre Thibeault
7) Cornered - Ron MacLean and Kirstoe McLellan Day
8) Hat Trick - Harley Hotchkiss
9) Ice Warriors: The Pacific Coast / Western Hockey League 1948-1974 - Jon C. Stott
10) Idea Mapping: How to Access your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More, and Achieve Success in Business - Jamie Nast
11) 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in our Times - Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel
12) Becoming a Coach - Thomas J. Leonard
13) Marva Collins Way: Returning to Excellence in Education - Marva Collins and Civia Tamarkin
14) Creating Competitive Advantage - Jaynie L. Smith
15) The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else - George Anders
16) Talent Identification and Development in Sport: International perspectives - edited by Joseph Baker, Steve Cobley and Jorg Schorer
17) Play - Stuart Brown
18) Just Let the Kids Play - Bob Bigelow, Tom Moroney and Linda Hall
19) The Myth of Ability: Nurturing Mathematical Ability in Every Child - John Mighton
20) Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - Betty Edwards
21) How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci - Michael J. Gelb
22) Innovate Like Edison - Sarah Miller Caldicott
23) With Three Dollars to a Millionaire - Markus Scheu
24) Heart Zones Cycling - Sally Edwards and Sally Reed
25) The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Cycling, 2nd Edition - Robert G. Price
26) The Man Who Cycled the Americas - Mark Beaumont
27) The Man Who Cycled the World - Mark Beaumont
28) Tour De Lance - Bill Strickland
29) Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival - T.S.Wiley
30) The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performances - Loren Cordain and Joe Friel
31) Persuasion: A New Approach to Changing Minds - Alene Dickinson
32) Roman Empire - Nigel Rodgers
That ought to keep me going through... February 2012!
Plus I just received a $150 gift certificate today from some kids I coach... next stop - Human Kinetics website!
I love December!
Rockie Coach,
Once you start to conceptualize the game and look at it as three game playing situtations where the players are always in one of the four game playing roles, it then becomes easier to plan you season and your practices.
When I coached college we had 4 practices a week. Each week I rotated through the 4 game playing roles and made sure we practiced loose puck, offensive and defensive situations. It went like this.
Day 1- Individual offensive skills - role one. A-B-D-DT-E
Day 2- individual defensive skills - role three A-B-D-DT-E
Day 3- team offensive skills - role two B-C-D-DT-T-E
Day 4- team defensive skills - role four B-C-D-DT-T-E
(I added DT for transition games and T for controlled coach led games and drills and team play focus.)
We had 75 minute practices and the first 30 minutes we worked on individual offensive skills in drills and games and always had some scoring drills to get the goalie shots. The last 45 minutes we focused on the role we were working one and used games, drills and controlled situations to accomplish this.
This method helps you focus on the process and make sure you cover the individual and team skills in a progressive manner.
'Enjoy the Game'