Let me know what you think of The Rare Find. That is in transit as I type.
I am not sure I want to fork over the money for the GM book. I am curious to see if you think it is a true insiders look.
I got these for Christmas:
Keenan - Jeff Gordon
A Passion to WIn - Lou Nanne
Coaching the Mental Game - Dorfman
Coachisms - Howe
On Becomming a Leader - Bennis
Wisdom for the Busy Coach - Zonars
Building a Champion - Bill Walsh
The Rare Find - Anders
Thinking Fast and Slow - Kahneman
Quote by: EricLet me know what you think of The Rare Find. That is in transit as I type.
I am not sure I want to fork over the money for the GM book. I am curious to see if you think it is a true insiders look.
I think it is very worth it. I haven't been able to put it down! (Since I know some of these people, I find it interesting some of the things that were published...some things contradict what I know of them... still lots of things 'not' said on the record!!) I think it really gives one a good 'feel' of some of the pressures these guys operate under. It is interesting to read about how the game has changed... and in some circumstances, how it hasn't. I had a great discussion today with a Junior Coach / GM about several of the issues commented on in the book and he thought it was fascinating... he is going to buy the book for himself.
I got these for Christmas:
Keenan - Jeff Gordon
(I got this for a former player of Mike's - I read it too and he said the book was a pretty accurate reflection. Lots of the 'crazy' stuff was left out!)
A Passion to WIn - Lou Nanne
Got it; haven't yet read it...
Coaching the Mental Game - Dorfman
???
Coachisms - Howe
???
On Becomming a Leader - Bennis
Think I read it a long time ago - at least it was a book by Bennis?
Wisdom for the Busy Coach - Zonars
Building a Champion - Bill Walsh
Great book!
The Rare Find - Anders
Reading it - like it! Will write something more once I'm done...
Thinking Fast and Slow - Kahneman
???
Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos
Tragedy to triumph - 1986 Broncos one of hockey's greatest stories of survival
ROBERT KOOPMANS, Kamloops Daily New Staff Reporter, December 29, 2011
There is little doubt in Gregg Drinnan's mind, the tale of the Swift Current Broncos' path to Memorial Cup victory in 1989 is one of hockey's greatest stories of survival.
Just three years before its victory in Saskatoon, the team suffered a tragic bus accident that killed four key players. Through the same period - and not known until many years later - the team was coached by sexual predator Graham James, who victimized at least two of them.
Despite all the adversity, the determined crew persevered and won the Canadian Hockey League's greatest prize, Drinnan said.
The team's comeback is the subject of Drinnan's soon-to-be published book entitled Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos. The book, to be published by Dundurn Press, is expected on Canadian bookshelves in September.
Drinnan, now sports editor at The Daily News, was assistant sports editor at the Regina Leader-Post at the time of the accident. There was no denying the impact the crash had in Swift Current, the province and the Western Hockey League, he said.
"It was huge. Three of the kids were from Saskatchewan," he said.
The crash caused changes to WHL travel policies, for example, that gave team drivers the ability to cut short travel if weather conditions were too severe. It also cast watchful eyes on the young team as it moved forward.
Little was spoken publicly about the crash as the team played on, he noted. While it's clear, based on after-the-fact interviews, that the players on the team played for their dead teammates, none spoke it at the time for fear the mention of that might somehow jinx their effort.
It wasn't until the Cup was in hand that the emotional nature of the victory become apparent. The players talked of their lost teammates and how they felt them watching from above. To this day, the Broncos wear special shoulder patches on their team jerseys - a four-leaf clover with the numbers of the killed players - in memorial to them.
Drinnan said he was approached last year by two people and asked if he would help put together the book. They had assembled a rough manuscript. He read through it and agreed to assist.
He said the team's passage through an extremely dark period and its eventual Memorial Cup victory is a testament to the inner strength of that young squad.
They survived events that might have crushed others, especially since their coach - a man who was later convicted of molesting two of the boys on that very squad, including Sheldon Kennedy - offered them so little support. James refused to allow the team to speak with grief counsellors, likely to keep his own activity from being discovered.
"It's a story about survival first, and then comeback. They were kids at the time, many of them away from home for the first time," Drinnan said. "It's an amazing story."
-----
Gregg Drinnan, Taking Note, Dec 30 2011
Sudden Death: Book to be published in September
It was 25 years ago today when the Swift Current Broncos boarded their bus and headed to Regina for a scheduled game against the Pats. It was to be the Broncos’ first game following the 1986-87 Christmas break. This also was their first season back in Swift Current, having moved from Lethbridge over the summer.
The Broncos’ bus, of course, never made it to Regina on that stormy evening in 1986. It crashed just east of Swift Current and four players – Scott Kruger, Trent Kresse, Chris Mantyka and Brent Ruff – were killed.
Tonight, the Broncos are again scheduled to play in Regina and the Pats will honour the memories of Kruger, Kresse, Mantyka and Ruff in a small pregame ceremony.
Tim Tisdale, who was in his first season with the Broncos in 1986-87 and who lives and works in Swift Current, will be on hand to take part in a ceremonial faceoff. Tisdale played with the Broncos through the 1989 Memorial Cup, in which he scored the OT goal in a 4-3 championship-game victory over the host Saskatoon Blades. He later went on to a coaching career that included a two-season stint with the Pats.
The pregame ceremony, which is to begin at 7 p.m., also will include Darren McKechnie, who was a 19-year-old forward with the Pats in 1987-88.
---
More than two years ago, two people – Leesa Culp and Bob Wilkie – approached me about a project on which they were working.
They had prepared a short manuscript about the crash of the Swift Current Broncos’ bus that they were wanting to turn into a book.
At the time of the accident, Culp was in a big rig that had slowed down to allow the Broncos’ bus to pull onto the Trans-Canada Highway at Swift Current. Wilkie was a defenceman in his first season with the Broncos, who had acquired him from the Calgary Wranglers earlier in the season.
Culp and Wilkie both felt there was a story to be told.
More than two years later, the manuscript has been worked and reworked, interviews have been conducted, and out of it all has come a book.
Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos is to be published by Dundurn Press in September.
This is the story of the Broncos, primarily from Dec. 30, 1986, through the end of the 1989 Memorial Cup.
---
You already are able to pre-order this book from Amazon and from McNally Robinson.
Fighting the Good Fight: Why On-Ice Violence Is Killing Hockey
Adam Proteau
John Wiley & Sons, 2011-12-01 - Sports & Recreation - 384 pages
"A veteran hockey writer takes on hockey culture and the NHL--addressing the game's most controversial issue
Whether it's on-ice fist fights or head shots into the glass, hockey has become a nightly news spectacle--with players pummeling and bashing each other across the ice like drunken gladiators. And while the NHL may actually condone on-ice violence as a ticket draw, diehard hockey fan and expert Adam Proteau argues against hockey's transformation into a thuggish blood sport. In "Fighting the Good Fight, " Proteau sheds light on the many perspectives of those in and around the game, with interviews of current and former NHL stars, coaches, general managers, and league executives, as well as medical experts.
One of the most well-known media figures on the hockey scene today, famous for his funny, feisty observations as a writer for the "Toronto Star" and "The Hockey News" and commentator on CBC radio and TV, Adam Proteau is also one of the few mainstream media voices who is vehemently anti-fighting in hockey. Not only is his book a plea to the game's gatekeepers to finally clamp down on the runaway violence that permeates the sport even at its highest level, he offers realistic suggestions on ways to finally clean the game up.Includes interviews with medical experts on head injuries and concussions, as well as with other members of the mediaThe author not only wages an attack on the value of fighting in hockey--but also on the establishment hockey culture
Covering the most polarizing issue in hockey today, "Fighting the Good Fight" gives hockey fans and sports lovers everywhere a reason to stamp their feet and whistle--at a rare display of eloquence and common sense."
Commitment
Proactive Coaching LLC Newsletter #44
www.proactivecoaching.info
Facebook – Proactive Coaching LLC
Bruce Brown – Bruce@proactivecoaching.info
Convenient, Compliant, Conditional or Full Commitment?
This information is taken from our new book, Proactive Leadership – Empowering Team Leaders, only available on our website.
Commitment is usually one of the things that successful teams attribute to their success. Lack of commitment is usually one of the things identified in teams that fail.
Convenient – This person will do the job when I feel good or feel like doing it. They will often start toward a goal but quit if it gets too difficult. These people are comfortable contributing to an apathetic culture.
Compliant – This person will do the job if it is required for them to be part of the team. They will do what is asked and little more. Compliance is watered down commitment and they will be happy in a culture that is happy with being good (not great).
Conditional Commitment – This person is selfish and will do the job if it benefits their personal agenda. They filter everything through what they are personally gaining. They will be committed as long as they get their own way, (their points, getting to play the position they want, their playing time, their attention and their goals). They will be on board as long as things are going well and the team is winning. They will demonstrate committed behaviors as long as it doesn’t get to difficult or they are expected to practice too hard. They will turn on the team when things get tough. You cannot count on them and unless they change and buy in they are capable of damaging even the strongest team culture. Do not sacrifice your team covenants for these selfish individuals regardless of how talented they are.
Committed – This person will do whatever is needed whenever it is needed. They live the team’s core covenants with a full heart. They don’t care if it requires extra effort, time, energy or personal sacrifice, they will pay the price. They don’t need to talk about it; you’ll be able to see it in their actions. They will not only do it, they’ll embrace it. They are compelled and focused. They go all out all the time. They are all in. They are committed. These people are the foundation on which great team cultures are built.
Commitment opens the door to reaching potential for individuals and teams. Full commitment reduces your options and keeps you on a consistent, predictable path. There will be tough times where commitment is the only thing carrying you forward. It provides the burning desire to keep focused on your core covenants and goals. Commitment allows people to do the tough jobs, to keep moving forward, to work long hours. It allows a team to persevere through difficult times with strength and resiliency.
It is essential in the best team cultures that leadership demonstrates full and unconditional commitment. Before people buy into the team culture they must buy into the leader(s). A leaders commitment will be tested by their actions, not their talk. The people you want to follow you will hear what you say but they will believe what you do. True commitment demonstrated in a leader's actions inspires and attracts people to a cause bigger than themselves. Strong leaders have a level of commitment that cannot be questioned.
Video Recommendation
During this year's bowl season, one of the best games was Michigan State vs. Georgia. You might have heard Mike Trico during the game talk about the speech Kirk Cousins gave at the Big Ten Media Day. We saw this late this summer and have shown it to many young student athletes as he does a great job talking about the privilege of playing athletics and the responsibility that comes with that privilege. Take a look and see if you think your players could benefit from this 7 minute clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp15N9BbYgY
Seeing "Building a Champion" in that list reminded me of perhaps my favorite coaching book, "Finding the Winning Edge" by Walsh and Brian Billick. It literally is a blueprint of building an NFL franchise.
While the chapters on offense, blitz protections and quarterback footwork, etc. don't apply to hockey there is so much else worthwhile. There's chapters on dealing with the media, hiring assistants, managing a salary cap, job descriptions and team/staff meeting talking points.
Here's a column on the book's influence on Bill Belichick. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=cr-walshinfluence073007
Unfortunately, there was only a print run of 36,000 copies so they go for around $150 now online. I'm so glad I found it in an airport bookstore when it first came out.
KevinC,
I have it on my wish list on amazon.com and am hoping I run into a less expensive copy somewhere.... although I fear that might be next to impossible.
I am half way through "The Rare Find" and it has been a good read so far. I really enjoy the pursuit of talent and finding qualities in people that lead to success in sport and other areas as well.
Good stuff KevinC! Thanks for sharing!
I will have to look to see if I have this one in my library!
Here is the article to which you are referring:
------
Unlikely influence
Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports, July 30, 2007
If Bill Belichick were to loosen his cerebral grip, ever were going to empty out the folds of gray matter hidden under that gray hoody, he'd do it the way Bill Walsh did.
He'd teach. He'd write a book explaining it all. He'd spin the game of football forward by giving it all away. He looks at how Walsh did it, and out of admiration, it has become one of Belichick's hidden desires, too.
Walsh, who passed away Monday after a lengthy battle with leukemia, left an indelible impression on the man who has taken his place as the NFL's reigning genius.
To this day, Belichick insists Bill Walsh: Finding the Winning Edge is the greatest piece of football literature regarding a franchise blueprint ever written. Belichick read the book in the nuclear winter of his own coaching career, between the disaster with the Cleveland Browns and resurrection with the New England Patriots. At a time in his life time when Belichick was forced to re-examine his basic truths about team building, he wrapped his hands around the second of several books by Walsh.
When he was finished, Belichick's philosophical foundation as a coach had once again solidified beneath his feet.
"Saying it was outstanding wouldn't do it justice. For a coach, it's a Bible," Belichick said. "That book reinforced most of what I thought as a coach. I was glad to see Bill write it and say the things he did because a lot of it was either what I was trying to do or what I believed in. Between the book, the clinics, talking to Bill and picking things up from the (San Francisco) 49ers organization, there was certainly a confirmation in my mind that this is the way to do it."
They are words of deep respect, born of a relationship that few have known about over the years. Unbeknownst to most, Walsh has been one of the men who helped Belichick hone his coaching compass over the years. Separated by coasts, specialties and maybe even social personalities, Walsh somehow became a beacon, a sounding board and a geographically distant friend to the man who has authored the league's latest dynasty.
"Even though we never worked together and were really rivals in the 1980s – myself as a defensive coach and Bill as an offensive coach – and even with a lot of distance between us, we've had a very good relationship," Belichick said.
You wouldn't have made the match, with the two seeming so different. Even with the often tribal relationship of coaches, Walsh seemed more of the philosopher poet while Belichick has seemed cut from the cloth of a Cold War scientist. But their mutual knowledge and abilities as thinkers created the bridge. Much in the way that Miles Davis found inspiration in the styling of Charlie Parker and Vincent Van Gogh found motivation in the artistic kinship of Paul Gauguin, Belichick discovered a bond with Walsh through ideologies.
It wasn't always that way, of course. Belichick spent the greater part of the '80s playing Walsh's foil as a linebackers coach and defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. It was Belichick who spent his nights burning through film of Walsh's West Coast offense, tinkering with defensive game plans that often meant the difference between a run at the Super Bowl or heading home for the season.
It was during that time that Belichick's appreciation for Walsh took root. His players were disciplined. His system was painstakingly precise and well-practiced. And his players fit
"(Walsh) did such a good job of getting Roger Craig and Wendell Tyler and the tight ends, Russ Francis and John Frank and Brent Jones, … to execute that offense," Belichick said.
Even now, so many years later, he feels the pangs of satisfaction from his lone playoff victory over Walsh – the 49-3 bludgeoning in 1986 which arguably is the best game Belichick ever has called as a defensive coordinator.
Years later, when Walsh had retired and Belichick became coach of the Browns, the respect for Walsh developed into a bona fide friendship. Belichick sought to understand more about the San Francisco 49ers as an organization and the West Coast offense as a system. Phone calls on strategy and personnel became a staple. At one point, Belichick dispatched an assistant coach to spend time with Walsh at a coaching seminar. When the assistant returned, he carried with him 30 pages of Walsh's personal insights.
Eventually, the days in Cleveland went bad, and Belichick was left in the years that followed to dissect what went wrong. He's not particularly fond of the topic even now but allows that when he read Finding the Winning Edge, it armed him with renewed conviction.
Released in 1997 and written with the help of current Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick, the 550-page book is classic Walshian theory. While most coaches were penning lyrical accounts of players and teams and Super Bowl victories, Walsh enlisted Billick to help him write a how-to manual on building a franchise. And when it was finished, it was as complete as any outline ever has been.
From how to hire and fire coaches and scouts to refining a quarterback's footwork, the book dissects every nook of an NFL team. Taking all his notes, thoughts, clinics and even vital portions of his playbook, Walsh laid bare all that amounted to San Francisco's greatness in the '80s. And with a touch of his own personal teachings, he laced it with nuggets on leadership from presidents, generals, coaches, philosophers and theologians. In the chapter on designing a winning game plan, Walsh draws from Sun-Tzu's The Art of War:
"Rapidity is the essence of war; take advantage of the enemies' unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots."
Boiled into offensive terms: Keep your opponents on their heels and throw the ball to the open spot.
"If I were an owner, first of all, I would read that book," Belichick said. "Then I would make that book required reading for my head coach, general manager or any other key executive in my football operation."
That's with the assumption an owner could find enough copies. The book sold out all of its 36,000 copies. Now, securing one at vintage bookstores or on the Internet costs anywhere from $90 to $180 (more than six times its original price of $29.99). There even is a leather-bound edition, autographed by Walsh and limited to 300 copies, that fetches anywhere from $600 to $1,000. And on the rare occasion that several copies pop up at a bookstore, they typically are scooped up in an instant by coaching staffs.
Over the years, Billick has been approached by businessmen who have used the book as a business model, professors who have used it as a textbook in sports management, and, of course, coaches like Belichick who leaned on it to shape the principals of their own teams.
"Bill envisioned it as something on every coach's desk that he could refer back to," said Billick, the 49ers assistant director of public relations from 1979-80. "And I think he did that. Some people might say that it was a self-ingratiating concept, this whole 'the world according to Bill Walsh' thing. But Bill genuinely just wanted to put into print his observations about this league. And there really is no other book out there like it."
In that vein – the proliferation of ideas – there have been few like Walsh.
"Most of us are kind of private and aren't too helpful to outsiders – I guess that's a nice way of putting it," Belichick said. "But Bill was kind of like Johnny Appleseed. He was throwing those seeds out there in a helpful way to anyone who was interested."
And though Bill Walsh is gone, it's the seeds he bestowed on others that will keep him from ever being forgotten.
An inside look at life as an NHL GM
Published Monday, Feb. 20, 2012
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/an-inside-look-at-life-as-an-nhl-gm/article2343920/
Author Jason Farris joins the Hockey Roundtable to talk about his book Behind the Moves. The 252 page coffee-table book is based on in-person interviews with all but one of the 35 living GMs who have led a team to the Stanley Cup final. More information on the book is available here: http://www.nhlgms.com/
Podcast
http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/archive/01376/Behind_the_Moves_1376246a.mp3
You read this book right? What did you think? Did you learn a lot from it?
Just want to make sure before I drop a $100 spot on it!
Eric,
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I have only read about 1/2 of it. Looking forward to finishing it. (Finishing Ron MacLean's Biography right now. A 'light' read but interesting. The author (Kirstie McClelland-Day) has a daughter who plays goal on Tom's Midget AAA girl's team.
The NHL GM book is a 'big' book in size / weight. Glossy paper, lots of interesting stuff!
I received it as a Christmas present from my mom (Thanks Mom!); but I would drop the $100 on it myself!
I hope you enjoy it.
Did anybody else read it? Thoughts?
--------------------------------------------------
Dean, Lundy played for me last year with the Rockies in the WWHL pro league that folded. She now plays for Team Alberta in the CWHL. She played 4 years on a scholarship in the NCAA.
Tom
Continuing a discussion on Books For Coaches - moving a couple of posts forward from Developing a Season Plan:
By: Aberdeen on Wed February 22, 10:39
Whats the name of Fred Shero's book? Would love to get that??
http://www.amazon.com/Shero-Man-Behind- ... 498&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/Hockey-Coach-Play ... 498&sr=8-3
both these look awesome
-----
By: hockeygod on Wed February 22, 11:32
Aberdeen,
I have his first one (1975) Shero: The Man Behind the System. I bought it at a local second hand bookstore for $20 last year.
Check http://www.abebooks.com/ to source out hard to find books. Also check your local second hand book stores. Sometimes they have an online search; other times, you have to ask them to do a search at the store in their computer; sometimes,it's old school - go to the sports section and look for yourself!
Dean
-----
By: Aberdeen on Thu February 23, 11:48
Dean that website has both books for $1!! awesome. Im going to get those and the scouting book by Gare Joyce.
I love books like these. Its so hard to find them because there arent many. Gil stein wrote a great behind the scenes book called Power Play. Game Misconduct: Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey
is another good one.
money Players is good
and of course the best of the best fo coaches are Ryan Walters books
any other suggestions?
-----
By: hockeygod on Thu February 23, 12:53
Aberdeen,
I just ordered another whack of books from ABE Books yesterday - 17 of them - including the one Shero book I didn't yet have. Total was approx $138 - most books were under $4 (with a couple of exceptions) and it cost $3.02 per book for shipping (from the US to Canada). Buying second hand through these online retailers is cheaper than buying them second hand in person - depending on shipping costs, of course. I also bought a couple of books on my Kindle yesterday. $9.99 each (no shipping!) and immediate delivery. It pays to shop around and compare prices between the booksellers on ABE, your local second hand sellers and the 'big box' online sellers.
We should continue the book discussion on the appropriate thread "Books for coaches to read" (I will post this over there) to keep this thread focussed on Developing a Seasonal Plan.
Aberdeen,
What 'kind' of books are you looking for? Any specific topics? I read about 12-15 books per month and might be able to make some suggestions. Also, check previous posts in this thread as I have listed numerous books.
what books you buy?
Some books I bought over the last ten months (not including gifts)... no way to track my library reading list. I am a voracious and quick reader; I try to read 15+ books / month - after the kids go to bed!
Hockey: For the Coach, the Player and the Fan
The Bowden Way: 50 Years of Leadership Wisdom
Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
Game Plan for Life: Your Personal Playbook for Success
We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance
Whose Game Is It, Anyway?: A Guide to Helping Your Child Get the Most from Sports, Organized by Age and Stage
Win Forever: Live, Work, and Play Like a Champion
The Winner's Brain: 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success
Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life
Game On: How the Pressure to Win at All Costs Endangers Youth Sports and What Parents Can Do About It
How Lance Does It: Put the Success Formula of a Champion into Everything You Do
What It Takes To Be Number #1: Vince Lombardi on Leadership
Positive Coaching: Building Character and Self-Esteem Through Youth Sports
Ordinary Children Extraordinary Teacher
The High School Sports Parent: Developing Triple-Impact Competitors
Positive Sports Parenting: How Second-Goal Parents Raise Winners in Life Through Sports
Herb Brooks Motivational Biography: "America's Coach" & "Remembering Herbie"
Behind the Iron Curtain: Tears in the Perfect Hockey ''GULAG''
The Mentor Leader: Secrets to Building People and Teams That Win Consistently
InSideOut Coaching: How Sports Can Transform Lives
Soccer Awareness
The Rare Find
The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula For Peak Athletic Performance
Passion to Win, A
Heart Zones Cycling: The Avid Cyclist's Guide to Riding Faster and Farther
The Man Watching: Anson Dorrance and the University of North Carolina Women's Soccer Dynasty
21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times
Idea Mapping: How to Access Your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More, and Achieve Succes
The Double-goal Coach: Positive Coaching Tools for Honoring the Game and Developing Winners in Sport
Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind
Marva Collins Way Updated Edition
Developing Game Sense Through Tactical Learning
Play
Whole New Mind
The Genius In All Of Us: New Insights Into Genetics, Talent, And IQ
The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance
Bounce
TGfU - Simply Good Pedagogy: Understanding a Complex Challenge
Transforming Play
Teaching Sport Concepts and Skills-2nd Edition
Sport Progressions
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Succeed
Out Of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas On Presentation Design And Delivery
The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need
The Art Of Scouting: How The Hockey Experts Really Watch The Game and Decide Who Makes It
The 7 Secrets of World Class Athletes
101 ways to be a terrific sports parent : making athletics a positive experience for your child
Game Over : Penn State, Jerry Sandusky, and the culture of silence
One on one : behind the scenes with the greats in the game
Why Johnny hates sports : [why organized youth sports are failing our children and what we can do about it]
The checklist manifesto : how to get things right
Steve Jobs (Biography)
Deep survival : who lives, who dies, and why : true stories of miraculous endurance and sudden death
This is the topic for this discussion.
-------------------
Dean,
Whats the name of Fred Shero's book? Would love to get that
??
http://www.amazon.com/Shero-Man-Behind- ... 498&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/Hockey-Coach-Play ... 498&sr=8-3
both these look awesome
Aberdeen,
Aberdeen,
I have his first one (1975) Shero: The Man Behind the System. I bought it at a local second hand bookstore for $20 last year.
Check http://www.abebooks.com/ to source out hard to find books. Also check your local second hand book stores. Sometimes they have an online search; other times, you have to ask them to do a search at the store in their computer; sometimes,it's old school - go to the sports section and look for yourself!
Dean,
Dean I dont see any John Wooden books in there. You already read them all?
Aberdeen,
I have bought / read my fair share of Coach Wooden books; haven't seen any recent releases that interest me. Most are a re-hash of his coaching pyramid with different 'spins' aimed to sell those particular books. (I did order one of his three books aimed at children but didn't include it in the list becasue nobody would care!)
"They Call Me Coach" was one of his earliest works I received and I re-read it once every year or two as I truly believe in his message and his pyramid. If people haven't read it - do it now! This would be an excellent first book to read to help identify, develop and highlight our personal coaching philosophy... an area that is the cornerstone to our coaching that (sadly) gets little attention in coaching clinics. Without a strong, identifiable coaching philosophy, you are toast. Amazingly, few coaches I speak with are able to verbalize theirs... and even fewer can show me a personal philosophy that is written!
http://www.amazon.ca/They-Call-Coach-John-Wooden/dp/0809245914
I have also read many of Coach Holtz's books - I even own an autographed copy of one - and other football / basketball / soccer coaches' books. Many take on a leadership / business / self-improvement guise. The Harvard Business Review can sometimes provide good reading too.
I also read many biographies / autobiographies and books on military leadership. Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" is a classic.
A few days per year, I will hit the University of Calgary library and spend hours reviewing research literature that I can't access from home; since I am merely an alumnus, I can't gain online access to the entire articles - only the title and abstract. So I go there to read and download articles for later use!
Yup, I am passionately curious and a bit of a learning geek! 
If I am not thinking, analyzing, questioning, reading, writing, coaching / teaching / parenting... I must be asleep (for only a few hours per night!)
I'm looking for "Road To Olympus" by Anatoli Tarasov.
I can't find it for less than $75! Anyone have a copy they would like to sell? Shot in a dark but thought I'd ask
Aberdeen,
Check online once / week on ABE Books for the Tarasov book. Look at the Canadian / Eastern US sellers as hockey books are more prevalent there.
Have you checked your local library? It's a longshot, but who knows...
Do you have any local 2nd hand shops? That is where I got mine... only 5 minutes from my house. The fellow lists his inventory on ABE, so I picked my book up to save the $20 on shipping. It is a fascinating read and I learned a lot from it.
It was like Christmas here in March today! I received 9 books from my earleir posted list (the first portion of my latest ABE order) from USPS; another one from Eastern Canada (the Shero book) and FINALLY, the "Developing Game Sense Through Tactical Learning" - Ray Breed and Michael Spittle (from Australia). I am expecting the second portion of the ABE order in the next day or two... also purchased a few off my above list for my Kindle.
The Aussie Game Sense book is terrific. Just reading it now. Check it out at www.cambridge.org
ISBN 978-1-107-60044-7
It cost me about $120 CDN, including shipping. No tax. Well worth it - so far!
this one sounds good!
Developing Game Sense Through Tactical Learning
Aberdeen,
"Developing Game Sense Through Tactical Learning" is probably the best one I have read (yet) on the subject. I recommend it highly to those who want a comprehensive look at 'what' is Game Sense and 'how' to use it in your coaching. It isn't too scientific but paints a complete picture for the reader.
Cold a Long Time: An Alpine Mystery by John Leake
Austria's 'Graveyard silence' greets book
Kevin Mitchell, StarPhoenix Sports Editor, March 22, 2012
Since writing his shocking book about the death of hockey player Duncan MacPherson and an alleged coverup, John Leake has met with icy silence from authorities in Austria.
"Graveyard silence," says Leake, author of Cold a Long Time: An Alpine Mystery.
MacPherson, a Saskatoon native who played with his hometown Blades and was a first-round draft pick of the New York Islanders, disappeared in August 1989 while travelling in Europe.
Fourteen years later, melting ice at a resort on the Stubai Glacier in Austria released MacPherson's body from its icy tomb.
And it quickly became apparent to MacPherson's parents Lynda and Bob that their son hadn't fallen down an out-of-bounds crevasse, as the authorities suggested. Their feeling - backed by compelling evidence laid out in the book - is that he was hit by a snow-grooming machine while snowboarding, severing three of his limbs, then thrown into a chasm to conceal the tragedy.
They strongly suspected a path of deception and coverup from a wide range of authority figures and medical people in Austria, and after extensive research, Leake came to share their viewpoint. The result is a scathing book that's drawn strong praise from those who have read it, but complete silence from those closest to the scene of MacPherson's disappearance.
"I believe that for the ski resort and for the Innsbruck authorities, the best strategy for them is not to stir the pot and just hope it goes away," says Leake, who is in Saskatoon for a reading at McNally Robinson tonight at 7: 30 p.m. "I was actually expecting that. I believe we have sufficient evidence to support all the conclusions I make in the book, and I don't think they can contend otherwise and get anywhere. The best strategy for them is to keep quiet and hope the whole thing just blows over."
Leake says his next step is to try and get the book published in the German language so that people who live in Austria can follow the web of lies and obfuscations the MacPhersons feel they've been subjected to since Duncan disappeared.
The case he lays out is strong and compelling. It starts with an attempt by employees at the ski resort to cover up a terrible accident, incompetence and passivity from investigating police, and a series of lies that stretched over two decades.
Leake noted Wednesday that there was no diligent investigation of MacPherson's disappearance, and no witness testimony recorded. After his body emerged, police did not attend the recovery - leaving that task to resort employees - and the body was released for burial without determining the cause of death.
When Leake presented evidence, skeletal and otherwise, to forensic specialists and medical people on this side of the ocean, they concluded that Duncan bore all the marks of being hit by a grooming tiller. That ran contrary to the dubious - or, as the book argues more bluntly, fictitious - story told by authorities in Austria.
At the heart of the tale are Duncan's parents, who made repeated trips to Europe in search of answers and stubbornly refused to give up the fight to learn exactly what happened to their son.
"It's that strange thought that in some ways, fact can be stranger than fiction," Leake said. "That's the dominant response people have to this story - it almost seems like a crazy movie or something. But it's true.
"It should have been, and could have been, very easy to solve the case of what happened to Duncan. With some very basic police work, they could have gotten to the bottom of it. The mystery was created by this refusal of the authorities in Austria to investigate it. What the police could have quickly discovered, it's entirely left to Lynda and Bob to discover. One afternoon of police work in Austria turns into, literally, two decades of frustration for the parents. For me, it was stunning to contemplate that.
"People think, 'they should have just given up.' At a certain point, one just has to resign oneself to the fact that you'll never really know, and this will be a mystery until your dying day. It's been frustrating for the MacPhersons, but I think it's to their credit that they kept slugging away at it until they finally got a clear picture of what happened.
"But a bit of old-fashioned detective work would have solved this in '89."
Leake says he had to suspend his own disbelief when he first immersed himself in the case. It seemed too improbable, but he soon realized that it was, in fact, not improbable at all.
"I haven't seen any evidence of malice (the day MacPherson died)," Leake says. "I just think they really screwed up, were negligent in terms of safety procedures, a dreadful accident came about as a result of it, and their instinct was to conceal it.
"People screw up, but once Duncan is dead, you have 20 years of a family putting their time, their effort, all their spirit, their energy, their savings, into trying to get to the bottom of this. To me, the concealment is the real crime in this story.
"It's that old Walter Scott quote: What a tangled web we weave when we endeavour to deceive. At each step in the story, you get the feeling that these people think they're just going to have to tell a couple of lies and the MacPhersons will go away. What the people who are committing these acts of deception didn't understand was that the MacPhersons aren't going to give up, so you're going to be obliged to tell more lies.
"That's the moral theme of the story, is the conflict between our value of the truth, and the way, in order to avoid trouble, we tell lies. That tension goes throughout the entire story."
The MacPhersons used up much of their life savings travelling back and forth from Saskatoon to Austria while trying, almost singlehandedly, to unravel the mystery behind their son's death and disappearance.
Leake says that 25 per cent of proceeds from books ordered off his website, www.coldalongtime.com, will go to Duncan's parents.
And, in the final accounting, both he and the MacPhersons feel it was a fight well worth waging.
"It was a very, very difficult project," says Leake, an American-born writer who lived in Austria for more than 10 years. "I was sucked into the mystery of it, but I didn't want to write anything I didn't feel 100 per cent confident was true. So much about it was ambiguous, initially. I thought it was just a horrible situation to be in, and will we ever manage to figure this out?
"Until I hired the ski-accident investigator, I really felt like we may never cut through the ambiguity of this. That was the big breakthrough, where I began to feel like now we were getting somewhere. I could feel comfortable in writing this and publishing this, because we were getting a clear sense of what happened.
"But for a long time, I was like a private investigator, slugging away at this, and lord knows if we'll ever really know. It was tough not knowing if we'd ever bring the project to fruition. I'm a freelancer, not making any money, but I really got sucked into it. But you make your own bed, this is the project I chose, and I kept moving forward with it."
Learning How to Be an NHL General Manager
Alan Bass • Blogger • "The Psychology of Hockey" • April 24, 2012
When young hockey fans realize that they are not going to be NHL superstars one day, the majority of fans suddenly develop an urge to become an NHL General Manager – the man in charge of the hockey side of an organization. What better way to learn the art of becoming one of the 30 men that control an NHL franchise than by hearing it from one of the men that has been in that position.
That is precisely what Jason Farris’ groundbreaking new book, Behind the Moves: NHL General Managers Tell How Winners Are Built, accomplishes. Farris, who is currently the Executive Vice President of Business Operations and Development for the Dallas Stars, explains purpose of his book in his introduction: “paint the picture of what it’s like to be a part of, and operate within, the community of NHL general managers.” And he does that just perfectly.
Unfortunately, many people see the title of the publication and assume that the book, which sells for $99.95 (and $139.95 for the deluxe version) only at NHLGMs.com, is the recipe for how to build a Stanley Cup champion. But fortunately for Farris and his readers, he paints a beautiful picture, showing that building a successful NHL team is not simply a recipe that involves a trade, a draft pick, and a free agent signing. It varies per team, person, and situation, and the magic of the book is his ability to present so many different views of the GM position, without ever claiming that any way is right or wrong. Through his five-part book, he runs through every General Manager that has led a team to the Stanley Cup final since 1967, including Serge Savard, Pierre Lacroix, Brian Burke, Stan Bowman, and Ken Holland, along with many others in the industry that have been involved in the sport for decades.
The book’s five parts include two-to-four page features on each of the aforementioned GMs, armed with hilarious anecdotes about our favorite players and coaches; challenges of being a GM (including getting hired, dealing with players, coaches, ownership, agents, and the media, building a team, making trades, and even some espionage); an all-time NHL GM roster, and 16 pages of statistical charts that would make any scholar proud.
Many hockey fans have barked at the pricey-ness of the book, as it runs for five times what a normal book would cost. However, the work took many years to put together, with Farris travelling over 60,000 miles, recording over 120 hours of interviews with scores of hockey men. It is a work that, when read straight through, will occupy hours of your day in a blink of an eye.
The meat of the book is made up of a collection of quotes from the men interviewed, and only a small part of the book is written in typical narration form. Personally, this was more favorable, as you felt the GM was speaking directly to you, rather than a diluted collection of article that many books such as this can become. Farris does an incredible job of organizing the book so that you feel you are sitting one-on-one with each mastermind, picking their brain as he did.
I would recommend this book to everyone, but with the price so high, many would be unwilling to do so. If you’re just looking for a casual hockey read, the price sticker might be the reason that you stay away. But with the price in mind, I would especially recommend this book to those that are very serious about their knowledge of the NHL industry, those in the media, or even those that have a serious dream of entering NHL management one day. If it’s something you have a serious interest in, I can guarantee that there will never be another book like it.
Get more information on the book: http://nhlgms.com
Buy the book at http://www.circanow.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ID=115
Cold A Long Time: An Alpine Mystery:
Whatever happened to Duncan MacPherson?
Gregg Drinnan, Taking Note, Sunday, May 13, 2012
When author John Leake set out to tell the story of the disappearance of Duncan MacPherson, it is doubtful that his intention was to write a love story.
But that is exactly what he penned with Cold A Long Time: An Alpine Mystery.
Oh, this isn’t a love story of the Erich Segal or Harlequin Romance variety.
Rather, it is the story of the love between a mother and her son, and it is unlike any such story you will have read before now.
MacPherson, a native of Saskatoon, was a terrific defenceman through three seasons (1983-86) with his hometown Blades. In his third season, he had 64 points and 147 penalty minutes in 70 games. Yes, he could play on the power play; yes, he had his teammates’ backs.
The New York Islanders liked this good, honest hockey player enough that they took him with the 20th overall selection in the NHL’s 1984 draft.
MacPherson never got to the NHL, however, and after four mostly injury-plagued seasons in the minors, his contract wasn’t renewed and he looked overseas.
In the early summer of 1989, MacPherson agreed to coach the Dundee Tigers, a team in Scotland owned by Ron Dixon, a big talker who also had ties to the WHL (he had been involved in the ownership of the New Westminster Bruins and Tri-City Americans).
However, before reporting to the Tigers, MacPherson chose to do some travelling in Europe.
On Aug. 4, 1989, MacPherson visited George Pesut, a former Blades star, who was in Nuremberg, Germany. MacPherson called home and said he would phone again in 10 days.
That phone call never came.
On Aug. 8, 1989, MacPherson left the home of Roger Kortko, another former Blades star, in Fuessen, Germany, and headed south into Austria.
None of his friends or family heard from him again.
In Saskatoon, Lynda MacPherson, Duncan’s mother, felt something was wrong as early as Aug. 11, 1989. That was the night she awoke from a deep sleep and found herself screaming.
She and her husband, Bob, driven by Lynda’s undying love for her son, would spend the next 14 years working to find out what had happened.
Duncan’s corpse was discovered on July 18, 2003.
Even after that, the MacPhersons, spearheaded by Lynda’s bulldogedness and her driving need to learn what had happened, spent another seven-plus years pushing, pulling and grinding away as they attempted to get to the truth.
All told, the MacPhersons would spend more than 20 years on the trail of what had happened. They used up a lot of their retirement savings, most of their energy and about a third of their lives as they fought to find out what had happened to their son, who was 23 years of age that summer of 1989.
Duncan, as it turned out, had stopped at the Stubai Glacier, a major recreation area outside Innsbruck, Austria, for a snowboarding experience. It was there that he was last seen and where the car he had been driving was found on Sept. 20, 1989. The car, a red Opel, had been sitting in a parking lot at the glacier for about six weeks without anyone noticing it or, at least, without anyone reporting it to the authorities.
Strange?
That was only the beginning of the story, one that would be filled with untruths and obfuscation and a whole lot of people talking in circles for a long, long time.
At one point, before even the red Opel had been discovered, the MacPhersons visited the Canadian Consulate in Munich in the hopes of getting some help. An official there told a receptionist: “I don’t care how you do it, just get rid of those people.”
And then there was the official at the Canadian Embassy in Vienna who told them: “I think you and your family should get on with your lives. Life is for the living.”
That was just as the MacPherson’s odyssey was beginning, about 14 years before their son's body was even found.
Little did authorities in Austria and in various Canadian government agencies understand that you simply could not get between this mother and her need to find out what had happened to her son.
Leake is an American writer who lived in Austria for 10 years. It was that connection that attracted the MacPhersons to him when they were looking for someone they hoped would investigate their story and then turn it into a book.
Through Leake, the MacPhersons came to understand the importance of the Stubai Glacier to the economic viability of that area of Austria and how there would seem to have been a coverup involving the death of their son.
To provide more details, would be to spoil what is a solid and heart-breaking read. But here is a hint of what went on — authorities indicated to the MacPhersons that Duncan’s body had been found in a crevasse in an area that was out of bounds to area skiers and snowboarders; in truth, the body was found in the middle of a ski slope, about 25 metres from a tow lift.
Near the end of this book, Lynda tells Leake: “You may think I’m boasting, John. But I’m not afraid of anyone.”
It turns out that Duncan once suggested to Lynda, a smallish woman, that because of her size, or lack of it, she should perhaps work at being a little less confrontational.
“And I told him that size doesn’t make the man,” Lynda said.
Or, in this case, the woman.
Because as much as this book details the quest to learn what happened to Duncan MacPherson, it is just as much the story of Lynda’s love for her son, and how that love kept driving her on a search for the truth.
“To cease looking for him seemed like abandoning him, which was unspeakable,” Leake notes, adding “ ‘Don’t give up mom,’ she imagined him saying, and she knew that if it had been the other way around, he would never have given up trying to find her.”
———
Leake has said that 25 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Lynda and Bob MacPherson. The book is available right here.
http://www.coldalongtime.com/products/cold-a-long-time-an-alpine-mystery
It’s worth noting that Cold A Long Time won a bronze medal in the True Crime category of the 16th annual Independent Publisher Book Awards.
And right here is a trailer for Cold A Long Time, as narrated by Bill Paxton.
http://vimeo.com/41506266
As well, there is a website right here that is dedicated to Cold A Long Time.
http://www.coldalongtime.com/
I guarantee that two things will happen as you read this book — you will shake your head in disbelief on more than one occasion, and you will wipe more than one tear off your cheeks.
This is a memorable book.
Good Books
Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code blog, May 10th, 2012
I was flipping through The Art of Fielding the other day (which is super-great, and just out in paperback). It’s about a few seasons in the life of a small-college baseball team and its unlikely star, Henry Skrimshander.
I was struck by how accurately and beautifully author Chad Harbach depicts the way a person grows their skills: the mix of obsession and focus and crazy love, the immeasurable power of deep repetition, how people really think and act as they work together to develop their talents.
For instance:
Baseball was an art, but to excel at it you had to become a machine. It didn’t matter how beautifully you performed SOMETIMES, what you did on your best day, how many spectacular plays you made. You weren’t a painter or a writer–you didn’t work in private and discard your mistakes, and it wasn’t just your masterpieces that counted.
Or this:
He already knew he could coach. All you had to do was look at each of your players and ask yourself: What story does this guy wish someone would tell him about himself? And then you told the guy that story.
You get the idea. The point is that The Art of Fielding takes us deep inside the process of growing talent in the same way that Moby Dick takes us deep inside the process of 19th-century whaling.
The other point is that, a lot of other books do the same. I think it’d be interesting, and maybe useful, to see if we could compile a running list — call it the “Talent Code Book Club.” The books could be fiction or nonfiction, about music or business or chess or painting; they could be written from a coach or teacher’s point of view or that of a kid — it doesn’t matter, so long as it takes us inside and leaves us with some fresh insights about what it means to try to get better.
A few that come to mind:
Born Standing Up, by Steve Martin
The Game, by Ken Dryden
On Writing, by Stephen King
Practicing, by Glenn Kurtz
Life, by Keith Richards
Among Schoolchildren, by Tracy Kidder
What other books — or even movies — should be on this list? I’d love to hear your suggestions.
-----
Nice post,after all books are a mans best friends …
1)Jonathan Livingston Seagull
2)Lance Armstrong Biography
3)coach carter (movie)
4)The Power of a habit
I’d say “the Art of Learning” by Josh Waitzkin, and “Mastery” by George Leonard.
Movies – “Chariots of Fire” immediately comes to mind.
I will also suggest The Art of Learning and Mastery. Especially the latter.
The Inner Game of Tennis, by Timothy Gallwey
My Favourites
Movies
Dragon-The Bruce Lee Story
Coach Carter.
Tennis-Winning Ugly Brad Gilbert
Glad to see The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin is already there.
Two other favorites of mine from teacher’s perspective is is Marval Collins Way – Marval Collins and Civia Tamarkin and You have’t taught until they’ve learnt – Swen Nater & Ronal Gallimore.
Born to Run – Christopher McDougall is beautiful and poetic in it’s recognition of what it takes to be an unbelievable distance runner.
Great by Choice – Jim Collins for business.
Mindset – Carol S. Dweck is a must as it really does break-down the mindset needed to approach mistakes, learning and life if you’re going to develop talent.
Two other books that for me have helped guide me closer to my goal of self-mastery. Which I sort of think of as the talent of being human. Is the Art of Possibility – Rosmund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander and takes us inside the world of music and people. Benjamin is a conductor. Another one is Switch – Chip & Dan Heath. So excited to see other’s suggestions. Movies that I think of immediately are Mr Holland’s Opus and The Greatest Game Ever Played (a 2005 biographical sports film based on the early life of golf champion Francis Ouimet.).
How could I forget… Teach like your hairs on Fire – Ralf Esquith.
Love this topic too and agree about The art of fielding, having just finished it I thought many times about deliberate practice etc. A few books that I enjoyed relating to this are:
The gift of speed by Steven Carroll. Being an aussie this book about a young boys obsession with cricket and the visiting west Indian cricket is beautiful.
Better by Atul Gwande a surgeons notes on performance.
Dream golf by Stephen Goodwin. The making of Brandon dunes. A man and his teams obsession with completing a masterpiece.
Movie – Bobbie Ficher against the world
Outliers (malcom gladwell)
Rafa. My Story (John Carlin)
Wooden. A lifetime of observations and reflections on and off The court. (John Wooden and Steve Jamison)
Bounce – Matthew Syed
8 To Be Great – Richard St John
Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell
My offering would be Jim Collins’ Great by Choice. Nine years of research went into finding the common elements of seven different companies from seven different industries who thrived despite great uncertainty, chaos and luck–some good, some bad for their peer companies but not for them. The principles they had in common work superbly for both organizations and individuals.
The Servant, by James C. Hunter, is a gem on leadership. It should be part of any collection.
Two to Start… The Music Lesson By: Victor Wooten and Imagine: How Creativity Works By: Jonah Lehrer
The Way of Baseball by Shawn Green
Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach
http://www.amazon.com/Inning-A-Portrait-Coach/dp/B004QFSKRU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337727344&sr=8-1
Profile of University of Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido, the winningest coach in NCAA history.
Warning: Does contain strong language
Thanks to everyone for your contributions. I've been following for a couple years and well, just became a member today.
I just finished Leave No Doubt by Mike Babcock. A little bummed when it arrived at the size of the book, a short 137 small pages. BUT, I really enjoyed the content. Short and straight on, just like the he speaks on the bench with Pierre.
Erik
I am waiting to read Mike's book - still hasn't come into the library yet!
Thanks for the recommendation Eanderson!
NHL General Managers Tell how Winners are Built
Dec 28 2011
I received a lot of books this Christmas! I am partway through "The Rare Find" and really enjoyed Georges Laraque's book. Today I started reading the NHL GM book (thanks mom!) and love it! I highly recommend it!
This article below ties in with the book...
-----
Flames GM doesn’t have time to mark anniversary
Scott Cruickshank, Calgary Herald, December 28, 2011
COLUMBUS, OHIO
Jay Feaster insists that he never thought about it.
It simply did not occur to him.
That if any date had been stuck in his head lately, it was Tuesday’s — the day of son Ryan’s 11th birthday.
Today, however, marks the first anniversary of Feaster’s occupation of the Calgary Flames general manager’s throne.
Not that it’s a big deal to the man. Apparently.
“The job is such, that once you’re into it, it’s every day, it’s constant,” Feaster is saying outside the visitors quarters at Nationwide Arena. “You don’t take time to sit back and think, ‘Gee, it was just a year ago.’ And it’s a situation where we’re not where we want to be . . . and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.
“That’s the focus all the time.”
Under his 12-month watch — exactly 82 games, including Tuesday’s 2-1 shootout win in Columbus — the Flames have compiled a 43-26-13 log (and 99 points).
Which, over a single winter, would be enough to cinch a playoff berth.
Nevertheless, the Flames finished 10th last season in the Western Conference. And, because of early-season sluggishness, they have spent this campaign gawking up at the eighth rung.
And this happens to be precisely how Feaster assesses his program.
Not for bite-size improvement.
Not for better salary-cap use.
Not for flashes of competence.
But, plain and simple, for post-season entrance.
“Be clear about this — there is only one measure of success for the Calgary Flames,” says Feaster. “It’s the playoffs. Then, once in the playoffs, it’s about playoff success. There’s a lot of work that goes on with the organization, there’s a lot of good things we’re doing. I’m happy and proud of the things we’re doing. But, at the end of the day, the measure of success is the playoffs.
“We went into this season believing we had a team that should make the playoffs. To be sitting five points ahead of last year’s pace? That’s just not good enough. Yeah, it’s better to be where we are now than where we were a week ago . . . yet it’s not where we should be.
“There’s still a big road ahead of us.”
Since Feaster took over from Darryl Sutter, much deadwood has been cut adrift.
Ales Kotalik and Niklas Hagman, for instance. First-round flops Matt Pelech and Kris Chucko.
Then again, Feaster has orchestrated his own snarls — giving up a seventh-round pick for swaybacked winger Freddy Modin; giving up a fifth-round pick for Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, currently toiling in the minors.
“For me, it never was my guys, their guys, his guys,” says Feaster. “This is our team. These are our guys — and they’re our guys till they’re not here. I don’t go down the roster, ‘Oh, that player was Darryl’s. That player was Craig Button’s guy. Or who drafted him?’ There’s none of that for me.
“They’re our guys. This is our team.”
And should he ever be at a loss, Calgarians, ever helpful, will happily provide all the advice he needs. After all, Feaster is one of only 1.1 million general managers in the city.
“I would rather have the sport-talk radio filled with whatever they want to say about me, about us,” he says. “I’d rather have people talking (about the Flames) than having to convince people to become passionate about the game. That’s an incredible advantage we have in Calgary — people care.”
Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."