Monday, December 10, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Thursday Thought
Reality can be rather harsh. Your days are numbered. It takes constant effort to carve a place for yourself in this ruthlessly competitive world and hold on to it.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Michael Lombardi and the Browns
My personal world of "NFL analysis and conversation" was thrown into shambles on Monday as news leaked that Michael Lombardi has emerged as the top football executive candidate to join Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner in the Browns new look front office.
It's been disrupted becuase I think I really like Michael Lombardi. I discovered him several years ago when he wrote a small daily column called "Lombardi on the NFL" on his own website, which then joined up with the now defunct National Football Post. It was a good short burst of analysis, including behind the scenes stuff, on the field team analysis and on the field player analysis. I liked it cause he wrote in a voice that took you behind the curtain a little bit and included the down and dirty X's and O's analysis that I am attracted to. He and Charlie Casserly are a lot alike.
Then one day, we'll say maybe 2008, he appeared in a one off appearance on the Bill Simmons podcast. He cut up the draft for an hour. It was fun to listen to. He knew his shit. He spoke of many high level observations that most analysts are not capable of doing. He obviously had expertise. He didn't appear on the podcast for a couple months after that, but he soon became a regular as his star as a TV and sports radio show guest continually gained steam. He soon started writing for NFL.com and began to appear on the NFL Network. Now he's on Simmons pod every other month.
But my worldview has been thrashed a little bit because as the news of his candidacy for a Browns executive spot has spread, he's being COMPLETELY TRASHED by both local and national writers. Mostly local writers.
And this has angered me because I have been living in a world where I think Michael Lombardi is an expert and is telling the truth. I like his opinion. When he's on the TV screen, I listen to what he's saying. If he does a podcast with Sporty I try to listen to it. I even wrote a little blog last year about bringing him in to pick the players and have Chip Kelly coach them (might even get my wish on that, good or bad).
He is being portrayed as a con man. As a fraud with a photographic memory. As a voracious reader and has the gift of gab and can get guys to like him. A shmoozer. His memory has allowed him to remember scouting reports written in the 1980's and 1990's by football geniuses like Bill Walsh and other talented scouts. Sports writers cite that the track record that he purports to be his own, is actually just him taking credit for other people's work. He receives the benefit of the doubt by latching every story and anecdote to his time with Bill Walsh, Mike Holmgren, Bill Belichick and so on. When you peel everything back, he has no real track record. His own eyes have never been right. All the drafts he had a hand in have been terrible. He's never had direct responsibility for drafting. The guys he has picked have been busts. The accusations go on and on. It's actually pretty interesting.
Reading some of these articles bashing Michael Lombardi are beginning to make me think that I have been duped. Maybe he conned me with his ability to turn a phrase. Maybe the way that he can speak of a player with terms like size, speed, reps at 225, recovery speed, his ability to run a 7 route, his kickstep, his burst, spinning the ball through the wind and cold have all just fooled me. Maybe he doesn't know shit.
Or maybe the local sports writers just have personal stuff with him. Maybe he was mean to them when he was player personnell director under Bill Belichick. Maybe he told them to fuck off and denied key access to them. Maybe the old school detractors who are the leaking negative stuff to national writers have personal axes to grind as well.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle I think. Part of me hopes the public is wrong. I do hope that he has learned and cemented some real knowledge during the five years he has been out of the football management and executive side of the NFL. I would like to believe that he has used this time to really become the expert he may have been faking us into believing he was. And the Browns can certainly use that guy. Another part of me also hopes that he just stays in his current role as a good analyst and podcast guest. That's a good role with zero stress and zero pressure. He's a good talking head who can help educate fans.
Let's hope for the Browns sake a couple things happen. 1. They fully and completely take their time in making this decision. And 2. That if Michael Lombardi is indeed the man they bring in to select and mold and control the 53 man roster, he has learned and saved all those lessons he's been around and he applies them to build a championship caliber team with long term staying power.
It's been disrupted becuase I think I really like Michael Lombardi. I discovered him several years ago when he wrote a small daily column called "Lombardi on the NFL" on his own website, which then joined up with the now defunct National Football Post. It was a good short burst of analysis, including behind the scenes stuff, on the field team analysis and on the field player analysis. I liked it cause he wrote in a voice that took you behind the curtain a little bit and included the down and dirty X's and O's analysis that I am attracted to. He and Charlie Casserly are a lot alike.
Then one day, we'll say maybe 2008, he appeared in a one off appearance on the Bill Simmons podcast. He cut up the draft for an hour. It was fun to listen to. He knew his shit. He spoke of many high level observations that most analysts are not capable of doing. He obviously had expertise. He didn't appear on the podcast for a couple months after that, but he soon became a regular as his star as a TV and sports radio show guest continually gained steam. He soon started writing for NFL.com and began to appear on the NFL Network. Now he's on Simmons pod every other month.
But my worldview has been thrashed a little bit because as the news of his candidacy for a Browns executive spot has spread, he's being COMPLETELY TRASHED by both local and national writers. Mostly local writers.
And this has angered me because I have been living in a world where I think Michael Lombardi is an expert and is telling the truth. I like his opinion. When he's on the TV screen, I listen to what he's saying. If he does a podcast with Sporty I try to listen to it. I even wrote a little blog last year about bringing him in to pick the players and have Chip Kelly coach them (might even get my wish on that, good or bad).
He is being portrayed as a con man. As a fraud with a photographic memory. As a voracious reader and has the gift of gab and can get guys to like him. A shmoozer. His memory has allowed him to remember scouting reports written in the 1980's and 1990's by football geniuses like Bill Walsh and other talented scouts. Sports writers cite that the track record that he purports to be his own, is actually just him taking credit for other people's work. He receives the benefit of the doubt by latching every story and anecdote to his time with Bill Walsh, Mike Holmgren, Bill Belichick and so on. When you peel everything back, he has no real track record. His own eyes have never been right. All the drafts he had a hand in have been terrible. He's never had direct responsibility for drafting. The guys he has picked have been busts. The accusations go on and on. It's actually pretty interesting.
Reading some of these articles bashing Michael Lombardi are beginning to make me think that I have been duped. Maybe he conned me with his ability to turn a phrase. Maybe the way that he can speak of a player with terms like size, speed, reps at 225, recovery speed, his ability to run a 7 route, his kickstep, his burst, spinning the ball through the wind and cold have all just fooled me. Maybe he doesn't know shit.
Or maybe the local sports writers just have personal stuff with him. Maybe he was mean to them when he was player personnell director under Bill Belichick. Maybe he told them to fuck off and denied key access to them. Maybe the old school detractors who are the leaking negative stuff to national writers have personal axes to grind as well.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle I think. Part of me hopes the public is wrong. I do hope that he has learned and cemented some real knowledge during the five years he has been out of the football management and executive side of the NFL. I would like to believe that he has used this time to really become the expert he may have been faking us into believing he was. And the Browns can certainly use that guy. Another part of me also hopes that he just stays in his current role as a good analyst and podcast guest. That's a good role with zero stress and zero pressure. He's a good talking head who can help educate fans.
Let's hope for the Browns sake a couple things happen. 1. They fully and completely take their time in making this decision. And 2. That if Michael Lombardi is indeed the man they bring in to select and mold and control the 53 man roster, he has learned and saved all those lessons he's been around and he applies them to build a championship caliber team with long term staying power.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The Cavs...
I thought I would put The Cleveland Cavaliers on blast for a few minutes. I'm unclear on where to point the finger for this mess. There is a lot of suspects: Chris Grant, Byron Scott, Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson. We can sort that out as we move along in the 82 game grind. Here are just some notes.
First and foremost, what a COMPLETE WASTE of the best stretch of basketball Anderson Varejo has ever played. Andy is a basketball genius. It's like watching a virtuoso piano player out there. Not only because it's beautiful but also because it's almost literally just him playing against the other team by himself. The rhythm and flow and the art in which he plays is up there with the likes of Manu Ginobli and Steve Nash. Andy seems to be the only redeemable player on this team right now.
As unpopular and silly as this sounds, I am just not very happy with Kyrie Irving. I'm just not. He's talented as shit. He's a future Olympian. He's an all-star caliber point guard. He shoots the lights out. I just don't see any hunger and leadership. Leadership from the front. In your face, firey floor general leadership. Get on my back, follow me leadership. I just see a quiet businessman. A quiet assassin, who the game comes easy to and he's just gonna do his job and collect his dough. He seems much more interested in exploring his artistic side with his marketing. And maybe this leadership that I want to see is something he will grow into. He's 21. He can keep growing into that role. But the reality is that the best player on your team has to lead from the front. Until that happens, we'll suck. It's on him to 1. get stronger and less fragile and 2. find a way to transfer his artistic and charismatic side into fierce DRose like leadership.
Our current program as a whole is terrible. It's really flabbergasting to watch. I literally, every time I turn the Cavs on and watch for a few minutes immediately think: "are we missing 3-4 good players?" But we're not. Samardo Samuels really is our 7th-8th guy. Alonzo Gee really is our 5th guy. Booby freaking Gibson really is our 6th guy. We've had 3 picks inside the top 4 the last two drafts. We came away with Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters. Throw in Ty Zeller, considered a top 13 talent by many and that's 4 lottery players. Doesn't feel that way. Where's our speed and length and talent? There's no "who the hell is that monster out there?" question when you watch the Cavs. No one ever jumping off the screen at you. It's just 5-7 average guys walking around, mixed in with Andy's genius. The Tristan Thompson development project is starting to worry me. Yes, he makes shit happen that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. But getting back to the basket buckets, developing a crunch time offensive move and making free throws have to become easier for him. Or else he can't be a core guy.
I'll leave you with a question. Let's say we are playing the OKC Thunder and Kendrick Perkins is having a bad night. He's chippy and is constantly cheap shotting players on our team. Let's say he lays out Kyrie. Is there anyone on our roster who would step to that thug other than Andy? I mean, really chest him up and be ready to punch him in the face. To want to punch him in the face and get suspended? I don't think we have anyone on our team who would do that. And that's disappointing. We need to find a thug. A Reggie Evans. A K-Mart. A Tony Allen. Someone whose feared.
First and foremost, what a COMPLETE WASTE of the best stretch of basketball Anderson Varejo has ever played. Andy is a basketball genius. It's like watching a virtuoso piano player out there. Not only because it's beautiful but also because it's almost literally just him playing against the other team by himself. The rhythm and flow and the art in which he plays is up there with the likes of Manu Ginobli and Steve Nash. Andy seems to be the only redeemable player on this team right now.
As unpopular and silly as this sounds, I am just not very happy with Kyrie Irving. I'm just not. He's talented as shit. He's a future Olympian. He's an all-star caliber point guard. He shoots the lights out. I just don't see any hunger and leadership. Leadership from the front. In your face, firey floor general leadership. Get on my back, follow me leadership. I just see a quiet businessman. A quiet assassin, who the game comes easy to and he's just gonna do his job and collect his dough. He seems much more interested in exploring his artistic side with his marketing. And maybe this leadership that I want to see is something he will grow into. He's 21. He can keep growing into that role. But the reality is that the best player on your team has to lead from the front. Until that happens, we'll suck. It's on him to 1. get stronger and less fragile and 2. find a way to transfer his artistic and charismatic side into fierce DRose like leadership.
Our current program as a whole is terrible. It's really flabbergasting to watch. I literally, every time I turn the Cavs on and watch for a few minutes immediately think: "are we missing 3-4 good players?" But we're not. Samardo Samuels really is our 7th-8th guy. Alonzo Gee really is our 5th guy. Booby freaking Gibson really is our 6th guy. We've had 3 picks inside the top 4 the last two drafts. We came away with Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters. Throw in Ty Zeller, considered a top 13 talent by many and that's 4 lottery players. Doesn't feel that way. Where's our speed and length and talent? There's no "who the hell is that monster out there?" question when you watch the Cavs. No one ever jumping off the screen at you. It's just 5-7 average guys walking around, mixed in with Andy's genius. The Tristan Thompson development project is starting to worry me. Yes, he makes shit happen that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. But getting back to the basket buckets, developing a crunch time offensive move and making free throws have to become easier for him. Or else he can't be a core guy.
I'll leave you with a question. Let's say we are playing the OKC Thunder and Kendrick Perkins is having a bad night. He's chippy and is constantly cheap shotting players on our team. Let's say he lays out Kyrie. Is there anyone on our roster who would step to that thug other than Andy? I mean, really chest him up and be ready to punch him in the face. To want to punch him in the face and get suspended? I don't think we have anyone on our team who would do that. And that's disappointing. We need to find a thug. A Reggie Evans. A K-Mart. A Tony Allen. Someone whose feared.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Monday, November 26th
When planning: multiply everything by 2. 2 hours to do a project? Set aside a 4 hour window. 3 years to become a vice president? Plan on it taking 6 years.
Mark Cuban: "It was right around November when I was 27 that I remember looking at a 0 dollar bank balance at the ATM."
Loehr: If this is as good as it gets for me, how can I find a way to enjoy this time in my life, this very moment, as it exists right now, without change?
Keep busy. The worried person must lose himself in action, lest he wither in despair.
Our bodies change our minds and our minds change our behavior and our behavior changes our outcomes.
FAKE IT 'TIL YOU BECOME IT.
Persistence is making sure that "right now" you aren't taking a break from what's important to you.
We have a few years to live. We can live fantastically or robustly or we can live on cruise control.
Think quantatively, not dramatically.
Be the person you want to work for.
Enjoy and seek out places where you take blow after blow and build the endurance to bear it.
You have to be relentless. Absorb a lot of blows.
Mark Cuban: "Your biggest enemies are your bills. The cheaper you live, the greater your options.
It's better to be alive and a little weak than be dead in good health.
Live in a vision. Not in circumstances.
Carnegie: "Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment."
Who are you being with your family and friends? Are you being truly supportive or are you stuck in the negative? What about the interactions with yourself? Do you acknowledge the good things you do or are you a nagging brother to your own self?
Mark Cuban: "It was right around November when I was 27 that I remember looking at a 0 dollar bank balance at the ATM."
Loehr: If this is as good as it gets for me, how can I find a way to enjoy this time in my life, this very moment, as it exists right now, without change?
Keep busy. The worried person must lose himself in action, lest he wither in despair.
Our bodies change our minds and our minds change our behavior and our behavior changes our outcomes.
FAKE IT 'TIL YOU BECOME IT.
Persistence is making sure that "right now" you aren't taking a break from what's important to you.
We have a few years to live. We can live fantastically or robustly or we can live on cruise control.
Think quantatively, not dramatically.
Be the person you want to work for.
Enjoy and seek out places where you take blow after blow and build the endurance to bear it.
You have to be relentless. Absorb a lot of blows.
Mark Cuban: "Your biggest enemies are your bills. The cheaper you live, the greater your options.
It's better to be alive and a little weak than be dead in good health.
Live in a vision. Not in circumstances.
Carnegie: "Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment."
Who are you being with your family and friends? Are you being truly supportive or are you stuck in the negative? What about the interactions with yourself? Do you acknowledge the good things you do or are you a nagging brother to your own self?
Friday, September 28, 2012
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