THE MIKE BROWN WATCH IS ON

The YOUGOTJC writing team is officially putting Mike Brown on notice. It's amazing that we are two games in, and talking about blowing the Cavs up and firing the coach, but it's the reality that we live in. It's sports in 2009 folks. The Cavs are a billion dollar entity. They have a superstar who has played at a very high level the first two games, only to lose bad both games. For the player in question to play at that high of a level and lose calls for very big concerns and borderline panic. Yet again, the Cavs have failed to focus on what's urgent and important.

Just thinking about it for a second, I can only think of really one name who the Cavs can bring in on short notice that will be able to handle the job: Doug Collins. Jeff Van Gundy is another guy, but his style and the way he handles and procures personnel are things that would have had to be assembled in July, not November. Collins fits the mold. LeBron gushes about the guy. He's beloved by all the best players. He's a player's coach who knows plenty about the NBA game at both ends. He's a competent coach, who hasn't gotten to the top of mountain, but has done enough to warrant serious discussion. He'll have LeBron's attention in a big way, and that will echo throughout the whole team. He has had a front row seat and access to every NBA team for the last several years. He is in no hurry to coach, but if he got a phone call and an opportunity to coach LeBron, I think he would be in Cleveland tomorrow. He would be my guy, and I imagine Dan Gilbert is in contact with him as we speak.

Some buzz about Captain Jack, Stephen Jackson, being back in the Cavs discussion this morning. Although he might be a good fit, we would have to give up Z to the Warriors in exchange. That's a tough proposition for Danny Ferry. Him and Z are very close and I understand this. But at the end of the day, it's a business. And if you're Danny Ferry, your job is on the line in a very big way. It's not like Z is gonna be out on the street. At worst he'll sit on the Warriors bench for the next couple months. The Warriors could very well buy him out and he can come back to the Cavs. I mean, shit Z has made well over 120 million dollars throughout his career. It's not like you're sending your fellow steel mill worker to the breadlines. He's gotta retire soon, and he can come work for you after Bron signs an extension next summer.

Hot stat of the day: Shaq plus minus rating last night -25

ONE AND DONE

I didn't see much of the Cavs game last night because I had a night class. I got home and caught the last 6 minutes of the 4th quarter. And as I expected, that last 6 minutes was all I really needed to see. It was quickly apparent to me that the Cavs are in very big trouble, and we're only 1 game into the season.

Those last 10-12 possessions were a microcosm of what always goes wrong for the Cavs and showed yet again that there are errors in the way the team is constructed. It's the same problems, the players just change. It's a perpetual deer in the headlights position, with LeBron at times shining through and providing unforgettable moments.

Everything I needed to know about the game happened on back to back possessions. I picked the game up with the Cavs down 5. The Cavs got a stop on defense, grabbed the board and got nothing in transition. Mo Williams got involved with a high ball screen from Shaq and couldn't get anything going off of it (shocking huh?). The ball eventually got swung to LeBron, who, (and get ready for this suspense folks) pounded the ball into the hardwood 11 times in a row (how bout a post game?) with the shot clock getting into single digits and settles for a 23 footer off the dribble (never seen that before huh?) Brick. Rebound Celtics. Paul Pierce walks the ball up the court, gets a high ball screen from KG, walks to the key untouched, to the elbow and nails an 15 footer that he is going to make 9.5 times out of 10 in the clutch. Timeout Cavs. Ball game. The camera flips over to Danny Ainge whose talking to some drunk slob probably saying something like "I would rather have PP in the last 2 minutes than any other player in the NBA." And there you have it. A microcosm of game 1 of 82 in 2 possessions. A tale of 2 elite teams. The Celtics being in complete control. The Cavs being in a constant state of uncertainty.

It's hard to bury to Cavs and put them way behind the curve after one game played and 81 left, but at the same time, for me it is very easy. It is clear to me that they have not changed many of the urgent and important things necessary to get the Cavs playing at a championship level. They have a lot of work to do and moves to make as we enter this marathon season. They are clearly the 5th best team in the league, and will have to make a lot of changes in their approach if they want to get back into the discussion of potentially playing in the NBA finals.

WEEK 7 PICKS BABY

Not exactly a great day of games from where I am sitting. You're not selling me on Cowboys/Falcons. Nor the Giants/Cards. Minny and the Steelers is a good game. I like the Steelers there. Hopefully the Browns can get something going and stay in this game for a while. Because other than that, it's gonna be a long day until Mad Men at 10.

P.S. Take the time to appreciate what Josh Cribbs does today. He is one of the best players in the NFL.

Packers -8.5

Bolts -5

Colts -14

Bengals -1

Steelers -6

Pats -14.5

Texans -3

Jets -6

Panthers -7

Fins +6.5

Falcons +4.5

Cardinals +7

Eagles -7

Last Week 7-7

Season 55-34

COUPLE IRISH AND NFL THOUGHTS

"FROM THE ERRORS OF OTHERS, A WISE MAN CORRECTS HIS OWN." -SYRUS

"SOMETIMES WHEN YOU WIN, YOU REALLY LOSE AND SOMETIMES WHEN YOU LOSE YOU REALLY WIN, AND SOMETIMES WHEN YOU WIN OR LOSE, YOU ACTUALLY TIE, AND SOMETIMES WHEN YOU TIE, YOU ACTUALLY WIN OR LOSE. WINNING OR LOSING IS ALL ONE ORGANIC MECHANISM, FROM WHICH ONE EXTRACTS WHAT ONE NEEDS." -WHITE MAN CAN'T JUMP

Pretty interesting week of football in both college and the pros. The Saints are channelling the 2000 Rams' best show on turf. Notre Dame still can't get over the hump, in a year where they had to grind out a win over USC. The Browns cannot play offense at an NFL caliber level even OTA's the longest training camp out of all 32 teams, 4 preseason games and 6 regular games. Talent level aside, there is no excuse that they haven't created a scheme that can move the ball at least a little bit against other teams. It's a complete joke. I feel bad for all the guys.

Notre Dame

Despite a hell of an effort by Robby Parris aka John Stamos 2.0, the Fighting Irish came up short again against USC. What a bummer. In a game they had to have, Notre Dame had a tough time competing against the Trojans and their talent level. The game was teetering on a blow out several times, only to see USC keep Notre Dame in the game with un-excusable dead ball 15 yard penalties, with several extending Notre Dame drives. It was just a complete lack of discipline by Pete Carroll's guys.

A lot of USC honks have been out this morning clamoring that they were getting homered to death by bad calls and spots. Absolutely not. It was USC player stupidity. All those personal fouls and un-sportsman like conduct penalties were justified to me. Taylor Mays, everybody's All-American, is very overrated. I dunno what he has done or proved. I think he's very average. He's nowhere close to Tennessee safety Erick Berry's level. I realize Mays weighs a lot and still runs a 4.3 40, but I have never seen him make a good play. I have seen him hit guys late. I have seen him spear guys after his teammates have safely dragged them to the ground. I have seen him take cheap shots like the one he took on Robby Parris late in the 4th quarter. But I have yet to see him make a big play in a big game. And he was very much absent when Notre Dame got it going in the 4th quarter.

A good game might have won Jimmy Clausen the Heisman Trophy Saturday. Unfortunately, he didn't play well enough in the first half and got too far behind. He continues to show though, that he has a lot of skills. He stood in there Saturday through continued heat and pressure better than I have ever seen him. He made some big time throws in that second half. I was bummed though cause that was a big game for him being a California kid. He had a chance to stick it to a bunch of guys he grew up with a came up a little short. And on top of that, he got really tight and didn't make great throws the last two plays on the goal line. That first throw seemed a little rushed, and it wasn't clear whether Golden Tate cut the route or Clausen didn't read it right. That last play with one second was where I was shaking my head. I don't understand why he didn't take his chances with Kyle Rudolph. It was coming open too. It was a great high-low read route combo. He had that linebacker sitting in no-man's land. And for some reason, he chose to throw the out to a scrub whose only in there because Robby got hurt. And of course he slipped out of his break. He's a backup receiver for Notre Dame. I thought he should have waited for Rudy to clear one more step and put it on him high and hard where only he can catch it. O well.

Golden Tate is a terror after the catch. It is really unbelievable. He just cannot be brought to the ground. He is so strong and powerful. I mean the guy has a lot of bad moments--drops, fumbles, hot dog tendencies, but all that aside--when he gets the ball, you better be ready to go if you want to tackle him. The whole season you have seen guys just fail to get him down. There will be 3 guys trying to handle him and all 3 guys will fall trying to get him out of bounds and Tate will still be standing after the play. He is a beast.

Matt Barkley got my "best player in the gym" award. Not bad for a freshman. Pretty solid effort. Aside from the panic interception, he was very sharp and threw it well at every level of the field. Always a little easier when you're playing the Notre Dame paper-machey secondary.

For the Notre Dame fans, here's the crux of the situation. It was a great game. The guys played really hard. BUT--you were at home. You had the most talented team you have had in a very long time. You were playing the worst USC team they have had in the last five or six years. Missing their best receiver and goal line running back. With a true freshman quarterback. And only two horses on defense. You have all that going for you, and you look up to see that you're down 20 in the 4th quarter? Really? And if it wasn't for a complete lack of focus and discipline by USC, you get blown out of the stadium. It was a great effort and a great fight. But you're still barely in the top 40 teams in college football, and though progress is being made it is still very hard to take your playing ability as a team seriously. There was not any point in that game where anyone being objective thought you might have a chance to win.

But let's end this rant on the positive. Rob, great effort man--great game. 9 catches for 90 yards. Several clutch 3rd down pick-ups. Ballsy catch on 3rd and 13 with the game on the line. It was the best game of your career. I hope your knee is okay.

NFL

It's amazing how quick fortunes and futures change in the NFL. There is nothing like it. It is a zero-sum game.

Coach Rex Ryan was the toast of the league. 3-0, a genius, they were carving his name into the coach of the year trophy. Three weeks later, he's 3-3. The last two games, he has ended games with timeouts in his pocket, and has exposed himself as a coach who needs to take game management 101.

And my guy Matt Sanchez isn't doing his coach or more importantly me any favors. WHAT THE HELL MAN? STOP EMBARRASSING THE "YOUGOTJC" BLOG! YOU'RE IN THE FRICKKIN NFL MATT! 8 PICKS IN 3 GAMES? REALLY? WORK ON YOUR CRAFT. PLAYING QUARTERBACK IS HARD, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE A ROOK. STOP TEXTING THE BIMBOS THAT STALK THE STREETS OF NEW YORK. HOW BOUT SOME FILM STUDY? WHAT A JOKE. AND DON'T CRY IN THE PRESS CONFERENCE. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT.

WEEK 6 IN THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

RAVENS +3

STEELERS -14

CHIEFS +6

TEXANS +5.5

RAMS +9.5

GIANTS +3

BUCS +3

LIONS +14

EAGLES -14

HAWKS -3

JETS -9.5

PATS -9.5

FALCONS -3

BRONCOS +3.5

LAST WEEK 9-5

SEASON 48-27

Fins Jets Thoughts

Dolphins/Jets

I wanted to go back to the Monday Night Football game a couple nights ago. That wasn't the greatest game ever to watch, but I thought it had some good things in it.

Dan Henning and Mike Price of the Fins continue to amaze me with their scheme and play calling. When they played the Colts three Mondays ago, they put on an offensive show albeit in a loss. Monday was no different. They had it going again, beating the Jets in dramatic fashion, (and covering the 3 point spread) and continuing to cement the wildcat formation in the NFL. I love what they do with it. I dunno what it is, but I have been locked in on both the Fins Monday night games. And on top of that, Chad Henne really showed up and played hard. He was impressive. In that last drive, he made some big time throws, namely the touch pass he made on 3rd and 4 to Greg Camarillo and zip throw he made rolling right on 3rd and 10 to Greg Camarillo. Those were huge plays that propelled them to the win. Ronnie Brown just has a knack for running that thing man. Where does he go if we re-drafted our fantasy leagues today? Probably top 5. But I like Tony Sparano, and I think we gotta slot the Dolphins a little higher in the power rankings going forward. 2-3 going into their buy week, keeping in mind that they had the 2nd best team in the league, the Colts, on the ropes only to choke and completely fall apart right at the end. But I think that Henne is an upgrade, and with that cool scheme they aren't gonna be a team I would look forward to preparing for late in the year.

I wasn't surprised at all to see Braylon play well for the Jets. He's a high level talent with all the tools. He got out of a toxic situation here in Cleveland, and now has to focus for the next 11 weeks and earn himself a second contract. He made some great plays in that game. There's just more there on that team. You gotta respect more guys. Cotchery, Keller and Leon Washington aren't exactly Randy Moss, but you can't just blantantly roll your coverage all over Braylon like you could when he was in Cleveland. And Thomas Jones and that line can dictate some tempo and make you stop the run consistently. Those little things add up. Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is an up and coming guy, and has some good ideas with play calling and formations. He isn't gonna put Braylon in spots where he struggles. He's gonna shift him around and put him in positions and matchups where he has the advantage to get open or draw flags. My guy Matt Sanchez has hit a little wall these last 2 weeks, with the league starting to get better film on his tendencies. He was good Monday night, but still at times locks on guys is forced to throw balls into the tuba player. Braylon will surely make Sanchez better. Rex Ryan is a great guy but he looked like a rookie ending the game with two timeouts to spare. Game and time management seems like such a simple thing, but it takes so time to get a good grasp of. He'll have to get better as he goes, as the Jets seem to be in the discussion for making the playoffs.

Monday Morning

" I WANT WINNERS." -Mike Singletary, on billboards all over San Fran and neighboring cities

"DO YOUR JOB." -Only sign in the Browns building when Bill Belichick was in Cleveland

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy." -Dale Carnegie

Fantasy

I would like to start this post out by ranting about how unfair fantasy football is. This is my first fantasy football league I am undertaking this season. And so far, the experience has been horrible. Talk about a crab shoot. I can't believe how much luck is involved. It's all luck. There is absolutely no skill involved in this fairy tale football league. I dumped Miles Austin this week, after 3 nice weeks of 1 point, 0 points and 0 points. Nice effort, you realize you're a fringe receiver in this league right? You realize you're making 500 grand and almost none of it is guaranteed right? Might wanna start playing a little harder. Give poor Tony Romo a target out there. In my league, he had 46 points yesterday. Cut Nate Burleson this Thursday and replaced him with Hakeem Nicks. Hassleback comes back, throws 4 touchdown, 2 to Nate, and despite Hakeem Nicks' 10 point week (solid), Nate had a nice 30 point week. You just can't win. Look I'm all about showing off my having a good feel about the NFL and its players chops, which I thought I would be able to do in this league, but that's the exact opposite of what this is. It's like the lottery.

Browns

Hats off to Eric Mangini and the Cleveland Browns for racking their first win of the season yesterday. They should be 2-3, are we all clear on that? Isn't that funny. For how horrible and bad they are in every area, management, staff, coaching, players they could be 2-3 going into the steel city this week. When you're rebuilding, like the Browns are trying to do, it's about momentum and small victories. And yesterday was probably the smallest victory in league history. But you can't take it away. It's a start. They aren't gonna go 0-16. The owner for the Bills is a pioneer. A great guy. A hall of famer. But I would have fired Dick Jauron in the tunnel after the game last night. What a travesty. Then I would have sat at the biggest exit with a suitcase full of money and given every fan in that stadium their money back, tickets to the next home game and told them the Buffalo Bills will be ready to play next week.

Broncos/Bengals

I made 2 nice calls this weekend. Bengals to win outright. Broncos to win outright. Cedric Benson, who knew? This goes back to my fantasy qualms earlier. Guy is having a hell of year. Probably didn't go til round 10. Now if we re-drafted he'd be a top 8 pick. Just a first class win by the Bengals. On the eve of a tragedy in the sudden death of Vikki Zimmer, wife of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, the Bengals pieced together a ballsy performance. My thoughts and prayers are with the Zimmer family. Same goes for Josh McDaniels and the Broncos. It must have felt pretty good to beat your mentor. Brandon Marshall, a pariah all spring and summer is being the beast he has shown himself to be the last two seasons. When the game starts, he's blue. It's as simple as that. You can't tackle him. Isn't it amazing how open guys are on the Broncos every play? Middle of the road players by the way. Running wide open. Every play. With a marginal quarterback throwing them the ball. They are so well coached on offense. Would be pretty cool if the Browns were like that.

NBA

Memo to David Stern: jokes getting old with freezing out the NBA officials. I realize that the NBA isn't the NFL. And not every team is worth a billion dollars if they were sold tomorrow. And a lot of your teams are in trouble financially. But fucking pay the refs already. This is a joke. Sack up. Swallow your pride. And give your guys the money they deserve. I don't know what they are asking for. I don't care to know. But get them under contract. And let them do their jobs and make a living. Because if this doesn't get settled soon, it's gonna be big trouble. I watched the first half of the Suns and Warriors the other day. Talk about slop fest. Absolutely no flow. Bad calls left and right. These jokers had no clue what they got themselves into. Channing Frye is a unbelievable fit on Phoenix though. Pick and pop player. Knocked down a couple 3's. Let's Amare control the paint and gives him ton of room. Unselfish. A nice pickup for the Suns. And did anyone catch Captain Jack's effort the other night? 9 minutes, 5 fouls, 1 technical--and on top of all that excused himself after the technical by walking into the locker room. Where do we think that guy is gonna land? Any leaders? Mavs?

JOSH MCDANIELS

The Broncos are 5-0 folks. And surprise surprise, the guy who writes these posts had a feeling they might be a pretty good team. He was laughed outta the bar by a few of his friends. Other friends questioned his eyes and brain through text message or email. But I tried to stay positive and stick with my belief. And they have rewarded me with the chance to send a lot of very arrogant and sarcastic text messages back to friends.

I am a big Josh McDaniel honk. I think he's a really good young coach. He knows a lot about offense. His organizational plan has paid big dividends so far. He has hired a lot of great assistants. Mike Nolan has made that defense aggressive and sound. He is batting .1000 so far. He was laughed off of every NFL Live show, every local radio show, everything imaginable this summer. But it's the fall baby. It's football time. And he has been a great leader and put his team in a nice position so far in their very winnable division. He has the attention of the 53 in the room. And that's all that matter. The players respect him and trust him.

WEEK 5 NFL PICKS

PEEPS WHAT'S HAPPENING--BEEN A WEEK SINCE I WROTE ABOUT ANYTHING. SORRY A LOTTA WORK CAME ACROSS MY DESK THIS WEEK. I WILL BE AROUND TO WRITE ABOUT SOME OF THE WEEK THAT WAS LATER TODAY. I AM HOPING TO REDEEM MYSELF THIS WEEK PICKING NFL GAMES.

IT WAS A REALLY SLICK MOVE BRAGGING ABOUT HOW HOT I WAS PICKING NFL GAMES AGAINST THE SPREAD. IT'S NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO ADVERTISE YOUR FORESIGHT TO THE GAMBLING GODS. BECAUSE IF YOU DO, THEY'LL REWARD YOU WITH A 7-7 WEEK, AND YOU'LL BE LUCKY TO GET THAT. LOOKING AT THESE LINES THIS WEEK IS A TELLING SIGN OF HOW BAD SOME TEAMS ARE, INCLUDING OUR BELOVED BROWNS. I THINK THIS IS A YEAR WHERE YOU'LL SEE SOME 20 POINT LINES. I CANT REMEMBER A TIME WHEN THERE WAS THIS MANY TEAMS, NAMELY 4-6 TEAMS THAT WERE SO MUCH WORSE THAN EVERYONE IN THE LEAGUE. I MEAN, THE BROWNS COULD GO 4-12 AND HAVE THE 6TH PICK IN THE DRAFT. THE RAMS, BUCS, CHIEFS, LIONS, RAIDERS ARE HORRIBLE. THE PANTHERS MIGHT BE TERRIBLE. THE JAGS MIGHT BE BAD. AND THE BROWNS ARE BAD. WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

BROWNS +6
VIKES -10.5
CHIEFS +8
PANTHERS +4
EAGLES -15
GIANTS -15.5
BENGALS +9
STEELERS -10.5
NINERS -2.5
BRONCOS +3
TEXANS +5.5
JAGS +1
TITANS +4

FINS +2

LAST WEEK 7-7
SEASON 39-22

SPREAD PICKS (ON NO SLEEP)

Bengals -5.5
Texans -9.5
Titans -3
Ravens +2.5
Giants -8.5
Lions +10
Bucs +7
Colts -10
Jets +7
Fins +2
Niners -9.5
Cowboys -3
Chargers +6.5

Vikes -3.5

Last Week 10-6
Season 32-15

RULES OF THUMB

If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. -Dale Carnegie

First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst. -Dale Carnegie

“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” -Christopher Columbus


The Hills

Sadly, and by sadly I mean one of those moments where you lay in bed and really start evaluating your life and how you are approaching it, I watched the season premiere of the Hills early Wednesday morning. I caught the 1:30am repeat and was hooked immediately within the first 2 minutes of the show. And during this show, 2 major things came to mind. Number one, Kristen Cavallari is SMOKING hot and during this 22 minute show was probably one of the top 5 hottest girls walking around this Earth. The second thing I thought of is I could have thought of and written this show over the last X amount of years and still had time to do other projects. Are the creators of this show swimming in a pool of money in their mansions in Malibu or do they just have a hot tub filed with 100's as opposed to a pool? It's easy to see why so many people are addicted to this show. It's aestetically beautiful. There is something in the way they shoot it that just draws you to it. And what a simple concept. You take one of the hottest chicks in the game right now, and you just write her a character and is freaking hot and nuts. Within 5 minutes of the show starting, Kristen had to be physically separated from a verbal altercation with Audrina (smokeshow). It was edge of your seat theater. I am gonna try my best and hardest not to get into this absolute waste of time and life series, but I gotta say it's gonna be tough. Kristen is gonna go after Audrina's old dude. It's gonna be quite the season with Kristen back as the alpha dog of that fabricated creation that they try to sell as real life drama. Sit back and enjoy!

Delonte

Delonte West in training camp today on day 3. Nice to see. Like my buddy Josh said the other day--that guy has to be on a basketball court. That's the only place he can ever be. The Cavs will have their hands full again this year trying to keep that guy on an even keel.

Tim Tebow

I made a huge omission on Monday with my review of the football weekend not mentioning the Tim Tebow hit. I cannot believe I didn't cover that as I proclaimed it "the biggest moment in college football of the last 5 years" when it happened. You got a steady dose of the sappy Florida fans in the house looking very concerned. Coeds were crying. Mothers were crying. I think new born babies in Gainesville were crying. But that was a seminal moment in what has been a shitty college football year. My immediate reaction, and I am still holding onto this belief is that he is not going to be ready for at least 2-3 games. I think this is the kinda thing that is gonna linger longer than they anticipate and Tim Tebow is not going to be himself for at least a month maybe more. It seems like he kind of dodged a bullet and is recovering nicely. Urban Meyer has been pretty mum on the issue. He has said a couple positive things, but even if he knew he was in trouble he would be saying the same things. Meyer is very Belichick-ian, and he's not letting anything get outta his camp. But this definitely creates a nice little wrinkle. It will be interesting to see where the top teams go from here. I hope he can come back and play at a high level with no cobwebs or rust. But quick side note here: let's go ahead and make this guy from Kentucky pee in a cup this week right? Is it just me? I know he had a free crack at a guy looking downfield. But we're talking about Tim Tebow here. A 6'5, 260 pound mountain. The greatest college player of his generation. One of the strongest guys in college football, who was in a balanced drop back position. And this guy hit him high and put him horizontal like he was some guy from intramural flag football. Maybe it's just me. Obviously his adrenaline was running high, but even he had to be surprised at that pop.

Tyler Thigpen

I wrote a hand written letter to Bill Parcells yesterday discussing that I had championed Tyler Thigpen as a guy who can play quarterback in the NFL at a high level in my blog before the draft and once during the summer. I told him I urged the Browns to trade for him. I told him I think he's a good prospect who needs someone like Bill Parcells to believe in him and put him in the right system. He has shown flashes of spinning it all over the field at a high level. I told him since I was on the same page with you, and you're the frickkin Tuna, that you should offer me a job in your scouting department as soon as possible and pay me a lotta money to make personnel decisions for the Fins. I will keep you updated on his decision.

Rules of Thumb

I really enjoyed making my way through this book called RULES OF THUMB by Alan Webber. Instead of giving you his background, I am just gonna say this: go check it out of your library. It's setup so you don't have to read it all, you can just take bits and pieces from it. Here's a few couple quick hits with my analysis.

Rule #36--Message to entreprenuers: managing your emotional flow is more critical than managing your cash flow.

-The biggest threat to starting your own shop in something isn't running out of cash, it's going out of your mind! The emotional ups and downs of starting your own business are like The Magnum circa 1996. Every day matters. Every decision matters. Your first job is staying sane. Your second job is making money. There is nothing more difficult than trying to create something that doesn't exist yet. Think team, team, team, and always remember that nothing is so serious that you can't laugh, especially at yourself.

Rule #41--If you want to be a real leader, first get real about leadership.

-Amazon offers 284, 928 titles in its leadership library. Let's not get confused about leadership here. It's not men in high places. It's not the 3 shmucks at some investment bank. It's not the guy who ran GM into the ground. It's people who are demonstrating real leadership qualities. People who don't know all the answers, but are asking all the right questions. The company with the most leaders at all levels wins. Check your ego at the door. Be authentic. Listen. Lead by example. Knowing it ain't the same as doing it.

Rule #43--Don't confuse credentials with talent.

The paradigm right now, at least to me, is everyone is going after and recruiting the same guy or girl. This person has an MBA from Harvard or Wharton. It doesn't make much sense. The hungriest people usually don't go to those business schools. Same way with hoops or college football if you wanna think about that way. Not everyone can be USC football or North Carolina hoops. It's the coaches that have staffs and assistants with good eyes for talent that are having great success. Hire for attitude. Talent matters. Reward grit. Reward character.