You are here: Home / Archives for Sports
06
Nov 2011

5 Choices of an Effective Leadership

By Leave a Comment

Leadership – The ability to communicate a compelling state of affairs bringing “followship.”

1. Urgency

  • Getting things done NOW (not later next week or next month).
  • Stressing how important the important things are.
2. Clarity
  • Get the people to “get it” (to understand)
  • Many do not care so you have to fill up what is lacking
3. Quality
  • Done with EXCELLENCE
  • If done with quality, quantity will take care of itself
4. Community
  • Do not disregard the PEOPLE
  • Cannot have the first three attributes mentioned above without community
  • The whole is more important than the parts (the whole comes first)
  • Cannot take, take, take, and not give back… Make deposits with people
5. Authenticity
  • Disclosure equals intimacy
  • Know how much to share
  • Make yourself known, showing faults. Show that you are real.
Focus for the Harvest Sports Ministry:  Get men plugged in:
  1. Small Groups
  2. Involved in other ministry opportunities
  3. Serving
  4. Discipleship/Disciple-makers
  5. Equipping them for leadership
Outline created by Mike Ruge
Categories: Leadership, Spiritual, Sports Tags: , , ,
30
Sep 2011

Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind

By Leave a Comment

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind

Over the past three years I’ve watched the movie Miracle no less than 10 times.  I’m mesmerized by the leadership style of Herb Brooks and the tactics he used to lead the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team to a Gold Medal. The story told in the movie, while mostly true, is a familiar one – the David vs. Goliath tale.  USA Hockey needed a white knight and Herb Brooks, with his unorthodox approach to the game (by US standards), came out of rank and file to slay the giant.

Seeing the movie so many times, it made me want to go back and watch the game footage and subsequent hysteria.  There was a big disparity between reality and the movie.  Seeing how much the movie glorified the play and the characters, it made me want to examine Herb Brooks life more.  The movie gave me a snap shot of his life with some background for context, but it left me wondering about Herb Brooks the man, and how others saw this unparalleled event.  For reference on how the movie put it’s best face forward, compare the actor that played Jack O’Callahan (Michael Mantenuto) to the real Jack O’Callahan – now that is face only a mother could love.

While reading Herb Brooks biography it was clear to me that he was a genius in his field.  An absolute genius.  His understanding of the game, the players, the movements, coupled with his ability to motivate his team put him in rare air.  Bill Walsh, Phil Jackson, and Vince Lombardi are the only coaches that come to mind that caused a pivot in their sport. The game of hockey is different because of Herb Brooks and his longevity and accomplishments at both the U and in USA Amateur Hockey display his greatness.

What I found most interesting about Herb Brooks in the biography though was who he wasn’t and what he didn’t accomplish.

Looking at Herb’s life through a few different lenses (marriage, family, personal, community, and vocation) it’s clear that we need to be cautious who we aspire to be like and why. The prices paid for the glory in Hockey may not have been worth it.

Marriage:  Herb and Patti were married their entire adult lives.  There is no indication either had extramarital affairs.  No indication of abuse.  No indication of anything bad quite honestly.  What I do see though is a very absent husband.  Not one that works hard to provide for his family, but a husband that pursues his dreams and drags the marriage along.  Patti is a very dutiful wife, very old school, and appears independent.  She also appeared in the book like a woman that would’ve rather of had her husband home with her for holidays, special occasions, and key moments in life.  Herb provided very little of those moments.

Family:  Similar story here.  No indication Herb was ever a bad father to his two children.  By all indications they’ve grown up to be fine citizens.  What I do see is a father who missed many of the key moments in his kids lives as he pursued his dream.

Personal:  The biography of Herb showed him as a very one dimensional man.  He enjoyed gardening and a few other activities, but hockey was always on his brain.  This is part of what made him great, this immense ability to focus, but it’s also what lead to the majority of pain in his life.

Community: This is one area Brooks clearly excelled in.  The fame of winning 3 National Championships at the U and the 1980 Gold Medal allowed Herb access to anything he desired. He was loyal to family and friends, always willing to battle someone that spoke ill. And Herb in his own way loved people. He loved to teach people, challenge people to be their very best, and hockey provided him that venue.

Vocation: At the U Herb was King. In USA Amateur Hockey allowed him to become a rock star – bigger than life. One might look at Herb and say “wow, he didn’t let the fame go to his head,” but as I read about the years that followed the miracle of 1980, it’s clear that success spoiled Herb. He became belligerent and almost paranoid; very high maintenance. He had multiple coaching opportunities in the NHL post Miracle, but in each case he was unceremoniously let go because he could not reproduce the magic. Life is easy when you’re winning championships. Quirks aren’t as annoying. But the further Herb got away from 1980, the more it seemed like quirks that made him great were also the quirks that kept people and opportunities away.

As I think about my life, the struggles I’m enduring as I pursue greatness, I often measure myself against the Hollywood, retouched versions of reality. As I reflect on a whole life of Herb Brooks there are aspects I aspire to be like him in, but there are things I need to shy away from.  Not because Herb was wrong, but because it’s not great for me or my family.

All in all, pick up this book.  You’ll enjoy the personal stories.  You’ll enjoy seeing Miracle from a different perspective.  And you’ll find a sliver of gratefulness for the life the Lord has given you.

Herb’s most famous speech given by Kurt Russell

Categories: Books, Business, Leadership, Spiritual, Sports Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
31
May 2011

33 years old – Like a Rock

By Leave a Comment

Today I spent some time listening to Bob Seger’s Greatest Hits album while I working outside.  I hit the song “Like a Rock.”  Normally I’ll skip over this song because Chevy has completely ruined it for me, but since I was feeling manly from working outside, I thought I’d listen.

Seger’s song starts out with a young man at 18.  He’s a hard worker, he’s learning, growing, he’s buff, and he’s ready to grab the world by the throat.  As the song progresses though Seger laments the classic line

Twenty years, where’d they go?  Twenty years, I just don’t know.  Sit and I wonder sometimes, where they’ve gone.

You know he’s taking about his life at this point.  The pain of regret, the wishful thinking of what once was, all of these things are flooding his mind as his sings.

The song started me thinking about my life and the lives of men around me.  I’ve been reading a lot of books lately on leadership, being a man, and doing both to the glory of God.  It seems there is something that happens in the life of man when he passes 33 years old.  No longer can he rely solely on his strength to be equal to the task.  Seger knows this, athletes know it, and I’m learning it.

Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated quoted Stan Musial in an unusual article:  “a baseball players prime age is 28 to 32.”  Mr. Posnanski then went on to chronicle a number of baseball players, Hall of Famers and otherwise high achievers, showing a drop off in production when the man reached his 33rd year of life.  There are big names on this list like Hack Wilson, Duke Snider and Bobby Doerr.  Worse yet he was painting the picture in light of today’s superstars Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, and Lance Berkman.  Maybe calling them yesterday’s superstars is more appropriate.  Even more recently we’ve been hearing about Kobe Bryant being a “step slower.”  Kobe turns 33 on August 23.

A man’s life has many classifications.  John Eldredge famously classified them in his best selling book The Way of the Wild Heart as:  Boyhood, Cowboy, Warrior, Lover, King, and Sage.  Mr. Eldredge would place the 33 year old man into the Warrior category, assuming he is pacing along properly in life.  There are hundreds of classifications of a mans’s life out there to refer to.  The point is not to label it, but to give my life and others markers.  Therefore, I’m left asking myself the question “You’re too young for a midlife crisis, but at 33 years old, are you too old to be an everyday Warrior?”

Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying.  I’ll still work you under the table every day of the week and twice on Sunday.  My parents trained me well in work ethic.  Evaluating the careers of men who achieved greatness in their professions after 33 where there profession required a significant element of both mental and physical exertion on a daily basis is now something of great interest to me.  To understand how these men have shifted the way they exert their energies, the way they work with other young men to accomplish their goals, and they way they ultimately shift their thinking toward “king” and begin growing in that direction.  Understanding this seems like the key to being a successful entrepreneur, a successful basketball player in the twilight of your career, or being a successful mom when energy is at a premium.

Categories: Business, Personal, Spiritual, Sports Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
11
May 2011

King Solomon and Malcolm Gladwell’s “Rule of 10,000 Hours”

By Leave a Comment

This morning while reading Proverbs 12 verse 1 really stuck out to me. Proverbs 12:1 says:

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

I’ve read this passage many times in my life, and having 5 kids, have always equated “discipline” with spankings, punishments, privileges lost – basically negative heart and behavior reinforcement.  What struck me again about the passage this morning is the word “discipline” and the positive effects it has on a life.

The season of professional life I’m in is earning my “10,000 Hours” on my way to becoming an expert.  Malcolm Gladwell assets in his book Outliers the following (taken from Wikipedia):

A common theme that appears throughout Outliers is the “10,000-Hour Rule”, based on a study by Anders Ericsson. Gladwell claims that greatness requires enormous time, using the source of The Beatles’ musical talents and Gates’ computer savvy as examples. The Beatles performed live in Hamburg, Germany over 1,200 times from 1960 to 1964, amassing more than 10,000 hours of playing time, therefore meeting the 10,000-Hour Rule. Gladwell asserts that all of the time The Beatles spent performing shaped their talent, “so by the time they returned to England from Hamburg, Germany, ‘they sounded like no one else. It was the making of them.’”Gates met the 10,000-Hour Rule when he gained access to a high school computer in 1968 at the age of 13, and spent 10,000 hours programming on it.

Seeing King Solomon equate knowledge with discipline is very powerful.  Those who love and pursue knowledge with disciplined efforts will end up as experts in their beloved field.

What are you working towards becoming an expert in?

Categories: Business, Leadership, Spiritual, Sports Tags: , , , ,
25
Feb 2011

Vince Lombardi’s Winning Ways

By 1 Comment

Coach Vince LombariVince Lombardi’s greatest lesson to me is demonstrating the growth orientated mentality.  The writer of Vince Lombardi’s Winning Ways said it this way.  “His real goal wasn’t just to win, but to create the will to win that made winning possible.”  Similar to Coach K at Duke in his approach, Coach Lombardi believed in training men to reach their full potential.  That is the summation of his coaching and teaching style that has left it’s enduring mark on the sport and the world.

Two things stood out to me in this book.  First the statement Coach Lombardi makes to the Packers when they report to training camp for the first time in July 1959.  Coach Lombardi says “You’ve got to give everything that is in you.  You’ve got to keep yourself in prime physical condition, because fatigue makes cowards of us all.”  The other is from Jerry Kramer.  He referred to that same training camp when he said “And there were plays to be run, again and again, until every man knew every maneuver every possible variation.”  Preparation is the key to victory in life.

Prepare or Preparation:  to put in proper condition or readiness.  Vince Lombardi knew how to make a team ready to achieve his goal – every player giving their full effort in unison, thus producing perfection on the field.

As I think about translating this to my business my initial reaction is “it’s not that clear cut.”  In reality if I understand the vision of what I’m trying to achieve then the milestones and resulting daily activity show themselves.  It’s starting with the end in mind and working backwards to today in order to see the building blocks it takes to go from today’s player to tomorrow’s champion.

The idea that fatigue leads to cowardliness goes far beyond the body.  The mental fatigue coupled with the physical fatigue is often what leads to cowardliness for me.  The results are mediocre work days, procrastination, and the desire to fight “tomorrow.”  John Wooden is clear that if I don’t put forth the effort today it’s lost, you cannot go back tomorrow and make up for the lost opportunity today.

The mandate is clear from the way Coach Lombardi lived his life.  Discipline leads to desire leads to delight.  It all starts with daily discipline, but it all ends with enjoying the fruits of that labor in the future.

Proverbs 21:5 says The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

Categories: Books, Business, Leadership, Personal, Spiritual, Sports Tags: , , , , ,
07
Feb 2011

Super Bowl XLV – a microcosm of the Packers season and Dallas

By Leave a Comment

“The Green Bay Packers are your 2011 World Champions.”  I love hearing Wayne Larrivee say those words as he finishes his WTMJ broadcast tonight.  Super Bowl XL was a great contest between two NFL stalwarts.  Aaron Rodgers is the games MVP throwing 3 touchdowns and another QB Rating north of 100.  Great day to be a Packers fan!

The game was odd though in that it seemed to be a microcosm on the Packers season and on Dallas’ handling of the Super Bowl logistics.

The Packers first dealt with injuries and came in very healthy – only Erik Walden being a late week scratch, but replaced by the very capable Frank Zombo.  As Super Bowl got into the second quarter the Packers had a 21-3 lead when key personnel starting dropping like flies.  First Donald Driver goes to the sideline.  Then Sam Shields.  The Charles Woodson.  You even saw Nick Collins head into the tunnel before half time with the Steelers still on offense.

It felt like the wheels were about to come off for the Packers.  You have a lead, and there is no way you’re holding it against a great team like Pittsburgh without these key personnel. But that is the way the Packers entire season has gone.  You can run down the list of key personnel lost to injury and insert the name of the man who stepped in to fill those shoes, and the coaching staff tweaking their plans to match the new man’s strengths.  The only difference is that the Packers coaching staff typically had a week to scheme, where as in Super Bowl XLV they had mere seconds.  It’s a great testament to the resolve of players and coaches alike that they could fail forward in this way.

On the flip side the city of Dallas did not win any future Super Bowl contracts.  Everything on sports talk radio and the Net suggested the city and Cowboys botched their opportunity.  From the hotels being 45+ minutes from the stadium, to no central media location for fans and players, to even the Fire Marshall being there at game time trying to clear the stadium seating for breaking the indoor attendance record.  All of this did not show well on Dallas or the Cowboys.

The microcosm the Super Bowl produced can be summed up in Christina Aguilera’s performance of the National Anthem, then during the Black Eyed Peas half time show with the word “love” having a side burned out on the V, and the stadium seating problem all echoed the city and team’s unpreparedness.

Categories: Leadership, Sports Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
11
Dec 2004

Favre’s amazing streak ends at 36

By Leave a Comment

Based on ability, durability, longevity, statistics and, most important, team success, Brett Favre, to me, is the best quarterback ever. That’s just one (young) man’s opinion.

The impossible happened Sunday. My opinion of Favre grew.

At 35 years old and in his 14th season, Favre has nothing left to prove. But he keeps doing things the right way. His Packers didn’t show up for Sunday’s supposed showdown with Philadelphia, while the Eagles proved in the 47-17 rout that they are, lest there were any remaining doubts, not only the class of the NFC but also in a different class than the rest of the conference.

Favre, though, showed something in the loss. As a matter of fact he exhibited a few things — class, professionalism and perspective.

Favre failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in 37 games, a streak dating to Oct. 20, 2002. He fell 11 games short of tying Johnny Unitas’ league record of 47 consecutive games with a touchdown pass. The Eagles’ defense did a fabulous job against Favre, limiting him to 14-of-29 passing and 131 yards and picking him off twice. For that, Philly should be commended. But it shouldn’t be credited for snapping the streak. Favre should. He deserves credit for that.

Read the full article

Categories: Sports