The NBA season has been settled. Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks on a well-deserved championship. It cost me a free steak, and I have to endure a good friend in Dallas who has experienced his version of the Rapture, but I believe the result is just. The Mavericks were the better team in this series. They played hard, they played fair, they were consistent, they were resilient, and they didn't mock their opponents (yes, I was upset with the coughing jokes).
Although it is personally disappointing to see the Miami Heat not measure up, it does not take away from their accomplishments. It has been a long and hard year. The three superstar players and their surrounding cast had to learn to become a team. Their coach had to learn to be a better leader. And they all had to learn to block out the incredible amount of noise surrounding them.
Their work is not yet done. Pat Riley correctly pointed out that it took him several years of coaching the Lakers to win his first championship. Michael Jordan did not win it all in his first year. In fact, many teams require several seasons of seasoning to reach the top.
We live in a televised fishbowl. We expect to sit in our living rooms and receive instant gratification: the climax to the story should happen within the next 58 minutes. The Heat was supposed to instantly come together, set the NBA record for fewest losses in a season, and then roll to the championship while making it look easy.
This is not reality. Especially for the Miami Heat. This team, as well as the rest of us who live in the real world, require more than one year to mature, develop, and acquire the depth needed to reach the top. This was the real reason they lost to the Mavericks. Just ask Nowitzky and Kidd who invested years of sweat, toil and tears to hoist the trophy.
The Miami Heat will be fine. Everyone on the team will learn from this. And, hopefully, they will use that knowledge to mature some more and bring home a championship.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
IMF Chief, Former California Governor, World's Best Golfer, etc.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tiger Woods.
The list is much longer. But the subject is the same.
It is powerful men misbehaving sexually then trying to prevent the full story from being known.
The charges against Strauss-Kahn are new. This immediacy often delays all the facts from emerging. It may be expected that his possible trial would expose many elements that are now unknown. A plea bargain would probably prevent us from learning most of the details. We'll see.
Governor Arnold first attempted to withhold the cause of his marital breakup. Then the name of his son's mother. The media went to work and prevented the secrets from continuing.(Thank goodness for the Fourth Estate.) While Arnold didn't commit a crime, he certainly made an error in judgment, if not morals. It remains to be seen whether the tarnish on his reputation will be permanent.I believe much will depend on whether more information comes to light in the coming days.
Super Golfer Woods continues to suffer. His marriage ended and cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. Sponsors went away and so did his championship form. He is now injured and one can speculate on whether he will ever return to dominating the sport.
While Strauss-Kahn and Schwarsenegger are in the midst of their crises, Woods has passed his nadir. It is my opinion, however, that he did the most covering up. This is based on my experience serving for several years on the board of a non-profit domestic violence agency. The facts of Tiger's car accident and the trip to the hospital just didn't add up. Consider this:
-- He claimed to have had a major auto accident in his own driveway.
-- He claimed his wife had to break into the car to rescue him. But the vehicle was not on fire or underwater and the weather was not inclement. And it was at his house which is located in an upscale gated community with 24-hour security (the same type of employees who would also help a distressed motorist -- or even jump start their car).
-- He had called his attorney prior to the accident.
-- It was late on Thanksgiving night. Where was he going?
My thoughts immediately made a different series of connections.
-- Mr. and Mrs. Woods were fighting, probably over the exposure of his affairs.
-- The fight involved violence. Maybe Mrs. woods clubbed Tiger with a 9-iron. Regardless, he became seriously injured and required medical attention.
-- A trip to the hospital emergency room -- especially after Midnight on Thanksgiving -- would require the medical staff to ask what caused the injury. If he were suffering from a blow to the head, they would have immediately been suspicious if the story were not convincing.
-- If suspicions were great enough then they would have called the police to investigate.
-- If the police investigated and found evidence of domestic violence then they would have had the State authorities immediately remove the children from the house.
-- When Tiger became injured someone in the house called their attorney for advice. He probably suggested that the world's best golfer would be better wrecking his own car than losing his children in the middle of the night.
This speculation will probably never be proven. Mr. and Mrs. Woods have done a good job of keeping mum on the details of that night. They have stuck to their story and the media has been unable to pierce their veil.
I am not a person who embraces conspiracy theories. The Kennedy assassination, Clinton/Lewinsky, and the death of Princess Diana hold no long-term interest for me. But I do believe that Tiger Woods is both a sexual predator and a victim of domestic violence.
I also believe that we need to know more information about the Strauss-Kahn scandal. At this point we don't know if he was drunk, overly medicated, suffering from jet lag, or otherwise mentally impaired. If any of this is true, it certainly is no excuse for attempted rape. It does, however, offer perspective which is critically needed for any of us to form our own judgments about the misdeeds of the powerful.
The list is much longer. But the subject is the same.
It is powerful men misbehaving sexually then trying to prevent the full story from being known.
The charges against Strauss-Kahn are new. This immediacy often delays all the facts from emerging. It may be expected that his possible trial would expose many elements that are now unknown. A plea bargain would probably prevent us from learning most of the details. We'll see.
Governor Arnold first attempted to withhold the cause of his marital breakup. Then the name of his son's mother. The media went to work and prevented the secrets from continuing.(Thank goodness for the Fourth Estate.) While Arnold didn't commit a crime, he certainly made an error in judgment, if not morals. It remains to be seen whether the tarnish on his reputation will be permanent.I believe much will depend on whether more information comes to light in the coming days.
Super Golfer Woods continues to suffer. His marriage ended and cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. Sponsors went away and so did his championship form. He is now injured and one can speculate on whether he will ever return to dominating the sport.
While Strauss-Kahn and Schwarsenegger are in the midst of their crises, Woods has passed his nadir. It is my opinion, however, that he did the most covering up. This is based on my experience serving for several years on the board of a non-profit domestic violence agency. The facts of Tiger's car accident and the trip to the hospital just didn't add up. Consider this:
-- He claimed to have had a major auto accident in his own driveway.
-- He claimed his wife had to break into the car to rescue him. But the vehicle was not on fire or underwater and the weather was not inclement. And it was at his house which is located in an upscale gated community with 24-hour security (the same type of employees who would also help a distressed motorist -- or even jump start their car).
-- He had called his attorney prior to the accident.
-- It was late on Thanksgiving night. Where was he going?
My thoughts immediately made a different series of connections.
-- Mr. and Mrs. Woods were fighting, probably over the exposure of his affairs.
-- The fight involved violence. Maybe Mrs. woods clubbed Tiger with a 9-iron. Regardless, he became seriously injured and required medical attention.
-- A trip to the hospital emergency room -- especially after Midnight on Thanksgiving -- would require the medical staff to ask what caused the injury. If he were suffering from a blow to the head, they would have immediately been suspicious if the story were not convincing.
-- If suspicions were great enough then they would have called the police to investigate.
-- If the police investigated and found evidence of domestic violence then they would have had the State authorities immediately remove the children from the house.
-- When Tiger became injured someone in the house called their attorney for advice. He probably suggested that the world's best golfer would be better wrecking his own car than losing his children in the middle of the night.
This speculation will probably never be proven. Mr. and Mrs. Woods have done a good job of keeping mum on the details of that night. They have stuck to their story and the media has been unable to pierce their veil.
I am not a person who embraces conspiracy theories. The Kennedy assassination, Clinton/Lewinsky, and the death of Princess Diana hold no long-term interest for me. But I do believe that Tiger Woods is both a sexual predator and a victim of domestic violence.
I also believe that we need to know more information about the Strauss-Kahn scandal. At this point we don't know if he was drunk, overly medicated, suffering from jet lag, or otherwise mentally impaired. If any of this is true, it certainly is no excuse for attempted rape. It does, however, offer perspective which is critically needed for any of us to form our own judgments about the misdeeds of the powerful.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Like Him or Hate Him, Trump Is Certainly Resilient
Most entrepreneurs will tell you that their lives are usually full of ups and downs. While successes are evident, most have their share of failures that are not remembered as prominently.
This is nicely illustrated by Time's list of Donald Trump's greatest blunders.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2068227,00.html
You could also create similar lists for Bill Gates, Wayne Huizenga, or almost any other billionaire who started their own business. Their strong wills sometimes make them overly insensitive and egotistical. They make good and bad decisions. When they make the right choice they are heroes. When they make bad decisions they get to know another bankruptcy judge.
Their successes do not excuse their flaws. Each of these business titans probably has a trail of resentful colleagues, jilted partners, and friends and relatives who don't see any glory in their achievements.
The key to their success is not that they are great human beings. It is that they keep going despite their setbacks.
This is nicely illustrated by Time's list of Donald Trump's greatest blunders.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2068227,00.html
You could also create similar lists for Bill Gates, Wayne Huizenga, or almost any other billionaire who started their own business. Their strong wills sometimes make them overly insensitive and egotistical. They make good and bad decisions. When they make the right choice they are heroes. When they make bad decisions they get to know another bankruptcy judge.
Their successes do not excuse their flaws. Each of these business titans probably has a trail of resentful colleagues, jilted partners, and friends and relatives who don't see any glory in their achievements.
The key to their success is not that they are great human beings. It is that they keep going despite their setbacks.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
A Portrait of Structural Change
An interesting article from the Economist on how technology can reduce a profession to becoming a commodity. It discusses professional photographers, but it applies to many other careers, business models, and industries.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/04/tech_demand_and_unemployment?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/bl/portraitofstructuralchange
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/04/tech_demand_and_unemployment?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/bl/portraitofstructuralchange
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
I'm Reconsidering the Value of my College Degree
The University of Florida bass fishing team has won their second National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship title. I've never been prouder.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
QWERTY Explained
In an article on www.edge.org the author John McWhorter explains how our keyboard originated.
... (the) example is the seemingly illogical arrangement of letters on typewriter keyboards. Why not just have the letters in alphabetical order, or arrange them so that the most frequently occurring ones are under the strongest fingers? In fact, the first typewriter tended to jam when typed on too quickly, so its inventor deliberately concocted an arrangement that put A under the ungainly little finger. In addition, the first row was provided with all of the letters in the word typewriter so that salesmen, new to typing, could wangle typing the word using just one row.
Quickly, however, mechanical improvements made faster typing possible, and new keyboards placing letters according to frequency were presented. But it was too late: there was no going back. By the 1890s typists across America were used to QWERTY keyboards, having learned to zip away on new versions of them that did not stick so easily, and retraining them would have been expensive and, ultimately, unnecessary. So QWERTY was passed down the generations, and even today we use the queer QWERTY configuration on computer keyboards where jamming is a mechanical impossibility.
... (the) example is the seemingly illogical arrangement of letters on typewriter keyboards. Why not just have the letters in alphabetical order, or arrange them so that the most frequently occurring ones are under the strongest fingers? In fact, the first typewriter tended to jam when typed on too quickly, so its inventor deliberately concocted an arrangement that put A under the ungainly little finger. In addition, the first row was provided with all of the letters in the word typewriter so that salesmen, new to typing, could wangle typing the word using just one row.
Quickly, however, mechanical improvements made faster typing possible, and new keyboards placing letters according to frequency were presented. But it was too late: there was no going back. By the 1890s typists across America were used to QWERTY keyboards, having learned to zip away on new versions of them that did not stick so easily, and retraining them would have been expensive and, ultimately, unnecessary. So QWERTY was passed down the generations, and even today we use the queer QWERTY configuration on computer keyboards where jamming is a mechanical impossibility.
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