khandor’s sports blog

Here’s a nice short piece on the Thunder’s young GM, Sam Presti, who is off to a terrific start in Oklahoma City …

Page 2: My Idol with Sam Presti
It’s a long list that Presti will tell you extends beyond the sports realm. But on the playing fields, Presti most admired Bill Russell, Bill Walsh and Cal Ripken — a trio he says helped quench his thirst for knowledge and quell his hunger to better himself.

It was Russell’s sense of team and trailblazing courage, Ripken’s toughness and preparation and Walsh’s innovation, commitment to philosophy and teaching and managerial skills that set them apart. And all displayed the consistency Presti adores.

They all are different in some ways. But I think they all demonstrate a fortitude and a belief in process that was seen throughout their playing or coaching careers. The focus was always on doing the work, controlling what you can control and allowing the outcome to be predicated on the job you do every day.

My interest is more grounded in their approach to the craft. Their preparation, their willingness to invest deeply into something they have a passion for and their focus on working at that every day and allowing the results to take form as a result of their preparation and their focus.

I’m always looking to learn and looking to gain knowledge from people that have been successful. And their stories are stories that I thought were worthy of studying and trying to learn as much about as I can.

———————————

… expressing some of the most important factors at the root of success for high-achievers everywhere:

1. The love of, and commitment to, life-long learning.

2. The prioritization of Teamwork and outstanding character.

3. The fundamental roles of Toughness, Preparation, Innovation and Passion.

Know and understand these … and you, too, will be well on your way to achieving the truly worthwhile your goals in your life.

Here are the video clip answers to yesterday’s motion picture trivia …

1. Juror #4

2. Who are those guys?

3. First comes the Football Quiz, then comes the marriage?

Can you correctly identify the “character” with the name of “Baltimore” in each of these film classics?

PS. Enjoy your weekend, one and all.

———-

Related:

ARTICLE OF THE WEEK: A Mind For The Game

Yes, yours truly devotes a fair bit of place in this blog to the sport of basketball … and rightly so.

There is no better sport in the world … which combines the elements of team play, individual play, a high degree of explosive physicality, the use of intricate strategy & tactics, offense, defense, fluid & dynamic changes of possession [which includes rebounding], fast-paced full-court action, a much slower-paced half-court game and intelligent thought, by a group of individuals working in harmony with one another, in pursuit of a common goal, yadda, yadda, yadda …

That said, however … visitors to this site should NOT maket the mistake of thinking that ”hoops” is the ONLY area of sporting interest [and expertise?] that your trusty correspondent is consumed by on a regular basis … given the diverse nature of the actual content on this blog.

With this fact in mind …

Earl Weaver: A MIND FOR THE GAME Before laptops, spreadsheets and VORP, the wizard of Baltimore was winning pennants by following his own internal baseball calculus
“TEAM SPEED? GET SOME BIG#$@&*%$*! WHO CAN HIT THE #$@&*%!$* BALL OUT OF THE PARK!”

On a Saturday afternoon in mid-March, the most irascible manager in the history of the Baltimore Orioles is watching an Orioles pitcher get pasted, one hitter after another. This is only a spring training game at quaint Fort Lauderdale Stadium, not something that counted back at Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium, on 33rd Street. But Earl Weaver, cap pulled low, that leprechaun’s twinkle in his eyes gone dark, does not like what he sees. All of his great teams—and they were all pretty great—were built on a foundation of reliable pitching. ¶ He won the pennant one year by making only 167 pitching changes in 159 games. Another year he won a championship by using 12 pitchers—not just in the World Series but the whole season.

Whack!

“Mix in a wild pitch or something!” the old manager blurts out.

Whack!

“Oh, my God!” Weaver croaks. Another shot, some 400 feet of solid contact, disappears out of sight, foul.

Whack!

“Who the hell is pitching?”

———-

is by far the best article these eyes have read this week.

Click the link, read it for yourself and enjoy it in its entirety!

———-

PS. Therein you will find: 1. Details of The Littliest General That Could and Did!, plus, 2. A further, brief, glimpse into the mind at-work in these parts. The Earl of Baltimore was, no doubt, a man well ahead of his time. “A blop, a blast and a three-run homer … back-boned by terrific pitching & solid defense.”  What more in life can any sane man ask for … game after game after game after game after …

PPS. A slew of BONUS POINTS for the first visitor who can correctly identify all three of the major motion pictures with a key “character” included in its plot with the name ”Baltimore“, or a derivative of that word, each with a most definite “string” attached to the world of sport.

CanuckX … if you happen to be reading this … hopefully you will choose to participate!

[Please Note: There are probably a lot more than just three such films in the History of Motion Pictures but, in this instance, you will need to name the right three {3}, in order to good home a winner in this contest. That said ... Even if you happen to guess wrongly, and you list other films which are not the correct answer, in this case, there's still a fairly good chance that all those who visit here and view these two specific blog entries [i.e. this one and tomorrow's, where the correct answers provided] will leave better off for the experience after A. reading what you wrote and, B. hopefully, enjoying the video clips provided.] 

Ready? On your mark. Get Set. And, go.    

[leave your answers in the Comments section]

On Tuesday, SI.com published its review of owners in the NFL, MLB, NBA & NHL, listing both the top 5 and the bottom 5 in each of these leagues. These are the bottom 5′s, respectively:

[Number Rank, Owner, Franchise, Purchase Year, Purchase Price, Current Value, Winning %, Playoff Seasons, Championship Season]

National Football League
5 Denise DeBartolo York, 49ERS, 2000, N/A, $865 M, .417, 2, 0
4 Mike Brown, BENGALS, 1991, N/A, $941 M, .351, 1, 0
3 Dan Snyder, REDSKINS, 1999, $750 M, $1,538 M, .488, 3, 0
2 William Clay Ford, LIONS, 1964, $5 M, $917 M, .411, 9, 0
1 Al Davis, RAIDERS, 1966, $180,000, $861 M, .569, 21, 4 

Major League Baseball
5 Ted Lerner, NATIONALS, 2006, $450 M, $406 M, .419, 0, 0
4 Jeffrey Loria, MARLINS, 2002, $158 M, $277 M, .502, 1, 1
3 David Glass, ROYALS, 1993, $96 M, $ 314 M, .432, 0, 0
2 Tom Hicks, RANGERS, 1998, $250 M, $405 M, .489, 2, 0
1 Peter Angelos, ORIOLES, 1993, $173 M, $400 M, .486, 2, 0

National Basketball Association
5 R-Johnson/M-Jordan, BOBCATS, 2004, $300 M, $284 M, .417, 0, 0
4 Chris Cohan, WARRIORS, 1991, $130 M, $335 M, .409, 3, 0
3 Michael Heisley, GRIZZLIES, 2000, $160 M, $294 M, .388, 3, 0
2 Cablevision/J-Dolan, KNICKS, 1997, $300 M, $613 M, .439, 7, 0
1 Donald Sterling, CLIPPERS, 1981, $12.5 M, $297 M, .341, 4, 0

National Hockey League
5 Predator Holdings LLC, PREDATORS, 2007, $193 M, $164 M, .499, 1, 0
4 Atlanta Spirit, HAWKS, 2004, $80 M, $158 M, .519, 1, 0
3 Charles Wang, ISLANDERS, 2000, $187.5 M, $154 M, .416, 4, 0
2 Alan Cohen, PANTHERS, 2001, $101 M, $163 M, .443, 0, 0
1 MLSE, MAPLE LEAFS, 1994, $102 M, $448 M, .471, 8, 0 

———-

Now …

Which of those 20 separate owners also happen to have a 2nd franchise in one of the other 3 leagues?

MLSE also owns the Raptors [NBA, 1998, N/A, $400 M, .454, 5, 0].

If you combine the efforts of the Maple Leafs and the Raptors, might it be accurate to say that MLSE is possibly the worst owner of them all?

Current Franchise Value: $848 M
W-L Record: 920-1984
Winning %: .464
Playoff Seasons: 13 [of 26]
Championship Seasons: 0 [of 26]

You make the call.

 Loading ...