McFly

For all those Back to the Future and Marty McFly fans...

Sly McFly's - Monterey, CA

And I wish I was Michael J Fox
I'd visit the past
Then come back to the future (Hello McFly)
When I cleaned up my act

~ Hello McFly (chorus) - Reliant K

The first Delorean that rolled off the line is on display at the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum part of the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio.

Cleveland, Ohio

I spent some time in Cleveland this week, enjoying it thoroughly.  Some people like to give Cleveland a bad rap, but it really does have a lot to offer.  I went with my family to see the musical, Chicago, mid week, at the Palace Theatre in Play House Square.  The musical was excellent.  And it just reminds me of the times I spent down at Play House Square, while in college.  Cleveland really has a great theatre district (2nd largest theatre complex in the US besides NYC's Lincoln Center) with great shows coming through all the time. 

Saturday, Justin and I met up with a couple friends from Case to hang out.  We got dinner at Latitude 41N (thanks to Richey for having a gift certificate there).  Good food and atmosphere. It's located in the Gordon Square Arts District on the West Side and is part of the Detroit Shoreway.  Looks to be a growing area with more young people moving in and makes for a cool Cleveland neighborhood. The Capitol Theatre is located there also, which is a renovated 1920's theatre.  It is where LeBron James's movie, More than a Game, premiered.

And a great article by Bill Simmons on the buzz surrounding and fun of watching Cleveland's LeBron James play.

LeBron vs. Kobe...Puppet Style

In honor of the Cavs vs. Lakers game tonight and keeping with the basketball theme, I thought I'd post a couple of the MVP Puppet commercials by Nike.  The remind me of the old Lil Penny commercials, Nike did in the mid-90's.  Enjoy.

For Threeeeeeeeeeeee

Lots of basketball for me today.  Coached my junior high team.  Played/Coached in the men's league at First Friends, and now watching the Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Los Angelas Lakers.

I think I enjoy coaching in the Junior High league the best at First Friends.  In the 4-6 grade leagues, the kids are still learning the game alot, there is a really big discrepency in talent, as well as the kids are not at the age yet to really have concrete understanding.  It is a lot tougher to have kids remember plays and be able to have them translate a play you draw up on the board, to actually be able to physically run it.  And in the High School league, you do not really practice, so just play games and are not able to implement as many things.  But in the Junior High league the team practices every week.  The kids are able to focus a lot better, compared to the younger leagues.  They have the mental maturity to be able to remember plays and take things they learn in practice and implement them into games.  You can really see an increase in ability as the season goes on too, which is really cool.  As a coach at that level, you can really put kids in a place to succeed and help the team regardless of ability, as long as they want to hustle and be aggressive.  It makes it really fun for me, because a lot of the team success is the coaches ability to coach the kids up.  Its great to see the play or gameplan we put together work. 

One Year

I have been catching some of the Golden Globes tonight.  As I've been listening to the acceptance speeches, I can't help and reflect on the one year anniversary of the Palestra.  Going along with that theme, I'd like to say thanks to all those who have been an encouragement for, participant in, and reader of the Palestra. 

Thanks to Katie and Ken for helping me get started and letting me bounce ideas off of each of you about how I should tackle writing a blog. 

Thanks to Bill, Dave, Doug, Josh, Katie, and Lauren for being frequent readers of the blog.

Thank you, Bill and Doug, for taking the time to check out the links to different articles and converse with me about them.

Thanks to Josh and Lauren for keeping me light-hearted about the blog and making me want to make it better.

Thank you all again, it is very appreciated.  I'm looking forward to year 2 and being able to share more thoughts, insights, and laughs.  Take Care and God Bless.

Leaders Share the Stage

Michael Lombardi on the National Football Post, shared a good article on leadership and the importance of sharing the stage/spot light.  The NY Times interviewed former Continental Airlines CEO, Gordon Bethune, on leadership lessons he has learned, hiring people, and the importance of sharing credit. Gordon relates a very inspiring story at the end of how, an employee bet another employee that Gordon would show up at the airport over a holiday to visit with the employees that had to work.  Good read

 

Thoughts on Holmgren's press conference

After watching Mike Holmgren's press conference and introduction as the Cleveland Browns President of Football Operations yesterday, I came away impressed. 

• He seems to speak straight forward and will not beat around the bush about the team, its direction, and where he thinks it should be going.  I think the honesty and clarity he portrayed is much needed as an NFL executive and for a fan based starved for a winner.  He is going to keep things as transparent as possible I believe.

•  He seems to understand the relationship between the head of football operations/GM and the head coach.  He knows they need to be 100% on the same page or problems will arise.  It seemed like throughout the years the Browns have been back, that no matter what regime was in place, there were always disagreements between what personel moves should be done (especially in the draft) and who should be playing (ala Jerome Harrison)

• He seemed to come across as a guy that is going to work extremely hard, expects the same thing out of himself as he does his staff, and will be extremely helpful as someone to go to for the coaches for advice in how to handle specific situations, because he knows what is its like to coach a bad team, a Super Bowl caliber team, along with some of the greatest players to play in the NFL.

I will be interested to see what unfolds the next few weeks for Holmgren's coaching staff and other personel people.  And really be interested to see how he tackles the draft in April.  Hopefully its done well.  Go Browns!

Lecrae Interview on ABC Family's 700 Club

For my international readers, who may not get ABC Family abroad, here is Lecrae's interview with the 700 Club from this past week.  Check it out.

Snow

As I look out the window at the snow covered landscape these words come to mind...

"“People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

 ~ Rogers Hornsby