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Guest Post – The UK Prepares for the World Cup
(My friend Lisa is a Canadian who has lived in the UK since attending grad school in Manchester. She sends some notes from her adopted homeland as they prep for the World Cup.)
It all started out very innocently. A car flag waving on a black cab. The occasional overheard office discussion as to who would ‘make the team’. The arguments about why (or why not) to support England between the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish.
Yesterday something changed. No fewer than six requests to join Work Cup pools ended up in my inbox. One even sponsored by the large American company that I work for. We even received an email letting us know that in all our offices the soccer (I mean football) games will be shown in the employee cafeteria for people to watch during their breaks. Good thing we have wireless in our building.
This morning as I looked out my apartment window to the big estate across, overnight all the balconies have been decorated with St. Georges cross flags and red and white balloons. Yes, World Cup fever is alive and well in London. It is though, a different vibe than what I experienced in Manchester in 2006. In the shadow of old Trafford, football fanaticism reached unbelievable highs (and lows) – and all in the name of Mother England. London is different. While talk of England’s ability to pull off a shocking victory dominate, in this multicultural city talk often turns to other countries – the Italians I work with curse Cappello ; the French avoid any discussions of a repeat performance by Thierry Henry of his infamous qualifying round ‘incident’; and the Brazilians push aside any claim that they have lost their groove.
Every pub, on every corner has a billboard proclaiming that they are showing all the World Cup games – beer specials and world cup ‘pies’ are on the menu. As the buzz builds to kick-off, anything is possible. The crowds are assembling, and the lager taps are at the ready. The South Africans are out in force blowing their Vuvuzela horns (a marching band styled group just walked by my office on Buckingham Palace Road – maybe they are off to entertain the queen who is in town).
The only thing missing this year is an official England World Cup song. My recommendation for those nostalgic for the cheesy cheers is definitely World in Motion by England New Order (yes, Manchester’s New Order) ….We’re playing for England (En-ger-land), we’re playing the song. We’re singing for England (En-ger-land), arrivederci its one on one….
Yes. I will be cheering for my adopted home….now where did I put my pint.
Griffey Retires….Now I’m Officially Old
In 1988, Ken Griffey Jr and I had similar career goals. We both wanted to play Major League Baseball.
Now, while I was busy fighting for playing time at Interlake High School, Griffey was an 18 year old in San Bernadino and Vermont, already in the Mariners farm system. But still, at that point in time, there was still technically a “chance” that we’d play on the same field.
On April 10, 1989, my friend Cale and I bailed out of practice early to get to the Kingdome, parked ourselves in the 300 level, and watched Griffey play his first game in Seattle. He only got one hit that game, but it was his first career home run, in his first at bat. And still at that moment, I had a chance to play major league ball with Griffey.
Fast forward 21 years. June 2, 2010. Griffey retires.
So big sigh.
I knew this day would come.
Now at one point in time I could tell you every stat in baseball. But we all re-prioritize, and now I know the names of more senators than 3rd basemen. I have a better chance beating the stock market than winning a fantasy baseball league.
But Griffey’s retirement is symbolic. He’s the only player close to my age who I watched from his first to last day.
Now realistically, I knew by 1990 we weren’t going to ever play on the same baseball field. But now that I think about it, I guess have a new “realistic” goal. Hey Ken, we play softball every Tuesday night up at Kasch Park. We’d love to hear all the stories and thank you for all the memories. We have room for another outfielder….you can even play center.
Hey, there’s always a chance.
No Runner Left Behind Vs “The Bridge”
I’ll admit, going into this year’s Beat the Bridge race, I was worried. A groin injury, back issues, too much work, not enough exercise, and a diet in which banana peppers were considered a vegetable, all pointed towards an uphill climb.
This year, Team No Runner Left Behind got some late momentum, and by race day we were up to 20 runners. Our oldest runner was pushing 40 and our youngest not even 10. We supported Team Livestrong, and clad ourselves in Lance Yellow.
With 20 runners, a strict buddy system was implemented. Our goal was to reach “The Bridge” and wait, crossing in one uniform mass of yellow joy.
We all got off to a good start in a front wave. The announcer yelled, over a loudspeaker, “Don’t worry folks, we won’t start the 20:00 until the second wave gets going. We had at least a 2:00 head start, so no one would have to worry.
Team NRLB slowly separated from each other, but we all stayed close to a buddy. Our pace was good and strong. Kevin and I reached the halfway point at 8:45. Surely, we wouldn’t be the fastest guys in the group, so it looked good for everyone.
At the 1.8 mile mark, Kevin and I were in solid shape, under 17:00. 3 minutes to go and smooth sailing. We reached the Bridge and saw two teammates, and we all stopped. Slowly a few others assembled, one blew right by in some sort of adrenalin induced trance. We still had at least a minute, possibly more to get everyone across, and so we looked for our remaining teammates.
Then the Bridge cheated.
The Bridge decided it wanted to go up early. And suddenly bells, whistles, lights and moving parts were among us. A sudden thought – maybe our teammates crossed already. We should get to the other side and check it out.
But sadly, there were no more runners on the other side. And as the Bridge stretched itself to the sky, announcing its presence with authority to the throngs stranded on its south shore, we realized that Team No Runner Left Behind had indeed, left runners behind.
Going into 2010, Team NRLB had only left 2 folks back in 5 years. This year, we left 8. One one hand – success. We got 12 people across. On the other – failure. 8 broken souls. Heartbreak city.
Regardless, the champagne brunch afterwards erased all tears of shame. Let’s focus on the fact that NRLB surpassed 20 folks, which makes a 30 person goal in 2011 completely reasonable.
If we start training now, then it doesn’t matter how much the Bridge tries to cheat, we’ll get there in time.
See you all next year.
Baseball Milestones
It’s not often I get content for this blog from my softball cronies. But this article came across the kucklehead telegraph today and is full of great baseball trivia. My only question now is which one of these guys reads the Wall Street Journal. Here are some highlights.
- Marlins Jorge Cantu stared the season with at least one hit and one RBI in each of the Marlins first 9 games.- Never done before.
- A-Rod: 13 seasons; 30 HRs and 100 RBIs in each one; A-first
There have been 173,383 MLB games since 1903
- No player has ever hit 3 grand slams in one game
- No player has ever hit for the cycle in two consecutive games
- A game has never had two players hitting for the cycle
- In 49 years, the Mets have never had a no-hitter (Seaver for the Reds, Cone for the Yanks, Ryan for several, Gooden for the Yanks). In 18 years, the Marlins have 4
- 40 pitchers have throw the immaculate late inning (9 strikes to 3 consecutive batters). But No pitcher has done it two innings in a row.
- 26 batters have come to bat 3 times in 1 inning. But none of them made all 3 outs in the inning.
- Twice, not once, a game has ended with an unassisted triple play – Last year and 1927.
Connecting Desperate Housewives to the Health of the MLS
Fine, it’s a leap, but a fun one. Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria married San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker a few years back. One of Parker’s Groomsmen was fellow Frenchman Thierry Henry. Now there’s word that Monsieur Henry will be heading across the pond to join the New York Red Bulls after the World Cup.
Let’s look at the timeline of a few recent moves the MLS has made.
First, they managed to work out an amicable deal between the players and owners, avoiding a strike that would have destroyed the league. The players union was rightly arguing that franchises in Seattle and Toronto were profitable, that soccer only stadiums in LA, Chicago and other cities showed promise, and that the new and incoming franchises in Philly, Vancouver and Portland were poised for huge success. The easy thing for the owners to do would be to give the MLS players a raise and keep the league at status quo.
But, after 15 years or so, the league is finally at an inflection point. It’s ready to “cross the chasm” if you will. You have a nice little storm where the league is gaining momentum in one of the few years that the mass public will spend at least 3 days this summer watching the U.S. World Cup team. And since ESPN started covering European soccer a few years back, they know a few names of super teams like Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona and Real Madrid. They also learned about a few stars like Beckham, Ronaldhino, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, and Thierry Henry.
So what’s great now, is that those guys are getting old. Not too old to perform, but too old to compete in Spain and England. And all of a sudden, their agent can tell them that L.A., New York, Chicago, etc… all can provide them more money than they’d get from some 2nd tier Italian team.
So the MLS makes an incredibly sound decision. Even though the league is salary capped, they give each team the ability to add a 2nd player that doesn’t count against the cap (called a Designated Player). We’ll call this the Thierry Henry rule. Why? because New York already has a Designated Player. But nothing could be better for the league than it’s largest market getting good, and adding the best player in the league. I know Henry landing in New York makes it harder for the Sounders to win a league cup. But it’s so great for the league. You can’t run a successful league without New York or LA being one of the top attended teams.
Think about it. There’s a simple problem in which to get corporate sponsors, you need to schmooze some execs. And the league office is in New York. The CMO of Budweiser, Coke, P+G, Clorox or Apple is not going to go to a game in the Meadowlands with 6,000 people and write a check for $10MM. You get Henry in a packed, soccer only stadium, and that same CMO suddenly has budget.
So forget Beckham. He may have gotten the MLS some buzz. But watch for Henry and the stream of guys that come over in July 2010 as the people who buzz the MLS into the mainstream.
A Question for the MLS
It’s the Wednesday night before the Sweet 16. Since I don’t watch the NBA anymore, and baseball is still in Spring Training, I look at my cable box and shrug. No sports to watch, and no reason to even turn on Sports Center. I have NCAA Analysis burnout – I’m just ready for the Thursday games. It’s a shame that there isn’t another sport getting ready to kick off, one that could monopolize my adrenalin for the evening.
But wait, there is.
MLS Soccer is starting this week. In fact it’s starting…..the same day as the Sweet 16.
So the MLS wants to take its annual grand entrance, and drop it right in the middle of the biggest TV sports event outside of the Super Bowl. Now I get why ESPN is driving this. ESPN is annoyed that CBS stole the entire tourney from them a few years back. So they want to program something sports related against the basketball games on Thursday. But it really makes no sense for the MLS.
The MLS doesn’t just play a back seat to the NCAA tourney – it’s in a different car on a much smaller road. Sure people in Seattle are going to be jacked for the game tonight. But, you are going to see a late arriving Seattle crowd, as they sit in bars across from Qwest Field waiting for the Husky game to be decided. God forbid the game go into OT, we could have 20% of the seats empty until half.
So why, MLS? Why battle the Sweet 16? Why not just open on Wednesday night, and own Sports Center? What could possibly be the benefit of having people at a sports bar watching a sport that isn’t yours, while your season is kicking off? Can we get this fixed for next year?
Pete Carroll on “How to Run a Social Media Program”
(Republished from Spring Creek Group blog.)
It’s not often that you get the chance to sit down with a two-time NCAA National Champion, and current NFL coach, to talk 1-on-1 about business and strategy. And sadly, this was not one of those times. But I did get to share a room with 300 other people to listen to the new chief Seahawk, Pete Carroll, share some wisdom and philosophy about business and coaching.
Carroll’s presentation was not actually entitled, “How to Run a Social Media Campaign.” But with 400,000 Twitter followers, he could probably run an entire event on the matter if he so wished. He spoke about general leadership and business philosophies, but when you peel away the adjectives, they are also extremely sound strategies for a social media program as well. In honor of the 12thman, here are 12 philosophies I walked away with (and which will likely soon in up in one of our presentation decks).
(Quotes are paraphrases of Carroll’s speech, not necessarily direct quotes, and the photo is from the PSBJ recap.)
1) “I wasn’t ready to be a head coach when I ran the Jets. So it was a mistake to get involved. But when I finally figured it out and was ready for the next role, I knew exactly what I needed to do, and what it would take to put it together.” Social media translation – If you don’t know what you are doing, don’t rush in. Figure out what you need to do, and what it will take to get there. Write everything down, start your program and make refinements along the way. But know what the goals are, and what pieces you need to make them happen.
2) “Look forward to the challenges ahead of you, rather than worry about them.” – If you’ve built out a solid plan, you can anticipate where there may be hurdles. When you are prepared and ready to face difficulties, whether they are organizational, technical, or content centric, you are in the proper mindset to find the right solutions in an efficient manner.
3) “We all win sometimes. But if you want to win forever, you figure out why you are winning.” –It’s not just that anyone can get lucky, it’s that everyone will get lucky at some point. If you rest on a few wins without figuring out what exactly got you that bump in traffic or spike in friends, you’ll only be successful until the next company (possibly a competitor) gets their stroke of luck.
4) “Winners battle for a competitive edge in everything they do. Find those who want to do things better than other people, and you all will achieve greater things. Fight, scratch and claw to find a better way.” –Don’t just pick an employee or agency because they are convenient or easy. Pick those with drive and passion to be better than others, and your campaigns will reflect that more so than someone who just wants to get a check. Simply doing something because, ‘it’s how we’re used to doing it’ is not acceptable for a social media or marketing program. Do what it takes to make something special happen.
5) “Accomplishment is one thing, but it’s more important to understand how someone feels about that accomplishment.” –A line on a resume or a completed project only gets you so far. Understanding whether the person thinks they could have done better, and how they’d do it over, is a better predictor of who is going to execute a quality campaign for you, and how your campaign is going to evolve over time.
6) “Find the folks that other people are listening to. Make an impact on them first, then the rest is easier.” –Identify your influencers. But don’t try to sell them garbage. Carroll used the word “impact” which is key. Be “impactful” to those who matter the most, and you’ll get their support.
7) “3 or 4 people in a crowd out of 15,000 can change a community.” –Carroll’s program to fight gang violence had a monetary return. It cost about $100k to support each of these 3 or 4 influencers. Each gang-related death costs the city $1 Million in legal fees. So for every death Carroll’s group prevents, the city avoids having to pay out $1 Million. Social media may not lead to direct sales, but can you determine if it is preventing additional costs on expensive PR efforts later?
8) “Do things better than anyone else has ever done before, in all the things you choose to do.” — You don’t have to do everything, but if you are going to do it, don’t just do it well, shoot to do it better than everyone else. Basically, “mediocrity” not “failure” is the enemy of “excellence.”
9) “Know your philosophy. If you can’t articulate your own philosophy in 25 words or less, how do you expect anyone who works for you or around you to explain it to others?” –Your social media program needs a vision and a voice, and it needs to be articulated to everyone in your company.
10) “John Wooden had his own way of doing things that were unique. He could draw on people from all walks of life, because they could all focus on his unique way.” –Your brand needs its own unique identity, philosophy and vision if you want people to be drawn to it. If you do things out of a standardized process or playbook, you only cater to those people who agree with that playbook. If you do your own thing, you can draw everyone who believes in the vision.
11) “Empower yourself to do everything you can do, in the areas you control. Don’t worry about the things you can’t.” –Don’t stress about whether people will say something negative. You control the product you develop, the price you sell it for, and the way you promote it. You control how you respond to your customers and how you cater to their needs. Focus on that, and don’t waste energy on the other stuff.
12) “Evaluate, Address areas of concern, and fill the holes.” –This goes to the Spring Creek Group philosophy of 1) Analyze Data, 2) Develop a Strategic Plan, and 3) Engage the Community. Take a good hard look at what you have, figure out the best course of action, and then be relentless in fulfilling those needs.
You can follow Carroll on Twitter at @PeteCarroll. Also, a full-length video of his speech can be found on the Seahawks web site.
All We Are Saying, Is Give Pete a Chance
Sure, the Seahawks screwed up back when they shoved Holmgren out the door and “supposedly” gave Jim Mora the keys to the castle. But give Seahawks senior leadership some credit for trying to right the ship.
Years ago, in the Ruskell vs Holmgren battle, they chose the wrong horse. Who knows what the real dynamics were between Holmgren and everyone else at Vulcan, but for some reason they chose Ruskell’s side. That decision is done. But then at some point they realized their gross miscalculation. So they did the right thing – they unwound all decisions that were based on Ruskell.
Unfortunately, that ended up screwing Jim Mora. But at the end of the day Mora hitched his wagon to Ruskell, so when he imploded, Mora had to go with him. Mora was Ruskell’s way to get rid of Holmgren. It’s a simple game of office politics. When the guy who makes you a star disappears, you better have a bulletproof resume that can stand on its own.
So what do the Seahawks and Tod Liewicke do? They go get one of their own guys. Remember, Tod’s brother is Tim Liewicke, named the 2nd most powerful Sports/Events figure in the country, and who helped build the luxurious Staples Center in Los Angeles and Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. As moguls in the LA sports scene, there’s no doubt that Liewicke and Carroll go back a few years.
Also, keep in mind, Tod Liewicke has a boss, and his name is Paul Allen. I’m guessing Allen doesn’t like having his name dragged around in the mud, and like any billionaire, is probably a little preturbed that his giant play toy is being laughed at by the other billionaires in the sandbox. Liewicke needs a fix – or at least a plan – from someone with a winning record, and Carroll fits that bill.
Now there is one thing that should make Seahawks fans cringe. The deal is supposedly 5 years, $35 million. Who cares about the $35MM, the number that is painful is the 5 years. That means the Seahawks are going to blow it all up, giving Carroll 2 years to completely undo the current damage and start over, and then expect him to have some modicum of increased success in Year 3. It’s going to be a couple of painful 3-13 seasons in 2010 and 2011…But look, winners stay winners. And if he learned how to build a dynasty at USC, maybe he can do it here.
Christmas with Tony and Eva
I’m not sure what this has to do with Christmas, but it’s funny. I like that a sports star and famous actress are using YouTube for something they’re definitely not getting paid for.