I am a big advocate for having an open discussion about team norms and preferences. At The Muse, some of us like to start working at 7:30 A. M. Others focus best from 10 P. M. to 2 A. M. Create a culture where it's acceptable not to be working when someone else is working.
At halftime [of Game 7], one of our oldest guys on the team, James Jones, came to me, and he's like, "Man, it's time for you to do something. You've been sleeping the whole playoffs, the whole final series. " First couple of shots I got coming out, I was like, "You know what, I'm gonna shoot it. " Fortunately they fell, and we started making our way back.
One of the hallmarks of the team is this sense of looking to be wrong. It's the inquisitiveness, and sense of exploration. It's about being excited to be wrong, because then you've discovered something new.
Sure, we were friends who exchanged soulful glances, friends who slept in a bed filled with sexual tension, friends who found any excuse to touch, but I worried that we'd never take that perilous leap of faith toward becoming a real couple, a permanent team.
Everybody wants to be a professional baseball player and, sure, as a kid, I wanted to do that. But once I got cut from my high school team, I figured there wasn't much chance of that ever happening. I'm still in awe of it.
Our neighbor Canada has 2,200 troops serving in Afghanistan. Canada has also assumed responsibility for the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar, which was originally established by our own military.
I'm someone who always comes on the court no matter what's going on in my life. It's all about basketball and my teammates and my team. I don't let any distractions in, and I bring my best every night, regardless of what's going on or what people are talking about.
We'll take what the other team gives us. We'll scratch where it itches.
Many players want to make as much money as they can and change teams for ten grand. How is that going to make much difference to their lives?
I would have loved to have had the start that Tom Brady did, won a couple of Super Bowls early, but I wasn't good enough at the time. I have to get better. You start to understand that all the talk and noise really don't matter. Every quarterback goes through the same thing. You have to keep getting better; your team will keep getting betterand you'll have a chance.
The greatest gifts you can give your team: clarity, communication, and pulling people together around a shared mission.
You’ve got to give great tools to small teams. Pick good people, use small teams and give them great tools so that they are very productive in terms of what they are doing.
I've never seen people as physically distraught as the Bush administration team was because of what was happening to the economy. I personally believe that the steps that President Obama took saved the economy. He doesn't get the credit he deserves for taking some very hard positions. But it was a terrible recession. So now we've dug ourselves out of it, we're standing, but we're not yet running.
A truly intelligent person is the dumbest person on the team he is leading.
I suppose you do think about the time that's allotted to you more than when you were younger. The mortality thing obviously has a stronger pull for you. It's an imminent truth; it's not necessarily a bad thing. You realize - much earlier than my age now - that you won't be able to play for England's football team, just to take a really crass example. So you can't have that life again. Unless you believe in reincarnation or whatever. Reincarnation? That's a whole other question. I find people who talk about that sort of thing in interviews idiotic. And I don't want to go down with them.
I've never been a fan of individual awards because football is such a team sport. There's so many things that goes into making plays. It's about teammates trusting one another and working together.
As soon as everyone is on the bandwagon with one idea, a leader should be working on the next one.
I consider myself a leader of this football team, along with a lot of other guys.
We found out that no matter how good you are you can't go out there and compete against teams that have been together for quite some time.
Is it going to make me feel any better to make an extra million? That million might be more important to the team.
