Basketball Hall Of Famer Bill Bradley Was Known For Alleged 'DeflateGate' Tactic | ThePostGame

Sooner or later, everything old is new(s) again.....

from The Post Game:

http://m.thepostgame.com/blog/throwback/201501/bill-bradley-knicks-ball-tester-air-deflate-basketball-pressure-patriots-nba

In case the type in the Tribune clipping is too small for you to read, here are Jackson's quotes from it:

"What we used to do was deflate the ball. We were a short team with our big guys like Willis (Reed), our center, only about 6-8 and Jerry Lucas also 6-8. DeBusschere, 6-6. So what we had to rely on was boxing out and hoping the rebound didn't go long."

"To help ensure that, we'd try to take some air out of the ball. You see, on the ball it says something like 'inflate to 7 to 9 pounds.' We'd all carry pins and take the air out to deaden the ball."

"It also helped our offense because we were a team that liked to pass the ball without dribbling it, so it didn't matter how much air was in the ball. It also kept other teams from running on us because when they'd dribble the ball, it wouldn't come up so fast."

The Values of the Game - Teamwork

Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work a company work, a society work, a civilization work. Vince Lombardi

The above quote from Lombardi may at times seem like another relic from a bygone era. A Utopian vision of the power that the values imparted by subordinating individual glory to achieve team goals is still alive both in sports and society.

In one of my all-time favorite sports books, Values of the Game by Bill Bradley, he describes the essence of teamwork.

Imagine what happens when you´ve got an entire team of players who are passionate about the game. In my Knicks days, there was no feeling comparable to the one I got when the team´s game came together - those nights when five guys moved as one. The moment was one of beautiful isolation, the result of the correct blending of human forces at the proper time and to the exact degree.

When you see it on the basketball court it is a thing of beauty. The emphasis today ,especially at the higher levels, is placed on the individual. The game match ups are at times marketed as Kobe vs. LeBron rather than the Lakers vs. Cavaliers. Yet we still see time and again that reaching the pinnacle at that level is reached when the superstar blends his unique abilities with others and allows the total to be greater than the sum of the parts. The superstar allows other players to become better players around him.

Today in America, it can be difficult to find examples that exemplify teamwork in our everyday lives. Jobs are compartmentalized and specialized. Our large institutions emphasize winning, being the best, and the accomplishments of the individual.

If you don't think the teamwork model translates to larger societal change, the recently released Clint Eastwood movie Invictus is certainly a powerful example.

Plot Summary for Invictus

The film tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's rugby team as they make their historic run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match.

By definition, most teams are made up of a small number of people, with a common goal, who are accountable to each other and have different skill sets that can complement each other.

Maximizing the talents of these individuals and keeping them focused on the team goals rather than individual achievements is the ultimate goal of any team leader, from coaches to CEO's to leaders of nations.

When it comes together, we refer to it as "chemistry" at times. We refer to the team that achieves at a level over and above the perceived value of the individual parts as a Cinderella story. But when we see it demonstrated and played out to it's conclusion, it becomes the stuff of legends, in sports and in life.

One of the themes of Bradley's book that connect the "sports as a metaphor for life" thread is the true values of sports are found in the countless hours spent in practice. It is here--unseen by the public--that the love of the game and dedication to teamwork is demonstrated by each individual athlete. And it is here that many of the positive values of sports are imparted. Somebody tell AI.
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TEAMWORK - Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3-4

Because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.—Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

THE TWO BEST STORIES IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow’s eye-black patches remind him: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

TIM TEBOW - YOU ARE SO RIGHT TIM!! PHIL 4:13 INDEED

I was glad to hear the Gators beat the Sooners for the national title just for Mr. Tebow to be recognized for who he is: the best "football player" in college football. And he may also be the best all-around person to come out of college football in quite some time.

He may not be the best QB. Maybe not the Heisman winner this year. He may not be atop Mel Kiper or Todd McShay's draft list. But as far as his impact in life after football, there may not be too many better prospects.

I simply have one piece of advice for all those cynics who seem to lie in wait for something bad to come out of the Tim Tebow story: Please, please hold your breath waiting.

FROM THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES:
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/article956080.ece

Tim Tebow had watched and admired Texas quarterback Colt McCoy from afar for quite some time, so when the two finally met last month, Tebow was excited about the opportunity. But their first conversation wasn't about which country music star each has on his iPod (although that came later) or who plays on the better team. It was about God and the profound faith each publicly professes on a regular basis. "No. 1 what I like about him is his strength to show his faith and not be ashamed of that," Tebow said. "We're very similar in that way. And I wanted to compliment him on his beliefs and how he's not ashamed to show it."

A few days after that awards show at Lake Buena Vista, Tebow, McCoy and Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford were getting ready to step into the auditorium at the Nokia Theatre in New York before the Heisman Trophy ceremony began. McCoy and Bradford were nervous. They hadn't been there before. Tebow, who won the Heisman last season, calmed them both by telling them to enjoy the moment. And if they should win, he reminded them, remember to give thanks to who deserved most of the credit.

"I just said give credit to God and represent for him," the Florida quarterback said. "I really tried to (stress) that the whole time. I talked to them two or three times about it."

And so when Bradford stepped onto the stage to accept his Heisman, one of the first things out of his mouth was giving thanks to God.

"He doesn't fear anything," UF coach Urban Meyer said. "A lot of people take their heart out, rip it out of their chest and lay it on the table. I'm not willing to do that, and certainly not my family. But Bob (his father) is that way, and Pam (his mother) and their whole family. They have such a strong faith. In this world of hypocrisy, there's none (with them)."

Meyer admits he had heard about Tebow's strong beliefs, and when he first met him, he was skeptical.

"I was like okay, come on, the Philippines, c'mon give me the real gig here," Meyer said. "You want a hat? What's the deal? But it's true. It's all from the heart. I love that guy. I've never met one like him."

Tebow understands that being the starting quarterback at Florida has given him a platform to tell others about his faith in a unique way. His high profile is what got him into Florida state prisons last summer to talk about Jesus. Talk of his faith is what caused a large group of men to convert.

"For me, I just want to be a good role model, like (former UF quarterback) Danny Wuerffel was for me and several other guys that I looked up to," Tebow said. "I want to be someone that kids can look up to in today's society."

In his rare off-time, Tebow isn't standing on a corner waving a Bible and a sign condemning nonbelievers to hell. But he is working prison ministries, traveling to foreign countries to give his testimony and volunteering for those less fortunate. He holds Bible studies and participates in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Former roommate Tony Joiner often participated in the Bible study, which he admitted even surprised him. Tebow listens to Kenny Chesney and tells jokes like everyone else.

I was particularly impressed by Tebow's philosophy and approach to his celebrity and opportunity as articulated in this column:

FROM ESPN.COM - Pat Forde
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3812762&sportCat=ncf

"You know, everybody, they can look and say how easy it is. But it's definitely not that easy. The difference is 'cause not many people want to wake up at 5, go through workouts, go speak to young kids, go back, eat lunch, go to class, go to tutoring, go speak at a prison at night, come back. I mean, more people would do those things; they just don't want to sacrifice.

"You know, there's a lot of leaders out there. But, unfortunately, there aren't a lot of good ones. So that's always been my dream and my goal, is to be someone like Danny Wuerffel was to me, to be someone that a parent can say, 'Hey, this kid did it the right way.' That's always been my dream and my goal more so than winning a trophy or winning a championship.

"So if it's cynical or whatnot, that's fine. If people don't believe it, that's fine. There's always going to be naysayers, people that are going to say it's fake. But that's fine because you can't control everybody. But I can control what I do, my attitude, how I approach the situation. So how I approach the situation is I want to do everything in my power that football gives me to influence as many people as I can for the good because that's gonna mean so much more when it's all said and done than just playing football and winning championships."

That's a lot of wisdom and perspective from a 21-year-old football hero. Even though he represents everything we say we want our athletes to be, he understands a segment of society instead will be probing for flaws and looking for proof that public persona is a sham. Sometimes good people make us uncomfortable with ourselves.

Tebow has quarterbacked Florida to its second BCS National Championship Game in his three years at the school. He nearly won the Heisman for a second straight season. If the Gators beat Oklahoma on Thursday and he comes back for his senior year, he has a chance to become the most decorated college football player of all time.

Yet none of those are the most important statistics or milestones in Tebow's life. These are: 11 prison visits to preach Christianity to inmates; annual trips to the country of his birth, the Philippines, to assist his father's missionary work there;

As I've said before, this is a kid that clearly gets "it". I'm glad he's going to be back next year to try and become the most decorated and successful college football player of all time. It's nice to see the good guys win once in awhile. And maybe take some of the sports pages away from the Pac Man's and T.O.'s of the world.
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MYRON ROLLE - RHODES SCHOLAR AND NFL PROSPECT - IN THAT ORDER

That the young man even knows who Bill Bradley is makes him cool as hell and wise beyond both his years and his prodigious GPA. That he is literally following in the Senator's footsteps athletically and academically makes him one of the top stories of the year.

I was glad to hear that he had the wisdom to accept the scholarship and defer the NFL. All he had to do is look at how a growing number of top-notch athletes have been able to juggle world class level academic talent with the chance to compete at the highest level athletically.

A brief glimpse at the career of Bill Bradley or Roger Staubach would provide perfect examples of what we may have to look forward to from Myron Rolle in the future.

FROM ESPN.COM - Jermele Hill's column:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/090115

"It's a great opportunity," Rolle told ESPN.com. "I'm going to get the chance to study at Oxford and read some incredible books and be among scholars. The whole culture in England is just very appealing. It will make me a better person and a stronger advocate."

A once in a lifetime opportunity that the NFL cannot come close to matching. And the NFL will likely be there for him after he does his academic tour of England. I'm not so sure that the reverse would be true.

"My family was very supportive," Rolle said. "They wanted me to go to Oxford because they taught me to always put education first. It was the most important thing for me besides God and family. Some of my teammates and frat brothers were like, 'Man, that's a lot of money to pass up.' I was definitely getting mixed input."

"Studying at Oxford is more than about the acclaim and the power," Rolle said. "It's about the people you meet. Yes, the NFL can give you financial stability, but I feel that's just temporary."

Family, good. Frat brothers and teammates, knuckleheads. If you're scoring at home.

Rolle created a program called Our Way To Health for Seminole Indian children to help educate them about the importance of physical fitness. He studied comparative politics and holistic medicine for six weeks in London, and was awarded a $4,000 grant for cancer research.

Rolle would rather be a neurosurgeon than a Pro Bowler. He'd rather work for the World Health Organization, the leading think tank in global health, than be the next Ed Reed. His idol is Benjamin Carson, a doctor and director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, not FSU alum Deion Sanders.

Unbelievably, Rolle once was criticized by FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews, who complained that Rolle was spending too much time studying and not enough time preparing as a football player.

WOW!! Are you kidding me. Sounds like Coach Andrews needs to be in the same coaching timeout corner as Connecticut women's basketball coach Gino Auriemma (creep) as far as choosing priorities and proper perspectives for young adults.

With all due respect to Mr. Andrews' coaching abilities, it sounds as if Mr. Rolle had his priorities, his perspective and his time management skills in perfectly good working order. It sounds like you need to go back to your X's and O's and spend more time figuring out how to beat the Gators and the Hurricanes.

HANDICAPPING THE PRESIDENTIAL HORSE RACE

After watching a couple of the debates of both parties and getting to know some of the candidates and their positions and personalities a little better, it's time to take stock and weigh in on the candidates:

Fundamentally, I would prefer to see a candidate not associated with Washington running for both parties. First, these guys are not part of the Beltway mind-set and they are generally closer to and more in tune with the problems of the little guy and the small businessman. Washington is the domain of the big guys, a governor of Arkansas or Massachusetts should have more respect for the rights and responsibilities of the states.

Overall, the Democrats seem like a bunch of folks running for student council President, rather than President of the US. The Republicans seem like a group intent on tearing each other down instead of offering a glimpse into why they are the better candidate and it should only get worse now that all the candidates are engaged and campaigning full throttle. Nice of Fred Thompson and Rudy Guiliani to join the fray in earnest. How can they honestly lead the nation after symbolically writing off a couple of states as unimportant is beyond me, but they must know better than me how to run a national campaign.

DEMOCRATS:

Barack Obama - The Bill Bradley endorsement helps quite a bit in my mind and I would seriously consider voting for him, especially if the Republicans go in the self-destructive direction they seem to want to go. His biggest weakness was exposed when he tried to puff up his accomplishment in the Senate regarding stiff arming Washington lobbyists. Charlie Gibson CORRECTLY pointed out that in reality nothing has changed. Lobbyists can no longer buy a sit-down meal, but could certainly continue to put on a whale of a cocktail party (as long as the recipient was standing up, it's back up the fund raising truck). Still, I would rather see an Obama presidency then a Clinton redux. I think that given the historical ramifications and the institutional shake-ups that would resonate from an Obama presidency, we would experience some long-overdue, fundamental changes that would be healthy for the country.

Hillary Clinton - Her arrogance and hubris sure did turn to tears quickly. Good for her. The baggage of being Mrs. Clinton is just so much more of a minus than a plus. Too much of a socialist for me, much more so than her husband. Sorry, ladies. Hell would have to freeze over first.

John Edwards - I just see a liberal, Democratic version of the Michael J. Fox character. Nice try.


REPUBLICANS:

Ron Paul - Fundamentally, I agree with most of his libertarian positions. But, if I were Guiliani and he went off on one of his 9/11-foreign policy rants, I would probably punch him right in the face. Not literally of course, but I sure as heck would want to. Go home Ron, you're nuttier than a fruitcake.

Rudy Guiliani - Nice of you to join the fray. Talk about more than where you were and what you were doing on 9/11, we know about that, it's probably the main reason you're still here. Don't worry, the other candidates will bring up your NYC record. You remember, how you pretty much trampled civil liberties to get the admirable results you got fighting crime and quality of life issues in NY. Once you win a state or two, the media will turn on you as well. I think the Constitution and the assault on civil liberties have taken a beating under the current administration, I fear a successful Guiliani candidacy would be more than they could bear.

John McCain - just seems like another one-trick pony so far. OK we get it, you were for the surge when it was a gleam in the Bush Administration's eye. What else have you been doing? Campaign Reform? Weren't you once a champion of that cause. Yep, I see the results. See my note about Obmama above, it's more of a joke now than it has ever been. Nice work. Immigration Reform? Your state is on the front line, so you would think you could have brought forth some results in this area. Guess not. Reminds me too much of Bob Dole. Unelectable and will set the Republican Party back a decade or more as a force on the national scene.

Fred Thompson - Nice of you to join the fray as well. Finally opened up in the SC debate. Philosophically and politically, I like Fred. it would be nice if he had put forth some more effort early on. He's the candidate I would vote most likely to have been dragged into the race kicking and screaming and it's hard to build enthusiasm among undecided voters if you yourself seem undecided about running. Thanks for the effort.

Mike Huckabee - A DIRC (Democrat in Republican clothing) or RINO (Republican in Name Only) whichever you prefer. I did love the way he set the questioner straight on the religious question in the SC debate regarding a wife's role and duties within a marriage. Like Romney, I think he is splattered unfairly for his religious zeal when in both cases, I see it as a strength. Still, I have bad flashbacks about Governors from Arkansas. What is it about that state lately? Must be something in the water.

Mitt Romney - I like his background and credentials. I don't hold his religion against him at all, but I think he is going to get hurt by it. That's too bad, I thought we've progressed a bit further a nation, but maybe not. Still it's the wrong reason to exclude the man. If he was not a Morman, if he was a member of one of the more mainstream religions, is there any doubt that he would be fairing better? Don't give me the flip-flop garbage, Clinton flip-flopped all the way from Arkansas to Washington. Most people can't site more than one example of an issue Romney flip-flopped on, so how important can it be. They do know he's a Morman though. An unfortunate victim of religious bigotry. Shameful.

Anyway, if the Republicans nominate McCain or Guiliani or Huckabee especially, I would have to seriously consider going against a promise I made to myself years ago about voting for a Democrat again. Romney or Thompson would be OK, Paul is simply unelectable. On the Dems side, Obama is becoming an intriguing candidate. His choice of VP down the road would be critical. If he picks Bradley, I'm on board.

Speaking of Bradley, I read this interesting story at the blog site "Baseball Crank" from the 2000 election, that "allegedly" was stolen from AlGore by George Bush. In hindsight, isn't that giving GW credit for more intelligence than he has displayed?

Anyway, based on this story, apparently it takes one to know one. If true, file this story under poetic justice. Or karma. Or whatever.

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http://www.baseballcrank.com/

I could swear I posted this years ago, but it came to mind on the morning after a crafty veteran pol defeated a people-powered insurgent in NH in the face of polls showing the contrary . . . Let's just say it's a reminder that in Democratic primaries, not all is necessarily as it seems on the surface.

Vice-President Al Gore may have won the 2000 New Hampshire primary - and subsequent primaries, which fed on the New Hampshire–generated momentum - thanks to a traffic jam. At least that's what many Democratic operatives with experience in New Hampshire seem to think. Today, when people look back at the 2000 Democratic-primary season, the prevailing memory is of Gore trouncing former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley. But he beat Bradley in New Hampshire by just four points, a relatively narrow margin of 6395 votes. The bulk of these votes - more than 3000 - came from Hillsborough County, home to Nashua and Manchester, as well as abutting suburbs like Bedford, Goffstown, and Merrimack. This is a small, relatively compact area where political foot soldiers can provide the margin of victory. And, many believe, during the last New Hampshire primary, they did.

As late as 3 p.m. that day, Gore operatives had access to exit polls showing the vice-president being defeated by Bradley. They also learned that while Democratic voters were voting in large numbers for Gore, independents, many of them upscale suburban voters, were voting for Bradley's sophisticated brand of liberalism. Knowing that Bradley's strength came from tony tech havens such as Bedford, the Gore team organized a caravan to clog highway I-93 with traffic so as to discourage potential Bradley voters from getting to the polls. (Michael Whouley, a chief Gore strategist, recounted the Gore team's Election Day field efforts at a Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics symposium, and his comments are included in a book compiled by the Institute titled Campaign for President: The Managers Look at 2000. He knocked down the rumor that they considered overturning an 18-wheeler to clog up traffic.) The caravan - spoken of with awe by operatives who worked on the campaign - had the desired effect. It was harder for Bradley voters to get the polls.

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P.S. - A great example of how polling numbers and results can be skewed depending on the methodology used or the way a question is asked was on display for all to see after the FoxNews Republican Debate in South Carolina.

After the debate, viewers were urged to vote on "which candidate won the debate". Viewers had to text message a certain number to vote for their candidate of choice. This skewed the results towards the candidate whose supporters are a) cell phone users and b) avid text messagers. I would assume most Republicans are cell-phone owners but my guess would be that the candidate whose base text messages the most would be, the eventual winner, Ron Paul. I wouldn't send a text message to the fire department if my butt was on fire.

The pundits were all over themselves after the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire when we saw some rather violent shifts between the poll numbers vs. actual results. I think people are starting to mess with the pollsters a little as well. I mean if could just once walk from one end of the mall to the other without one of them getting in your face it would be all right, but I guess they have a job to do too.