Monthly Archives: January 2010

How Many Times Has The Shoe Been On The Other Foot?

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Detroit played a great game last night. They were in a groove; played their system; and took it to us. At one point in the first period, I looked at the scoreboard and it said 15 shots vs. 2 shots and the score was tied 0-0.

Jose Theodore was stellar. He played with great confidence. He stole that game for us. Kudos. Atta boy. Way to go.

We won over a very dangerous Detroit team 3-2. It was a game that I thought we didn’t deserve to win. But we have reached that point now in our development. We don’t play as well as our capabilities and we can still beat a fantastic opponent. Everyone chips in and we get the two points. We have beaten Philly and Detroit back to back and now we go play Pittsburgh. I don’t ever remember a more competitive three game stretch since we bought the team 11 years ago.

Our fourth line was just awesome. Bradley and Steckel played the game with playoff-like intensity.

But it was our goaltending that was the highlight of the game. Jose Theodore played lights out.

He truly stole the win for us. Thank you. Go Caps!

We now have 68 points - first in the East and third in the NHL.

AllThingsD on “The Business of Happiness”

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Here is a quick snapshot on my coming book, The Business of Happiness as prepared by BoomTown’s Kara Swisher.

Reviews will start to come out I would think in mid February when the book is available in book stores.

Response on early orders for the book is pretty strong so if you are so motivated, order here on Amazon.com.

Thank you.

Dr. King Said It Best

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“The FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW.”

What a great quote and applicable to so many things in life.

Watch this 40 minute interview with Dr. King and understand why we celebrated MLK day yesterday.

I am so pleased we can program great films such as this one for all of you – free of charge – on SnagFilms.com. He was a remarkable man and this is a remarkable documentary film. Watch. Learn. Be humbled.

How to Know You Have Made It as a Brand – Groupon

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You know you have made an impact when you describe your company to the Washington Post
as “Wahanda Aims To Become Yelp-Meets-Groupon-For-Health.” For many years, young startups would describe their business with the sound bite of “We are the Google of…”. Groupon matters now. It is a comparable that people use as a descriptor for something with promise.

Groupon is such a breakout hit and so many faux competitors now have emerged. The one competitor that I worry about as a board member of Groupon is Nopuorg.com. These folks have it right. These guys are good.

As I Have Said Countless Times Before…

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To build a great team, you need to get on the 12 step program:

  1. Talent - Drafted and developed.
  2. Create “Magic” in the form of team chemistry.
  3. Respect for the coach and staff.
  4. A system and a philosophy and a team constructed to fit that system.
  5. Infrastructure capable of capitalizing on success. Passion around everything we do.
  6. Continuity. Dependability and consistency of message and approach. Fairness doctrine for all.
  7. The highest paid player has to be the most coachable and respectful player. And the best player.
  8. Great cap management to keep team’s core together. A selflessness by the team’s stars and a belief that winning is all that matters. That is “the secret.”
  9. Health.
  10. Luck.
  11. Love and respect from the community and fan base. Focus on “Happiness” as we are in this together!
  12. Determination and toughness. Singular focus on the higher calling from everyone in the organization. Winning a Championship!

That is my twelve step program.

Here is a great blog post on team alchemy and camaraderie. I enjoyed reading this one and you will as well. Go Caps!

Caps Back in First Place in East

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We now have 66 points which is good enough – for the moment – to rank us first in the Eastern Conference in terms of points. We are humbled but our expectations are quite high.

We beat Philly again yesterday 5-3. I think we have now taken 7 of 8 available points from them this season and we have scored 22 goals in four games. Philly is a great team with a great D corps so this set of achievements is impressive in my book.

We are rolling four lines now, all of them that are tough to play against and all can score. We are playing well on special teams too, all eight seconds last night on our one power play when we scored that is. :-) Really, we only drew one power play all night. What was up with that stat?

When we get reasonable to good goaltending, we are a very tough team to play against.

We now move on to Tuesday’s big game against the Red Wings.

We sell out every game. It will be a sea of red but for us this time not the Red Wings. Thank you Caps fans - you all rock! And you sure Unleashed the Fury at the game. The roof almost came off when Alex scored on his penalty shot.

Onward. If you are what your record says you are, we should feel pretty good for one moment.

Pause. Smile.

OK – back to being hyper nervous about every little detail. Go Caps!

Paul Baker Laid to Rest

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Check out Jimmy Lynn’s wonderful blog post regarding the services for Paul F. Baker this weekend. It was an honor to attend and to spend quality time with Paul’s family and so many great friends.

Paul will be missed. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the photo of Paul near the font of the church alter. He seemed to be staring at me with that fun gleam in his eye.

Jimmy - Let us know when you set up the scholarship fund. Lynn and I are in and will help. I promise to work with you and others and Steve and Jean Case to establish a real AOL reunion. We need to all meet and do it under much more joyous circumstances. RIP Paul.

Tom Boswell’s Observation About Hockey

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Point. Counterpoint.

Tom Boswell is a long time respected columnist for the Washington Post. Deservedly so. I like Tom. I read his work but kid MSM journalists some times about “relevance to this next generation of sports enthusiast.” One of the reasons I enjoy publishing my blog is to be able to make observations about other folks’ observations and create a punch/counter punch kind of interactivity.

He is on record about his love of baseball; the lazy hazy days of summer; sepia toned highlights of sports heroes from the 50′s and 60′s dancing in his mind’s eyes in sloooooooooow motion; HBO Documentary like images; black and white videos; and Ike in the White House. Life was better then. Only organ music played here.

Tom also loves football. Football is a made for television sport. In an average 174 minute broadcast, there are only 11 minutes of actual action in a game. See this great Wall Street Journal article on this subject. There are many times more commercials played than plays run in a football game. Basically viewers are simply treated as a “target audience by marketers” with a few plays thrown in to keep you interested until the next commercial runs. Divide your ticket price by the number of minutes of actual in game action. How is that for return on investment?

Hockey? Tom has watched it for 35 years but believes it may move too fast and that there is too much action and too much drama. You can’t catch your breath. The players play HARD and FAST for 45 second shifts. The players have too much physicality. The “welter” of action can’t be seen by the normal eye.

OK. So based on new viewer habits created by the web on TV (MTV anyone?); in video games; with iPods; with iPhones; with Avatar-like next generation films being produced; with third screens everywhere; with Google telling you on every search that they searched the web and found 1 million listings in 1.3 seconds; in a Web 2.0 world - what sports do you think are best positioned for the new generation of consumers? The “fast” ones or the “slow” ones? The ones that reward a viewer’s investment of time with fast paced action or with commercials?

This is my bet: Younger viewers like multimedia, speed and pace and action. I am a zealot for hockey and for the NHL. I believe our fans “get” hockey; can process the speed and can follow the puck; and that there will be a large new generation that falls in love with the game. In a world of interactivity, speed rules. It doesn’t kill. It enhances the experience.

That is my take.