GregDunnett.com

I recently purchased a pair of Reebok receiver gloves for playing pickup football on Sundays. Watching the NFL, one of my favourite plays are the consistenly amazing catches made by the Wide Receivers. They often seem outside of the realm of possibility.

I had made the assumption that the reason the NFL Receivers were able to make the receptions was that they were far superior athletes with great hands. Having grown up with unsuperior athletic abilities and terrible hands*. This is what made the most sense.

* My hands are so notoriously bad that I was almost ejected from a co-ed softball game for “purposely” dropping a line drive. Playing second base with a runner on first base and one out, the (softly-hit) line drive was coming right at me and I dropped it (not on purpose, though I am competitive enough that the thought had entered my mind) allowing myself to step on second base and then throw the batter out at first for an inning-ending double play. Needless to say, everyone (on the other team) was very upset and the umpire ruled that the batter was safe and I was an asshole. This is the athletic ability I was blessed with.

However, in the past three weeks of football, I have made several over-the-head catches, some diving and other ridiculous enough for me to realize that a major factor in the great receptions you see in the NFL are at least in part due to the gloves. They are that impressive.

This knowledge has in many ways ruined the mystique of the great hands of NFL Wide Receivers*. This has happened to me several other times including seeing the Lion King from the front row of the theater (seeing ropes and backstage quickly destroyed the illusion).

* I still appreciate their great athletic abilities, its just that I now know that their freakish abilities are at least in part due to the gloves they are wearing. All of the other factors such as speed, blocking, creating space, reading routes still boggle my mind. But how often is Andre Johnson or Randy Moss complimented for their “great hands” vs. their route reading ability.

This got me thinking about the financial mess we are currently in. Far too many people presumed that money managers were more impressive and talented then themselves and trusted the managers with their savings. Bernie Madoff’s success had a mystique, so did all the banks but unfortunately they were using receiver gloves (debt) to create an illusion of success.

People were not knowledgable enough to realize that the reason the Money Managers were successful was that they were using artificial means to create their results. Eventually though, they dropped the ball.

The saying that “Knowledge is Power” is certainly ringing true now.

An interesting phenomenon happens every year at this time in Canada. A tournament that generates little worldwide interest and has little long-term ramifications becomes the focal point of the nation and is treated with the same reverence as the The Olympics, World Series and NBA Championship.

The World Junior Hockey Championships championship game will take place tonight in Ottawa. A sell-out crowd and record-setting television audiences will tune into TSN to watch Canada face off against Sweden for it’s fith straight gold medal.

How has this “small-time” tournament captivated our nation and become a holiday tradition along the lines of Christmas, Boxing Day shopping and New Year’s celebrations?

An absolutely phenomenal job of marketing and advertising job by TSN!

Here are just some of the factors that TSN used to build a National Treasure and ratings gold:

Tradition - The tournament starts on Boxing Day and TSN capitalized on the holiday opening to create a new tradition for any “true” hockey fan.

Stuffed with Turkey? Wife out Boxing Day shopping? Why not sit back and watch the future of our national past-time dominate a lesser opponent?

By creating a tradion, TSN created a special connection to the opening game and many Canadians now schedule the opening game into their schedule along with visiting family and opening presents.

Audience - TSN knows it’s audience. Canadians want hockey, hockey and more hockey. Disturbingly, preseason hockey hilights will often be played before Major League Baseball Playoff games on sports hilight shows. TSN realized that hockey has yet to reach it’s saturation point with Canadian fans who will gladly watch if you tell them it is a meaningful hockey game.

Marketing - TSN markets the tournament for several months leading up to the event. It saturates the market with advertisements, training camp highlights and stories to the point that the selection of the team has become a major event. It worked and now the World Juniors success is such that the other sports channels (Rogers Sportsnet and The Score) must cover the event. TSN utilized its position as market leader in the Canadian Sports market to generate interest by oversaturation of the market regarding an event (see ESPN and Poker).

In conclusion, TSN has done a masterful job of turning a small, unwatched and unimportant hockey tournament into the focus of an entire country for two week. An amazing job of marketing…

GO CANADA!

Starting a new initative or project is always exciting. You have a blank canvas, the ability to craft an idea into something amazing and you attack the project with vigor. In pursuit of excellence you find extra time and put your heart and soul into the project.

As the project develops and takes shape, you adjust from creating ideas to building the final product. This is hard work but seeing the continuos development of your idea, pushes you through the project.

With the end in sight, the hardest work, the busy work (whether it be accounting, painting the baseboards, etc.) is all that is left. This is where people hit the wall!

A new (fun and exciting) project is on the horizon, creating new ideas is more exciting then the mundane work remaining.

Most people begin to let their time and effort shift to the new project. This is where successful people separate themselves and they grind through the final 5 percent of the project. They do the necessary work to make complete their vision and pushing it from good to great. It is a skill that demands discipline and hard work.

The next time you are finishing up a project, push through the grind, take your project from good to great, realize that finishing is just as (if not more) important then beginning.

Good luck

A very  interesting weekend for the NFL with 3 Road teams predicted to win, 2 teams (San Diego and Philadephia) getting in when they needed 3-4 weeks of magic too happen, 2 rookie QBs (Baltimore and Atlanta) and 3 MVPs from years past (Warner, Tomlinson, Manning (this year as well)).

Here is my predictions for the four games to be played on Saturday and Sunday.

Atlanta vs. Arizona - 4:30 pm Saturday
Arizona 30, Atlanta 20.
Arizona is 6-2 at home and Warner has too much playoff experience to ignore.

Indianapolis vs. San Diego - 8:00 pm Saturday
Indianapolis 42, San Diego 24.
Peyton is gonna take the Colts to the Super Bowl. This will likely be the Colts toughest matchup to Tampa. San Diego is all smoke and Mirrors and expect Dungy and Manning to take Turner to school in this one.

Baltimore vs. Miami - 1:00 pm Sunday
Baltimore 17, Miami 10.
Baltimore’s defense will be all the difference as they dominate the Dolphin’s and make the Wildcat formation obsolete.

Philadelphia vs. Minnesota - 4:30 pm Sunday
Minnesota 21, Philadelphia 17.
I hate both of these teams but Minnesota has the best player in Peterson. So I will take them. Either team will get crushed in the next round.

2009, we all need it to be better then 2008.

No predictions, resolutions or any other forward thinking that I will ignore in two weeks (if I make it that long).

My only goal for 2009 is this: To live life with the same openness and fearlessness as my daughter does.

• Too find amazement in the little things (like your own hand)
• Too smile at everyone who says hi to me
• Too try new things, usually by putting them in your mouth
• Too enjoy food and cover your face in it if necessary.
• Too love your family the most, and appreciate them every day.
• Too not be defined what I did yesterday, too grow and make progress every single day
• Too laugh, yell and cry as loud as necessary to get what I want
• Too be open too new ideas and not be repressed by my previous thoughts.

If I can do that as well as Evelyn, I will have the best year of my life.