Tuesday, February 26, 2008

WTF?!?

G.I. Joe is coming out as a live action movie sometime next year. This time there's no Michael Bay to make the actual stars (i.e. the toys) go AWOL, so it might actually end up being good...

... but seriously... Joseph Gordon-Levitt is COBRA freakin' COMMANDER?!?

Who the hell made that hiring?!! It's like casting Kevin Smith to play Hulk Hogan.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Madrid Miracle NBA Champs?

So the NBA is thinking of crossing the Atlantic and starting some franchises over here. Mr. Stern is actually postulating that the NBA brand is strong enough to warrant opening new markets over on the continent (or at least, Madrid, London, Berlin, Rome as far as we know).

The potential for 24 hour game days (start in the afternoon in Italy, continue with an evening game in England, then just several hours later you could have games starting in New York, then Detroit, Minnesota and finally L.A.) is huge. NBA TV would have serious round the clock original programming. If you are a punter that wants to see everything, you're going to get so little sleep.

Of course it's a great opportunity to see the big stars of the NBA in Europe more than once. The Kobe's, the Shaq's, VC, the Boston Three, the Spurs Collective, would all have to come to the old country at least once every season. Saves me a ticket to the States.

I however doubt if these wild plans have any chance of succeeding. The sports culture for starters is severely different on both sides of the Atlantic. Americans decide their championships in playoffs, where success and failure is determined only and solely by winning the final game. Americans believe in Cinderella stories, and their sports leagues allow that story to propagate itself.

In Europe however champions are usually decided based on season long performance. You have to be pretty good all year long, if you want to win. You don't need to peak as much at the end, as long as the long-term performance was better than the others. It also means that if you're bad, you're bad. No redemption for you. No final playoff spot, or wildcard that can save your season. If you're toast, you're bread.

Bringing the American league system to the European mainland is to introduce the Lie to the audience. The Lie is that, no matter how bad you are, how unworthy you are; you can always win at the end, as long as you make the postseason. Also no matter how good you were, how much effort you spent to become the top dog in the league; if you lose in the playoffs, all that energy is wasted. You are not always rewarded for your performance. That is the Lie, which I think the Europeans will not buy into.

Maybe I underestimate the NBA brand a little, but I don't think a team such as the Madrid Miracle will be a long-term franchise (although my opinion may change if Team USA proves to be the second coming of the Dream Team come August).

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Leading

Dancing or running a project is pretty much the same. Both require leadership, someone to steer, control the way things go; otherwise everybody just stands still. Leadership has to show at the right moment, in the right way. Pull back one step to early or too late, and you have a mess. Step out of pace, and you put yourself in a tangle that takes quite some time to get out of.

You have to be skilled, know what you're doing. You have to fit your stance to your partner's, the same way you lead your team. Too softly, and they won't follow. Too hard, and they will fight you. And if you have even the tiniest bit of doubt, they will not get what you want, and not have confidence in you. That is the killer for all attempts at leading a team, a project, or a dance for that matter.

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Important Priorities

Importance is a relative concept. It depends a lot on perception, information, context and criteria. Based on importance, priorities can be set. And if you take the concept of importance to its core, priorities should shift pretty much constantly...

I say should, because priorities don't necessarily shift when they need to. Sometimes factually unimportant items are marked highly important. Other times very important items are forgotten.

What's even more common is that priorities do in fact match and reflect their real importance, but only for a short while, until other tasks jump to the forefront, and unbalance everything.

Priorities are not a given. What is important, is only so within certain constraints, a time frame. There will always be clashes, overlaps, comebacks. And yet we always need to align and reach agreement. Interests will be upheld or overturned.

What we need are leaders that can clearly set priorities, shift them if necessary or keep them in place when needed. That is what we should strive for.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Monday between Supers

Some observations on a day between Supers. On the one hand you've got the Superbowl, the perfect season, the Holloway-case, on the other you've got the U.S. presidential elections, the potentially first black president, the potentially first female president...
  • Alicia Keys got ASS, man. Get up from behind the piano more, girl!
  • My sports betting record is now 9-3. And why is that? Because Eli Manning refused to go down even though half the New England linebackers corps was hanging around his neck, to complete a long pass to Dave Tyree.
  • I already spoke of people having to take responsibility instead of looking for excuses. Joran van der Sloot took it to a whole different level, and basically invented a whole cluster of excuses. And for what? Because he didn't want to get involved with the police? I forget, who were these people arresting him, questioning him? How is this easier than calling an ambulance?
  • "A good friend will help you move. A very good friend will help you move a dead body."
  • Ever since the Janet-Justin incident (Nipplegate), half-time shows are basically borefest extravaganza. No risque artistes. No inteligent and politically aware singers (I still bloody hate U2, so I don't count them). And they are longer. 45 Minutes?! Are you kidding me?
  • Uncharacteristically Brady overthrew, underthrew, made haste when he seriously didn't need to. Was he really pressured by the Giants defense? Or was he getting nervous from Gisele in the stands? One thing's for sure: this season will also be remembered for the Curse of the Hot Famous Girlfriend.
  • I'm much too old to speak or understand urban Dutch lingo.

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Stop Making Excuses

It's quite easy to make excuses for anything that you encounter. Just to make yourself feel better or make it understandable. Bad skin? Blame it on the genes. Road raging a lot? Everybody else is a bad driver. Depressed? It's the hormones or PMS.

Problem is, while this reaction is perfectly human, it is not getting you anywhere. This way, you don't take responsibility for your actions. You don't communicate.

Being honest in general is hard enough, if you're not honest to yourself in the first place.