Hoop Secrets

I have a new short story titled Hoop Secrets about a coach that learns the secret of winning basketball games from a dying coaching legend.

Read the story in HTML.
Read the story in PDF.

Funny Google Offers ad: Hello null!

I saw this funny Google Offers ad when I went to log in to my gmail account this morning. For the benefit of non-programmers and non-DBAs, "null" is a special type of blank, meaning "no value in the database". I think techies will find a little more humor in this than the average person. :-)

BYU Basketball National Championship Hopes Dashed by Losing Brandon Davies Due to Honor Code Violation

Like most BYU fans, my euphoria over being ranked the #3 college basketball team in the country was dashed when I learned that the 2nd-best player on the team was kicked off for honor code violations. Two weeks before the NCAA tournament. How could this be? For the first time in history BYU hoops could be contending for a national championship, and now that dream is probably over. Proof: BYU just got killed for the 2nd time by piddly unranked New Mexico.

But there's a very interesting undercurrent to this story: news media all over the country are now talking about the BYU honor code. A week ago, if someone had predicted that the BYU honor code would be a marquee story at all the biggest news agencies in the country -- wow!!

Today, March 4, 2011, I have grabbed headlines and links from a small sampling of these media outlets. And after digesting all of this, it has become clear that everybody in the country is talking about the church standards at BYU--and most of the talk is positive! Although the big news personalities and writers are mystified that a nationally-ranked team would kick off a star player for that reason, their commentary could largely be summed up as "good for BYU". They are praising us. Although the impact on the basketball team is devastating, we probably couldn't have gotten this much positive, high-profile, church-centered publicity in any other way.

In short, a lot of good could come from this. (Though I surely do wish we had our 2nd-best player back.)

Here are some examples of headlines from big-time news agencies:

• LA Times: BYU deserves honor for making tough call to uphold code
• Fox News: BYU's Brandon Davies -- A Matter of Honor
• ESPN: BYU Honor Code Unrealistic?
• Washington Post: Brandon Davies suspended from BYU basketball team for honor code violation
• Sports Illustrated: BYU's Davies suspended for rest of season for honor code violation
• AOL News: Brandon Davies Dismissed: Here's the BYU Honor Code He Broke
• Time: Honorable Actions: BYU's Brandon Davies Apologizes to His Teammates
• Sporting News: Brandon Davies decision: BYU not at fault for upholding honor code
• USA Today: BYU's Brandon Davies suspended for the rest of the season
• CBS News: BYU working toward getting Brandon Davies back
• Chicago Sun Times: Report: BYU's Brandon Davies was dismissed for...
• People.com: Brandon Davies Suspended for Violating BYU Honor Code
• Time: Brandon Davies: Is BYU's Premarital Sex Controversy Good For College Sports?
• Boston Herald: BYU’s Brandon Davies dismissed from team
• Yahoo News: Dismissal of Brandon Davies threatens BYU's charmed season
• Huffington Post: Brandon Davies, BYU Forward, Reportedly Dismissed From Team...
• New York Daily News: Brandon Davies suspended by BYU after admitting...

Atom's Song (short story)

I wrote a lot of short stories back in my youth, but haven't done so in many years. So I've finally written another one. It's about a secular theoretical physicist who searches for truth and is shown the subatomic realm and witnesses the creation of a universe.

If you want to read it, download the PDF, or read the HTML version.

Good To Great

I recently finished reading the well-known business success book Good To Great. The author and his staff did a tremendous amount of research to determine factors that separated good companies from great ones. This book contained some profound insights and answers to the question that surprised me:

1. The leaders of the really great companies did not have egos. They were humble. Companies led by egomaniacs were always limited in their success because the ego would sooner or later get in the way of making the right decisions.
2. Great and enduring success doesn't coming from having a dynamic, marquee-name leader. It comes from having a humble yet determined leader who quietly pursues smart alternatives over many years.
3. When the leaders of the truly great companies were asked what was the key to their success, a surprising number of them responded, "Luck."

And my favorite quote from the book: "When you have disciplined thought, you don't need bureaucracy. The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline--a problem that largely goes away if you have the right people in the first place."

Burning the Jail Down

My son Michael loves to play with fire. One day I caught him disobeying and lighting fires around the yard and too close to the neighbor's house. I was very alarmed by this and pulled him aside.

"Michael, do you know what would happen if you played with fire and burned somebody's house down?"

"What?" he asked sheepishly.

"You'd get arrested and they'd put you in jail."

He looked me right in the eye, deadly serious, and without hesitation responded, "Fine, then I'll burn the jail down."

Speak To Win

Until I read Speak To Win (by Brian Tracy) a few months ago, I mistakenly believed that all elements of great speaking and presenting could be observed and understood merely by watching great speeches. But I now realize that's like thinking you can become a great artist just by looking at paintings.

I learned many valuable insights about effective speaking and presenting by reading this book. A few examples:

• Preparation (and lots of it) is extremely important, even if you're giving a short talk.
• You should memorize your introduction and conclusion, even if you have to rely on prepared text for the rest. This allows you to deliver these super-important elements with maximum power.
• You should ensure that your face is well lit and that you're the focal point of the talk -- never let a PowerPoint presentation or other distraction stay up for too long or take the attention off yourself.
• A powerful speech can move people to great actions.

There are hundreds of other great points in the book. Profound gems that can bring improvement to any public speaker.