Sean Duffy

Director of Rugby- University of Arizona

[Greg Berge @GregBerge]

Great coaches are truth tellers.

“When you experience failure you have two options. You can either tell yourself the truth or you can lie to yourself.”

Most people avoid the truth.
Great teams embrace it.

[Joe Pompliano @JoePompliano]

Former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry says he is actively trying to buy college football and basketball teams.

Lasry says certain colleges could sell a 51% stake in their teams at a $500M to $750M valuation and then use that money for NIL and facility upgrades.

Crazy times.

[Ryan Holiday @RyanHoliday]

Relax. Whatever it is, you’re probably taking it too seriously.

[Sean Duffy @CoachDuffy_]

👀

https://t.co/nNaBhxPPpk

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

This is one of the greatest displays of the creative process I've seen.

It perfectly demonstrates something known as the "Creativity Faucet."

When you go to the studio, John Mayer was asked, what do you do to generate ideas?

“Well, I don’t always do it,” he admitted, “because

it requires a stupid bravery all the time.”

He strums a couple chords without singing. A nice melody begins to form—“you can sit here all day [doing this] and go, ‘Okay, maybe that’s something.'”

“But if you don’t go,” and then he improvises vocals,

“Sunlights beating on the corner of the walls / and I’m a Mr. know-it-all / heaven calls / get yourself right / get yourself right,” he stops playing, raises his finger to his mouth, and explains, “if you’re not ouija boarding immediately, you’re wasting time.”

“You just stare at the corner of the wall,” he says, before he improvises some more,

“Stare at the corner of the wall / try to get it going on / but I can’t sometimes / you just keep going 'til you get something / maybe I’m a little bit shy / maybe someday I’ll tell you why,” he stops singing, “you gotta keep forcing it, forcing it, forcing it.”

“It doesn’t matter [what comes out of your mouth]...You gotta get fearless, fearless, fearless, fearless…It’s hard to do.”

Takeaway 1:

In the clip, we see John Mayer's ability to generate vocals steadily increase.

It's a perfect display of what Julian Shapiro—who (among other things) is incredible at deconstructing how things like creativity work—calls the “Creativity Faucet.”

Essentially, creativity works like “a backed-up pipe of water,” Shapiro writes. “The first mile is packed with wastewater. This wastewater must be emptied before the clear water arrives.”

At the beginning of a creative session, almost always, bad ideas come out of the faucet first. The John Mayers of the world have the discipline and “a stupid bravery,” as Mayer said, to get through the backed-up pipe of bad ideas, to empty the wastewater, to “just keep going 'til you get something,” as he sang.

Takeaway 2:

To let out bad ideas, to empty the waste water, Mayer said, you have to “get fearless, fearless, fearless.”

In another interview, Mayer was asked how he defines writer’s block.

“Writer’s block,” he said, “is when the two people inside of you—the writer and the reader—when the reader doesn’t love the writer. Writer’s block is not a failure to write. It is a failure to catch the feedback loop of enjoying what you’re seeing and wanting to contribute more to it.”

A creative block is not a failure to create. It is a failure to accept that you must empty a lot of bad ideas before good ideas can flow. It is a failure to get fearless, fearless, fearless, fearless.

- - -

“You gotta keep forcing it, forcing it, forcing it...You gotta get fearless, fearless, fearless, fearless.” — John Mayer

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

[Jay Tust @Jay_Tust]

I think we can all agree that college football is flawed right now.

The game we love has become very complicated.

Well, #UCLA head coach Chip Kelly has answers.

And I think the powers that be should listen to him.

🔊⬆️

[Barstool Sports @barstoolsports]

Texas A&M sent out a kickoff team full of walk-on’s

the script had an unbelievable moment in store for these legends

[Khalil Tate @KhalilTate323]

Boulder, Colorado I love you 🥹

[Arizona Basketball @ArizonaMBB]

S/o to the newest member of the @AZATHLETICS 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙁𝙖𝙢𝙚, @RobGronkowski 🐻⬇️

[Sean Duffy @CoachDuffy_]

Home. See ya tomorrow.
#homecoming2023

[Guinness Men's Six Nations @SixNationsRugby]

What an assist that was 👏😂

[Sean Duffy @CoachDuffy_]

England just scored a try off of @JoeMarler ‘s head.

Your eyes work fine. You read that correctly.

[Is Today Ted Danson's Birthday? @TedDansonBDay]

Today is not Ted Danson’s birthday.

[Front Office Sports @FOS]

This French ad for the Women's World Cup is brilliant.

[Sean Duffy @CoachDuffy_]

@ToochPXP AI also struggles with the Delco accent.

[Tennessee Titans @Titans]

We asked people on Broadway to help us with our 2023 schedule release. 🤣

📺: 2023 Schedule Release on @nflnetwork

[Front Office Sports @FOS]

Drew Maggi has been playing in the minor leagues since 2010.

He’s played 1,155 games with 4,494 plate appearances.

Tonight, at 33 years old, he’s making his MLB debut:

[Sean Duffy @CoachDuffy_]

@JohnnyUtah456 @lizardrugby @ncrrugby @arizonarugby Thank you for the kind words!

[University of Arizona @uarizona]

The University of Arizona rugby program will now offer scholarships to its student-athletes thanks to a $1 million gift from Jason Figley, a parent of a current and a former rugby player at UArizona. https://t.co/iafKydLrpn

[Washington Commanders @Commanders]

get your tissues ready 🥹

watch @RiverboatRonHC tell the guys they made the Pro Bowl