Ben McDonald with a great story on failing on the biggest stage and bouncing back.
“I never failed at anything in my life…”
Then came the College World Series, a walk-off, an opposing coach talking trash and a punch in the gut he needed.
Manager Dave Roberts on how he practices endurance as a leader to help get the @Dodgers through a 162 game grind of a season:
Be the thermostat 🎚️, instead of the thermometer. 🌡️ Your job isn’t to absorb the team’s emotions, it’s to regulate them. When the players get too hot 😡, you bring the cool 🥶. When they get flat, you bring energy.
🎢 You can't ride the emotional rollercoaster. It's a long season, every game can't be game 7, because you find yourself living in yesterday's game too often.
Develop thick skin. 𐂫 You’re never as good, or as bad, as people say you are. But you need to be good mentally to be available for those you lead. Emotional stability is part of leadership. Maybe the biggest part.
Steph Curry has won 4 championships, shot 43% from three over his career, and is arguably the greatest shooter who ever lived.
His secret weapon? Something you're doing right now without thinking about it.
Breathing.
Not metaphorically. Literally, he's spent the last 5-6 years mastering how to control his breath mid-game. Recovery. Nerves. Focus. All of it runs through the same thing.
"Nobody would really know you're doing it when you're doing it."
That's the part that got me.
The most visible athlete on the planet, under the brightest lights, is quietly running a background process the whole time. Regular season. Finals. Doesn't matter. It's always there.
We talk a lot about reps, tape, nutrition, and sleep. But breathing, the one thing your body does 20,000 times a day, rarely comes up.
If the best shooter alive thinks it's worth mastering, maybe it deserves more attention.
I've started paying attention to mine. It's uncomfortable how much I wasn't.
Have you ever deliberately worked on your breathing? In sports, work, anything? Curious what actually moved the needle for people.
During one of the worst losing streaks of my career, our team president walked into my office.
Keli McGregor. One of the best men I've ever known.
He could have come to vent. To question my decisions. To ask hard questions.
Instead, he said: "Cut to the chase, Clint. What's next?"
I looked him in the eye and gave him two words: "Shower well."
The Colorado Rockies were struggling badly that year.
Pregame preparation was solid. Scout meetings, early work, attention to detail. All of it was there.
But at game time, the tires were flat.
I told Keli: the game did everything it could to us today. We just couldn't meet its demands.
Now it was time to reset.
"Shower well" means exactly this:
• Watch the frustration circle down the drain
• Shampoo, rinse, repeat and get the grime of today completely off your mind
• Walk out clean, go home, and actually rest
Leave it at the ballpark. The game is over. There's nothing left to solve tonight.
Keli nodded. Asked if he could share it with the whole organization.
I said sure. And then it hit me. This isn't just for baseball.
Bad day at the office. Grumpy boss. Missed deadline. Traffic on the way home.
You can carry all of that through your front door.
Or you can shower well.
I've never seen a single problem get better because someone dragged it home with them.
The reset is a discipline. Same as preparation. Same as showing up.
Either we win. Or we learn.
The only real loss? When you don't take a single thing out of a hard day.
So tonight, whatever kind of day it was, shower well.
Tomorrow is a new at-bat.
What does your reset look like? I'd love to hear it.
Hard throwers don't:
🚫 Push off the rubber
🚫 Triple extend
🚫 Reach with their front hip/leg
Hard throwers do:
✅ Hold tension into the back hip
✅ Keep a stacked torso + pelvis
✅ Maintain back foot connection
✅ Hold pelvis closed during linear move
Being coachable is a SKILL
Young players! Watch the eye contact here.
Talent only gets you so far, and the things like this take you the rest of the way
(Via @mar5hallhoops 🎥)
“Because I want greatness. I’m not gonna settle for mediocrity. I’m not gonna settle for being okay.”
COACH MUSICK HAS ME SO FIRED UP THIS FRIDAY 🔥🔥 #WPS
“Find out how to love practice, enjoy it, love the grind and ask yourself are we in or are we out?” Dave Roberts
Those who are in, learn what it takes to be a winner.
Life Post✅ (non-Baseball Related for once)
Player 449 has entered the CHAT!
Incredibly thankful to be apart of @squidgame The Challenge Season 2 debuting Nov 4th on @netflix ! 🔥🦑
Tune in and see who takes the $4.56 million home!
#SquidGameTheChallenge#SquidGame#Season2