My Answer

As I stated yesterday, today I will present my defense of AAU basketball. Now at the beginning I want to state that there are teams that do AAU correctly in Vermont, but I've also seen things that don't make me feel too excited about my proposed solution. First, I think the key to a good AAU program that would produce solid players from Vermont is indeed to be competitive. Ouch, we live in an era where we want everyone to win, and no one to lose. However, I think Vermont basketball would improve if the best AAU players were concentrated on a lower number of teams. The reason I believe this is simply because players improve when there are good players around them. If some AAU team was able to concentrate the most talented players from one area onto one team rather than be dispersed among the many teams they have right now, all of these players would be better off. I know this idea would be unpopular as some players would be lost without a team. However, there are a few reasons why this might not be such a terrible thing. First, if the cut player really loves basketball and wants to play, he or she will work really hard over the summer and fall in hopes to improve and make the team next year. Therefore, his or her ability will rise and therefore raise the quality of competition in Vermont

The other result is that this athlete might realize that there is another sport that he or she is better at. To use an example from my life: anybody who knows me knows that I'm not an artist. I do not try to hide that fact, but I do not waste needless time trying to develop that talent. While artists need to be developed and taught throughout their lives, some people have a knack for art at the beginning. I, needless to say, do not. If I had been told my whole life that I was a great artist, I might not have invested time in other things that I really am good at and have a natural ability for because I would have been trying to develop the talent I don't have. I am more content because I know I'm good at what I do, and I might be able to help somebody with the new talents I discovered. Nobody loses when I find something I'm really good at, so helping people realize the talents they do possess is valuable for everyone.

I bet you're wondering who these few Vermont teams will play because there will only be a few. My answer is that these teams need to travel. I'm not saying cross-country road trips or month-long barnstorming tours, but I am trying to emphasize the need to be aware of a higher level of competition. Having traveled the tournaments around New England with my sister's AAU team, I have seen how good and how much different the competition can be just three hours away in Lowell, Massachusetts. Her team was competitive in Vermont; they could beat most teams. However, after making the three-hour drive, the competition was notably different. Neither game they played on that Saturday turned out well, but it was definitely worth the trip. These girls were exposed to a whole different level of competition that made them better players. Many people argue that this cost of traveling would be way too high for many people given the current economy and other similar concerns. However, as I cited in my last post, people in Vermont love basketball. I believe that if a logical presentation was made to potential sponsors explaining how all of Vermont basketball would benefit through AAU basketball, sponsors would come to help lower costs simply because they love the game and want to see it at its highest level possible given the available number of athletes.

I bet there are at least a few of you out there who don't believe a word I said. Please comment below and argue with me; I appreciate it. My goal here is to present the many benefits of AAU basketball and demonstrate how the system will benefit Vermont basketball as a whole. I know that you have this goal at heart too, but your strategy might be different than mine. Therefore, tell me about it; I'm not ashamed to say someone's idea is better than mine if it is!

Competitive Advantage

As of right now, I am in basketball mode. I love going into the various gyms around Vermont and seeing the pride of the small towns as they come behind their local boys and girls because quite frankly there is nothing else to do in several of these small towns. There are no alternatives to basketball; therefore, basketball has found a special niche in the center of many Vermont communities. You would think that this form of dedication lead to higher quality players because if many children played basketball, one or more would break through into the land of NCAA Division I scholarships. This does happen, but it is major news when it does. When Varsity Magazine used to be in publication, the online message boards with full of skepticism as to where that year's top senior would be attending college and whether or not he or she would be playing ball there with or without a scholarship. I think that the real reason that this is such a rarity is because unfortunately there is a lack of quality competition. Even though every child may play basketball in one town, if only one of them is good, she will not receive the recognition she would deserve because of the fact that the rest of the team is not very good.

I do not mean to sound negative or complain about Vermont basketball in any sense. After all, if I did not like it, why would it occupy my life for about one quarter of the year? There still is this dilemma though of producing higher quality athletes who are able to compete with athletes from other states. I know my solution will be controversial simply because I have heard it in my own life. I believe the answer lies with AAU basketball. I will leave you for now with this answer. Think about it, ponder it, and comments are welcome as to your opinion. Tomorrow, I will post my defense of AAU basketball and why I believe it will be able to help Vermont basketball become more competitive in terms of NCAA scholarships and to not be overwhelmed upon meeting other states in competition.

Comparison Shopping

I was surprised to see the new marketing strategy unveiled by DirecTV. As I was watching Deal or No Deal while eating dinner tonight, I saw the new DirecTV commercial. It consisted of two identical flatscreen TVs set on a solid background. One TV was labeled DirecTV and the other was labeled Dish Network. The narrator proceeded to explain that despite the fact that Dish had been advertising a lower price for the same service, there were hidden costs to subscribing to Dish that you never need to worry about if you subscribed to DirecTV.

I really should not be surprised by this competitive strategy as Apple has been duking it out with PCs over whose product is really cheaper and more effective thereby having greater value. However, I thought of these two companies in a different light. Through very shallow research on both companies websites, I found that DirecTV offers cheaper coverage and more channels on every level of programming except for the "Family Package" which are of comparable size and are offered by Dish Network for $24.99 whereas DirecTV charges $29.99. The only feature I did not compare were the actual channels in each package. I compared the bulk number of channels offered, but admittedly I do not know how they compare.

The reason I mention all this is because it is very interesting that DirecTV has to advertise that Dish Network is more expensive because of added on fees. From all I can tell, DirecTV is cheaper, but Dish has become the brand that represents the value in satellite TV. DirecTV is forced to advertise this way because they have become a differentiated brand; therefore, it is very difficult for them to also appeal to consumers as a price leader. Dish has found a way to become a price leader in image without leading in price. That is good marketing and good use of cornering their opponents into one category of consumer perception.

If anyone wants to double check my information and tell me if I'm wrong, here are the sites I used to draw my pricing information from:
http://www.dishnetwork.com/packages/programming/default.aspx
https://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/new_customer/base_packages.jsp?footernavtype=-1

An Unexpected Discovery

Recently, I read The Art of War upon reading that it was tremendously applicable to many areas of life beyond its intended purpose of teaching military tactics. I had heard especially that this book can teach a business major more than many textbooks have in the past. Therefore, while on winter vacation and dying for an excuse to use my new Kindle as much as possible, I downloaded this classic for $.95 and was simply blown away.

Before we begin our tour of my top five favorite quotes from this book which is only approximately 50 pages long, I will give you a little background on Sun Tzu himself based on information I found on http://www.online-literature.com/suntzu/ and Wikipedia. Sun Tzu was a Chinese general who lived around 500 BC. His work only reached Europe around the French Revolution when they were translated by a Jesuit priest. Since then, the Western world has loved his rules of warfare and the conduct of warfare. So without further ado, my top five favorite quotes in no particular order:

1) "Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him."

This quote automatically drew me to an image of a half court trap in basketball. The team on defense will allow the offensive player to drive up the sideline unimpeded, hence the bait. However, once that player crosses the half-court line, he gets crushed by a double teaming half court trap. Although it might seem that the offensive player had a free drive down the sideline, this false disorder led the player to get crushed and ultimately turn over the ball.

This happened in business as well. I am reminded of a story about the original land acquisition to build Walt Disney World. Walt Disney had several different agents purchased the land in Lake Buena Vista that would eventually hold his amusement park. He did this because he knew that as soon as word got out that Walt Disney was going to build a theme park in Florida, the land prices would skyrocket. Therefore, all of this disorderly buying through a variety of agents allowed Walt Disney to then step in and crush all other amusement parks. The businessman cannot tip his hand too early, or his competitors will sweep in and eliminate any first move advantage that man had.

2) "Hence, though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force, in the end it must be captured by the larger force."

I realize this quote is not what people want to hear. Many people like to believe that through hard work, anything is possible. However, sometimes the fights cannot be won. If I decided to start a small soft drink business in my basement, I could not compete with the likes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. While my product may be superior, which I guess is entirely a matter of taste, these companies' immense resources, brand recognition, and diverse offerings would never allow me to compete in the market on a large scale. In order to compete, I would need to become a large force. How does one become a large force you might ask? Namely, by acquiring more capital. A small independent soft drink company would never be able to output anywhere near the same volume of Coca-Cola. Therefore, I believe that this point emphasizes the need for small businesses to realize that they are small businesses. There is nothing wrong with a small business; it will just have a hard time competing blow for blow with an industry giant like Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, or any other company that has a large market share in their segment.

3) "One may know how to conquer without being able to do it."

This applies to many areas of life along with business. For example, if I am the CEO of a major company, I may know how to dominate the market. However, if my company does not have the means at that moment to allow me the flexibility to overrun that market, it will not happen. I might know how to create a new product, market it perfectly, and distribute it effectively, but I may not be able to do it due to cost, environment, or several other areas of red tape that seem to plague many businesses. This emphasizes again the need for a large amount of capital. There is nothing more frustrating than having a great idea but not being able to explore it because of financial hazards. As was said in my freshman business class, a company should have twice as much money as it needs when it starts up simply to make sure that this situation does not occur. Granted, funding is not easy to come by. Therefore, make sure before you set out to conquer a new project, market, or venture that you are able to do it or else frustration will ensue.

4) "To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself."

Many people fail to realize that no matter how good a business gets, the competition will always be there. Google has a large market share of Internet searches; however, Google could sit back and do nothing, content for the moment. However, eventually Google would defeat itself once new companies with fresh ideas and better technology would overcome it. Assuming Google is the enemy here, the only way Google can fall from its platform is by failing to innovate and advance with the market. Google has become a verb for crying out loud! Instead of saying, "Search for that on the Internet," we say, "Google it." That is market domination when even the use of a product in that market is known by a brand name. It truly is amazing how insurmountable Google's market share is. Therefore, the only one who can make Google fall is itself. Being a technology driven company, Google must maintain a higher standard and a higher quality product as it continues to attempt to secure itself against defeat.

5) "What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease."

I would like to end with this quote because it defined the need to give full effort to any project. The point here is that it is not enough to beat someone on a final exam when I got a 50 and my opponent got a 49. I did win, but I did not win well or easily. Great businesses become great because they pour endless energy and passion into their products. After reading the book First in Thirst, I discovered that if anyone is going to create a product, he or she better be willing to put in overtime that is most likely unpaid. In this book, the reader sees that the development of Gatorade was by no means simple. University of Florida doctors spent hours in the laboratory to develop a beverage that would lower the incredibly high fatality rate on southern football teams at all levels due to dehydration. They did not need to do this; it did not appear to be profitable at the time. However, they went the extra mile to turn this product into the industry giant that it is today even when it met head-to-head with Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the sports drink market. (Note: Pepsi eventually did buy Gatorade, but not before it tried to run its own line of sports drinks.)

So, I hope I have convinced you, regardless of the discipline you study, to go to your library or a local bookstore and get this book. I applied these principles to business because that is what I know; I would not even know how to begin to apply this book to music, art, or medicine. However, I bet those ties are in the book as there always can be ways to make yourself more competitive. By competitive, I don't always mean when you win; making a hospital more competitive would mean a higher recovery for example. I never thought military tactics could combine with business, but I was wrong. I said in my initial post that my topics would be diverse; I guess I'm living up to that so far.

Playoff Time!

As the Major League Baseball season is winding down, my fantasy baseball team is also primed for a deep postseason run. I have officially become what one might call a fantasy baseball addict. I must check my team every day to make sure that every minute detail that might affect the outcome of my week is seen, acknowledged, and acted upon. If I see that one of my reserve pitchers, Kevin Millwood, has a two-start week, I must determine if in those two starts he will be more likely to gather more points than my season's ace, King Felix Hernandez himself, will in his one start against the lowly Baltimore Orioles. King Felix has been my best pitcher throughout the whole season, but will he be better in that one week that I really need some major points? Or will Millwood totally bomb out and make his two starts virtually worthless? You never really know, and it really will be a best guess. However, that's where fantasy managers earn their well-deserved, or sometimes undeserved, reputation for brilliance. There's only so much the raw stats can give you; sometimes you need to take it on instinct. So what if Vladimir Guerrero has had three solid weeks? Sometimes you need to pull rarely utilized yet speedy Nyjer Morgan (and I do know he is injured now; I just dropped him this morning) because you know from some weird instinct that he is going to break out and have a monster week. Of course this instinct is subject to be wrong. Case in point: I traded Ichiro for Carlos Quentin and Scott Richmond. Not one of my finest GM moments, but with no risk, there's no reward. Then sometimes, the risk pays off as when I traded Manny Ramirez about a week before he was suspended 50 games for steroid use; in return I got Carlos Beltran who was putting up All-Star numbers before an injury ruined his season.
So, I guess you can tell that fantasy baseball is essentially luck. Sometimes everything seems to work your way, and sometimes you have that week when nothing you do seems to be able to garner you some desperately desired points that may be enough to give you one more win that would give you that vital playoff seed. Now, my team is in the league semifinal and is looking strong. Behind the power bats of Ryan Howard, Evan Longoria, and Nelson Cruz combined with my ace-heavy staff led by King Felix, Chris Carpenter, Cole Hamels (who I acquired through a nifty deadline deal), and the enigmatic, yet recently phenomenal, Ubaldo Jimenez, we are looking to compete for the championship. But I hope I've proven through this entry that even the best teams have a bad week, and one bad week will ruin the shot and dream of the championship that could have been.

Baseball Bargain

When there is a two-for-one sale on Tide laundry detergent at Price Chopper, who doesn't come running? The added incentive of getting more for your money is often more than enough motivation to cause a wave of customers looking to capitalize on the bargain.

We inadvertently got a lot more for our money at the Tampa Bay Rays' game last Tuesday night. In fact, we almost got a two-for-one sale. For those of you who don't remember or for the Red Sox fans who are in denial, I will remind you that Evan Longoria blasted a walk off home run in the bottom of the 13th inning in the early hours of the morning to knock the socks off the Sox 4-2. That would not be the last time in the next week that the Sox would have trouble winning in extra innings...

Now I partially bring up this game because most of New England might still feel pain from this, but I also want to bring up the thrill of an extra inning game. This was the longest game I had ever been to, and I must say that it was one of the most fun games I had ever been to.

We were sitting in the left-field bleachers on the third deck. It has been said that the knowledge of baseball increases inversely with the price of the ticket, and now I definitely believe it. Those fans in the bleachers were there to enjoy the game; they weren't there for the side shows. They weren't giants of industry buying luxury boxes to impress potential investors; they weren't movie stars who sit in their box seats and are constantly discussed by TV announcers. These were simply normal people who love their Rays were there to boo Kevin Youkilis (and as a side note, I was wondering if anyone out there could tell me why Tampa Bay fans boo Youkilis more than big David Ortiz himself?)

But, back to the fans, very few in those bleachers left before Takashi Saito threw that fateful pitch in to Mr. Longoria even as the rest of the stadium emptied into the St. Petersburg night. Like I mentioned in my last entry about Disney World, time was no longer relevant. Just as I felt in Disney when it was two in the morning and I was not tired, this stadium was the same way. The people did not care that it was late at night; they bought their tickets, and they weren't leaving until the game was over. I was into it too! When you feel the pulse of the crowd around you, you no longer feel tired. You know that with this type of extra inning thriller, there is no way you're going home until you see the end of it. You can feel your eardrums vibrating; you can feel your eyes widen as that long fly ball might just stretch over the green, padded walls; you can feel your muscles tighten as Ramon Ramirez loaded the bases with nobody out before promptly retiring three Rays to stop the potential game-winning rally, and all of this happens right after your stomach was in knots because JP Howell loaded the bases in the top of the 10th and needed to be bailed out by a 5-3 double play to end the threat.

This is why I love baseball. Games like this bring you from the top of K2 to Death Valley and back up again. At least for me, there is no way to avoid emotions when it's obvious that this game means so much to the players on the field that they are still hustling even after they've already played more than one game at the highest level in the world. Despite the exhaustion and even pain in some cases, they played on for the simple purpose of getting another win for the organization. People say the players are in it for the money, and I'm sure that is a definite incentive. But I think at the end of the day, each and every one of those players wants to win. You can be paid millions of dollars to play for a bad team, and many players do. However, those are often the same players who come around every July saying they want to be traded to a team that can win a championship.

So, I would say I got a two-for-one deal even though it wasn't quite two complete games. The excitement of it well made up for those five innings. I would say that this game was a better investment than that two-for-one Tide; I buy Gain instead.

The World of Disney

Well, well, Disney World has come and gone and I must say I've never experienced anything like it. Being in a wheelchair, theme parks have never really been the most friendly vacation spots. So, I did not really know what to expect from Disney, but I knew its reputation and everyone has already said that it was a great place for people in wheelchairs.

They were right! It seems as if you almost enter a different world when you walk under the rail road tracks and into the shadow of City Hall where all your favorite characters are waving and dancing to Zip A Dee Doo Da. The accessibility was excellent, but that was not the most amazing part for me. I was amazed at the spell Disney casts over all the mobs that enter daily. All of a sudden, the rest of the world seems to be a different place and Disney becomes its own country. Time does not seem to matter anymore; we were up till two at Magic Kingdom and I honestly did not feel any effects. With all of the stimuli surrounding you, it's impossible to feel anything but the energy pulsing.

Disney is not a thrill park, but everyone seems so excited to be there and even ride rides designed for people much younger than them. Personally, I was thrilled about "it's a small world"! There's something about just being there that puts you in the mood to think you're younger than you really are. Such simple rides are really not that simple to look at the animated figures and how much work it took to program every single one of the little hand movements or voices. The "Hall of Presidents" had an amazing amount of detail as all of our nation's leaders moved and looked at each other when they spoke. None of these rides were intense; I wouldn't have ridden them if they were, but they still had the effect of making me want to be there and get just as excited as everyone else.

This spell of excitement enchanted me and made me wanting to see what would happen next. The magnitude of the park is beyond any I had been to before, and there's no better amusement park to take a wheelchair to. I think that Disney World has captured the secret to success: they have created another world where people can escape from what they have outside and see the world of happiness and fairytale endings.