Manning's mantra for '09 Colts: 'You better be getting better'

From the USA Today:

Reigning league MVP Peyton Manning is chasing a second Super Bowl championship by coaching up his young Indianapolis Colts teammates like never before.

Manning seems to draw added energy from a challenge. And, boy, does this offseason ever qualify.

Known for his legendary work ethic, Manning heeded the inner call to do more after the team's most tumultuous winter since he was drafted by the Colts in 1998. The three-time league MVP must overcome the retirement of beloved head coach Tony Dungy and the departure of trusted receiving target Marvin Harrison, who was released after declining a pay cut.

Not even an April pro-am golf pairing with Tiger Woods in Charlotte kept Manning from meeting his self-imposed leader's responsibility to get a workout in that night.

"My goal is to be a better player this year than I was the year before," Manning told USA TODAY. "I need to have another good offseason, get the timing down with the new receivers and tight ends and backs.

"You better be getting better, because these defensive players are working hard to get better."

Maintaining an Edge

"There are three things that can derail a really good, experienced team. The first is getting soft and losing your edge. [Florida basketball coach] Billy Donovan talked about it all the time with his teams, how they never lost their edge and were always hungry. Discipline is the second thing that can hurt you. If we have discipline issues and guys aren't here, that can really hurt you. The third thing is injuries. If we can eliminate those things, we'll be pretty good."

-Urban Meyer

Suns need a sense of urgency

I posted below how the Warriors are playing some good basketball right now. The opponent that they beat last night, the Phoenix Suns, are in a freefall right now, losing 8 of their last 12. The Suns are loaded with talented names, like Shaq, Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire, Grant Hill, Jason Richardson, etc. However, they are still trying to find an identity and consistency on defense:

"I don't feel like we're competing as hard as we need to," Suns guard Steve Nash said. "I don't feel like we're hustling all the time. If you're not playing a hot team and not playing at their level, you can hustle and outwork them and we didn't do that. Same old. We missed (defensive) coverages. We didn't hustle as much as we need to. It's a lack of competition. It sucks."

"Gotta guard somebody," Shaquille O'Neal said. "I've been saying the same thing the whole year. It doesn't matter if we run or slow it down. We've got to guard somebody. We have principles on defense. You get broken down and you help. You better help the helper. You can't really get broken down all the time. We've got to guard a little bit better. Until then, who knows?"

Said Grant Hill:

"The effort wasn't there tonight. Quite honestly, you can't coach effort. They came out hard and we didn't. We've got to get this thing right. We've been saying that forever. I've thought about it a lot. I can't put my finger on it. We're not playing with passion. I'll accept responsibility. I wasn't good tonight. We just don't play hard all the time. When we do, we usually give ourselves a chance to win. When we don't, we don't have any energy or enthusiasm."