Attitude adjustment sets Butler on another magical Final Four ride

Great article in the Chicago Tribune about how Butler overcame a tough losing streak during the season through a change in their overall attitude:

Butler's frustration mounted so high that Stevens sensed the need to do what good coaches do. He let his players take ownership of their team in a way necessary for it to grow. But before turning over the meeting that changed their season, Stevens told everyone he needed to improve too. That's when senior Zach Hahn actually shouted at his coach. "I had had enough at that point and yelled, with a few choice words, 'It's not about what you guys are doing, we've got to be better,' " Hahn said. "

Everybody agreed.

" Everybody agreed that a team built on attitude needed an adjustment and that the mid-major powerhouse had developed a major ego problem.


"We kind of got the big head a little bit," Mack said. "We had to get people back to doing things we'd been doing."

Butler hasn't lost since.

"Our whole thing when you come to Butler is it's not about you," guard Ronald Nored said. "The focus is sacrificing everything for your teammates, your school and each other."

Butler Way isn't just an access road in front of some academic buildings. It's the aw-shucks, almost corny method Stevens has used to attract fundamentally sound players and build a program special enough to be the first non-power-conference school to reach back-to-back Final Fours since UNLV in 1990-91.

"It's not brain surgery," Stevens said. "You can buy a book, you can read about it. People know what the critical components of success are. Everybody in every business and every industry talks about values, mission and vision. The key is holding to them."

The line at the souvenir store inside Hinkle Fieldhouse snaked out the door. One older couple made sure to remind me that the Milan High team immortalized in "Hoosiers" lost in the 1953 Final Four the year before winning the state title. That's the script they see their Bulldogs following this weekend. On the court, as players met the media, fans of all ages took pictures and sought autographs considered priceless in a state that loves God, corn and basketball — not necessarily in that order.

"One of our core principles in our locker room is humility," Stevens said. "If you don't have that, you're not here. You've got to respect everybody."

Somebody mentioned to Stevens that he has gained enough respect to be compared to Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams. It's deserved praise but dangerous too. Around here, they would take losing Stevens harder than losing to VCU.

"That's nice for people to say, but like I tell our team, 'You're only good if you're good today,'" Stevens said. "We also say, 'You're good if you play good. You're great if you do that every day.' "

It would be great for college basketball if Butler won it all playing by these rules, especially in a sport where so many coaches make their own rules.


When Stevens reflected on the pivotal Youngstown State loss, he remembered telling Howard that the three-game losing streak would be "the most valuable thing you took from Butler."

Stevens also recalled the cartoon his coach at DePauw University, Bill Fenlon, sent to encourage him through the rough patch. It's an image of a dejected superhero sitting alone under a palm tree on a deserted island. The thought bubble read, "Oh, yeah, I can fly."

"That was kind of the way we were," Stevens said. "We had the ability but we were down. We weren't far from being good. It's easy to get caught up in the negatives, but they didn't. That is the most rewarding thing about this team."

Your Best Player Sets the Standard

“When your best player is also your hardest worker, you’ve got a chance to do something. Your leaders help sell the vision of what our standards are going to be, what we’re trying to accomplish. And that’s to never take anything off — a practice, a play, a possession.”

-Bulls Head Coach Tom Thibodeau on PG Derrick Rose

You can't come to practice pouting

Bo Ryan on staying consistent as a player and coach:

"I just want our players to be as consistent in their work ethic and how they take care of the ball and the little things that we talk about all the time to give yourself a chance," said Ryan, whose team hasn't suffered back-to-back losses since the 2008-'09 season. "I don't dwell on the loss.....

"People that come to our practices, you have no idea what happened the game before and there is a purpose to that. I've always been like that. I tried to be like that as a player because I was told by my coach if things didn't go well. . . you can't go to practice pouting. It doesn't help anything."

Manuel’s Positive Energy Ignites Mets

From the NY Times:

Of all the strategic decisions a manager makes over the course of a game, whether calling for a pitching change, switching a defensive alignment or ordering an unexpected dash on the basepaths, there are also the less-nuanced motivational tools to employ.

For Jerry Manuel, who has operated all season under the public scrutiny regarding his job security, pushing his players’ emotional buttons may be his greatest strength.

In the Mets’ 7-6 victory over the Florida Marlins on Sunday, Manuel’s positive outlook was cited as one of the reasons for a triumph that extended their home winning streak to eight games. Manuel has faced some withering criticism this season, but he has also provided some evidence of a job well done, and players were quick to note how Sunday offered a strong case.

With the Mets trailing by 5-0 in the sixth inning, Manuel refused to allow his players the luxury of conceding the game, even though they had overcome that large a deficit only once this season. And even though they had only eight outs left, Manuel remained vocally enthusiastic in the dugout. Apparently, it had an effect.

“I give Jerry credit on that one,” Jeff Francoeur said, “because he was in the dugout cheering us on: ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.’ ”

But other players, too, have noted how Manuel, despite the pressure he has worked under this season, has never changed his upbeat approach. Whether it is the unusual step of calling the entire team into his office back in May to urge it to stick together, or cheering on his players in the dugout, his upbeat vibe has taken root.

“He’s by far the most positive guy I’ve ever played for,” the first-year Met Jason Bay said, “and I don’t care if you’re playing Little League or major league baseball, positivity goes a long way. It tends to be contagious. That’s no slight to anybody else. That’s just, given the market, the uncertainties, the ups and downs we’ve gone through.

“He’s never wavered on his stance of being positive and standing behind guys. I know it’s easy to get caught up in certain things, but he hasn’t. He’s really been the same guy to us, from spring training until now, and I understand how difficult that is and I respect that.”

Coach Brown getting after it

Nebraska assistant coach Ron Brown on the importance of off-season conditioning:

"That's why they put 'Coach' on your shirt. We just have to bring physicality out of the players. It's in there. I think there's something inside every young man, I don't care who he is. There's something inside him that says, ' I want to be physical. I want to be a tough guy.' That's certainly true with football players.

"But you can coach that thing down. You can coach that thing down to mediocrity. You can keep it to where it's just simmering. But you can get it to where it's exploding as well. You have to go down there and get it. Through winter conditioning, that's what we did. We reached inside of them and grabbed their hearts and tried to pull that physical play out.

"Normally in winter conditioning, you're not looking for a lot of cardiovascular conditioning (in football). But we pushed them in a cardiovascular way- not just so they could get in great shape. We wanted them to understand that we're going to invite pain and exhaustion in our life. We're going to embrace it. We're going to go after it.

"All that type of thing brings out that tenacity, that relentless pursuit, and that physical mentality that says, 'You know what, we can't control the final score. But we are literally going to go out and dominate our opponent. We're going to out-work them, out-effort them and out-hit them.' "

I LOVE IT!!!

Being Positive

"I'm an optimist by nature. That's why when it comes to any negative stuff, I don't like to hear about it. I don't like to read about it. I don't like to know about it. I try to be positive."

-Derek Jeter

NU's Lee has a ball, just keeps rolling

Ron Brown calls it “rubber ball resiliency.”

“When you squeeze it, it pops back into shape,” the Nebraska tight ends coach said.

Consider Saturday to be Zac Lee's rubber ball bounce back.

The NU junior quarterback, fresh off the worst performance of his young career, rebounded with a sharp outing Saturday during Nebraska's 55-0 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette.

It was light years from his 11 of 30 and two-interception showing against Virginia Tech. His 238 yards on 15 of 18 passes tell part of the story. The way he handled himself in getting from one Saturday to the next tells another part.

“The thing about Zac is that he's got so much resiliency,” Brown said. “He has a tendency to not let things get to him.”

Lee said he did almost everything the same this week, other than maybe a little more film work. After two NU wins in which he amassed 553 passing yards and six scores, the struggles at Virginia Tech were a reality check.

He said during the week he just “focused on ball,” while trying to move on and have a short memory.

“Mistakes are going to happen. Bad things are going to happen,” Lee said. “You've got to deal with it, move on and learn from it and make sure you don't repeat it.”

The guy who may have seen Lee's resiliency the most this week was backup quarterback Cody Green. The freshman said there was a “new notch” in Lee since the loss to the Hokies. He was the first one there and the last to leave. There was a different determination in everything he did.

“You could tell he just had a look in his eyes,” Green said.

There was little evidence of the highly publicized thumb injury on his non-throwing hand. Lee brushes it off as a nonissue.

But it was one of the things guys noticed as he fought past his first dose of disappointment, Green said.

“People saw the battle in him because he kept fighting,” he said.

And Brown says Lee isn't the only one. The veteran coach went as far as to say he has been “very impressed” with the way the Huskers as a whole have dealt with adversity.

“They came out Monday and they got after it,” he said. “I love the way this football team has responded in the last year and a half. We have really learned some great things about not sitting around pouting. We've had short memories. We've been able to come back from some tough losess and come back the next week and play well.”

And Green said the guy he shadows on a daily basis is the undeniable leader of that group.

“He's running the thing now,” Green said.

Rigorous Off-Season Gave Revis His Edge

From the Ny Times:

Before Darrelle Revis shut down two of the N.F.L.’s top receivers to open this season, before he entered the discussion for the league’s top cornerback, he went to Arizona and trained like a boxer preparing for a championship bout. There, he found sweltering heat, marathon workouts and the personal torture chamber that is Will Sullivan.

Sullivan is Revis’s off-season coach. They meet at Fischer Sports in Phoenix, where Revis works on strength and conditioning for four hours each morning and trains on a field for three hours every afternoon, alongside pros like Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb.

This was two-a-days before two-a-days, Sullivan joked.

“He wants the punishment,” said Diana Gilbert, Revis’s mother. “Just to see how much he can endure.”

Revis arrives in Arizona in late June, when many of his N.F.L. counterparts relax or take vacations. Everything with Revis and Sullivan is a competition, be it basketball, video games or training, filled with jawing back and forth.

But this year, as Revis sought to become the best cornerback in football, the training took on added intensity.

Revis came with a goal sheet that included, for the first time, earning top honors at his position.

He brought a list of opposing receivers he would be shadowing across the field under the new defense installed by Coach Rex Ryan, with film on each.

Sullivan and Revis broke down that film together, then went about preparing for each receiver on the field. They fine-tuned Revis’s footwork, focused on his weaknesses, discussed receivers like Atlanta’s Roddy White whom Sullivan had trained.

Sometimes, after seven hours of training, the two headed to the basketball court, where they engaged in one-on-one games that lasted hours without water breaks.

“I’ve been training Revis since he was a junior at Pitt,” Sullivan said. “He’s always been focused. But this year, he took it to a different level.”

Before Revis heads to Arizona, he spends one week with his family outside Pittsburgh. When he leaves, he shuts off most contact with the outside world, turning down tickets secured by his agent to award shows, finding a singular, obsessive focus.

To that end, his family has noticed a newfound maturity in Revis as he begins his third N.F.L. season. Diana Gilbert said her son had tightened his inner circle, dropping bad influences and keeping those who spoke truthfully and kept him grounded.

None keep Revis more level than his uncle, the former N.F.L. defensive end Sean Gilbert. After Revis shut down New England’s Randy Moss on Sunday, Gilbert told him, “Two games down, 14 left, you still stink.”

When Revis entered the league, among the first advice dispensed by Gilbert was this: Do not believe all N.F.L players have heart, because they do not. Ultimately, the game comes down to will.

“There are two ways to deal with the pressure,” Gilbert said. “You feel it. Or you apply it. I ask him every day. ‘Which are you doing?’ I want him to go after their best player, and I want him to take his will.”

Wise beyond his 24 years, Revis has matured on the field, becoming smoother in his footwork transitions and quarterback reads, as he increases his awareness.

The Jets have bestowed the nickname Shutdown upon Revis, and on the NFL Network last weekend, Deion Sanders ranked Revis among the top three cornerbacks in football.
This came after Revis shadowed Moss and Houston’s Andre Johnson. With help on both players from his teammates, Revis held Johnson to four catches for 35 yards and Moss to four catches for 24 yards, and Revis intercepted a pass against the Patriots.

Most instructive, though, were those receivers’ numbers in the games in which they did not face Revis. Johnson tallied 10 catches, 149 yards and 2 touchdowns in the second week. In the opener, Moss caught 12 passes for 149 yards. They call this the Revis Effect.

Revis possesses a rare combination of speed and strength for a cornerback, built in part by those training sessions in the Arizona heat. Revis played Moss physically, bumping him at the line, jamming his routes, even sitting across from Moss when both players were on the bench.

“If he went to the bathroom, I went, too,” Revis said.

Moss and Johnson played down the impact of a cornerback like Revis. Both said all cornerbacks received help from safeties, or other cornerbacks, and Moss even went so far as to suggest he could play cornerback in the right defense.

Regardless, the Jets’ defense has yet to allow a touchdown in eight quarters, and Revis may be the single most important piece of Ryan’s system. He stands alone on what teammates have started calling Revis Island, matched up each week against the best receiver on the opposing team.

Of course, Revis studied all of them back in June and July. Sullivan reminded him of that Monday morning, via a text message that read simply, “Who’s next?”

Dodgers' Juan Pierre playing, and acting, like a pro

Good story in the LA Times on Dodger outfielder Juan Pierre and his struggle to get consistent playing time despite hitting well over .300 this year. Because of a crowded outfield, Pierre is the odd man out. However, that has not diminished his work ethic and attitude.

"It has been a real pleasure to be around him," said mananger Joe Torre.

The same thing happened to Pierre last year so Pierre is used to playing sporadically by now.

"No excuses this year, none of that 'Oh, but I don't play enough' stuff," he said. "If I'm in there, it's my responsibility to make that happen, and I take that very seriously."

To replicate the daily swings he is missing, Pierre is one of the first guys to show up at the clubhouse every day, living out his 7 p.m. dreams in the early afternoon.To replicate the pounding his body would take in the outfield, he is one of the last guys to leave the clubhouse after games, as he rides the stationary bike until he feels like he has played nine innings.

"Like I said, no excuses," he said.

Not even while pinch-hitting, a job career regulars often find difficult and distasteful. Even here, Pierre has turned potential humiliation into triumph, hitting .353 in 34 at-bats."He knows he's not going to play, but he continues to do the stuff he does," Torre said. "He's a great example for everyone in there."

Cards' Fitzgerald left hungry, aims to add killer instinct in '09

From the USA Today:

Arizona Cardinals all-pro wideout Larry Fitzgerald is always brainstorming new ways to chase greatness.

He outdid himself this offseason.

It wasn't enough for Fitzgerald, 25, to eclipse San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice with his playoffs-record 30 receptions for 546 yards and seven touchdowns in the Cardinals' 2008 Super Bowl run. He decided this offseason to train with and learn from the former receiver, whom he considers the greatest ever.

So Fitzgerald convened a passing camp this summer at the University of Minnesota, inviting other young talented wideouts such as Green Bay Packers star Greg Jennings, the Denver Broncos' Brandon Marshall, the Minnesota Vikings' Sidney Rice and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Michael Clayton. Fitzgerald also invited his longtime mentor, Cris Carter.

Then he reached out to Rice, who agreed to join the camp for a week.

The only thing more impressive than Fitzgerald's remarkable postseason ascent was his ambitious offseason agenda. There's little concern about a post-Super Bowl letdown for the sixth-year wideout, who reinvented himself as a respected league-wide leader.

"My goal is to be a better player in every way possible and never let complacency set in," Fitzgerald says. "Don't ever lose sight of being the best, most dominant player. After every year, I evaluate the weaknesses in my game — the mental and physical. I called Cris Carter, who has been like an uncle to me.

"But I wanted the same type relationship with Jerry Rice, one of the greatest players to ever play the game and the greatest receiver ever to play. I wanted to see what made him tick."
And Rice showed Fitzgerald.

"Jerry Rice is 46 years old. Yet he did every single thing we did on that field. He worked like he was in training camp," Fitzgerald says.

"His dedication is off the charts. I was thinking, if I had the mental toughness Jerry Rice has at 46 at 25, where (would I) be in this game?"

Vikings Pro Bowl defensive end Jared Allen joined Fitzgerald on a March USO tour to Iraq and Afghanistan. Allen and Fitzgerald struck up a friendship and traveled to six more countries, an odyssey that included shark diving off the coast of South Africa and a safari.

"Larry's an absolute beast, and he's such a nice guy," Allen says. "He has a ton of respect around the league.

"There's certain players who are driven not by money or fame, but who want Super Bowls. We want to be remembered as some of the best players to play this sport in honor of the people who played before us.

"Larry's one of those guys."

Jennings, who led Green Bay with 80 catches for 1,292 yards and nine touchdowns in 2008, says: "Working at Larry's camp for two weeks really opened my eyes to how to work. As good as he is, there's so much humility in Larry."

Billy Donovan's Attitude Plan

BILLY DONOVAN'S ATTITUDE PLAN

Always making today my best day

Taking pride in a job well done

Treating others with respect

Isolating my negative thoughts

Treating tasks as opportunities

Utilizing my talents every day

Doing the job right the first time

Expecting positive outcomes daily

Speaking well of others every day

A positive attitude through adversity

Green Bay Packers center Scott Wells has lost his starting job and is now the backup despite working hard during the offseason. Although Wells is not happy with the coaches decision, he maintains the way he goes about his business will not waver:

"If you ask anybody in this locker room, they want to play," Wells said. "No one is happy when they are not playing. But all you can do is continue to put your best foot forward and prepare for the role they have you in and move on from there."

"Don't count me out," Wells said. "It's a little blow, but it's not the end. So you have to stay the course and try to maintain a positive attitude and see how everything shakes out in the long run."

Going all out

A reporter once asked 3 time batting champion and Hall of Famer George Brett what he wanted to do in his last at-bat before retiring, he gave the following response:

"I want to hit a routine grounder to second and run all out to first base, then get thrown out by a half step. I want to leave an example to the young guys that that's how you play the game: all out.

'This camp ain't for everybody:' Sparano, Dolphins turn up heat

DAVIE, Fla. — There's a survival-of-the-fittest mentality at work at Camp Sparano, where the Miami Dolphins train hard and fast amid conditions that resemble a sauna.

A week into camp, four players had already left on their own terms. One didn't bother to show up, three others bolted after tasting coach Tony Sparano's practice regimen.

Joey Porter sees a bright side to such developments.

"If you're going to find out, you want to find out now," the linebacker says. "I've never been to a camp where so many people quit. But this camp ain't for everybody. Camp is the hardest part of football. The two-a-days and the way we work around here, with the heat and what we do, it can get to people."

Porter is one of the team's most experienced players, heading into his 11th NFL season. In some camps, as was the case when he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, tenure might earn an occasional practice off. Not here. Not now.

"It's a little different," Porter says. "The philosophy here is that everybody works."
Sparano, starting his second season at the helm after ushering a turnaround that matched the greatest improvement in NFL history — Miami went from an NFL-worst 1-15 in 2007 to 11-5 and an AFC East crown last season — is building a foundation on grunt work.

During the offseason, the Dolphins had 46 weight-room workout sessions. Of 65 players on the offseason roster, 54 never missed a workout session. No player, Sparano says, attended fewer than 94% of the weight-room workouts. Add 100% attendance at each minicamp and OTA session, and the coach is bullish on prospects that his team won't become complacent after the surprising success of last season.

"You can't pick up where you left off," Sparano says. "You've got to go back to the beginning. When you see the kind of participation we had in the offseason, you know they're buying into what it is you're asking them to do."

The Dolphins might have the longest odds against repeating of any division champion, playing in what could be the league's toughest division. The New England Patriots, with Tom Brady back, are looking to reclaim the AFC East throne.

But not without a fight. Sparano says that as tough as it was to climb from the NFL basement into a playoff team last season, taking the next step to be a consistent, legitimate contender might be a harder task.

"That's the biggest challenge for our whole team, to truly understand that what we did last year means nothing right now," says quarterback Chad Pennington, who was released in camp last summer by the New York Jets and wound up earning NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors.

"This is going to require more work, more consistency."

Sparano and GM Jeff Ireland, working under the watchful eye of VP of Football Operations/resident guru Bill Parcells, don't figure to sit pat in their own right, either. The Dolphins led the NFL last season with 52 transactions, shuffling players in and out in attempts to strengthen the bottom of the roster.

Ireland doesn't expect as many moves this season, which indicates progress.

But that is not to be confused with a comfort zone. Just listen to Sparano.

"There are no guarantees around here," Sparano says. "Hey, I tell our vets, 'This is a show-me game. At some point out here and in these preseason games, I still gotta know that you can do it.'

Going hard in everything you do

Good article in the USA Today about K-State head football coach Bill Snyder. He is a good quote from OT Nick Stringer, one of a handful of players left from the previous Snyder era:

A lot of guys came to us. They'd heard stories about practices and workouts and how hard he used to work and the things we used to. They asked us if it was true, and we were like, 'Yeah, but it pays off.'."

Take the simple 40-yard sprint. "You run 42 yards through the line, not running 39 and coasting the last one. Stuff like that," Stringer says. "That's when you get better, when you're going as hard as you can in every rep in everything you're doing."

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."

100 % all the time

Jeff Garcia, the 39-year-old Oakland Raiders QB, is No. 2 on the depth chart and working on a one-year deal, but that doesn't mean he's conceding anything to starter JaMarcus Russell.

"Not knocking JaMarcus or anybody else on the team, but I just have a belief in my own abilities; those things have me feeling that I am the best quarterback on the team. That's just how I approach the game. That's how I approach my situation."

"I have a certain work ethic that is a part of me. When I step on the field, there is no 50%. It's 100% all the time. It's sprinting from drill to drill. It's doing everything full speed. It's, when I throw an incomplete pass, showing that I care that I threw an incomplete pass. Not just, 'Oh, shucks, I just didn't throw the ball as well.' I'm very critical of myself. Because I'm critical of myself . . . that's where I feel I help myself."

"When I come into a situation, I feel like I inspire people."

Billy Donovan's Attitude Plan

1. Always make today my best day

2. Taking pride in a job well done

3. Treating others with respect

4. Isolating my negative thoughts

5. Treating tasks as opportunities

6. Utilizing my talents everyday

7. Doing the job right the first time

8. Expecting positive outcomes daily

9. Speaking well of others every day

Lucas Glover's forward thinking proves crucial

2009 U.S. Open Champion Lucas Glover on creating a positive mindset:

Glover had just three top-10s in 2007, and last year he dropped to 108th on the money list. Frustrated and burned-out, Glover decided to shut it down after a September tournament.

"I was too hard on myself," Glover said. "And I just had a bad attitude when it wasn't going right. The patience issues and the bad attitude was because of expectations through the roof and not getting results, but practicing just as hard and not getting any better. That was the frustrating thing."

There was one stretch during the tournament were Glover went bogey, double bogey, bogey.

"Two years ago, if that would have happened ... no chance. I would not be sitting here," Glover said of the three-hole stretch when he went 4 over par. "No chance. But I've worked on it. My attitude's better. When something happens, I let it go. I doubled the first hole this week. Didn't slam a club. Didn't do anything."

Bucks should follow the leaders: Skiles said team could learn from NBA champs

Here is an portion of an article from the Milwaukee Sentinel about how Bucks head coach Scott Skiles wants his team to learn from the Lakers:

To Skiles, watching the playoffs from the sideline offered a reminder of just how hard it is to win in the postseason, which is something he wants his players to keep in mind as the team's building process moves forward.

"You get away from it and start watching the playoff games and if you've been in the playoffs before and now you're not, you're watching them and you see what it takes to play at that level," Skiles said. "You see what it takes to win a series. It's just a constant reminder of how hard it is. It's hard.

"One thing we're continually trying to impress upon our guys is that this should be fun. Everybody would like to have a job where they enjoy it. But still there's a lot of (stuff) you've got to go through to be that type of team and it's hard. There's a lot of stuff you have to play through. The season is long. All the stuff everybody knows. It's very, very difficult and the more we can understand that (the better).

"When guys work out this summer and work on their games and conditioning, sure they should enjoy it and enjoy the game, but they should always have an eye toward how hard it's going to be if we are going to get where we want to go and how everything they are doing right now is pushing them toward that direction."