Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Words to live by
Sports figures share advice they value.
President George W. Bush gave some 2003 Marlins visiting the White House for their World Series tour his standard line of advice: “Save 31 percent of your money and don’t get photographed with a drink in your hand.”
So what’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
One simple question. So many good ideas from so many different jobs:
Mike Tannenbaum, Dolphins vice president of football operations:
“Bill Parcells said, ‘Listening is an underrated quality’ and ‘Choose your words carefully; your words matter.’ That always stuck with me. Maybe another way to put what he’s talking about on choosing your words carefully is, ‘Know your audience.’ ”
David Samson, Marlins president:
“‘In a life full of ordinary, it’s easy to be extraordinary.’ My grandfather taught me that. He said if you try a little bit, you’re leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else before you even start. The etymology I think is Woody Allen’s ‘80 percent of success is just showing up.’ That’s what I was given, and that’s the advice I give. I also say, ‘No is just an impediment on the way to Yes.’ I use it in the office when I hear, ‘It can’t be done, it’s never been done.’ We don’t stop at that. There’s always a way.”
Drew Rosenhaus, agent: “That’s a tough one. So many great people have given me invaluable advice. But if I had to choose just one then it would be my late Tae Kwon Do master instructor Young Soo Do. He spoke broken English and said, ‘Strong mind, strong body.’ I never forgot those words. Simple but true.”
Patrick Surtain, former Dolphin and current American Heritage football coach: “My mom always used to tell me, ‘The level of your success will be determined by how you deal with your failures.’ That always has stuck with me. Also, on the football side my coach once told me, ‘When all else fails ... rely on your core fundamentals.’ ”
Jim Larrañaga, Hurricanes basketball coach: “I’ve gotten a lot of very good advice from a lot of people during the course of my career. In my coaching career, a dear friend, Dr. Bob Rotella, said, ‘Train, then trust.’ I’ve tried to live by that. It’s been a very important part of my teaching. I’m a college basketball coach working with players and staff. For us to really do our job well, we’ve got to train our players well in practice, in meetings, in talks. If you train the guys in practice and under game conditions, then you just need to trust in actual games they’ll do the things they practice. You don’t want to be trying to teach and correct mistakes constantly during a game. You should clap after mistakes, showing your emotional support. I also received some very good advice from my brothers, Bob and John: ‘If you ever need an answer, go to the library.’ They said you can find every answer to every subject in a book. That was many years ago. Now they’d say to Google it.”
Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner: “From my dad: ‘Today’s the youngest you will ever be. Live like it.’ His point was that at every age we look back and think about how much younger we were back then and how we should have appreciated it more. A 60-year-old thinks back to when he or she was 50 and wishes they had realized how young 50 was. A 70-year-old will feel the same about 60, etc . ... Always look forward knowing today is the day you will look back upon. Make it a good one. Live young.”
Mike Inglis, Heat radio announcer: “I had a broadcasting teacher/professor say to me, ‘Hey, it’s not rocket science, it’s a game. Be articulate, describe what’s happening and tell the truth — and don’t forget you’re the eyes and even the ears of the listeners and always be prepared.’ It’s not earthshaking, but he was a great radio broadcaster back when sports broadcasting was much bigger. Maybe the biggest thing was when he said, ‘Have fun!’ ”
Doug MacLean, NHL analyst and former Panthers coach: “Don’t know who said it, but it stuck with me: Patrick Surtain, a former Dolphin cornerback and current American HeritagePlantation football coach, says his mother used to tell him, “The level of your success will be determined by how you deal with your failures.” ‘Doing well in your life is great, but doing good is what life’s about.’ Helping others!”
Howard Schnellenberger, fomer UM and FAU football coach: “My father told me, ‘If you want to be a coach, you’ve got to go coach with the best. You want to be an eye doctor, work with the best eye doctor.’ I was the most blessed young coach coming into this business in 1958. I had five coaches at Kentucky that were all Hall of Fame coaches and let me sit in on their meetings, go to games and talk strategy. Don Shula, George Allen, Blanton Collier, Paul Bryant and my high school coach Paulie Miller. I wasn’t learning by studying or anything. I was learning by osmosis — low concentration of me sucking in high concentrations of them. First thing I learned was you’ve got to work [players] so hard that 20 percent of them quit — same thing they do in the Marines. When I went to Millersburg, Ky., as a freshman for Bryant, 140 of us went to camp. Four weeks later, we were down to 40. He ran off all the chaff and kept the wheat. The guys who stayed there said, ‘We’re the toughest sonuvabitches around.’ You can’t do that anymore, but that’s how to make a team.”
Steve Shapiro, Channel 7 sportscaster: “My best advice came from Williams Shakespeare. A line from Hamlet. Polonius said, ‘To thine own self be true.’ I must have seen it in high school. I often think about it when I need to choose between disappointing someone in favor of moving forward for something that is more advantageous for me. I have used that phrase multiple times with friends and co-workers and have passed it on to my children. The kids might never think of Shakespeare, but perhaps they’ll remember the advice their old man gave them.”