Comments on: Real Estate Investors Learn Lessons – Many Of Them As Kids

By: Jeff Brown

Jeff Brown — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 03:31:17 +0000

Really? You’re over 40?

JD is cool as the other side of the pillow.

By: Cher

Cher — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 01:48:29 +0000

I guess everyone now knows that I’m over 40.
JD adds, “I call mine the ‘Qualude Account’.” (Guess which era he is from?)

By: Jeff Brown

Jeff Brown — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:26:56 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more, Chris.

As a retired NCAA umpire, I’ve been witness to some pretty solid examples of what you described. It’s never pretty.

By: Christopher Smith

Christopher Smith — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:16:17 +0000

I read an article on a similar subject not too long ago (sorry, can’t find it now) that pointed out that in team sports where no score is kept the kids just keep sore in their heads. They’re smarter than we are.

I have seen the flip side of this whole argument, though. I have a colleague who referees kids soccer – fifth grade through high school. And this is Texas – we take our sports seriously. You’d be *amazed* at how some of these kids and parents behave on the field.

Winning and losing are important concepts, but the “win at any cost” mentality causes an even more important concepts of honor, sportsmanship and integrity to be lost. You don’t really appreciate this until you see a thirteen year old girl cursing a referee because she thinks she’s been victimized by a bad call.

The kumbayah camp swings the pendulum too far in the other direction, but there’s a healthy balance somewhere in the middle.

By: Jeff Brown

Jeff Brown — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:21:22 +0000

Geoff – It’s about winning and losing AND how you play the game. Either keep score or don’t, but don’t keep score then act like it’s recess for the first graders.

T-Ball doesn’t keep score, and they shouldn’t.

By: Geoff Phelps

Geoff Phelps — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:58:06 +0000

Great perspective on winning, Jeff. I think the Kumbaya approach to sports (no score keeping) came about because we as a society have become singularly focused on outcomes- the “win at all costs” mentality. We seem to have collectively forgotten the bit about “it’s how you play the game”.

By: BawldGuy

BawldGuy — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:20:02 +0000

Chris – The Spurs are so good because their main man is the epitome of what ‘team’ is supposed to mean. They remind me of the old Portland champs of Bill Walton days.

If my memorty serves me correctly, Chris was an All-American Boxer in college – at Westpoint.

Thanks for stopping by Chris.

By: BawldGuy

BawldGuy — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:09:48 +0000

4MySales – Thanks so much for your kind thoughts – they’re much appreciated. Please come back.

By: Christopher Smith

Christopher Smith — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:52:42 +0000

Great post.

I was a competitive college athlet and I’m a doer, so I generally dislike watching pro sports. But I do have a favorite team: the San Antonio Spurs. They’re so damn boring that they’ll make you cry. No star power. No bling. But damn do these guys know how to win!

I know the NBA is praying for them to Kobe or King James or someone with a little more charisma and flash to knock these boring Texans off their pedestal – a dominant Spurs is bad for business! But me…I’m a fan

By: 4MySales

4MySales — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 06:45:14 +0000

Inspirational post. If you look at the common characteristics of successful people (Napoleon Hill said it best, but Covey, Robbins, and the rest repeat it often) they have learned to accept loosing as a learning opportunity and use those lessons to perform better than their competition the next go-around.

Keep up the good work and insight into this great industry.

-4MySales.