Staying tuned in to the basketball channel

Muggsy Bogues, the 5-foot-3 PG who played for 14 seasons in the NBA, on how basketball kept him focused while growing up in inner-city Baltimore.

"Basketball was always my savior. You know how a VCR always has to be on channel 3 to get a clear picture? Well, I was like a VCR: I had to be on the basketball channel to stay focused. If I switched to another channel, things got blurry."

Stay the course; trust the course

Binghamton coach Kevin Broadus (at left), who's been criticized recently for "the academic and behavioral issues" of the players on his roster, says he remembers advice that former Georgetown coach John Thompson Jr. once gave him:

"Stay the course. Trust the course. Don't forget what you're doing," Thompson told Broadus. "Put the blinders on. Don't listen to the outside folks. They want you to listen. They want to bring you down."

Pick one: Coach, officiate, or play

When he arrived at Arizona State, coach Herb Sendek "made it clear he wouldn't tolerate the persecution complex that long had been a part of the problem, a feeling that poor ASU hoops always was getting jobbed by Pac-10 officials."

He insisted "that his team not argue a single call."

Ask him why and he has a simple answer:

"Because they're not supposed to. I just don't want our guys responding to a referee's call, because the next play is getting ready to start. We ask our guys at the beginning of the year, 'You have a choice. You can pick one. You can either coach, officiate or play. Just pick one, because it's hard as hell to do any one of the three, let alone two of the three."

[Thanks to Phil Beckner at Weber State for passing along!]

Giving players boundaries, parameters, direction, and feedback

As the new head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, Bob Gainey is working to ensure each player "know[s] exactly what's expected of him."

According to Coach Gainey, who's coached in more than 450 NHL games, he will "try to give them boundaries, parameters, direction and feedback - done well, (or) not done well."

"After a few days, I hope to be able to give the players some key messages that there are places they will be corrected on," said Coach Gainey. "That will give them concentration - that they need to do this particular thing, or they'll be corrected on it."

How coaching is like painting a fence

Good post on Rick Bonnell's blog about Larry Brown and assistant Dave Hanners (pictured here with Coach Brown).

After a 12-point loss to Orlando on February 20, Coach Brown let his guys have it, "saying the point guards were selfish and Emeka Okafor sets ineffective screens."

The next day at practice, Coach Hanners came prepared to do some "maintenance.''

That's Hanners' term for smoothing it over when Brown has maybe overshot the runway in his critiques of the players. To Hanners' surprise, the day after was a great practice: No complaining, just great focus.

Bonnell commented to Coach Hanners that he "wasn't surprised because for whatever else was wrong in the past, this team had great character."

Bonnell contends that "[former CHA coach and EVP] Bernie Bickerstaff demanded it, right up to waiving Kareem Rush when he wouldn't get in line. Gerald Wallace and Raymond Felton are true leaders, and they both understand they need more coaching, not less. Brown's relentless insistence on precision can wear a team out, but that hasn't happened."

As they talked, Bonnell writes that Coach Hanners "offered a telling analogy."

Hanners said Brown's coaching is like the guy determined to perfectly paint a fence. When he's done, you'll never find an unpainted spot on that fence, but he might apply two or three more coats than is necessary to do the job.

[By the way, since February 20, the Bobcats are 6-2.]

A "poor me" attitude shows you don't have control of your emotions

After watching Kyle Kendrick throw up his hands after giving up two hits in an exhibition game against Team USA, Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee, 51, called time out, hustled out to the mound, and "laid into his 24-year-old pitcher."

"He threw his arms up like, 'Poor me,' and that doesn't show control of your emotions," Dubee said after the Phillies' 9-6 loss to Team USA. "Sometimes, during the course of the season, you're going to face adversity. That's not acceptable behavior, it really isn't. He still needs better body language, better presence. He looks a little frail at times. That's showing the other team you're scuffling, and you don't ever want to let your guard down. . . . We've got to get over that hump, focus, and make another quality pitch."

The way it is

My sister, who studied literature at SMU, sent me this poem by William Stafford titled "The Way It Is." It has a good message about sticking to it and following your path.






The Way It Is

There's a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn't change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can't get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding.
You don't ever let go of that thread.

Refocusing attention on the team

With a few minutes remaining in an early-season home loss, BOS fans started chanting for Celtics PF Brian Scalabrine.

That bothered the former USC standout.

"It detracts from the focus. We are the Boston Celtics, and for the crowd to cheer for an individual takes away from our team and what we are trying to do. Let's just say it's not ubuntu [the South African word meaning unity]. The way I see it, it takes away from what the Boston Celtics are trying to do, the focus that we have as a team, and how as a team we don't believe in any individualism.

We believe in being as a team. I'm not thinking about it from an individual perspective. When there is so much focus on the individual, it makes you want to refocus on the team," Scalabrine said. "You can chant all you want, but I'm still going to pass to the right guy and I'm still going to play basketball the same way. It's not going to change the way I play. It's going to make me more focused on the team."

BOS coach Doc Rivers describes Scalabrine as "an irritant."

"He gets into people's skin. He plays so hard. He just plays team basketball. Nothing is going to stand out with his numbers, with his play, except to coaches. You love him because he does everything to win the game."

Echoing Scallie's sentiments, Paul Pierce says he's found the formula for winning titles:

"I'm within the team concept; that's the formula that we need to win. We don't need one guy to go out and score 46 points; we rely on our teamwork, our extra passes, our defense."

You don't replace intangibles with statistics

DEN forward Chris Andersen clearly takes pride in his defense.

"That's what I do," he said. "I defend."

As this article in the Denver Post points out, "only three players in the NBA average more blocks than his 2.0 per game. And he does so in just 18.8 minutes."

According to Nuggets coach George Karl, Andersen "kind of acts one way, but he's a lot more responsible and mentally into a game than people give him credit. He plays with such a reckless abandon that people think, well, he's not thinking out there. But he's actually very, very good cerebrally in the games."

"There was an intangible that Eddie Najera gave to our team last year that I was scared to death of not having this year. "You don't replace intangibles with statistics — you replace it with an energy, a focus and a team-ness. We got that out of Chris."

The 33 Elements of Toughnesss

ESPN's Jay Bilas, a great player at Duke in the '80s who also served as an assistant to Coach K in the early '90s, says that when he'd come up against a "a tough opponent, I wasn't worried that I would get hit -- I was concerned that I would get sealed on ball reversal by a tough post man, or that I would get boxed out on every play, or that my assignment would sprint the floor on every possession and get something easy on me. The toughest guys I had to guard were the ones who made it tough on me."

Toughness has nothing to do with size, physical strength or athleticism. Some players may be born tough, but I believe that toughness is a skill, and it is a skill that can be developed and improved. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo always says, "Players play, but tough players win."

When I was playing, the players I respected most were not the best or most talented players. The players I respected most were the toughest players. I don't remember anything about the players who talked a good game or blocked a shot and acted like a fool. I remember the players who were tough to play against.

Here are Jay's 33 elements of toughness:

1. Set a good screen: The toughest players to guard are the players who set good screens. When you set a good screen, you are improving the chances for a teammate to get open, and you are greatly improving your chances of getting open. A good screen can force the defense to make a mistake. A lazy or bad screen is a waste of everyone's time and energy.

2. Set up your cut: The toughest players make hard cuts, and set up their cuts. Basketball is about deception. Take your defender one way, and then plant the foot opposite of the direction you want to go and cut hard. A hard cut may get you a basket, but it may also get a teammate a basket. If you do not make a hard cut, you will not get anyone open. Setting up your cut, making the proper read of the defense, and making a hard cut require alertness, good conditioning and good concentration. Davidson's Stephen Curry is hardly a physical muscle-man, but he is a tough player because he is in constant motion, he changes speeds, he sets up his cuts, and he cuts hard. Curry is hard to guard, and he is a tough player.

3. Talk on defense: The toughest players talk on defense, and communicate with their teammates. It is almost impossible to talk on defense and not be in a stance, down and ready, with a vision of man and ball. If you talk, you let your teammates know you are there, and make them and yourself better defenders. It also lets your opponent know that you are fully engaged.

4. Jump to the ball: When on defense, the tough defenders move as the ball moves. The toughest players move on the flight of the ball, not when it gets to its destination. And the toughest players jump to the ball and take away the ball side of the cut. Tough players don't let cutters cut across their face -- they make the cutter change his path.

5. Don't get screened: No coach can give a player the proper footwork to get through every screen. Tough players have a sense of urgency not to get screened and to get through screens so that the cutter cannot catch the ball where he wants to. A tough player makes the catch difficult.

6. Get your hands up: A pass discouraged is just as good as a pass denied. Tough players play with their hands up to take away vision, get deflections and to discourage a pass in order to allow a teammate to cover up. Cutters and post players will get open, if only for a count. If your hands are up, you can keep the passer from seeing a momentary opening.

7. Play the ball, see your man: Most defenders see the ball and hug their man, because they are afraid to get beat. A tough defender plays the ball and sees his man. There is a difference.

8. Get on the floor: In my first road game as a freshman, there was a loose ball that I thought I could pick up and take the other way for an easy one. While I was bending over at the waist, one of my opponents dived on the floor and got possession of the ball. My coach was livid. We lost possession of the ball because I wasn't tough enough to get on the floor for it. I tried like hell never to get out-toughed like that again.

9. Close out under control: It is too easy to fly at a shooter and think you are a tough defender. A tough defender closes out under control, takes away a straight line drive and takes away the shot. A tough player has a sense of urgency but has the discipline to do it the right way.

10. Post your man, not a spot: Most post players just blindly run to the low block and get into a shoving match for a spot on the floor. The toughest post players are posting their defensive man. A tough post player is always open, and working to get the ball to the proper angle to get a post feed. Tough post players seal on ball reversal and call for the ball, and they continue to post strong even if their teammates miss them.

11. Run the floor: Tough players sprint the floor, which drags the defense and opens up things for others. Tough players run hard and get "easy" baskets, even though there is nothing easy about them. Easy baskets are hard to get. Tough players don't take tough shots -- they work hard to make them easy.

12. Play so hard, your coach has to take you out: I was a really hard worker in high school and college. But I worked and trained exceptionally hard to make playing easier. I was wrong. I once read that Bob Knight had criticized a player of his by saying, "You just want to be comfortable out there!" Well, that was me, and when I read that, it clicked with me. I needed to work to increase my capacity for work, not to make it easier to play. I needed to work in order to be more productive in my time on the floor. Tough players play so hard that their coaches have to take them out to get rest so they can put them back in. The toughest players don't pace themselves.

13. Get to your teammate first: When your teammate lays his body on the line to dive on the floor or take a charge, the tough players get to him first to help him back up. If your teammate misses a free throw, tough players get to him right away. Tough players are also great teammates.

14. Take responsibility for your teammates: Tough players expect a lot from their teammates, but they also put them first. When the bus leaves at 9 a.m., tough players not only get themselves there, but they also make sure their teammates are up and get there, too. Tough players take responsibility for others in addition to themselves. They make sure their teammates eat first, and they give credit to their teammates before taking it themselves.

15. Take a charge: Tough players are in a stance, playing the ball, and alert in coming over from the weak side and taking a charge. Tough players understand the difference between being in the right spot and being in the right spot with the intention of stopping somebody. Some players will look puzzled and say, "But I was in the right spot." Tough players know that they have to get to the right spot with the sense of urgency to stop someone.

16. Get in a stance: Tough players don't play straight up and down and put themselves in the position of having to get ready to get ready. Tough players are down in a stance on both ends of the floor, with feet staggered and ready to move. Tough players are the aggressor, and the aggressor is in a stance.

17. Finish plays: Tough players don't just get fouled, they get fouled and complete the play. They don't give up on a play or assume that a teammate will do it. A tough player plays through to the end of the play and works to finish every play.

18. Work on your pass: A tough player doesn't have his passes deflected. A tough player gets down, pivots, pass-fakes, and works to get the proper angle to pass away from the defense and deliver the ball.

19. Throw yourself into your team's defense: A tough player fills his tank on the defensive end, not on offense. A tough player is not deterred by a missed shot. A tough player values his performance first by how well he defended.

20. Take and give criticism the right way: Tough players can take criticism without feeling the need to answer back or give excuses. They are open to getting better and expect to be challenged and hear tough things. You will never again in your life have the opportunity you have now at the college level: a coaching staff that is totally and completely dedicated to making you and your team better. Tough players listen and are not afraid to say what other teammates may not want to hear, but need to hear.

21. Show strength in your body language: Tough players project confidence and security with their body language. They do not hang their heads, do not react negatively to a mistake of a teammate, and do not whine and complain to officials. Tough players project strength, and do not cause their teammates to worry about them. Tough players do their jobs, and their body language communicates that to their teammates -- and to their opponents.

22. Catch and face: Teams that press and trap are banking on the receiver's falling apart and making a mistake. When pressed, tough players set up their cuts, cut hard to an open area and present themselves as a receiver to the passer. Tough players catch, face the defense, and make the right read and play, and they do it with poise. Tough players do not just catch and dribble; they catch and face.

23. Don't get split: If you trap, a tough player gets shoulder-to-shoulder with his teammate and does not allow the handler to split the trap and gain an advantage on the back side of the trap.

24. Be alert: Tough players are not "cool." Tough players are alert and active, and tough players communicate with teammates so that they are alert, too. Tough players echo commands until everyone is on the same page. They understand the best teams play five as one. Tough players are alert in transition and get back to protect the basket and the 3-point line. Tough players don't just run back to find their man, they run back to stop the ball and protect the basket.

25. Concentrate, and encourage your teammates to concentrate: Concentration is a skill, and tough players work hard to concentrate on every play. Tough players go as hard as they can for as long as they can.

26. It's not your shot; it's our shot: Tough players don't take bad shots, and they certainly don't worry about getting "my" shots. Tough players work for good shots and understand that it is not "my" shot, it is "our" shot. Tough players celebrate when "we" score.

27. Box out and go to the glass every time: Tough players are disciplined enough to lay a body on someone. They make first contact and go after the ball. And tough players do it on every possession, not just when they feel like it. They understand defense is not complete until they secure the ball.

28. Take responsibility for your actions: Tough players make no excuses. They take responsibility for their actions. Take James Johnson for example. With 17 seconds to go in Wake's game against Duke on Wednesday, Jon Scheyer missed a 3-pointer that bounced right to Johnson.

But instead of aggressively pursuing the ball with a sense of urgency, Johnson stood there and waited for the ball to come to him. It never did. Scheyer grabbed it, called a timeout and the Blue Devils hit a game-tying shot on a possession they never should've had. Going after the loose ball is toughness -- and Johnson didn't show it on that play.

But what happened next? He re-focused, slipped a screen for the winning basket, and after the game -- when he could've been basking only in the glow of victory -- manned up to the mistake that could've cost his team the win. "That was my responsibility -- I should have had that," Johnson said of the goof. No excuses. Shouldering the responsibility. That's toughness.

29. Look your coaches and teammates in the eye: Tough players never drop their heads. They always look coaches and teammates in the eye, because if they are talking, it is important to them and to you.

30. Move on to the next play: Tough players don't waste time celebrating a good play or lamenting a bad one. They understand that basketball is too fast a game to waste time and opportunities with celebratory gestures or angry reactions. Tough players move on to the next play. They know that the most important play in any game is the next one.

31. Be hard to play against, and easy to play with: Tough players make their teammates' jobs easier, and their opponents' jobs tougher.

32. Make every game important: Tough players don't categorize opponents and games. They know that if they are playing, it is important. Tough players understand that if they want to play in championship games, they must treat every game as a championship game.

33. Make getting better every day your goal: Tough players come to work every day to get better, and keep their horizons short. They meet victory and defeat the same way: They get up the next day and go to work to be better than they were the day before. Tough players hate losing but are not shaken or deterred by a loss. Tough players enjoy winning but are never satisfied. For tough players, a championship or a trophy is not a goal; it is a destination. The goal is to get better every day.

With victory comes responsibility

Good story out of Orlando where Stan Van Gundy's team has "been good regardless of where they have played, going 17-4 at home and 17-6 on the road. They have smashed teams from the rugged Western Conference going 18-4 with first-ever season sweeps of both the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs."

But, as the saying goes, with victory comes responsibility.

"It's been an adjustment for us because before when we felt like we were the underdogs, we were out there trying to prove a point versus the really good teams," said [Rashard] Lewis, who hit four 3-pointers to add to his NBA-leading total of 129. "Now that we're an elite team, other teams are looking at us thinking they can make a statement by beating us. It's taught us that we have to come ready to play every night."

ORL center Dwight Howard said the team has learned from past lessons:

"We must stay humble and not get satisfied," said Howard. "I remember a couple of years ago we were the No. 1 team for a while, but we got lazy in practice and things went down from there. We've learned our lesson. To stay successful, we have to stay humble, positive and level-headed. We understand all of this stuff can be taken away at any time."

A player whose agenda is to make his teammates better

Doc Rivers on PHX guard Steve Nash's role and what third-year BOS guard Rajon Rondo can learn from Nash, who is in his 13th NBA season:

"Every night Steve's agenda is to make his teammates better. And he does it every night. He does it some nights by scoring and passing. Other nights he decides to be a ball mover and does it. But that's what Nash does every single night. He always does that.

The one thing that Rondo can learn from Nash is Nash may not play well every night, but he doesn't have an off night. He has a great mental focus every single night. He does it every night. I've never seen him play in a game where he has no focus or low focus. Young players, in general, are up and down in that."

The players are the medium through which a coach expresses his philosophy

Dr. Jack Ramsay's 1978 book "The Coach's Art" is 30 years old, but it's as relevant as ever.

Here's a good excerpt:

Coaching is a private act sometimes performed in public places. Coaching in a game is only part of the job, but it's the part that finally counts the most. A losing coach is, sooner than not, a former coach. If the team goes badly, the coach is responsible. But if the team wins, the players deserve and get the bulk of the credit.

I like it that way. I know when I've done my job well, and savor the satisfaction it brings. No one can ever take that away.

But coaching is an insecure profession, requiring of its practitioners a capacity to withstand external pressures while leading a team through a long, demanding season.

A coach has to have a firm sense of himself, sustained by intense powers of concentration. I hate to lose, but I know that once a game is over I have to put it out of my mind in order to prepare for the next one. I have to minimize the depth of my disappointment, disguising it from my players because it's infectious. Maintaining my ability to concentrate, to focus all of my attention on the task at hand, is part of my own responsibility as a coach.

The philosophy [of coaching] determines every aspect of practice, the objectives of meetings, and finally the game plan. It is the cement which binds every activity of a coach and his team, linking practice drills to game performance.

The preparation of a team begins with planning practices, for it is on the practice floor that teaching the game occurs. The importance of planning practices can't be overstated. A practice session's objectives, expressed in a practice plan, must be determined in advance -- and in detail.

The players need to know the point of what they will be doing. Posting the practice schedule in the locker room, I've found, is a good technique. It informs the players both about what we will be doing and how long we will take doing it.

Players like organization, they like order, they will work hard when they see the purpose of what they're doing. When every player knows what's expected of him and why, practices will be productive. And then even hard, physically demanding sessions will be fun, building the sense of common purpose and collective affection every good team has.

When players and coaches feel good about what's happening in practice, they will carry that spirit with them into games. I want every practice well organized, productive, and conducted with the same intensity and commitment as a game is played.

A coach who allows players to depart from his plan at practice can expect the same thing in a game. If it is his team, it must perform the way he expects it to. The players are the medium through which a coach expresses his philosophy.

Putting a priority on winning

Since Chauncey Billups joined DEN in a trade back in November, the Nuggets have won 24 of 33.

According to DEN coach George Karl, the addition of the 12-year veteran, who has played in three NBA Finals, had an immediate impact on how the team approached the season:

"In a strange way, I think Chauncey has defined winning with this team as being the only reason why we play the game. In the past couple of years, it seems like we've won games, but that wasn't the only reason we played. His no-nonsense priority is that we're here to compete, we're here to win, we're here to represent the organization, we're here to represent the city of Denver and do it in a first-class way."

It's a time of year when teams separate themselves

TCU coach Jim Christian contends, for basketball teams, the winter break is a key time of the season.

That's because, as this article puts it, "it’s all basketball, all the time — no classes, no tests and no worries, just basketball."

For Coach Christian, the "extended practice time has helped the team improve and refocus."

"It’s a time where teams separate themselves and players separate themselves," Christian said. "Teams that want to get better, get better."

Allowing a team to take ownership of its goals

Last week, a friend sent me a copy of Tom Osborne's book "Faith in the Game."

I've had a chance to get through the first five chapters of the book, including Chapter 5, in which Coach Osborne discusses goals and goal setting.

The following is an excerpt from that chapter:

Goals create a sense of focus and direction. A team without goals often is interested only in getting the season over with. There is no excitement or anticipation.

A team with a strong desire to achieve specific goals generates a sense of purpose, mission, and energy.

Until the early 1990s, our team goals were generally set by the coaching staff. We assumed that the coaches knew better than the players what our team was capable of accomplishing and what our priorities should be.

After three consecutive disappointing seasons in 1989, 1990, and 1991, I decided that major adjustments were necessary. It wasn't so much that our record was bad in those seasons; we finished 10-2 in 1989, and won nine games in each of the 1990 and 1991 seasons.

The disturbing thing was that we tailed off at the end of each season and did not display the drive and focus in bowl games that we needed.

As a staff, we decided that part of the problem might be related to our goal-setting procedures. We recognized that having the coaching staff set team goals gave the players the impression they were being asked to accomplish objectives that were important to the coaching staff but had little to do with what the athletes wanted to achieve.

As a result, there was less accountability on the part of players.

In 1992, in an effort to have the players take ownership of their objectives, we let the players set team goals. As the season began, we asked each player to list in order of importance five goals he felt were critical to the success of the team. We then compiled the goals listed and ranked them according to the frequency each goal was mentioned.

This discussion of goals relates to most organizations involved in competitive endeavors. The objectives and approaches presented may serve as a model for incorporating both long-term and short-term goals.

Experience taught our organization the importance of empowering the individuals who must accomplish goals by involving them in the goal-setting process. Having clearly stated this, specific goals contribute to effective performance.

It is important to have short-term goals broken down into components that enable one to see a clear relationship between daily activities and organizational objectives.

As we reviewed our goals each Monday, our players could see what they specifically needed to work on during... practice. The more players took ownership of short-term and long-term goals, the more effective our team became.

If mistakes are made, the teaching process is the only answer

Chuck Knox was an NFL head coach for more than 20 years with the Rams, Bills, and Seahawks, leading his teams to seven division titles.

In the book "The Game-Makers," he outlined his "principles of coaching," which I've listed here:

Inspire learning: "Create within the player a desire to do what is demanded, regardless of what technique is being taught. Enthusiasm is a must."

Concentration: "Learning [a sport] is not a matter of intelligence. It's a question of concentration. Any... player can learn if a coach gets him to concentrate and when a coach finds the secret of how that's done, he'll be a great coach."

Belief: "Knox... teaches with conviction. A player must understand the depth of that conviction." According to Coach Knox, "My... coaches have got to believe strongly in what they teach. Every great moment in the history of mankind occurred because someone had a belief."

Evaluate: A coach should be "totally honest with himself in what he sees. Looking at the scoreboard is one way, but not enough." According to Coach Knox, it's necessary to "look beyond that scoreboard and see that all the things the players are taught are being performed in a game that way. If I spent time in practice teaching a certain technique and then looked at the game films and saw the technique not being followed, I must be doing a damn poor job of teaching. Or maybe the technique is wrong and I should stick with what the player is doing in the game."

Never forget the basics: A game plan is only of value if a team is "fundamentally sound enough to execute it."

Sell skill: As is the case with all sports, "football is a skill game and all its elements -- blocking, tackling, catching the ball -- are skills that can be improved upon. The improvement must come from concentration on the basic fundamentals. The individual improvement will have a collective effect."

Don't demonstrate: "It is scientifically wrong... for a coach to demonstrate a technique to a player. Most of the time, the technique you're trying to demonstrate doesn't come out as you picture it in your mind." Instead, Coach Knox recommends using a player to demonstrate, making "sure that he did everything the way I wanted it done. Then everyone could follow a perfect model."

Teach, don't holler: "Enthusiasm is great and should be distinguished from ranting and raving. If mistakes are made, the teaching process is the only answer. A player won't understand what he's being taught if all he gets is hollering."

Said Coach Knox, "Take those factors, add the key element of communication, and that is my idea of how you can improve a player. But communication is the key. You must reduce an action to its simplest components, then hammer at it with repetition."

Distractions became distractions when you don't address them

Distraction: An obstacle to focus. Something that diverts attention.

As this article describes, every season, regardless of the sport, there are distractions. As we've seen with the NY Giants recently, some are major distractions.

According to Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, the worst thing you can do is ignore the problem:

"If there is something out there, you try to talk about it, try to get it out of the way. If something happens . . . you talk about it as a team. Once you talk about it, everybody gives their opinions on what they may think, it's kind of over with and you go on to the next problem. That's how you eliminate distractions; distractions are when you don't address them. The wives are talking about it, the girlfriends are talking about it, the media is talking about it and you don't address it, then it's a problem.

If you don't address these guys head-on, and you don't address the problem, then it gets bigger and the distractions just mount. It goes local, national and, all of a sudden, the snowball is rolling. They never just pass, go away on their own.

Some of it as you coach is if you don't deal with it, (the players) are going to wonder what you think instead of knowing because you told them. They get bits and pieces, girlfriend, wife, it's embellished and it all snowballs.

So in the end, yes, I do think those things can affect how you play, especially if you don't address it. If you've got a problem with a guy, if you've got a malcontent, what you do is in front of the team and then you say, 'Hey, this is what I think, this is what he thinks,' and you clear the air and then you've got a chance."

Rod Smith, a former All-Pro WR who won two Super Bowls in 12 seasons with the Broncos, had advice for players new to professional sports:

"I would tell young guys all the time, if you bring all of the things going on in your life to work, this is not a job where you're going to function all right. Go do something else. There are things more important than football, lots of things, but if you play football in this league and you get paid, you have to learn to leave those things for the time you are in the building. Or somebody's taking your job and then you'll have a lot more to worry about."

A formula for success

Since Mike Singletary took over as coach of the Niners in October, he's emphasized five "tenets."

According to this article, Coach Singletary's "49ers Formula for Success'' includes five principles such as "execution," "field position," and "finishing."

To make sure his players are getting the message, "Singletary also is hanging ... banners [with the forumla] around the building. And just before the end of practice, a team employee hauls a large signboard with the five rules onto the field."

By keeping it simple -- five clear principles -- and reiterating it every day at every interaction with his players, Coach Singletary is making it clear what he values and what his players should focus on.

A sign that you're focused and concentrating

Why is Ball State the only undefeated team in the nation?

Lots of reasons, but one key is that the Cardinals don't make "dumb penalties."

BSU is the least penalized team in the country, averaging less three than penalties per game.

The second-least penalized team? Penn State with 3.2 flags per game.

According to BSU's center, "It shows we're focused and concentrating."

It also demonstrates how disciplined coach Brady Hoke's team is. Says Coach Hoke:

"When you play smart and you don't have the bad penalties - jumping offsides, motion, formation penalties, those pre-snap penalties - I think that's a big part of [success]."