| I am always puzzled at how "high brow" people scoff at sports. There is so much to learn from athletes. MJ, Kobe, Tom Brady -- these guys have all the skill in the world, but more impressive than their skill is their incredible work ethic. I feel there's a lot to learn here. For example, one of Kobe's conditioning trainer's had this to say: "When I arrived and opened the room to the main practice floor I saw Kobe. Alone. He was drenched in sweat as if he had just taken a swim. It wasn’t even 5AM. We did some conditioning work for the next hour and fifteen minutes. Then we entered the weight room, where he would do a multitude of strength training exercises for the next 45 minutes. After that we parted ways and he went back to the practice floor to shoot. I went back to the hotel and crashed. Wow." Later on, around 11AM, the trainer sees Kobe on the court, practicing with the USA Olympic Squad, and has this conversation: "So when did you finish?" "Finish what?" "Getting your shots up. What time did you leave the facility?" "Oh just now. I wanted 800 makes so yeah, just now." ... This is not unique to Kobe, you find stories like this with all athletes in conversation for "greatest of all time." Secondly, there's a lot to learn from coaches as well, especially from the perspective of a startup founder. There's a reason Keith Rabois brought up the Bill Walsh's (SF 49ers coach) book, "The Score Takes Care of Itself," in the HTSAS lecture series. Lastly, watching sports at a high level is like appreciating great art. A great backhand in tennis, a brilliant pass by a quarterback, these all have a quality of beauty about them. I feel they induce similar awe-inspiring feelings one might find in an art museum, a great music album, etc. |