IT Insights Blog — certification

The chocolates have been opened — and mostly eaten. The rose petals have begun their quick decline from beautiful red to brown. Romantic comedies have taken back their largely neglected place on the DVD shelf for another year. Valentine’s Day has come and gone again.

When Mark Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks in 2000, he decided that the players would be more motivated and provide better results if they had more perks. When the team drafted Etan Thomas, Dan Langhi and Pete Mickeal in the 2000 NBA Draft, Cuban flew them to Dallas in his $40 million private jet. Cuban famously upgraded his players' locker room, installing a flat-screen TV, Sony PlayStation and DVD player in every locker. Utah Jazz radio announcer David Locke called the Dallas locker room the "Taj Mahal of locker rooms." During the 2011 NBA lockout, Mavs guard Delonte West actually slept there at night.

Is there anyone who would argue that a foundation is not the most important part of a building? If so, then I urge you to conduct a quick Google image search on “buildings without a solid foundation.” Spoiler alert: It isn’t pretty.

On Sunday night, Tom Brady (Remember him?) became the only four-time Super Bowl MVP in NFL history, leading the New England Patriots to a 34-28 come-from-behind victory. (Poor Matt Ryan. The recently crowned regular season MVP now must bear the indignity of being the fall guy for a team that led 28-3 in the waning minutes of the third quarter and lost the game anyway. Have you seen the Golden State Falcons logo flying around the internet? 28-3 is the new 3-1.)

An adage is defined as “a traditional saying expressing a common experience or observation.” One of my favorite adages is “practice makes perfect.” As a coach, I can vouch for the truth of that aphorism. Over the past few years my youth rec league girls under 12 soccer team has racked up an impressive record, at one point going undefeated for three straight seasons.