Recommended Reading

I just finished my first book of 2009, Rick Pitino's "Rebound Rules: The Art of Success 2.0." I've been a Pitino fan for a long time, even though he did destroy my beloved Celtics in the late 90's. One characteristic I admire of his is his admitting failure when it happens. While rare for him, Coach Pitino admits he rushed things too much with the Celtics, often trading mediocrity for more mediocrity. He overpaid on many players (i.e. Walter McCarty and Travis Knight) who didn't deserve the money or the length of contracts they were given. No fault of their own, Pitino thought he could fix the C's. He took away the presidency title from the late Red Auerbach as well and that has always bothered me to this day. Long story short, he has now been back in Louisville for the last few years, coaching a very successful team.

As I often do, I took notes of my favorite points in the book and thought I'd share them with you:

• Ellis Myles, Louisville's 2005 center from Compton, is now their assistant strength and conditioning coach. He was given the position by Coach Pitino in 2007 as a means of working his way up the ladder towards becoming a full-time assistant coach. Their current Head S&C coach, Ray Ganong, is in his 22nd year with the team.
• Jerry Rice, one of my favorite players in NFL history, divulges his off-season workout. See pages 102-103 for the full details. It's 6 days/week of fury. You owe it to yourself to read that portion of the book alone- simply amazing.
• John Wooden quote on page 128 reads "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."
• Concept of "Real Net Worth:" page 185 reads..."Real net worth is far more likely to come from what you do for others, as opposed to what you do for yourself."
• Page 199 has my favorite line in the book: "The key to achieving greatness is not so much what you accomplish, but what others accomplish with your assistance."
  

Coach Pitino's book can be purchased by clicking the following link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0061626635?tag=pccon-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0061626635&adid=06SAX5VDJNW4QT01HGC9&