Professional
What I like …
A story that bears watching: Dubai, and the FedEx Cup.
An influential person in my career: My parents never worked in the corporate world, but they taught me early on how important hard work is.
A timeless idea: Dress for success.
A marketing idea: Private jet cards.
Sports facility: Wrigley Field.
A TV ad campaign: American Express’ “Members Moments.”
A print ad campaign: Gatorade’s “G” campaign.
A hire: Someone who complements you, as opposed to someone just like you. If you have two people doing and saying the same things, you only need one of them.
A brand: How can you argue against Coca-Cola, Disney and Nike?
An innovation: DVR.
A business decision: Trading for Johan Santana.
A business solution: Wireless e-mail.
A decision-maker: Someone who understands the facts and makes a decision based on the real and not on the popular.
A competitor’s idea: I am my own competitor.
An idea or invention I wish I had thought of: Google.
A fantasy job: Professional golfer, but only after I’ve won the lottery, so I wouldn’t have to play to eat. Otherwise, I’d starve.
What I Like About …
Sports media: They all wish they could play, or could still play, like the ones they report on.
Football: The sheer ability of some of the greats to see the game so slowly and react so quickly.
The NFL: Competitive balance.
Golf: No sport is a better judge of character.
College sports: That 99 percent of the guys and gals playing won’t ever be pros but play because they love to win and want an education.
Competing in this business: It’s filled with people I admire.
The future of sports business: If our economy continues as it has, I wonder if people will simply get so turned off to the costs of going to events and be disenchanted with the absolute wealth top-name athletes get to play. I think we may see a real turn to amateur sports as allegiances to local sports (such as a AA baseball team) and colleges are much easier than to the athlete who goes to the highest bidder, whom I can’t afford to see anyway.
What I Would Like To …
Change: Bipartisanship, we need some focus.
See different: I would love to see the world through my kids’ eyes.
Reintroduce: The Perm … oh, wait, Barry Hyde did that already.
Eliminate: Decisions based purely on profit.
What I Don’t Like …
In general: When my work life balance gets skewed. There is nothing that makes me more productive and excited to work than understanding the reasons why I am doing it.
Pet peeve: Laziness.
In sports: Lack of loyalty (to sponsors, teams, cities, etc.).
In business: Thinking you have to climb a ladder to achieve success. Be good at what you do and good things will happen.
In sports business: 874 bowl games.
In sports media: The skill level of the announcers in the 874th bowl game.
In sports marketing: That every pitch or tackle is “brought to me” by some company.
In sports facilities: Artificial turf of any kind and long lines at the bathrooms.
Personal
What I Like …
That would surprise those who know me: Golf is my second-best sport.
About myself: My work ethic.
Players: Nolan Ryan, Tiger Woods, Jim Brown.
Teams: Mets, Jets, Knicks and Islanders.
City: San Francisco.
Possession: A letter I found from Bobby Jones.
Memento: My grandfather’s lifetime gym membership card from when he worked at Grumman in the ’60s.
Time of year: Fall, especially the fall of 1986.
Books: “The Match.”
Authors: Mark Frost, John Feinstein.
Chores: Mowing the lawn.
Hobbies: Family, golf.
Movies: “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Caddyshack,” “The Natural,” “The Shawshank Redemption.”
TV: “Monday Night Football,” “Lost.”
Concert: The Wiggles (Three kids age 4 and under has its challenges).
Food: PB&J, I have it every morning for breakfast.
Dessert: Ice cream.
Drink: Guinness.
Scent: The smell of a new baseball glove.
Car: ’68 Camaro.
Singers: Keith Urban, Alan Jackson
Quote: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” — Harry Truman
Editor’s note: Golf World and Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal are owned by the same parent company, Advance Publications.
