Road Improvements  

Celtic Pride
By Mark Matteson

II attended the seventh game of the Boston Celtics-Cleveland Cavaliers series in the TD Banknorth Garden last week. (Thanks Michael and Debra!) As we entered the arena, known to locals by the name of its hallowed predecessor, “da Gahdin”, I was handed a green T-shirt along with everyone else. They take their sports seriously in Bean Town. What a crowd. What a facility. What a game. LeBron had 44 points, but the best TEAM prevailed and Boston won. At halftime, I wandered around this magnificent shrine to the late, great coach Red Auerbach, arguably the most successful coach in NBA history. Some claim, I know. But let’s look at his legacy:

• He was the general manager, head coach, and had NO assistant coaches!
   

• He was the first NBA coach to draft a black player.
   

• The Celtics won 11 NBA championships in 13 years while he was coach.
   

• He drafted Larry Bird as a college junior to secure the rights to him, even though he had to wait a year for Larry to be a Celtic.
   

• The book he wrote on basketball in the 1950s eventually became the bible for coaches overseas. They taught the international players Red’s philosophy and now they are teaching us!
   

• When he knew the game was in the bag, he would light up a victory cigar. If he didn’t care for the opposing coach, he would do it in the third quarter. What a character.

In addition to the all the great pictures on the wall of all the teams he coached, he created more coaches from his past players than any other coach in NBA history. Some of you might say not more basketball! Bear with me. The following ideas apply to families, businesses and churches. They are timeless principles. What can you borrow? Amidst all the pictures of teams and players was a 4’ x 8’ board of quotes.

Here are my favorites that give you some insight into his philosophy and values:

• Dress British, think Yiddish.
   

• It’s not what a coach says; it’s what the players hear.
   

• The Celtics aren’t a team; they are a way of life.
   

• We won seven championships in a row without having a single Celtic among the league’s top-ten scorers. The fun part of basketball is winning.
   

• The Celtics tradition? It’s more than winning; look the best, dress the best, act the best. It was a certain championship feeling.
   

• There is no substitute for winning. None. Never forget that.
   

• On being the only coach ever thrown out of an Old Timers’ Game and an All-Star Game he replied, “Hey, they keep score. I like to win.”

Even though that green T-shirt is a little snug, I wear the Celtic Green with pride. You just know Red is smiling in heaven. What? He was kicked out for arguing with God? I bet his team won.

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  Hear ye, Hear ye....

We want to begin by saying a heartfelt THANK YOU to every person that ever purchased a copy of Freedom from Fear. Thanks to 50,000 people around the world, the book was recently chosen to be translated into 7 languages in various Asian Countries. As a result, the team at Executive Books, Kevin Thomas and I revised and updated every aspect of this amazing little story. It is the #2 all time best seller at Executive Books behind “The Ultimate Gift” which was made into a delightful film last year.

So, it is with great humility and gratitude we are pleased to announce that the NEW COPES ARE IN!

In honor of Father's Day we are offering a 2 for 1 Special Offer. If you order before June 16, 2008, we will send you:

1. The updated NEW Version of Freedom from Fear complete with a new cover, extra pages (118) and a few nice new insights.

2. You will also receive a copy of “Freedom from Fear FOREVER”, the book that many clients claim is the perfect Graduation/Fathers Day gift.

If you act now, over the next 5 days, we will send you both books for the ridiculous price of $19.99!!! Click here now

If you order 50 copies or more (for all your employees and friends), we will add 10 boxes of the award winning “Window Cards” absolutely f*r*e*e (a $100 value) and 100 Dashboard Decrees (valued at $10) and ship it for F*R*E*E!

Thank you for being our customer!

Enjoy the Journey,
Mark Matteson

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  Positive People Profile

I golfed a lot in college. I had a wicked slice. (My ego called it a Power Fade.) It would rear its ugly head at the worst times, usually when I was trying too hard. I never learned to let go in my twenties.

On a recent trip to Ocean, New Jersey, I picked up the local newspaper, the Asbury Press. While perusing the sports section, I came across an inspiring article entitled, “Truly Unstoppable”. Kenny Bontz was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a tumor in his left tibia. Bontz is 38 years old and for 17 years he lived with pain most of us could never imagine. He was taking as many a 24 Vicodins a day just to get by. Kenny is a golfer and the two-time club champion at Jumping Brook Golf Club. Kenny recently had surgery and now has a state-of-the-art prosthetic leg, giving him hope that he can make history as the first amputee to make his way into an event like this in the state, quite possibly in the country.

“To qualify as an amputee for an able-bodied event---well, that would mean a lot to me.”

The head pro at Manasquan River in Brielle, NJ, who teaches Kenny said, “The most important thing about Kenny is his attitude. He always has the right outlook on things, and that’s why he’s been successful.”

Entering his first big tourney, his caddie offered up some advice, “Anyone who has been through what you’ve been through, and made the decision you’ve made, you’re nothing but a winner. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so just go out, relax, and enjoy the day.”

Good advice for golfers and business people everywhere. Now, about that slice...

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  One Book For The Road

Recently I purged my library. I had collected over 2,500 books and some just needed to go. I also found myself revisiting old friends; that is, favorite books that I will revisit many times before I kick the bucket. It was a joy re-reading some highlighted passages. Here is one such old friend:

Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them. Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn’t. Like many fly fisherman in western Montana where summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.

Do you know the passage? The book? Here is a hint. Think of Robert Redford’s voice and Brad Pitt as the younger brother who died. Give up?
It’s based on a short story by Norm MacLean, A River Runs through It

The book makes me want to fly-fish and call my brother.

Perhaps this summer you, too, will revisit some old friends in your library.
Then, once you do, send ME some book recommendations. I would like know to what YOU like to re-read.

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  One DVD For The Road

The Bucket List
Jack has done it again. Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson play two very different people thrown together in a hospital for the same reason, cancer.

Jack is a wealthy, soulless, uncaring businessman in the Scrooge School of Business. He has been married four times and has a daughter that won’t speak to him with a grandchild he has never seen. The irony is he is forced to be a patient in one the very hospitals he owns, whose policy is two people per room, no exceptions.

Morgan is Jack’s alter ego in almost every way. He is a loving family man who committed to the needs of his family for 45 years and never did much for himself. He has a keen mind and is a voracious reader, but never actually visited the places he knows so much about. He is humble, kind, unselfish, faithful, professorial, and a man with limited means.

What they both conclude is that the time has flown by, like smoke through a keyhole. Jack has the means, Morgan has the time, and so off they go on an adventure doing all the things on their Bucket List (the things you hope to do in your life before you kick the bucket)

1. Skydive
2. Get a tattoo
3. Visit the South of France
4. Go on a safari
5. Visit the pyramids in Egypt at sunset

You get the idea. Along the way, they both learn a great deal about life, the people they love, and the value of two critical questions each must ask and answer. You will have to watch the movie to learn the questions. Directed by Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally and Stand by Me)

As my friend Dan Holohan says, “Hug your kids!”

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  Watch "The Road" Buddy!

Matteson Avenue has an archive of all the ezines of past.

Launch new goals this year

Lessons of Life

Laugh more this year.

Check out my movie list to make you Laugh, Cry and Think

Learn more this year by reading a book a month on the Reading List

Leave a legacy this year - Freedom From Fear Forever has a great message!

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