Several months ago, I wrote an article that outlined some of the best sports speeches that I had ever heard. The article was multi-purpose: I wanted to get people fired up but also hoped that players, parents, and coaches alike could learn from each one. 

In the months since, I've gotten a lot of requests for speech texts, as in "that speech was great, but do you have a copy of it that I can print out?" 

I just finished Zen and the Art of Coaching Basketball: Memoir of a Namibian Odyssey by Ben Guest. Guest makes his first trip to Namibia shortly after college as part of the Peace Corps. After a couple stops in Mississippi as a teacher and coach, he returns to Namibia to teach at a private, international high school. Despite the school not offering sports, Guest goes to watch the public school championships and is offered a job to coach a boy's high school team. 

Here are my key takeaways from the book.                                  

It was a busy weekend of basketball. On Friday, Iowa shocked undefeated South Carolina to advance to the women's national championship game. On Saturday, San Diego State's Lamont Butler hit a buzzer-beater to help the Aztecs advance to tonight's men's national championship game. On Sunday, LSU beat Iowa to win the women's national championship.
With all of the wins, unfortunately, several things played side show to a fantastic weekend of basketball. We all know what they are. Rather than belabor what happened, I want to focus on what we should be taking away from all of this. 

It's 2023, and we're probably all suffering from some form of ADD. With information and entertainment at our fingertips twenty-four hours a day, is it really a surprise when young athletes feel compelled to check their cell phones every ten minutes at the gym? ​

This is an interesting topic because I'm willing to bet there were some tremendous inspirational speeches made before their were recording devices in everyone's hand. 

In today's locker rooms, coaches are often more careful with what they say because they know they're being recorded. A single slip up has consequences, and while every coach wants to "live in the moment," there is probably less spontaneity now than ever before.  

If you ask most basketball coaches why they coach, the first thing that comes out of their mouth isn't the word "money." 

However, as coaches move up the ranks, it can become an incredibly lucrative career. We'll start with high school coaches, then look at the college and pro ranks to compare and contrast what a basketball coach can make in a year. 

College sports books can be tricky in that most people show the alma matter love or follow a specific team based on family dynamics or geography. There are certain programs that seem to transcend that, usually due to national prominence and success. I can't say for a fact that the University of George has more football fans today than they did five years ago, but I'd be willing to bet that they do.  

And Georgia is investing accordingly. The Bulldog's spent $4.51 million on recruiting in 2022, which may not seem like a lot until you see that 2017's budget was $2.27 million. With winning comes more money, which is spent on better players and things, which the Bulldogs hope will lead to more winning. 

While the college game has certainly evolved, never has the business of college football been more scrutinized. I've written previously about books about college coaches and even more specifically, Nick Saban. Today, I'm going to bypass the biographies of college coaches and focus more on the sport itself: 

*The crossroads of business and college football

*The history of the sport and the impact it's had on broader society

*A unique look at a season at Michigan and Mississippi State 

Here are five books that go beyond the game itself and are worth your time. 

Shooting a basketball is like swinging a golf club: it requires hundreds of hours of practice to develop consistent muscle memory. For a lot of young players, unfortunately, they develop flawed shooting mechanics at a young age, and the practice they put in reinforces those flaws. All of a sudden, they're playing in high school, and it's too late.