http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/070109&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1 (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/070109&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1)
Today's TMQ is really pretty interesting. The lead of the article is an view of the national obsession with coaching. While the slant of the article is towards football coaches, I certainly noticed quite a number of things that appeared to align with comments about Crean. Specifically, views on how much a coach can motivate a team, how much money a coach makes and how people tend to think they are smarter than the coach. (There's even a nice gambling tip buried midway through the article.)
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Beyond money, there's an increasing sense that having top coaches is essential to the well-being of a city, college or high school. Coaches, especially football coaches, have never been a hotter commodity. Why?
Let me propose that the current national obsession with coaches reflects these themes:
• The illusion of control.
• The abdication by politicians and intellectuals of the father-figure role.
• The exaggeration of insider knowledge.
• The illusion of special motivational ability.
• The winner-take-all of modern economics.
• The Walter Mitty daydream.