He's got everyone's attention. He gets you wide awake at the beginning of each practice and you've got to be sharp, got to be on your toes. He wants you to listen, he wants you to start each drill properly and make sure you know what you're doing. If you don't, get out of the way. Same thing with our meetings. It's, 'Stop what you're doing and pay attention.' He only has to say it a few times and everyone catches on. |
He's symbolic of what our team stands for. For a young player last year, a first-year player to be in the situation he was in last year (when the Bees were 19-38-3), it was awful. It wasn't fun to play hockey. It wasn't fun for anybody to go to the rink last year. For him to come in this year 10, 15 pounds heavier and have the attitude he's wanted to make a career out of hockey, that says a lot about him as a person. |
I don't think we've seen institutions panicking, I think it's fair to say that in fact overseas institutions came in quite heavily overnight on the buy side. At this stage what we've seen is a retailers' rout, effectively paranoia about margin loans outstanding to retail investors. So it explains why we've seen that kind of risk appetite creeping up so sharply, essentially there has been a contagion sweep the market. |
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I just realized a couple of things [that] I never would think about it ... if I wasn't in this situation. How hard I hit the mound coming off. And that's not even half the effort [I would exert in a game]. It's trying to be smooth, trying to be cautious and trying to think about the things I'm doing. I can't really imagine what it would be on a good night, fully loaded and trying to get a tough hitter in a situation. |
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I never saw him loafing to first. He used to run hard every ground ball, every fly ball. It was amazing the way he played the game. Because sometimes you just don't feel like running hard when you think it's going to be an out. If you see him before the game, you didn't believe he was so tough a player. He used to play hurt every day. Used to complain he didn't sleep. But when the game started, he was just marvelous. |
I said something to Joe after the game in Chicago. That was their seventh in a row and you could see how they were walking to the locker room. We were walking off and I said, 'You know what? I remember that feeling.' Walking to the locker room like you don't know what's the problem. You're playing hard, but you just don't know. And you try to figure it out. So it's a big difference for us from last year to this year. |
I think it's admirable what he did, because there have been some guys in recent history that have gotten their contract and gotten hurt and went home, never to be seen again. Knowing Troy, he was going to have to (try) because he was professional in every aspect of the game, so you didn't expect him to just not show up and collect his checks. He was going to try and pitch because he's a competitor first and foremost. |
I think that it's going to be like that, single-file. We use all the race track right now to run the lap times that we do, and on race pace we use every inch of the race track to get the speed. ... It was easier to run side-by-side because you didn't need that extra track. Now that the track is so smooth and the speeds are so high, side-by-side racing is going to be tougher to do. And we just won't see as much of it. |
I think the perception of the industry in general is also changing, because of folks like B of A and many other reputable companies. Like N.E.W., for example. They've been around for a long time. Many of the other people in the business now are established, and unlike what you wrote about last week , there are not so many people going by the wayside. I think the auto [extended warranty] industry is almost shaken out. |
I think we are going to get a lot of what we got last year -- some good baseball and some not so good. I think they still need a slugger at first base. Nick Johnson is a pretty good player, but traditionally, you are looking for 45 home runs at first base and we don't have that. We have to make it up at other places. I'm pretty happy with their acquisition. They really strengthen their bench and that was a big thing. |
I'm a firm believer in second chances, and if we're going to go through life not giving anyone second chances, what kind of life are we going to have? People make mistakes in life. Unfortunately, I was under the microscope and on TV when my mistake happened, and if I'm going to sit here and keep getting ridiculed about it, how are we ever going to give someone a second chance to become better or to change situations? |
I'm doing something I love to do, ... I don't know what to say, except the wins keep coming, I've had great career and I'll try to get as many more as I can. I love it and appreciate it and thanks to all my sponsors. I know that when I signed with Makita Suzuki, I didn't know it was going to be as good as it has been. I was confident in my abilities and in the team and you've just got to give it up for Makita Suzuki. |