West Coast Offense Essays (6541 words) - , Term Papers

West Coast Offense We know that football teams, similar to organizations everywhere, improve by going through an evolutionary progression as they learn, apply, adapt, and learn again. Bill Walsh accomplished all these by establishing and mastering the steps involved in that crucial process. No individual in the history of the game is more qualified to put forth such individual guidance. During his illustrious career, Bill Walsh was more than a football coach. In a very real sense he has been an exceptional visionary. Although he is widely renowned as the architect of the West Coast offense, his innovative approach to the game has extended far beyond his imaginative ideas on offense. During the time he spent working with the San Francisco 49ers, he transformed San Francisco's game into an art form. To Walsh, football was more than a physical contest, and success is more than a victory on the playing field. Success is the progression of worthy ideas and goals. Such a progression involves at least two key cerebral factors, attention to detail and an absolute commitment to perfection. To Walsh's way of reasoning, no detail or situation is too unimportant to be overlooked. Every possible circumstance that might affect the performance of the team and the productivity of the organization should be addressed. In turn, a contingency plan to handle each situation should be developed. In his more than four decades of involvement with the game as a player, a coach, and a top-level administrator, no individual has had a more worthy or meaningful impact on the players he coached or the coaches with whom he worked. A list of coaches that served with Walsh, and who subsequently went on to achieve remarkable success as head coaches on both the collegiate and professional levels is quite extraordinary. As a result, his influence continues to be felt throughout all levels of the game today. As you read through my manuscript about the West Coast offense, you will read about a detailed offense that thrives on perfection. Throughout my manuscript Bill Walsh and sometimes LaVell Edwards will continue to be referred to, having being the architects of such an ingenious offense. Before we can know more about the offense, we should know more about the history of the father of the West Coast offense. Bill Walsh was born in to an environment where most children played sports in the streets and on neighborhood lawns . He grew up in a neighborhood where there were no basketball courts, so playing football was the only option. Walsh grew up in area of southwest Los Angeles, better known as south central L.A. South central L.A. was the home of University of Southern California. Having lived in the atmosphere of USC, only served to heighten Walsh's interest in football . In later years, Walsh had the opportunity to hang around USC as a ball boy for the Trojan football team. In the process, Walsh made friends with several USC player that went on to be professional athletes and coaches. If you think Walsh came from a football background you are wrong. Though his father played a very influential role in his life, ingraining strong work ethics, (evident in most of Walsh's football teams). During the week his father was employed at a blue collar job in an auto plant. Walsh and family traveled from place to place for employment reasons. Because of the numerous travels, Walsh had the opportunity to attend three different high schools. He played on the football team at each high school, sometimes as quarterback, but usually as a running back because it was probably easier to learn the system. Walsh attended San Mateo Community College for two seasons, where he was allowed to play quarterback on a regular basis. After attending San Mateo and gaining a Associate's Degree, he attended San Jose State University, where he had the opportunity to play as a split end on the Spartan football team, coached by the legendary Bob Bronzan . Bronzan was a typical hard nosed coach, he demanded high standards of performance at all times from everyone associated with the team. He was a coach that stressed the fact that everyone needed to be willing to make sacrifices if the team was to succeed. Last but

10 Tips to Improve Your Writing Skills

10 Tips to Improve Your Writing Skills 10 Tips to Improve Your Writing Skills 10 Tips to Improve Your Writing Skills By Mark Nichol 1. Prepare Absorb information about writing, but don’t overwhelm yourself. I’ve been known to read a writing handbook or editing manual cover to cover, but I recommend reading one chapter or section at a time and absorbing information from online resources in similarly small doses as well. Our website is a good starting point, as it features thousands of posts about specific grammar, syntax, and style topics as well as vocabulary-building posts and more comprehensive posts about writing, editing, and language. 2. Practice Work on your writing every day. Commit to a daily writing exercise, even if you have only five minutes to spare. If you write for a living, or writing constitutes a significant proportion of your daily tasks at work, still set aside time to practice other forms of composition. Style or subject matter can vary day to day, or you can decide to, for example, respond in writing to something you experienced with any of your five senses (including anything you watched or read by way of a form of media). Alternatively, find a list of writing prompts online, and use the next one on the list each day, or choose one randomly. (Encourage family members or friends- or even coworkers- to join you in producing their own responses.) 3. Engage with Others Participating in a group learning activity is a great motivator. When you have paid for a class and/or scheduled time for attend classes or workshop sessions, you’re more likely to persevere, and completing assignments and projects will help you establish and/or maintain your writing discipline. If you’re intimidated by a group setting, consider finding a writing partner with whom you can exchange drafts and/or discuss concepts and practice skills, then graduate, on your own or with your partner, to a course or workshop. Alternatively, seek out online courses or groups. 4. Read Read for education, enjoyment, and enlightenment. For the most part, with recreational reading, just sit back and enjoy yourself. But consider devoting occasional sessions to analytical reading, in which you highlight particularly effective words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs and think about why they stand out, and apply the techniques to your own writing. 5. Organize Use organizational techniques such as outlines and diagrams. Brainstorm keywords and essential ideas or plot points. If other forms of creative expression stimulate you, use them: Listen to (or play) music to inspire a certain mood, collect photographs or illustrations of people, places, and things that suggest elements you want to incorporate into an essay or a short story, or draw sketches of characters or settings to help you visualize them. 6. Research and Fact-Check Whether you’re writing nonfiction or fiction, take care to write authoritatively. If you’re writing a short story or a novel, read about the historical background of the setting to make sure that you are not introducing counterfactual or anachronistic elements. When crafting a newspaper, magazine, or website article, or a blog post, educate yourself on your topic, and double-check quantitative information: proper names; affiliations and relationships; and dates, distances, dollar amounts, and so on. 7. Be Flexible Write with an open mind. Be flexible about changing the focus of an article or essay or the protagonist or plot of a short story or a novel. Question your assumptions, and accept that your initial goal or message may not be the most effective or useful one, or the one that you are prepared to express just now. 8. Draft Expect to be dissatisfied by your first draft, and don’t assume that your second draft is your last. Whether you’re writing a blog post or a book manuscript, the initial iteration may only slightly resemble the final draft- which, if you also submit it for editing, will differ from the edited version. Some writers have managed to produce an admirable piece of writing on the first try, but you will very likely spend as much time revising your first draft (and subsequent efforts) as you did producing it, if not more time. Embrace the opportunity to improve your baseline output by reorganizing, inserting, and omitting text; reshaping phrases and sentences; and replacing bland verbs and tired clichà ©s and vague descriptions. 9. Hire an Editor You’re free to post to your own blog or self-publish your novel without any further mediation, but you will be more successful as a writer if you accept that objective assistance enhances virtually everyone’s prose. Hiring an editor is a significant investment of time and money- editorial attention to a long novel, for example, can cost a couple thousand dollars and take several weeks- but if you find a good editor, the investment will be worth it. (And note that with any other service, you often get what you pay for, so when choosing an editor, focus on quality of results you will obtain rather than quantity of expense you will incur.) If you can’t afford such an expense, at least ask a friend or acquaintance to go over your writing for you, and perhaps offer to edit something of theirs in exchange or to provide a service of similar monetary value (dog walking or pet sitting, clerical or organizational assistance, repair or construction, and so on) in return. Just understand that assistance from someone on the basis of acquaintance is less likely to be either objective or of professional caliber. Choose an editor who knows what they are doing and will not hesitate to provide revisions and critiques at the risk of damaging your ego. 10. Practice Humility Perhaps you were praised at home and/or at school for your writing, or you have won one or more writing awards, or you have had articles or stories (or even books) published. Any or all of those achievements constitute a good start. But you are still developing as a writer, and you always will be. Continue to practice these habits and welcome other opportunities to grow functionally and creatively as a writer. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Regarding Re:Anyone vs. EveryoneEpidemic vs. Pandemic vs. Endemic

Bella

When I think of Bella, I think of dust, for the arid country in which she lived was no friend of the meticulous housewife. And as I begin to feel the swirling dust exfoliate my skin, my right hand automatically, subconsciously drifts to my left wrist, feeling for the plastic bracelet I lost long ago and finding only the memory of its origin. Bella came to me in the summer, when the sun was high and hot, and my hair had begun to turn red with its heat. More factually, I went to Bella, in a group of thirty, on the quintessential summer mission trip to Mexico. Filled with our romantic plans and burdened with craft supplies, we entered a small, worn, and obviously loved gym. Our first project was to advertise, and as we set out into the surrounding neighborhood, I began to miss the smooth pavement of America. The next day, having used my allotted eight minutes of hot water and five minutes of mirror time, my feelings of discomfort were far from alleviated. I was to be a group leader, meaning that I alone would be working with a small group of children whose names were as foreign to me as the wind to a worm. By this time, I was so far from my comfort zone I was beginning to lose sight of it, and a few more steps would put me in danger of getting lost on my way back. This is where Bella floated into my life. As we sat on the gym floor, me trying desperately not to show my fear, Bella and her sister coloring contentedly, my eyes fell on a subject guaranteed to generate conversation: jewelry. Bella had adorned her small wrist with a bracelet woven of thin strips of plastic. It had an unmistakable air of mission trip about it and as I pointed to it and gestured my admiration, I envisioned her sitting on this same hard floor with another girl, one hopefully more adept than I. The thought that Bella had done this before, that she knew the routine made me relax, and after a bit I even found my waxen smile melting into one of genuine pleasure . Over the next four days, Bella became a constant in my life. Every morning, bracelet donned, sister in hand, she marched through the crowd of surging children and found me. She repeated this routine with such a steadfast air, that I felt sure she would have found me had I suddenly relocated home. Her regularity was comforting, and if nothing else, I appreciated that it was me she found, eradicating the possibility of my ending up with a new name and face to learn every day. Bella marched right through the week and ushered in Friday with all the assurance a nine year old commands. We wrapped up the week in true mission trip style: with candy and lots of it. Our fructose-packed handfuls engendered so chaotic a frenzy that when Bella’s turn came I could only manage a quick bye and a smile in the direction of her and her sister before I was again absorbed by the hyped crowd. With a fond smile I watched her small back grow even smaller, and as I turned to focus on the other chi ldren, I had an extra bit of patience to share. Just as I sorted out who had already been given candy from those who had not, I felt a small tap, lighter than the landing of a bumblebee. Resisting the urge to pretend I had not felt anything, I turned. There stood Bella. In one small fist she still held tight to the hand of her sister, never letting anything separate them. In the other fist, the one she was holding out to me, was Bella’s plastic bracelet, the one she had worn every day. Speechless, I took the shyly offered gift, and this time to give her a real hug. Not knowing what I wanted to say, nor how to say it if I had, I could only hug Bella and her sister and murmur thank yous one after the other. Bella soon skipped off again, leaving me with more that a little to ponder. As I fumbled with the plastic laces, I slowly began to realize the magnitude of this gift. I began to remember the homes I had visited that first day. Incredibly small shelters that were once worthy of the title hut, their walls and ceilings were now formed with the things I once used to make forts. Mattresses, scrap wood, wagons and tires were used in place of glass and concrete. Somehow I had removed Bella from the town in which she lived, and in that single second the realization that she lived in one of those achingly mismatched homes threatened to knock me over. It is humorous how quickly my outlook on life was altered. The generosity of one small girl in a village reversed my thought process and sent me from self absorbed and unconcerned to the beginning of conscious member of society. The weight of one small bracelet resting in my palm brought with it a new knowledge and comprehension. I understood for the first time that my small network of contacts was not the only plot line, that my small pool of acquaintances was not the axis of the earth. It was in the few seconds that it took for me to fasten that tired yellow and black bracelet around my wrist, and the several y ears it took me to lose it, that Bella’s gentle unassuming influence altered my life.

Family Cultural Heritage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Family Cultural Heritage - Essay Example As Lowenfield observed, play involves application of all necessary activities in a child’s self-generated and spontaneous activities that are an end in themselves; implying that such development is best realized when a child initiates an activity out of their own interests, and leads to knowledge and development explained above. In such development process through paly, children are limited by their cultural expectations and roles; society encourages each child to play a game that is in line with their general expectations or the parent has to ensure the security of children during such games. During my childhood days, the park behind our house was always my favorite spot to play. I was a little different from other girls in my hometown because most of them played indoors due to a hostile weather. My parents knew that I was born with great energy; therefore they introduced me to playing with equipment such as a bicycle and basketball. This is in accordance with the cultural theory in play, which explains the family influence of play aimed at instilling more meaningful social interactions that individuals adopt in their social groups. With only one sibling in my family, my brother was always my best friend; I believe the interaction in our playing crated a unique configuration of individuality, leading to the strong bonds between us. He was always the one that I played with in my childhood days because we had the same interest in sport. Every afternoon after pre-school, I would go cycling around my house area and after my brother got back from school, he would ask me to pl ay basketball together. The first thing he would ask before we played was to get the rebounds after the shots that he was practicing. I was pretty frustrated as he would not let me play with him, but he made excuses such as asking me how to learn to catch and pass before I could play with him. This

Literature review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Literature review - Essay Example The next part, talks about the business structure and the major products and services offered by the company. The company history has been also reviewed highlighting the major achievements of the company over the past years of its business operations. The existing management structure and the corporate governance mechanisms followed by the organisation have also been studied. The business strategies followed by the company and its financial performance in the recent years have also been reviewed in this report. Company Overview EasyJet plc is a UK based organisation which operates its business in the airlines industry. The company is headquartered at Luton, UK and was founded in the year 1995. The airlines operations of the company includes 600 routes and offers its services to around 130 airports located in 30 countries all around the world (easyJet plc, 2012). Apart from carrying passengers the company is also engaged in the business of leasing and trading aircrafts. It has been es timated that the total fleet of aircrafts of the company included around 200 aircrafts as on 24 August 2012. The shares of EasyJet are publicly traded in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with the ticker symbol â€Å"EZJ† (Yahoo Finance, 2012). Business Description Airlines services are offered by EasyJet plc within Europe. The company runs its business along with its subsidiaries at point-to-point routes on short-haul basis. The company is found to operate across 130 airports spread over 130 countries and has more than 580 routes at present. The company operated fleet mainly consists of Airbus aircraft and some Boeing aircrafts as well. The engines of the aircrafts flown by EasyJet plc are supplied by (International Aero Engines) IAE and CFM international. The maintenance of engines and the aircrafts are mostly undertaken by Virgin, SRT, GE, Aeroton, MTU, Lufthansa Technik, and BF Goodrich. Aircrafts are also obtained on lease by EasyJet provided by various organisations like BOC Aviation, AWAS, GECAS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Nomura Babcock & Brown, Santander, and Sumisho. Purchase of aircrafts by EasyJet plc is mainly financed by the financial institutions like Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Alliance & Leicester, BNP Paribas, HSH Nordbank, Caylon, KfW, PK AirFinance, Natixis, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Royal Bank of Scotland, and WestLB. The major insurers of the company include La Reunion, Global, Canada Life, AIG, QBE, Houston Casualty, and Chubb. EasyJet Switzerland and EasyJet Airline Company Ltd. are the two subsidiary companies of EasyJet plc who are engaged in airlines operations. The aircraft leasing and trading activities are carried on by the other subsidiaries of the company like EasyJet Sterling Ltd., EasyJet Aircraft Co. Ltd., and EasyJet Leasing Ltd. Apart from scheduled airline and in-flight services, the other associated services offered by EasyJet includes online reservations, hotel rooms and car hire facilities. Company History St elios Haji-Ioannou is attributed to be the founder member of EasyJet and his objective of setting up this company was to offer low cost scheduled airlines within Europe. The first aircraft that was wholly owned by the company was provided in the year 1996. The company’s website was launched in the year 1997. Since its inception the company continued to expand its operations all over Europe and started implementing various acquisitions

Raymond Carvers Neighbors Essay -- Raymond Carver

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Neighbors† the speaker’s attention seems to be more directed on the Bill and Arlene Miller. The Millers are a married couple who were once a happy couple but as the years went along they felt grew apart. It seems as though they are too busy comparing their lives to the Harriet and Jim Stone, which are their neighbors, that they don’t have time to fix their marriage. The Stones do what married people should do and that’s â€Å"go out for dinner, or entertaining at home, or traveling about the country somewhere†¦(70).† The Millers are given the responsibility of looking after the Stones apartment for ten days, while they are on a pleasure trip. During these ten days they have to feed their Kitty, and water the plants. Because of this particular event the Millers, who se...

Limitations of Marketing Research

Present complex internal business information using three different methods appropriate to the user’s needs. * I am going to use is Samsung Galaxy S2. I will be describing: How the product is being marketed. How has it been marketed? What are the sales figures? How effective was the marketing? How does the business measure the effectiveness of its marketing? The Samsung Galaxy S II is a touch screen-based, slate-format Android Smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Samsung Electronics.The Samsung Galaxy S 2 really is a powerhouse of a mobile and is one of the year’s most popular phones after the great success of its Galaxy S predecessor. Samsung’s Galaxy S2 continued being the best-selling handset in the UK throughout November as Apple’s newly released iPhone 4S failed to claim the top spot. A Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S2 has hit 10 million sales, making it the fastest-selling phone of the series so far.The Samsung Galaxy S2, took five months to reach the same milestone. Although Apple didn't make a similar announcement when the iPhone 4S reached 10 million, we expect it did so quicker than the Galaxy S3, having sold four million in its first weekend on sale. It is very important how you introduce the product in the market it had it to done in the correct way for example Samsung they advertise In TV, website, newspapers and YouTube adverts.People will watch the adverts on TV it will persuade them to buy new technology product. It will help the increasing sales. Samsung their aims are to be of the one best company in the world. To make sales double in the future and sell their Samsung products, and by achieving these goals we aim to lead the way in tackling the environmental problems that are facing our planet. † to be one of the top three electronics companies in the world in quantity and in quality by 2010;