March Michigan Basketball Plane Crash impact on Beilein
There is a nice article at the Freep about Beilein and the plane crash.
LINK: How Michigan basketball plane crash changed John Beilein and his wife.
It is a fairly long article, and there are some new bits of information I had never heard before.
Kathleen, who’d been a flight attendant in the early 1980s, sensed trouble. “We’re not lifting off!” she said to Beilein, who was sitting next to her, holding her arm. “We’re not lifting off!” One second passed. Then another. And another. With each tick, the speed increased, and the runway got shorter. Finally, as the plane roared over 190 m.p.h., the pilot had a decision to make.
I can only imagine, having been on a plane as a career, what it was like for Kathleen to really understand the seriousness of what they were going through at that time. (And Beilein didn't have his seat belt buckled!
The article is too long to quote. It seems like it is an exclusive reflection piece. The most interesting thing (to me) is that John Beilein seems to have been deeply affected, and to be changing in a number of ways. Which only helps him, his family, and the team.
Beilein is the cream. Many try to knock him, but he is class through and through. And a ridiculously good coach as well.
I may not be "hip" or "dope" or "with it", but is being the "cream" a good or bad thing? The context makes it seem good, but I have no idea...
comment, the phrase 'cream rising to the top' has got be 100 yrs old. it has to do with when we milk, if we leave the buckets sitting for a while the actual cream (really good fat) will in fact rise to the top of our buckets. you have been raised in a world of homogenized milk which does away with most of this. the cream has the most nutrients and is what is used in most dairy-based delicacies.
you were kidding, weren't you?
Were you kidding that you expected people to know that one came from the other?
I've certainly heard "cream rises to the top" and all I thought was that "the cream" was kind of like "the shit" but with...well... not cream...
however small, i have apparently added to the knowledge base here.
Your comment was the cream, XM. Straight up.
and i'm not just saying that. i've known a lot of murderers in my day and you are #1.
Aw, jeez, that's nice of you (especially given your trade, when not mucking stalls).
It's nothing special, what I do. I mean everyone kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me, whatever.
you have a pinache for the trade. we should send you to hunt down some ISIS dudes though. put those talents to use.
It's not something you have to worry about Faux.
He is a great coach at a great program. There's just so many things that could be exploited in his offense and they just don't do them. That's the complaint I have. Live and die by the three too much when they have the players that don't need to play that way to win. I'm sorry, had to say it.
And there you have it,
Cocaine.
Wrestlemania 3. My son was 8, my daughter 11 and I rented it for them(me). I can say that was the greatest night of their lives up to that time. Definitely the cream rising.
I happen to be in the business of thinking a lot about life and death, and what is really important, and what isn't. Of course, that's different for each of us, but still. Events like the crash really crystallize what's important to each of us.
"The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function: without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends upon it."
No, I can't.
There was a time I wouldn't put up a link to a Freep article. Smh. Section 1 would go on a rant. Time moves on. I really don't know much about the Freep, but an article like this, which isn't replicated elsewhere, is worthy of a link.
That was a one time experience. Memorable. Not something to repeat.
Wow almost 200 mph, I didn't know it was going that fast. I could only imagine what was going through everyones mind
I wore one in each ear and did not like the rule. Not only could we not wear them around the baseball complex, school gym or campus we could not even wear them around the town. He told us that if anyone reported us, he had many people in the community who were baseball supporters that knew many of his team rules, that we would have exercise consequences. I also thought it was harsh. I look back on some of the rules and believe it was micromanaging, as well as religiously restrictive, dogmatic (I went to a pentecostal founded school). I realize after years of reflection that, although they seemed petty and restrictive I was not at school to wear earings. I was there to be as good of a student athlete as I could be. I am sure many people have their own oppinions about this or any other micromanaging rule. If as a person we are able to see past these things we can flourish even in disagreement. I was better with some of the rules than others but some of the principles have still stuck with me in becoming a better man, husband, father, coworker, etc. Either way you think about it I am sure Coach B's players love and respect him and play hard for him. There is always room for improvement from any human and I am sure Coach B and his staff realized some of these ideas after the traumatic experience!
Go Blue!
"Tens of thousands lost power" is an interesting way of saying millions of people lost power.
Besides that, great article on a great man.
I'm grateful everyone was OK, but c'mon Coach Beilein. Wear your seatbelt next time and every time thereafter.
Same for the rest of us. It drives me batshit to see people not wear their seatbelts during take off and landing. It's not just you your putting at risk, it's everyone in front of you. Batten your damn self down.
As my uncle - the pilot - once told me :
"You know what a seatbelt is in a plane crash? A cheese slicer."
I'll continue wearing mine the entire time I'm seated on the plane, just the same.
Yes, if it's around your stomach or other soft tissue.
But not so much if it is squarely on your hip bones, which is where it's designed (and tested) to be. ^_^
So do I want my cheese sliced or my brain crushed when my skull hits the ceiling? Let me think about it.
I found it interesting that before the Illinois game, Beilein looked around the locker room, saw the energy in the guy's faces, decided to skip the technical pre-game and just gave a more emotional/energy pep talk instead ("what story are you going to write for your kids and grandkids?").
Beilein's clearly very cerebral about the game and perhaps his approach to coaching too, so in my pet folk theory, he relaxed a little and was a bit more on the emotional/personal side of things and the team responded to that change in approach and played their best four game stretch of the year.
I think the key then is to have that as a tool in the toolbox of coaching - when to focus on the technical and detail and cerebral, and when to switch up and focus on the energy and emotion and bonding in the lockeroom. There's a tension, a delicate balance, in my view. If, as a coach, you are all one, or all the other, it's hard to reach the absolute top.
The analogy I think of is when Fischer (and Bo :^) took over for Frieder during the 1989 NCAA tournament. Invoking stereotypes, Freider was a details/cerebral/micromanager type. Fischer was much more laid back and emotional and personal (with a swift kick in the pants from Bo in the locker room on occasion :^). In the sudden change from strict, to relaxed, they hit the sweet spot and played their best ball of the year to win it all.
/end of pet folk theory ^_^
If only Beilein had been wearing his seatbelt, we could've closed the deal on some five-star recruits!!! $@%*@$ /s
Seriously, I'm so damn glad he is our basketball coach. Fluff piece is fluffy, but while I've been at turns exasperated by his auto-bench policy, his teams' 2pt FGA% and his inability to guard against half-court heaves from annoying random white dudes in Wisconsin uniforms, I've never once had cause to question his integrity and whether the basketball team will do anything to embarass the university. It's easy to scoff at that and say 'well, you're SUPPOSED to stay out of trouble!' but we're all sports-watching adults who've seen a thing or three. When other coaches are throwing their own players under the bus, running literal brothels or doing whatever-the-fuck they do at Baylor, you appreciate John Beilein that much more.