My guest blog posts recapping the MIT Sloan Sports Conference

**Update: I also had a second, more comprehensive recap of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference published on The Business of Sports blog. It can be found here.

The following is the text of a guest blog post I wrote for the Octagon First Call blog looking at five of the most informative and entertaining panelists from this past weekend's MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference:

This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the MIT Sloan Sports Analytic Conference (#SSAC to the Twitterverse). Assumed by many merely to be a gathering of statisticians and fans of sabermetrics, the conference actually is a tremendous resource and networking opportunity for anyone working or aspiring to work in the business of sports. The following is a look at some of the most entertaining and informative personalities from the panels and the reasons why:

Jeff Van Gundy
ESPN NBA Analyst and former Head Coach
Van Gundy displayed his trademark basketball insight and analysis but also answered questions with a surprising level of candor. He twice cited specific examples of players he had coached to illustrate a point. He first mentioned Tracy McGrady as an example of a player so naturally gifted that he succeeded in spite of his poor practice habits and later said that although Stromile Swift displayed prodigious athletic talents, he never demonstrated the necessary work ethic or love of the game to become anything more than a serviceable NBA player. He also drew laughter from the audience by saying that a player can be soft, selfish or stupid, but not more than one of the three. He later commented that he should have added fat to the list when former player Bonzi Wells was mentioned by Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey.

Justin Tuck
New York Giants Defensive End
Although initially tentative and quick to defer, Tuck proved to be a valuable panelist, giving a player’s perspective and sharing a few personal anecdotes. He illustrated a point regarding innate talent vs. practiced behavior by telling a story about playing High School basketball against one immensely talented player (Jamario Moon) and another that was incredibly hard working (Gerald Wallace), noting that while the former is in the NBA, the latter has transformed himself into an All-Star. He also left the audience dumbfounded by relaying a story in which he witnessed JaMarcus Russell throw a football 72 yards from one knee during a high school game.

Mike Carey
NFL Referee
Carey offered the unique perspective and insight of having actually officiated NFL games, illuminating certain issues in much that same way that former colleague Mike Pereira has successfully done during Fox’s NFL broadcasts. He articulately described a few of the subtle nuances required in determining what constitutes a holding penalty, but perhaps his most interesting contribution came when he explained that the reason reviews of a challenged play can take so long is because the entire play is open for review, in addition to the particular aspect of the play being challenged by the Coach. This came as a surprise to fellow panelist Bill Simmons who confessed his ignorance on the matter and even went so far as to ask the audience, “Did you know that?”

Mark Cuban
Owner, Dallas Mavericks
Cuban lived up to his reputation as a savvy businessman with a quick wit and an eye towards the future. Sporting a “Talk Nerdy to Me” T-shirt, he repeatedly teased the notoriously nostalgic Bill Simmons for living life in the “past lane” and joked that the fines he’d accrue for criticizing NFL officiating would make owning a team cost-prohibitive after Mike Carey commented that the definition of certain penalties was open to interpretation. Cuban discussed his unrelenting commitment to providing the highest quality in-arena entertainment for fans, sharing that the team invests hundreds of thousands of dollars in creating short-form entertainment for fans attending their games and stated that “If you’re looking down at a device during a Mavericks game, I’ve failed.” He also dismissed the notion of social media as the latest and greatest innovation, asking the audience how Facebook could possibly be considered “new and exciting” if it has 500 million users.

Wyc Grousbeck
Owner, Boston Celtics
Grousbeck proved to be both insightful and surprisingly funny during a panel on ownership. When asked if spending $350 Million to buy Celtics was a bad investment, he stated that although he felt confident his money was safe with the organization, the purchase was motivated by Celtic Pride and the pursuit of a championship. In response to a question about how quickly the deal came to fruition, he answered, "If I went to Sloan or Harvard I'd still be doing the Celtics deal. But I went to Stanford so I pulled the trigger." He and Warriors Owner Joe Lacob exchanged some good-natured ribbing. After Lacob admitted he’d be content with 40 wins for the Warriors, Grousbeck asked, “Over how many years?” Brian Burke, President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, shared that he tells Owners “there’s only two hands on the steering wheel and they both belong to me.” Bill Simmons immediately followed-up by asking Grousbeck if he had ever touched Celtics’ President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge’s steering wheel, to which Grousbeck made the timely and comedic response, “If I had, it would have gotten me kicked off the BYU basketball team.”

Marketing Me

I've held various marketing positions during my career, each of which presented different challenges. I have proactively tackled those challenges with creativity and ingenuity. Facing the task of marketing myself as I search for my next career opportunity, I'm attempting to bring that same outside-the-box approach. As we all well know, a resume does not offer a comprehensive narrative.

I recently stumbled upon a YouTube video produced by a group of summer interns at Allen & Gerritsen, an ad agency located in nearby Watertown, MA. The video is entitled, "What Makes A&G Different? An Intern Presentation." It offers a look at the agency's culture and personality and is a unique take on the standard "About Us" or "Our Culture" section most companies provide on their website.

I enjoyed this unique perspective and began to think that perhaps there was a way for me to use video as a medium through which I could introduce myself and offer a more complete picture of who I am to prospective employers. I'd like to think that my resume speaks for itself, but any resume can be lost in the shuffle and, like a lot of folks, I feel as though I'm at my best in person or over the phone and a video is the next best thing. I had created a SlideShare presentation using PowerPoint a while back, summarizing information from my resume while offering some additional personal information and decided to use that as a starting point for my video.

This all resulted in the following video:

I'd welcome any feedback or comments you may have. In addition, should you know of any individuals or organizations that could benefit from my experience and skills, please feel free to pass this along.

For What It's Worth (FWIW)

Growing up in Rhode Island, I religiously devoured the Providence Journal sports section every morning. My favorite writer at the paper was Bill Reynolds. Perhaps Reynolds' most popular column each week is his "For What It's Worth" piece, a rambling, stream of conscious, collection of thoughts. In homage to Reynolds, I thought it might be fun to write a For What It's Worth of my own as today's blog post. So, without further ado, here goes:

• Spring Training is supposed to signify the onset of spring to baseball fans, but listening to interviews from Ft. Myers, Florida this week in the car while driving by 9-foot mounds of snow, I somehow found it difficult to envision spring arriving anytime soon.
  
  
• Thankfully, there isn't much of an opportunity to feel sorry for yourself being home and unemployed when your 2 year-old son constantly does things like take your sunglasses and winter gloves to use for "safety" while "building."
  
  
  
  
• Twitter pet peeve: The incredibly common, yet ridiculous habit of retweeting every Follow Friday (#FF) mention of yourself. For further thoughts on the matter, please read this blog post by Amanda Rykoff. I thought about composing a post on the subject, but I realized it would be almost verbatim what she wrote.
  
  
  
• While presenting Bill Russell with the Presidential Medal of Freedom this week, President Obama lent his support to the building of a statue for Russell in Boston. Here's hoping his endorsement brings us closer to it coming to fruition. A Boston Globe Editorial makes an excellent case for the statue today. It reads, in part:

"Russell, who played at the peak of America’s racial tension, should be commemorated not only for his prowess on the court, but for his expansive mind and powerful, outspoken sense of justice."

• I very rarely seek a person's autograph, but a couple years ago my wife and I and our then-newborn son waited in line for 3 hours for a chance to speak to Bill Russell & his daughter and have him sign a copy of his book, Red and Me. I am proud to have met him and look forward to retelling the story and explaining its significance to my son when he's old enough. I was even able to elicit Russell's trademark laugh during a funny exchange about my son, captured in the following photo:
  
  
  
• I've really been enjoying Subaru's fun new "Dog Tested. Dog Approved." campaign. According to a recent AdAge.Com piece, Kevin Mayer, the car maker's director-marketing communications, said about half of Subaru's customers own a pet, and it indexes higher than most car makers with dog owners. It therefore makes sense to market directly to the target audience of dog owners. I wonder why other car makers don't embrace their popularity with certain segments of the population, especially with regards to certain models. I don't have any statistics to reference, but anecdotally speaking, it sure seems that a high percentage of Honda Element drivers are also dog owners. This is due in part to the ease with which one can clean the back of the car (you can practically hose it down). If the numbers back up my assertion, it would seem to make sense for Honda to follow Subaru's lead and begin actively marketing towards dog owners. See the following video for an example of the Subaru spots:

That's about all for now. I wish you all a great weekend. I'm off to enjoy the unseasonably warm day here in Boston while watching the snow and ice melt off the roof with unbridled joy.

Trade-Off/Laid Off

In my most recent post, I wrote about loving your work and managing your work/life balance. This, of course, was followed the very next day by my department being cut in half due to a larger corporate restructuring, resulting in me being laid off. I thought I'd take this opportunity to revisit my comment from the last post about everything being a trade-off and delve into it a little further.

In general, we look for our careers to be rewarding, in one form or another. Some folks choose professions that are financially rewarding, but require significant sacrifice (be it travel, time in the office away from family, etc.). Other people make a conscious decision to work in a job that's less demanding of their time and energy, but affords them ample time to be with their family, albeit at the expense of greater payment. Of course, there are also those that work tirelessly in positions that offer little in the way of monetary compensation either because that's the only option available to them or, in more altruistic cases, because they find the job to be spiritually or emotionally rewarding. I think you get the idea.

This (hopefully) brief break from the working world seems like an opportune time to reassess where I've been and perhaps gain further clarity about where to head from here. Looking back at my career thus far, I've fallen in a few different categories. I began by hustling my tail off in internships and entry-level positions in sports marketing for very little pay in order to establish myself. I then reached a Manager level in a job I enjoyed greatly, accompanied by a certain financial comfort level (as much as one can have in NYC), but still with a serious time commitment.

In the fall of 2005, my wife and I moved back to my native New England, settling in Waltham, MA as she pursued her Ph.D. at Brandeis University. Unable to find a position in sports marketing upon moving, I began consulting for a number of local small businesses, helping with their marketing and advertising efforts. While this was enjoyable and rewarding, the hours and compensation were wildly inconsistent, leading to me accepting an offer of a position that would provide me with further stability at a time when it was sorely needed.

My most recent job was outside my chosen field and I must admit that I didn't find the content particularly interesting. That being said, I accepted the position during a significant economic decline and the job afforded me certain luxuries I hadn't experienced in prior jobs. Specifically, my office (until a recent move) was a mile from my house, enabling me to come home for lunch with my wife and older son during the first 18 months of his life. The hours weren't as long as I had grown accustomed to in other workplaces and I was therefore able to focus on my family during a three year period in which we bought a house and had two children.

Team Cutler:

I wouldn't trade the time that I had with family during that period for anything, despite some of frustrations I've had regarding a stunted professional development. Had I not been home for so many lunches with my son during his transition from infancy to toddlerhood, I would have missed opportunities to witness scenes like the one captured in the following video, where my son discovers the wonder of eating fresh mango.

What I seek now is a happy medium in regards to my work/life balance. By focusing more on my career in order to work in an environment which I find to be more rewarding I realize that I'll be sacrificing some of the additional time that I've had of late with my family. They will always remain a priority though and I'm confident that I can be a better husband and father when feeling more content with my professional growth.

As always, any thoughts or feedback provoked by this post are welcome, in addition to job leads or suggestions for my next move.

If you can't be with the ones you love, love the work you do

I apologize for the prolonged absence from posting. Unfortunately, the snow and ice dams terrorizing my house have been my main focus of late. As a related aside....we all value different friends for different reasons. It's important to have friends that will listen to your problems and offer sage advice, or friends to grab a drink with, watch the game, etc. For my money though, nothing trumps the friend that will come over on a Sunday and spend three hours helping you shovel off your roof, hammer away at ice dams and teach you how to repair a damaged roof. Having dispensed with that little tidbit, let's move on to today's post...

I've been giving a fair amount of thought to the idea of loving one's work as it's a topic I've been encountering often recently in blogs, tweets and conversations. My generation is much more likely to make drastic career changes, or even just change jobs often within a given field, than our parents' generation. Factor in a struggling economy and abnormally high unemployment rates and it has become increasingly common for people to answer the question of what they do for a living with something along the lines of "I'm working doing X, but my background and true passion lies in Y," or some variation thereof.

We're all familiar with the old adage, "Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life." I've seen/heard this idea countless times over the years. If only it were that sample.

Last week I read Gary Vaynerchuk's (@GaryVee) book, Crush It! I found it extremely motivating and inspiring. I am eagerly anticipating reading his next book, The Thank You Economy, due out next month. All that being said, I'm a firm believer that everything in life is a trade-off. Despite Gary being perhaps the foremost current example of taking something you're passionate about and finding a way to monetize it and succeed, even he struggles with finding a balance. He was featured recently in an Inc. Magazine article and noted the following regarding his work/life balance and family time. "As much as I love work, family's the most important thing to me. But I don't want to be the alcoholic who says he doesn't have a drinking problem. I wish I spent more time with my wife and daughter. It's something I struggle with. I'm scared to play the I'll-get-to-it card. These days, I spend about 90 percent of weekends with my family, which is a big accomplishment for me. Last year, it was 40 percent. At least I'm heading in the right direction." I bring this up not to disparage Gary, who I respect and admire greatly, but merely to further illustrate the point that even the happiest, most successful people make trade-offs and seek greater balance.

As you may know, I have a background in sports marketing, and it's an industry with which I remain very engaged. There has been much discussion amongst the #sportsbiz folks on Twitter about working in the sports industry and being a sports fan. In fact, during the inaugural #sbchat (a weekly sports business Twitter chat) it was one of the issues most commonly raised when the topic turned to what pitfalls to avoid when trying to secure a job in sports. Many people warned against (or even shared horror stories about) saying in interview settings that you want to work in sports because you are such a big fan. While I wholeheartedly agree with that advice, I would also argue that being passionate about sports is essential to one's survival working in sports business. My love of sports and interest in the business behind it led me to transfer schools, spending two extra years in college in order to secure a degree in Sports Management. That same love kept me going once I secured a position in the industry, working tirelessly while being paid well below fair market value. Like many small, in-demand niche industries, the pay scale doesn't come close to comparing to other fields and the hours can be long. Longevity can be difficult to achieve without a real passion for sports. Working in the field can no doubt leave you jaded and drastically change your perspective, often shifting you from being a fan of a certain team to a fan of a sport in general, but the passion remains. Some of these issues were covered in a recent blog post, entitled "The Snow Bowl Took Away My Fandom", written by Lou Imbriano (@LouImbriano), a 25-year veteran of the sports marketing world. I can relate to much of what he has to say.

Until next time. If you need me, I'll be the crazy guy on his roof monitoring the paths of flowing water...

Brave New World

While we aren't quite living in the society envisioned by Aldous Huxley in his 1932 novel, I don't think too many of us could have possibly imagined the technological advancements we've achieved and how they would affect our daily lives. Being snowed in today during a major blizzard, this seemed like an appropriate time to reflect for a minute and share some vignettes from the past few weeks meshing personal and professional interests. I'll bounce around a little giving a few examples of things I have found interesting or cool that could only happen in today's society while also talking a quick look at where I'm at personally as we embark on another year.

Golden Voice = Golden Ticket

One particularly uplifting story from the last two weeks that also perfectly illustrated the power of social media was the saga of homeless man Ted Williams. What began on January 3rd with a Columbus (OH) Dispatch employee posting a video of Williams begging for money on the side of a highway in exchange for showcasing his tremendous pipes on the paper's website quickly transformed into a national phenomenon. Within days, the man who had become known as "The Golden Voice" was making appearances on The Today Show, The Jimmy Fallon Show and countless others. He even secured a voiceover job from Kraft Foods and voiced a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese spot that aired on January 9th during the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on ESPN. Adam Schweigert (@aschweig) used a website called Storify to create a timeline of the story, which can be viewed here. It's incredible to see how quickly this story progressed. It was a year's worth of developments packed into the span of a week, but I suppose that's par for the course these days.

There are two important takeaways from this story that I'd like to quickly discuss.

1. In this fast-paced 24 hour news cycle world in which we are all operating, it's essential to think and act quickly to capitalize on an opportunity. The good folks at the Cavaliers/Quicken Loans (same owner) recognized the potential of this story at an early stage and garnered a tremendous amount of positive PR by offering Williams a job and a mortgage, even going so far as to create a "We Want Ted Williams" website in a matter of hours. I was equally impressed by Kraft's quick strike to sign him, record the ad and leverage his popularity along with their sponsorship of the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl by airing the spot on ESPN during the game.

2. One problem with stories like this developing so quickly is that journalists and marketers alike don't have the time to do the sort of due diligence that would normally occur prior to such high profile media appearances and brands paying to align themselves with a person. Unfortunately, in this instance, that led to problems when Mr. Williams ran into difficulties with Police and his daughter and allegedly lapsed back into his old alcoholic ways (see the end of Schweigert's timeline for some details). Nonetheless, for as long as it lasted, Ted Williams provided some heartwarming moments for the nation at the outset of a new year.

Mystery Solved

Sometimes Twitter can really shrink the world in fun ways. It can grant you access to people you wouldn't otherwise have a means of contacting. One of my favorite authors, Joseph Finder, is an avid tweeter (@JoeFinder) and often graciously fields questions from fans. My brother recently purchased a Kindle and having remembered me recommend Finder's books awhile back asked if I had a suggestion regarding which one he should read first. I passed the question along to Finder via Twitter and he quickly tweeted a response. Could my brother have begun reading Finder's books without insight from the author himself as to where he should begin? Absolutely. However, it's a fun little quirk of Twitter that we are able to pose the question directly to the source and get an immediate response.

Toddler Tales

My 2 year-old son has been mastering the art of positive reinforcement. This is extremely comical because of the accomplishments he chooses to applaud. A few times this week he wandered into my room as I got ready for work and said, "Daddy finished showering? Good job daddy!" He generally adds shortly thereafter as I'm on the way out the door, "Have a good busy day at work daddy!" If only I could bring him to the office with me to excitedly lavish me with praise for completing some of the more mundane and menial tasks of my day.

The Quora Quandary

Like most people I know, I feel as though there aren't enough hours in the day. I have two kids, two dogs, a job and a losing battle against an expanding waistline to contend with every day. It's easy for things to get lost in the shuffle. That being said, I, like everyone else these days, fear missing the boat on the next big thing and being left behind. I have many friends and colleagues still steadfastly refusing to even try Twitter to their personal and professional detriment (in my humble opinion) and I'm therefore more inclined to explore something once others have vetted it and given their seal of approval. Therefore, despite having serious reservations about adding another time drain to my life, I succumbed to the wave of enthusiasm about Quora and signed up. The question and answer site has been a frequent topic of conversation both online and in person.

As for my review of the site, I personally didn't find it particularly interesting or useful, but I seem to be somewhat in the minority in that respect. It seems with everyone hungry to discover the next online craze, I'll feel compelled at least to dip my toes into the water of anything generating as much buzz factor as Quora has been, even if that's as far as I go with it.

Groupon Resolution

I decided to combine a new year's resolution with my first Groupon purchase. A local gym offered 5 group classes for $20. It seemed like a worthwhile purchase since I could work a one hour class into my schedule, feeling confident that I'd get a great workout and knowing that I'd feel an obligation to attend the classes having already paid for them. Thus, last week was my first experience with Boxing Boot Camp. Getting changed into workout gear and throwing on a pair of sneakers of course elicited a "Daddy go exercise? Good job daddy!" response from my son which was encouraging. We'll see how week two goes. Maybe I'll bring my son and give him the trainer's headset to keep everyone's spirit up.

A little birdie told me...

I saw a quote recently that said, "Twitter makes me like people I don't know more and Facebook makes me like people I do know less." While this is obviously a generalization and isn't universally true, it fairly accurately describes my sentiments regarding the two social media sites these days. This could be due in large part to the fact that my Facebook usage is predominantly social/personal, whereas only a handful of the folks I follow on Twitter are friends. I have no doubt that many people share the same inane updates about themselves on Twitter as my Facebook friends do on that site and perhaps that's why I've made a concerted effort to restrict my Twitter followings to personal and professional interests rather than another means through which to connect to my friends.

I thought a recent tweet, shared by @itsgoodell, illustrated an interesting point about a major difference between Twitter and its counterparts. The tweet read (in part), "LinkedIn is your Rolodex. Facebook is your scrapbook. Twitter is your lifestream idea generator." LinkedIn & Facebook, while incredibly useful, functional, and sometimes even enjoyable are much more easily defined/categorized than Twitter. Twitter seems, to me at least, to serve many more functions to people than other social media sites. It's an aggregate of countless RSS feeds. It's a marketing/public relations/promotional tool. It's a vehicle for companies to provide customer service. I personally was initially attracted because it was one-stop shopping for all of the sports news and updates that were leading me all over the web, a slave to the refresh button. I very quickly discovered its value in various other capacities. Along those lines, I thought I'd share two recent examples of interesting and effective uses of Twitter that caught my eye.

Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyanTV), Executive Producer of hit TV shows such as The Shield, The Unit, and the upcoming The Chicago Code found an interesting way to commiserate with fans over the cancellation of his critically acclaimed FX Network show, Terriers. He held what he referred to as a "Twitter Wake" for the show, allowing fans to ask him all the lingering questions they had about that show that would normally have gone unanswered. I thought this was a great way to engage with fans and reward a loyal (albeit insufficiently large) following of the show. For a sampling of the wake, you can peruse the postpost (a story for a future blog post) I created here (scroll down to the 10 PM on 12/16 tweet to start from the beginning).

My second example of outside the box Twitter usage involves multiple Twitter accounts and also falls under the category of fan engagement. It's also of great local interest. The Celtics, despite being one of the oldest teams in the NBA, are also one the league's most active in social media. In addition to Shaq (@The_Real_Shaq), who practically pioneered the role of athletes on Twitter, players such as Nate Robinson (@nate_robinson), Jermaine O'Neal (@jermaineoneal), Rajon Rondo (@RajonRondo), and Paul Pierce (@PaulPierce34) are frequent tweeters. On multiple occasions, a few of these players have offered their tickets to a game to their followers on Twitter, often with the winner being decided by Twitter-based trivia contests. Giving up two personal tickets and running a quick trivia contest via Twitter takes minimal effort on the part of the players, but goes to a long way to engendering good will with their fans.

Feel free to share feedback about this post, or let me know examples of things you've encountered on Twitter that caught your eye and are worth sharing.

Happy Holidays to all of you and hope you're staying warm.

Meet the author

So, in case you hadn't noticed by now, my name is Dave Cutler. With this being my first foray into blogging, I'll ask that you bear with me as I find my voice and learn as I go. I welcome your feedback and advice. While this is my personal blog, my intention is for this space to be used to discuss both personal and professional interests and in some instances a hybrid of the two. My passions are my family (dogs included), marketing, and all things Boston sports. I have a background in sports marketing so you'll find my viewpoint about sports vacillating between that of a fan and a sports marketer.

My goal is to establish my personal brand for those of you who aren't already familiar with it through my blog posts. If you're interested in finding out the basic ABC's of DC, please feel free click any of the links you see along the right-hand side of this page. For those of you who are more visual, or perhaps are looking for more information, see below for a quick PowerPoint slideshow overview. It should sufficiently (if not beyond) bring you up to speed both personally and professionally.

About Dave Cutler

View more presentations from Dave Cutler.

For two quick examples of SI ads which I especially enjoyed making because of personal rooting interests, watch the following videos:

DC SI Pats Ad from Dave Cutler on Vimeo.

DC SI Sox Ad from Dave Cutler on Vimeo.

I promise a more substantive post in the near future. I wanted to dispense with the introductions first. In the interim, I invite you check out my Tweets as I think they offer a fairly good window into my daily interests.

I'll close by offering you a quick sample of my self-deprecating sense of humor, love of 80s movies, and obsession with basketball, all rolled into one. While I am a passionate fan of most major sports, at my core, I'm a hoops junkie. Basketball was my first love (how could it not be, growing up in the Larry Bird era) and it remains an important of my life today. I drag myself out on the court once or twice a week to play and while in my head, this is still me:

On the court, I more closely resemble this these days (tip of the cap to you 80s movie fans who recognize the photo).

Till next time....