On a Friday before a three-day weekend, do you work hard until the last minute or take it easy?

As the season started, the Caps had to know Adam Oates’s system on the fly and as the result, the team struggled from the gate. Instead of thinking about the playoffs, the Caps were in the Popeye Jr. (Defenseman Seth Jones, projected to be the number one prospect of the 2013 NHL Draft) Sweepstakes. As the season went on, the team got use to the Oates system, Alex Ovechkin was onboard, and the Caps won the Southeast.

Although the Caps were coming to the playoffs hot, the Rangers were as hot. Although the Caps had home-ice advantage, and all the home teams won in this series, it was the Rangers who prevail and the Caps with an early exit…again.

Caps fans have to admit this team is the New York Knicks of hockey. The have the offensive flair, some defense, and they prefer to shoot from the perimeter. The only difference is the Knicks are selfish, while the Caps are passive.

This was a team that should’ve learned from Dale Hunter last year to learn about defense and be mentally tough. Instead, it’s the old Bruce Boudreau teams of a high-octane offense, but with little grit. Most people want to blame the players and coaches, which is fair, but I think it’s more of the culture of the team, which starts with owner Ted Leonsis. Yes, the Stanley Cup is the hardest-earned trophy in sports, but it seems Leonsis is satisfied of the business side of the sport than the result. He says he might care, but you have to act on it.

This leads to the GM of the Washington Capitals, George McPhee. He has done a good job shaping the team in the late 90s, early 2000s and rebuilding the team around Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Green (and Alex Semin). Since 2008, the team has made it to the playoffs, but have not passed 2nd round. Although McPhee has drafted and got great talent from free agency and trades, he has focus on talent and not character that can counteract with Ovechkin.

Speaking of Ovechkin, one of the biggest faults for the Caps is making him captain. He is a talented player, but his personality is the culture of this team and fair or not with the passing and the perimeter shooting, he is shaping this team and from the looks of it, he does about winning, he doesn’t know how.

As for next season, there will be a new conference, an actual 82 game season, and new players who can fit in Oates’s system and be the Yang to Ovechkin’s Yin. If we get Oates as the assistant coach who learned about the trapping defense from the New Jersey Devils, the Caps are set for a potential deep run.

Next year will be Ovechkin’s biggest year yet as the Caps will try again to make it in a crowded playoff field with the Devils, Rangers, Flyers, Penguins, Islanders, Hurricanes, and Blue Jackets. In addition, next season is an Olympic year and it is in Sochi, Russia so we might see a motivated Ovi or an uninterested Ovi depending on the result. Marketing wise, of the six outdoor games, none have the Caps, which tells us the Caps have lost their wide appeal.

Next year is very crucial for the Caps in more ways than one. You get the subplots and the players, but the most important question every year since the 1980s is can the Caps stay with the status quo or do they breakthrough? It’s up to them.

For the vegans:

Mom’s Cooking on Pinterest

The reason people say networking is the best way to get a job because you would  know someone and try to get the best first impression so they would consider you for a job in their organization. That might be fine, but if you’re in recruiting, you are trying to find the best candidates first and then the best candidate(s) that fit in the organization that is currently structured. To find the best, you have to use every resource you have.

In research, it used to be the source of hire is in newspapers. Now, it is internal hires and referrals as the top source of hires. You understand why; people within their company or their networks know the position opening in and out. The problem is do you want to keep it as it is or are you hiring to make the organization better? Actually, you should not be asking that. What you should be asking when hiring someone is what is the climate at your office? If your organization is stable and the numbers back it up, you continue to find or promote workers to keep the machine going. Anything less than that, you have to find the person that can change so your organization is stable.

After you ask that question and if the organization’s climate is unsatisfactory, then find the best person to change that. The easy route is going to your networks to help find who you are looking for. In reality, your networks is your lowest potential reach. If you want to reach to a bigger pool of candidates, go to your social networks, go to your local and regional associations, go post a job at a job board, or any outlet that brings a quality pool of candidates.

The best example is the Rooney Rule in the NFL. Everyone assumes the Rooney Rule, was to give minorities a chance to interview. In almost all these cases, head coaches and general managers are hired because they know someone. In 2007, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who the Rooneys have owned since its inception and what the rule is named after, were looking for a head coach after Bill Cowher retired. They had someone in waiting with then offensive coordinator, Ken Whisenhunt. Instead, they hired from someone outside their circles and picked Mike Tomlin. Ken Whisenhunt then became coach of the Arizona Cardinals that same year. The following year, the Steelers and Cardinals met in Super Bowl 43, where the Tomlin-coached Steelers defeated the Whisenhunt-coached Cardinals.

We can all say we’re looking for the best, but in some cases, our best is limited to a few blocks. There are biases like race, industry, class, location, and others that affects hiring, but to really find the best, you have to open your mind and be open to every consideration out there. If not, the best will walk away without you knowing it.

Employers, including big companies, are slow to react to mobile, which is expected. What I’m having trouble with mobile recruiting is we’re essentially shifting how we job search on our desktops and laptops to our smartphones and tablets. That’s fine et al, but isn’t mobile suppose to go beyond what we do in recruiting?

What mobile can do is make the application process easier so applicants can apply with one click/tap of the button. However, what happens after that? Some suggest to post a recruitment video or cleaning up to make an attractive career site. Here’s one thing that’s missing: where’s the two-way conversation in mobile?

You can transition from the computer to mobile, but if you don’t have someone behind mobile to handle the requests, it is the job board: redux. There are apps that handle that like JobScience and beamMe, but what applicants want to do is 1) apply and 2) follow-up with a representative to see if they’re a good fit. If laptops or desktops didn’t help on that, I don’t think mobile will solve that as well unless we force the issue.

We can have all the bells and whistles in mobile, but if you don’t have the people who can engage with applicants, mobile serves as another  route to the black hole in the application process.

I have been going back and forth on big data. There has been tons of blog posts about big data, including from my marketing and HR friends and one thing is clear: big data is here to stay.

With the “big bang” of big data; companies, government, institutions and others will use data to look at patterns of our behavior like what route we took and how fast we’re going, credit card payments, how much people drink at your restaurant, basically recording everyday life. This gives organizations data on how to market individuals and groups to retain their business.

Another great thing about big data is it can discover new things. As you see the video above, big data can discover your DNA sequencing and help third world countries discover areas to get water and clothing no one realize it exists.

On the down side, people who are on big data, are focusing too much on patterns. Big data assumes people will keep doing the same thing and “gaming” our emotions. Another down side is big data is focusing on others, but not themselves. Instead of focusing on their craft, some use to optimize their audience/customer reaction.

My verdict on big data is it depends on how we use data. If you use data for long-term effects, big data becomes very useful and the data becomes satisfying. If you use data for short-term gain like making a profit or capture an emotion, you lose track of who you are.

We made clear big data is here to stay. Here’s another thing that is clear but no one realizes: not one pattern stays forever. Eventually, someone or something will break the pattern. It is up to us of what we’re going to do.

• One involving how the happy hour/networking scene works in D.C.
• One is an action flick about an athletic policeman using his speed and intelligence to catch criminals and who has shady parents.
• One about Mike Rizzo (though that might be scrapped depending on the outcome).
• One about the beauty of Washington D.C.

The final one is about the D.C. newscasts of the 80s and 90s between WUSA and WRC (now referred as NBC4). However, I’m still deciding what angle to tackle.

The NBC4 team

My initial thought is doing a movie on the NBC4 team of Jim Vance, Doreen Gentzler, George Michael, and Bob Ryan (and Arch Campbell for good measure). To me, WRC has the best local news team in the country. I have seen other local news broadcasts on YouTube. They don’t hold a candle to WRC.

The characters set-up perfectly: Jim is a former cocaine addict who likes to ad-lib on air and lives in a freestyle world. Doreen is a straightforward anchor who is a healthy nut. George is a loud, abrasive perfectionist. Bob is…Bob. Those four were the gold standard of local news as a team and I would like to write what happens behind-the-scenes of why they were a great team. from this Washingtonian article, it would be hard to edit to a 2-3 hour movie.

Glenn Brenner

Although NBC4 might have the best local news team ever, Glenn Brenner might be the best broadcaster in D.C. history. Yes, he’s a sports anchor, but there was no one who brought the city together like Brenner with his no-nonsense reporting and interviewing, and his banter and wit with Gordon Peterson and Maureen Bunyan. You can argue that the only people who can really walk on the Potomac River are Joe Gibbs and Glenn Brenner.

Not only Glenn was a great broadcaster, he was (and still is) the pioneer of the current sports broadcaster people try to emulate: style, wit, and flair into the sports highlight. Although people have tried, no one comes close to Glenn. It was until his death in 1992 everything changed: WUSA, the top-rated news program in D.C., sank to 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th in the ratings and never have recovered after Brenner’s death. Meanwhile, NBC4 jumped to the number one and never looked back. The D.C. news landscape changed.

Personal experience

I have very little to no memory of any Glenn Brenner’s broadcast. I do remember some of the Weenie of the Week segments, the nun predicting games because my family was Catholic, and Countdown to Kickoff. I remember there was a mention of Glenn Brenner’s death during the NFC Championship Game broadcast, which the Redskins played and won. It’s a coincidence that a year after Glenn passed away, CBS got David Letterman to host the 11:35 PM time slot. Imagine following a  Glenn Brenner sports report, you got the Late Show. To be honest, D.C. would be more ironic, smarter, and possibly funnier in the 90s.

Although a lot of people will remember Glenn, I had a connection with George Michael and the NBC4 team. With no cable and no sports networks, they were my source of news and they were great. I especially like George Michael’s segments on wrestling and his blooper reels. I was crushed after hearing George’s death because that was essentially the last part of the golden era of local sports media gone. If Brenner revolutionize sports reporting, George build a cottage farm of the current TV sports personalities (see Kornheiser, Wilbon, David Aldridge, Lindsay Czarniak).

I’m amazed there hasn’t been a movie/documentary about WUSA and NBC4. That was the golden age of local newscasts and you had two different styles to choose from and it would be a very entertaining movie

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a screenwriter and won’t have any time as I’m trying to find a career opportunity and do need some funding, but I hope there is someone out there who can make this movie/documentary about the local D.C. news scene involving the personalities. Those personalities made D.C. great back then and it would make a great movie now.

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