Super Agent Leigh Steinberg

#Dodgers  L.A.has lost five straight, but still have best record. I have followed team since 50’s and couldn’t identify the minor leaguers that played last night,One starter,Andre Ethier,from Opening Day Lineup.They are not talent laden enough to lose so many starters!!

#Earl Campbell  So I helped Earl and his son Christian w a K and much to my surprise a massive delivery of sausage arrived. Return to barter system.John Friese once sent spuds from Idaho, Bledsoe’s Dad sent apples from Yakima.

#Great crowd, lots of fun@Laguna Rotary speech today. But while rest of country is boiling it was completely overcast and cold in Laguna Beach.

#LA Kings  The LA Kings are hottest team in hockey and on the way to winning the Stanley Cup, they deserve more support. But we don’t grow up with ice here, weak TV contract,doesn’t televise well. Players appealing but need mkrtg.

Speaking tmrrw to Laguna Beach Rotary at noon at Aliso Creek Inn.

#Wyland Had dinner last night with “Marine Michaelangelo” artist Wyland and he painted me a wonderful turtle at this beachside studio in Laguna Beach. He’s on crusade to save art instruction in schools.

How can smaller mkt teams like Spurs be so consistently good?The critical key to success at any level of sports is the quality of the organization. It requires owner w vision, front office w judgment&perspective,coaches who recognize talent&how to develop it.Winning orgs win no matter draft position,cap limitations,injuries or other obstacles, because of structure and methodology.

Just saw “Avengers” in 3-D, the plot is nothing you haven’t seen multiple times but the special effects w 3D are pretty amazing. It actually is disorienting at times because it feels like you’re inside the action

Sports superstars’ agent speaks

By Christopher Laddish, Marinscope contributor via Twin Cities Times

“There I was, brimming with experience, having never practiced law before,” Steinberg said wryly. “But we had leverage. We ended up with the largest rookie contact in the history of the NFL.”

“I should have quit then,” Steinberg joked.

Steinberg reminisced about landing in Atlanta in 1975 with Bartkowski and being surprised by the throngs of fans and the contingent of news reporters that had gathered for their arrival. “I saw then the tremendous idol worship and the veneration athletes are held in across the country,” he said.

A strong community advocate and philanthropist, Steinberg said he always upheld the core values his father taught him, which included valuing human relationships and making positive changes in the community. The agent passed on that set of values to his clients. “I saw that practice as a way to persuade athletes to serve as role models,” Steinberg said.

Steinberg has always encouraged athletes to give back to the schools, churches and communities that helped shaped them. “I asked athletes to retrace their roots,” he said. At the collegiate level, football players Steve Young and Troy Aikman both started scholarship funds at their universities.

Cruise’s title role in “Jerry Maguire” is loosely based on Steinberg. Film director Cameron Crowe approached Steinberg in 1993. “He wanted to be a fly on the wall,” Steinberg said. Crowe spent weeks in Steinberg’s office and accompanied him to press conferences, the NFL draft in 1993 and the Super Bowl.

Steinberg also worked with directors on other sports films, including Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday” and the 1999 film “For Love of the Game,” directed by Sam Raimi.

“For me, you have to be a steward of the sport,” Steinberg said.

A longtime advocate for athletes’ safety, Steinberg said the most distressing part of his career was witnessing injuries.

“Playing football is an act of courage,” he said. “The level of contact in these sports is like getting in a car accident every time they get hit.”

Steinberg spoke candidly about his struggles with alcohol, which stemmed from the death of his father, personal financial problems and a divorce. “I turned to alcohol at those times to check out and block it all out,” he said.

In March 2010, in the midst of financial ruin, Steinberg “crashed” and enrolled himself in a treatment program for homeless addicts. “I had sold my business for $120 million, and there I was in indigent rehab. I felt I had hit rock bottom,” he said.

“Today, I’ve been sober for 795 days,” Steinberg said, drawing applause from the crowd.

Steinberg said he is coming out of bankruptcy and plans to start a new agency based on the same core values he has always held dear. “I want to stimulate the best in athletes, prepare them for a second career and try to make a meaningful change in this country.”

Contact Christopher Laddish at scope@marinscope.com.

May 26, 2012|By Leigh Steinberg via The Daily Pilot

Last year I had the pleasure of speaking on the field at the awards presentation for the Daily Pilot Cup. It was heartwarming to experience our community coming together to support third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders as they competed.

Daily Pilot Editor John Canalis, Sports Editor Steve Virgen and all of the giving volunteers are to be complimented for the way in which they have created this bonding event. And, major kudos to Kirk McIntosh, who takes time away from his busy law practice to serve as tournament director.

This year’s 13th annual tournament will start Tuesday and concludes June 3. The games are played in Costa Mesa on the fields at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex, Costa Mesa High and Davis Elementary School.

My children Jon, Matt and Katie spent a collective 22 years playing soccer in Newport Beach AYSO. That meant that I had years of Saturday mornings on the sidelines.

Soccer is the first organized sport that most children ever play. It is the first time they have a chance to be measured against their peers. It can be a time of extraordinary empowerment or a traumatizing crushing of their self esteem.

Coaching plays a major factor in creating the perceptual prism that kids view the experience with, and so does parenting.

Because I am concerned that how to parent children in youth sports is a rarely discussed or taught skill I co-wrote a book with Dave Smith on the subject that will be published later this year. No one instructs parents as to whether they should encourage their kids to be young Vince Lombardis and win at all costs, or if enjoying the experience is the key.

There is no “parenting license” that is required. If your son or daughter is not getting major play time, the team is losing, they are playing an undesirable position, or the coach is not nurturing – should you counsel your kids to assert themselves with the coach to improve their situation? Or, should they accept the situation and build character?

Parents can confuse their own desires to have their children be a star with the child’s actual needs.

Type A parents may try to live through their kids and be unduly prideful with success and embarrassed with anything less.

I wrote earlier this year about a time when my daughter Katie was crying on the field after her team lost in the playoffs. I ran out on the field to console her. She looked at me and said, “I’m not crying because we lost Dad, I’m crying because this means I won’t get to see all my friends on the team as much.”

We need to be careful as parents to allow our kids to chart their own paths and not impose our own reactions on theirs. Time spent watching games on the sidelines is important to our children, but not as important as one-on-one time spent with them.

Children tend to be more focused on how their parents act than on what their parents say. Kids are easily embarrassed by over-the-top parental behavior. Even worse is the parents who berate the referees or coaches. The people who coach and officiate are also busy parents who care enough to volunteer their unpaid time and energy to providing a productive learning environment for the young players. It’s about the kids, not the parents.

Some of the sideline behavior has been so distracting and negative that the Pilot Cup has actually enforced a new rule which allows the referee to penalize a team for their fans’ behavior.

Soccer can teach invaluable life skills to young participants. They can learn self-discipline, teamwork, performance under pressure, resilience and never quitting. It shouldn’t be about the winning at that young age.

Please come out and support the community spirit, good parenting and youthful exuberance that the Pilot Cup experience offers.

LEIGH STEINBERG is a renowned sports agent, author, advocate, speaker and humanitarian. His column appears weekly. Follow Leigh on Twitter @steinbergsports or blog.steinbergsports.com.