The Pulse - July 26, 2016

Posted by Mike Bullington on Jul 29, 2016
 
The thought for the day was delivered by the Honorable Judge William Shubb, who invoked the sober admonition of Abraham Lincoln in his Lyceum speech to observe the Constitution and its law, lest we be overtaken by mob rule.
 
Andrea Tener and Nina Linskiy, who are co-teachers at Luther Burbank, reminded us about the impact we have on their capacity to deliver a quality education experience to their students. They have individual budgets of only $500, out of which they sometimes provide kids with bus money. They explained the peer tutor program involving several general education students, that help general education students train for career opportunities. Networking is considered a big factor in their future success in the job market.
 
Todd Andrews (Andrews Construction) gave us a roadmap for Sac Century success by noting the progression from 1200 riders our first year, 1500 last year and ideally 2000 in 2016.
 
Roast, Boast and Toast
  1. Rick Eytcheson (Capital Public Radio) Celebrated his birthday, his daughter getting married, and Operation Backpack getting $6,000 in donations.
  2. Carolyn Carr announced her retirement from Cook Realty and her 75th birthday. She invited us to number 100.
  3. Kathe Nathan (The Merchants National Bank). Her Dad turns 90 on Sunday. He still gets out on a bicycle, although now it’s a three wheeler. Still…
  4. Len Simpson (2020 Financial Advisers of Sacramento) celebrated his 40th anniversary last Sunday. Maita is a peach!
  5. Bob Rediger (Rediger McHugh & Owensby) also has a celebration.
Scot Pollard entertained us with many Kingly and other stories. He complimented us by observing that he could see our faces because they weren’t buried in our phones. He seemed to be awed by our August group. The admiration was reciprocal.
 
Scot recounted his appearance on the reality show “Survivor”, which he claimed was a life changing experience. After being cut off from any contact with the outside world for 6-7 weeks, he told his wife that they’d have a baby. He said he lost 46 lbs., which put him back to his playing weight. He claims that more people recognize him for his appearance on the show than for his basketball impact.
 
He warmly recounted his Kings days, but his highest point may have been winning the 2008 NBA Championship with the Celtics. Nevertheless, our city has a special place in his heart. We were lucky to get him, one would suppose. Greg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs almost drafted Scott instead of Tim Duncan.
 
Scot complimented Coach Rick Adelman for being devoted to his family, but wasn’t the altogether in agreement with his reluctance to stick to his bench mob when they had performed well in the latter stages of a game. This was painfully apparent in the Game 7 against the Lakers.
 
Scot said that when he is evaluating future NBA’ers, he looks for fluidity in their movement and character. He said that a basketball player has to be the combination of a marathon runner and a high jumper. Tight hips indicate a propensity to get injured. Regarding the importance of character, Scot said that he’s get rid of DeMarcus Cousins.
 
Scot loves helping other people, especially kids, having organized a golf tournament at the University of Kansas, a bowling tournament and Pollard’s Luau in Larry town.
 
Scot responded to Kevin Smith Fagan’s (KVIE Public Television) question about corruption at the high school level, that is aided and abetted by the NBA and AAU.
 
Kathy Herrfeldt asked him to discuss the WNBA, which Scot heartily supported, saying that everyone needs someone to look up to.
 
President Dan complimented our speaker profusely, suggesting that we enjoy listening more to Scot than we do to his humble person.