Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Last year about this time, I posted about the impact of John Wooden on NY Giants' coach Tom Coughlin. Well, Coach is again spotlighted in an article in the fishwrap entitled, "John Wooden a hero to figure skating coach."

[Coach Tom] Zakrajsek, a former competitive figure skater, said he relies on Wooden's "Pyramid of Success" daily because he wants to make sure his athletes find success in life, not only in skating. He said he went back to Wooden's philosophy Sunday to help him calm a very nervous Abbott before the men's free skate finale.

Given two losses in the last three games for our Bruins, maybe some calming is in order, or as previously posted, the team needs to just play looser. Perhaps the pressure of three consecutive Final Four appearances and unreasonable expectations of bandwagoner fans are getting our boys nervous. If so, Coach's perspective is needed.

"I [Zakrajsek] borrowed a John Wooden quote about how when you work so hard at something for so long the outcome of that particular circumstance or competition becomes really important and then you find yourself as an athlete feeling like, oh my gosh," Zakrajsek said. "And the rest of his quote goes something like if you have patience, you will have great success.

"I said, 'This is so typical for you to feel this way, Jeremy, because you have worked so hard and you deserve success and it's OK to feel that way. So now let's move on and get back to what needs to happen.'"

It worked: Abbott skated the top-ranked program and won his first U.S. title.

No matter how this season turns out, we know how success is measured, so let's enjoy the ride.