Khristain Elliott retweeted
Over 2,500 games from the dugout. 50+ years in baseball. 17 as an MLB manager.
I won Manager of the Year and also lost more games than I want to count.
I led teams through losing seasons and took a team to the World Series.
If I could go back to my first day as a leader, here are the 5 lessons I'd whisper in my own ear:
Lesson 1: Be a window when it's good, a mirror when it's bad.
The leaders I respected most shared every win and absorbed every hit.
What this looks like in practice:
• Wins: name the people who made it happen
• Losses: say "that's on me" before anyone asks
• Locker room: spotlight the effort before the outcome
Your team will fight harder for a leader who deflects credit and absorbs blame.
Lesson 2: Nobody hands you trust. You earn it before you coach it.
Early in my career, plenty of coaches tried to fix my swing.
I tuned out every one I didn't trust.
Get to know your people before you try to develop them.
Their hobbies, their family, what makes them tick.
Then the coaching lands.
Lesson 3: Shower well after every loss.
After a losing streak in Colorado, our team president asked me how I kept the clubhouse together.
This was my rule:
• Self-evaluate honestly, were we prepared, did we execute?
• Shower well, wash off the grit, grime, and angst before you walk out
• Be present for whoever you're going home to
Tomorrow is a new opportunity. Don't drag yesterday into it.
Lesson 4: Lead transformationally, not transactionally.
Transactional leaders ask: what can this person do for me?
Transformational leaders ask: how do I put this person in a position to win?
The first builds compliance.
The second builds careers.
When your people start chasing growth instead of your approval, you've crossed over.
Lesson 5: Stay humble before life humbles you.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are humble, and those who are about to be.
Discipline keeps you in the first group:
Skill gets you in the room. Humility keeps you there.
50 years taught me leadership isn't about you.
It's about the people you serve.
@rockies
Khristain Elliott retweeted
“Tell me the rules and I’ll follow them. Nobody follows them. And then every time something happens a lawsuit happens… END. THE. CHAOS.”
Louisville coach Pat Kelsey went off on the NCAA at an eligibility hearing
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Graves County freshman Emlie Miller currently sits at even-par 72 after the first day of the KHSAA Girls State Championship in Bowling Green for a shared spot of 3rd place.
T41 - CeCelia Ray, 12-over-par 84
T41 -McCall Moore, 12-over-par 84
T48 -Harper Hunt, 14-over-par 86
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Calloway County's Matthew Briedwell and Graves County's Emlie Miller were named this week's WPSD/Biokinetics Athletes of the Week.
More: wpsdlocal6.com/sports/10-7-a…
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Leadership starts with the six Cs: Connection. Build trust. Character. Live the standard. Competence. Know your craft. Consistency. Apply the standard to everyone. Communication. Say less. Say it clearly. Courage. Have the hard conversation. Technical knowledge may earn
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Bryce Harper thought about his son Krew and "what [he] would say to him in that situation" as he turned the page on the misplay in right field. ❤️
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Culture isn’t what’s painted on the wall. It’s what your people repeatedly do when the coach isn’t watching, the team is tired, and the result isn’t going their way. To build the right culture: Identify the culture killers. Define the behaviors. Create accountability. Connect
Khristain Elliott retweeted
In 1988 Dolly Parton pulled every 7th and 8th grader in Sevier County into a room and told them to pick a buddy.
She made them sign a contract.. if BOTH graduate, she hands you both $500. One fails, nobody gets paid.
The county dropout rate went from 35% to 6%.
She handed out the checks herself.
In 1989 she offered $500 to every kid in the county who wanted to go to the local college.
When Gatlinburg burned in 2016, she sent 900 families $1,000 a month for six months.
You've probably heard that part.
Here's the part you haven't:
The fund raised more than expected, so she showed up in May and handed every one of those families another $5,000 on top.
Then she quietly put $3 million into the recovery group that handles the years after the news trucks leave.
She built her county an entire hospital.
She played a benefit concert in 2007, Dollywood and the Stampede matched it, and LeConte Medical Center opened in 2010 with a birthing unit and a women's center in it.
In 2022 she started covering 100% of tuition, books, and fees for Dollywood employees.
Full-time, part-time, AND seasonal.
In 1991 she paid for a bald eagle sanctuary because the birds couldn't be released back into the wild, no press release.
And when Hurricane Helene came through here in Western North Carolina, she wrote a personal check for $1 million and her companies matched it.
She didn't owe North Carolina anything, but she helped us anyway.
She started the Imagination Library because her daddy couldn't read or write. Before he passed, he told her it was the most important thing she ever did.
Rest in Peace, Dolly 🇺🇸
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Russell Westbrook retired today with the most triple-doubles in NBA history. The name written on his wrist for all 18 seasons belongs to the kid UCLA actually wanted. That kid died at 16, and Westbrook spent two decades playing for both of them.
Westbrook was a 5'8", 140-pound freshman that no college recruited. The call UCLA's head coach made to his high school in 2004 was about Khelcey Barrs III, Westbrook's best friend from across the street in Hawthorne. A 6'6" phenom pulling scholarship offers as a sophomore. The two had a pact to play at UCLA together, then the NBA.
In May 2004, during a pickup game at LA Southwest College, Barrs collapsed on the court. An undiagnosed enlarged heart.
Westbrook walked across the street every morning after that to do his friend's chores at his grandmother's house. Then he grew 7 inches, averaged 25 a game as a junior, and took the UCLA offer they were supposed to accept together. From that point on he played like a man carrying two careers.
The numbers he put up look like typos.
209 triple-doubles is the most in NBA history, and it took breaking Oscar Robertson's record that stood for 47 years. In 2017 he averaged a triple-double across an entire season, something no human had done since 1962, then did it three more times. 27,176 points, 14th all time. 10,351 assists, 5th all time, behind only Stockton, CP3, Kidd, and LeBron. He did all of it at 6'3" in a league of giants, and outlasted the franchise that drafted him. Seattle picked him 4th in 2008 and stopped existing before he played a game.
And in every one of his 1,301 games, he wore two wristbands. One said KB3. The other said "Why not?"
People spent 18 years asking why he played every possession like the building was on fire. He was playing for two.
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Your brain was built for survival… Not for social media, notifications and endless distraction. That’s the big lesson from Scarcity Brain. Modern life trains people to constantly crave: • More stimulation • More comfort • More dopamine • More distraction But elite performers
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Our condolences go out to Kevin’s family and friends.
Really sad news in the college basketball world as official Kevin Driver passed away over the weekend.
Driver, 51, worked in the OVC for years and his final game was the OVC title game between Tennessee State and Morehead State.
Driver also worked games in the Missouri Valley, the ASUN, the SoCon and the Sun Belt in his career.
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Really sad news in the college basketball world as official Kevin Driver passed away over the weekend.
Driver, 51, worked in the OVC for years and his final game was the OVC title game between Tennessee State and Morehead State.
Driver also worked games in the Missouri Valley, the ASUN, the SoCon and the Sun Belt in his career.
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Today would have been the 100th birthday of the legendary radio voice of the Kentucky Wildcats, Cawood Ledford 🎙️
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Powerful: Texans star DE Will Anderson Jr. spoke at the San Quentin State Prison to share the word of Jesus Christ with over 150 inmates.
30+ inmates accepted Jesus into their hearts, and 8 were baptized.
A role model on and off the field ❤️🙏
𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: The Texans have signed Will Anderson Jr. to a MASSIVE 3-year, $150M extension, per @RapSheet
The highest paid non-QB ever 🤯🤯
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Brazilian legend & FIBA Hall of Famer Oscar Schmidt has passed away at the age of 68.
Rest in peace “Holy Hand” 🇧🇷
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Teoscar Hernandez is wearing this elbow guard this season to honor his son with autism 💙
“This was something that i wanted to do for my boy.”
(@THEREAL_DV)
Khristain Elliott retweeted
Maddy Williams receives HCAC Athlete of the Week honors after claiming victories at No. 2 Doubles and No. 3 Singles at Rose-Hulman🦇 #FlyPios
Khristain Elliott retweeted
In 1986, the American Medical Association published an article titled "The Physical Death of Jesus Christ". It details the entire process of Jesus' trial to His death on the cross.
In Luke 22, before Jesus is arrested, it is written that He was in great distress & sweating blood. Although rare, it is recognized as Hematidrosis, a condition caused by high levels of stress.
At the time, the crucifixion was considered the worst death for the worst of criminals. But this is not all Jesus faced. He endured whipping so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. He was beaten so horribly that His face was torn & His beard ripped.
A crown of thorns, 2-3 inches long cut deeply into His scalp. The leather whip used to flog Him had tiny iron balls & sharp bones. The balls caused internal injuries while the sharp bones ripped open His flesh. His skeletal muscles, veins, & bowels are exposed, causing major blood loss. Most men do not survive this kind of torture. After Jesus was severely flogged, He was forced to carry His cross while people mocked & spat on Him.
Crucifixion was a process meant to instill excruciating pain, creating a slow & agonizing death. Nails as long as 8 inches were driven into Jesus' wrists & feet. The Roman soldiers knew the tendons in the wrists would tear & break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support Himself to breathe. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the courage...Jesus endured this reality for 3 hours!
The Gospel of John writes that after Jesus' death, a Roman soldier pierced His side with a spear & blood & water came out. Scientists explain that from hypovolemic shock, the rapid heart rate causes fluid to gather in the sack around the lungs & heart. The accumulation of fluid in the membrane around the heart is called a Pericardial effusion & the lungs is called a pleural effusion.
To the world, Christianity is as foolish as it can get. They believe it's for the weak. But when you are confronted by the reality of the cross, it's clearly not a pretty sight. It is brutal & horrific.
This is the weight Jesus carried. The weight of the sins of the world, all so that we can live. God's wrath is fully satisfied in Jesus. This is what it took. Repent & believe! Jesus is “God among us” in the flesh. Jesus is our Savior. Jesus loves you so much that He went through this spiritual and physical punishment for your sins and mine.
Jesus is the LORD, Almighty God, Everlasting Father.
Thank You, Jesus.
