Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Sad day in Russia...

Yesterday I talked about Pokey Chatman and how she coaches a team that many coaches would die for. The team with Diana Taurasi. Today I had intended on discussing a great article I found called "Rolling in Rubles" about the relationship between Diana, and the rest of the Spartak Moscow team, and their CEO/General Manager Shabtai von Kalmanovic. However, in researching for a little bit of information on him, I came upon this news article: Shabtai von Kalmanovic died a tragic and sudden death last night. After further research on the shock of this loss, I came upon this tragic article about the former KGB member. Okay, maybe he didn't lead the best life in the past but there is no denying what he has done for women's basketball overseas.

What I was going to discuss was how this man did not take a cut from any revenue generated because he gave out free tickets to the games. He spent millions of dollars to build a team of great women's basketball players, he considered it his hobby. What I got from the article was a man that was passionate about what he loved and he took care of his investment.

To read the great article on Diana and the running of Spartak Moscow, click here. Let me know your thoughts on the article and how it seems that many of the teams are run in Europe.

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