Mo Williams (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Well, I couldn’t be Mo wrong.

Last night, in the Cleveland’s 101-93 win over the Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Cavs found themselves in need of help. Trailing by 11 at half time, the offense looked lost and the defense was lazy. And to my surprise, the one guy who stepped up in the 3rd quarter to lead the comeback was none other than Mo Williams. Mo scored 14 of his 20 points in the 3rd quarter, including his 1st dunk in 2 years as a Cavalier.

Finishing with 20 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and a steal, Mo proved that in a conference of star point guards like Rajon Rondo, Jameer Nelson, and Derek Rose, he can hold his own. I’ve learned that if you overlook Mo’s worth to the Cavs, you couldn’t be Mo wrong.

The first thought process to go ahead and remove from your consciousness is the idea of team need. The Browns need talent at nearly every position, so need will most likely not factor into the 1st round selection. Also, most teams like to say they are drafting the best player available. In essence, a team would rather take the best player they can at a given spot in the draft rather than reaching for a player who could be had 5 to 10 picks later. Teams can always make trades later, but drafting best player available allows them to maximize value.

With that being said, the one position that I’m 99% sure the Browns will not touch with the #7 overall pick is offensive tackle. The Browns’ Joe Thomas is a top 3 tackle in all of football, and so any drafted O-tackle would be counted on to play right tackle. The Browns do not want to pay a right tackle what the #7 pick will warrant. So you can immediately cross out Russell Okung, Trent Williams, and Bryan Bulaga from consideration.

If the Browns trade up

Trading up in the draft, especially from #7 to somewhere in the top 5, is a very expensive move. I believe the only player the Browns would be willing to trade up to select is Sam Bradford, the Oklahoma signal caller. But he’s slated to be taken #1 overall by the Rams tonight, and the compensation for a move from #7 to #1 would likely include the Browns 2nd round pick, a mid round pick, and next year’s 1st round pick. If you make a trade like that, you better not be wrong. I do not believe this is in the Browns plans. But I do believe the Rams are listening to trade offers for the pick, because they have yet to agree to a contract with Bradford, which often happens leading up to the draft.

If the Rams feel that Jimmy Clausen gives them the same potential talent as Sam Bradford, they may be tempted to draft Bradford and wait to see who Clausen falls to before offering a trade of Bradford for Clausen and additional compensation. This would save the Rams money and give them additional draft choices.

If the Browns stay at #7

Eric Berry

With the #7 pick in the draft, odds are the draft pick will be a defensive player. As a Browns fan, I’d love to see Eric Berry, the safety from Tennessee, fall into Cleveland’s hands. However, Berry is considered by most to be a top 5 talent and a game-changing safety at the next level like Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu. For Berry to slip to #7, the Browns probably need some combination of three of the following players to be drafted #4-6: Russell Okung, Trent Williams, Bryan Bulaga, Jimmy Clausen, C.J. Spiller, and Derrick Morgan. If somehow Berry finds his way to #7, he’s the pick for the Cleveland Browns.

But what if the Chiefs or Seahawks grab Berry? Realistically, that leaves the Browns wanting to trade down to somewhere in the middle of Round 1, which we’ll cover in a moment. But assuming Berry is gone and the Browns can’t find a trade partner, I think we’ll see either C.J. Spiller, Derrick Morgan, or Earl Thomas selected.

Spiller provides a sorely lacking playmaker on the offensive side of the ball. He can line up at tailback and comfortably split out wide playing receiver. He might be most valuable to a team in need of a kick returner, and that’s not the Browns, but his offensive prowess alone may make him the pick at #7.

Derrick Morgan played primarily defensive end in a 4-3 defense at Georgia Tech. But the Browns have to be thinking he can make the transition to 3-4 outside linebacker. He’s fast and flexible. His pass rush moves are limited, but he has the raw ability to build from. Personally, I think Brandon Graham from that school up north is a better 3-4 OLB, but he’s most likely to go in the #11-20 range.

Earl Thomas, the Texas Longhorns safety, has really moved up draft boards over the last year. Suddenly, he’s considered option 1B if Eric Berry is 1A. Thomas plays cover the pass much better than the freakish athlete  Taylor Mays.

If the Browns trade down

I think the Browns only hope of trading down in the draft is if Berry is gone but Jimmy Clausen is still on the board. If this is the case, a team may want to find a way to jump over the Bills at #9 to land Clausen. I think if the Browns can trade down to a pick in the #11-17 range, guys like Brandon Graham, Joe Haden, Jared Odrick, Mike Iupati, and Sergio Kindle enter the discussion.

Free Knowledge

Discussing any topic with the intention of winning isn’t really discussing at all. Try to avoid these discussions.

When a baseball player fouls the ball straight back to the backstop or net, the play by play announcer will always say, “he was right on that one.” In truth, only the timing was correct.

People take pride in all sorts of things. Self esteem is built in so many ways. Don’t ever assume that you know why somebody else is feeling confident or weak.

If you burn cheese even a little bit, it all tastes burnt. Count on it.

Never decelerate your golf club. Shorten your back swing if you have to, but always accelerate through the ball.

Hoop Dreams was a great documentary, but when I rented it when I was in middle school, I really wasn’t into it. I watched it just a few years later in high school and couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Motivation and intent are always more fascinating than any resulting action.

In any industry, do not trust a self-proclaimed “hand shake kind of guy.” If a contract scares someone away, you probably shouldn’t be working with them in the first place.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do.

If someone says “ya” or “totally” at least three times in a row and keeps glancing down while talking to you, they aren’t really talking to you. They are texting.

Eating many small meals works better for your body than eating a few huge ones.

The reason so many kids, teens, and adults look ridiculous throwing a football is that they just lay it in their hand and try to float it. It’s not delicate, it’s a football. Throw it!

The value of potential is always overvalued in professional sports. Smart veterans are routinely traded so that a team can have just one more fourth round pick. The future unknown is always so tempting.

Get that “no more late fees” thing out of your head if you’re renting from Blockbuster. They now charge $1 per day late.

Rappers are routinely referred to as “rock stars.” I don’t get it either.

Your MacBook is very capable of getting a virus. Don’t forget that. It’s just that the mean people who make viruses wouldn’t get enough props for attacking Macs.

Everyone gets furious when a losing athlete doesn’t meet with his or her competitors after a game to shake hands and congratulate them. I look at it the other way. Sportsmanship really rests on the winner. If you beat someone at anything, ever, be gracious and let the competitor know how much you appreciated their effort.

I’m going to back up these words with actions to make you believe. But of course those actions will actually be words, but that’s the point.

If you’ve heard this, and I bet you have, there’s a 95% chance you’ve heard it in reference to NFL teams turning to the wildcat formation on offense. You know the formation I’m talking about. The team’s usual QB either comes to the sidelines for a play or lines up at WR while a RB or WR steps in as the QB to receive a direct snap. I could probably right more than you’d ever want to read about the wildcat, but that’s not the point. The point is virtually every NFL broadcast this season has shared something like this: “You know, it’s really a copycat league. The Dolphins have had success with the wildcat and now half the other teams in the league are giving it a try.”

Play-by-play announcers and color commentators everywhere are acting as if the NFL is the only league where a success is attempted to be replicated. Newsflash! It’s a copycat world! Everywhere we turn, successful ventures are copied so that we may hope to achieve similar results.

Sure, the announcers will make the astute observations that copying the wildcat formation is due to coaches being terrified of losing their jobs if they don’t give it a try. But that’s the essence of copying in general. When failure is a possibility and people go in survival mode, people become copycats. Hunters have copied hunting techniques to find more food to survive. Students have learned to peek over at smart kids’ tests to copy and survive academically.

And even in non life or death scenarios like fashion, we see copycats. Why are certain accessories hot some seasons? Why do designers strive to have celebrities wearing their work? Because others will become copycats and want to wear the same things. Oh sure, people can put their own personal twist on fashion, but that’s true with anything. Arkansas didn’t run the wildcat. No, of course not. They ran the “wild hog.” You get the point.

We live in a copycat world and the fact that NFL teams try to run the same offensive formation that the Dolphins have found success with should be shocking to nobody. It does not make the NFL unique. It makes it a microcosm of society.

Summer of Change

2009 has been a crazy year for me. I’ve had some of the best days of my life and at the same time, I’ve found myself in a difficult place, unsure of where to go next. Near the end of June, I was laid off from my Brand Strategist position at b&a. I wouldn’t say it was a surprise, but losing my job was fairly difficult. But more on that in a moment.

On August 21, I married the love of my life, Janette, in front of all of our family and friends at St. Joan of Arc Church in Canton. All of the wedding planning had me pretty nervous about the big day, but I never doubted we were doing the right thing. And to my surprise, the wedding day was fairly stress free. We had a great time. Everyone seemed to have a blast. We are so greatful that so many people found time to share the day with us.

So now, I’m living with Janette in our new apartment in Columbus (goodbye Dublin mailing address) and trying to find room for all of her stuff and my stuff combined. It keeps me busy during the day, although unpacking boxes really hasn’t been as exciting as conducting consumer research and developing brand strategies.

Writer’s Block

I’ve had plenty going on lately, but I haven’t really written a thing? What’s the deal!? Well, I think part of the issue is that many of the things that have been on my mind are not really appropriate for the blog. No, not in the way of explicit language or anything, but I’ve learned some valuable lessons about business, about clients, about people, and many of these things really are best stored in the brain rather than put on the “world wide web.” <- Nobody uses that phrase enough anymore. But now that I’ve had some time to move on emotionally, I think I have some ideas for things to write about on a more regular basis, and I’m going to commit to writing.

My Career

At this time, I’m still a free agent. It’s more fun to say I’m a free agent than unemployed or jobless. It implies that I still have the skills to perform in my career of choice, and I’m just lacking a team at the moment. And that’s true. I’ve spent some time talking to friends I’ve met during my time in the advertising industry and even meeting new friends through this job search. I believe I can be a major addition to an employer’s team as a brand strategist/account planner, as a market research, or even as a strategic account executive. I have had some very positive talks with some people recently, and I hope to be back in the game sooner than later. But only time will tell.

Adults Kill Creativity

While in Virginia for our honeymoon, Janette and I found some time to visit the Shenandoah Caverns. The caverns were beautiful, but one small conversation between a little five-year-old girl and the tour guide caught my attention. The guide was pointing to a group of stalagmites and telling us that they resemble a city. Then, the little girl spoke up: “I think they look like a castle!” She was really excited to see a castle in the stone. Unfortunately, Mr. Tourguide squashed her dreams with, “No, really, if you look closely, it’s more of a city.”

Shopping Buddy Rental

Janette and I were birthday shopping for our nephew at Toys R Us last week and when we walked in the door, there was a kid standing right in the doorway. When he eventually moved, I had a thought. How cool would it be if you could rent out a shopping buddy at Toys R Us? “Hi, I’m shopping for a four-year-old and don’t know what’s hot right now.”  “No problem Mr. Laubacher. Here’s little Joey. He’s four and would love to help you find the perfect give. Please return him to the cashier at check out.”

Child labor laws aside, it’s not really a bad idea. And you could expand it to other industries. For example, at Victoria’s Secret: “Hello, ummmm, I’m trying to find my wife something for Christmas.” “Great. Denise is one of our many shopping models, and she’ll help you with all of your shopping needs.” At least I think this idea has legs.

Don’t Conduct Qualitative Research Like Sports Media

As someone with great interest in research methods, I always get a kick out of listening to sports reporters develop their stories by forcing quotes out of athletes. Hypothetical example, but something you’ve probably heard before: “Marcus, tell us about how you were feeling during the game. All of the hard work in the film room and on the field really paid off. Tell us exactly about how you were feeling prepared for the Cover 2 defense and nobody was going to stop your team tonight.”  “Ya, exactly, we put in the work and tonight it paid off. We knew the defense they were going to throw at us and we knew they couldn’t stop us.” “Thanks for allowing me to write this story through your, I mean my, words.”

Time with Pops

Having the chance to watch the best golfers on the planet is really cool. Having the chance to watch them while chatting with my dad out in the sun for almost seven hours was priceless. I never really imagined myself living in Columbus longterm, but now that I’ve been away from Massillon for almost a decade, I really value the time I spend with Dad.

Unemployment and Attendence

At one point, we were sitting in the grass, watching drives wizz by when a guy about 10 feet to my left says, “well I guess the economy can’t be too bad if all these people could take off work for a day to watch golf.”  Immediately, a gentleman behind my provided the obvious response. “They’re all laid off.”

What do Caddies Know Anyway?

My posse and I were hanging out near the green on the 12th hole. Vijay Singh had just played a shot out of the bunker, and his caddie took the rake into the sand to clean up the mess. This apparent Rory McIlroy super fan or unofficial caddy police lady next to me got all disgusted.  You see, McIlroy was placing his ball on the green, and to her, that meant he was in need of supreme concentration. He was a good 45 seconds from even dreaming of hitting the putt, but that didn’t stop this ambitious fan from shhhhh-ing Singh’s caddy while he raked the bunker. Really? You think the caddy needs you to tell him to get quiet and be still before the putt? Really? You think he cares that you are sending angry shhhhhh his way? Please.

Professionals are Human

You know what’s great about pro golfers? They are human. Yep. From about 10 feet away they look just like they do on TV. They also make real human mistakes on the course. I saw Tiger get stuck in the trees. And instead of just punching out, he really went for it, only to absolutley drill a tree and send it towards the other fairway. I saw Camilo Villegas hit a tree so hard off the left side of the fairway that it crossed the fairway and ended up in the rough to the right. I saw Ian Poulter toss a ball in the water after a disappointing hole. Heck, I even saw a drive bounce about 15 feet in front of me on a cart path and hop over my head.

Bad Business

We parked in a family’s yard, about a quarter mile from one of the entrances. It was an ideal location and they only charged $5. Good deal. The next house over, just a few feet closer to the entrance, was charging $10 per car to park. As we walked back to the car at around 4:30 pm, we took note that the $5 lot was packed with probably 150 cars. As for the $10 lot? 5 cars. Seriously. You do the math. Now it could be argued that maybe the people who pay $10 to park are the same people who watch Tiger play 4 holes and then head back to work or to a bar. But I think that’s only a minor factor. Maybe the $10 parking family should take note from gas stations. $4.99 might not be a bad idea.

Wow. Fast forward about 3 weeks and I’m still thinking about it. Let’s assume for the sake of conversation that the creature is not a bear, or a wolf, but rather a monster. Why? I don’t want any activists telling me that the proper thing to do is just play dead or something in the presence of the majestic animal. So no, it’s just some sort of monster. And it’s on a dead sprint to eat you. What club do you reach for?

I’ll give you my thoughts, but I really want your answer too. This is important stuff.

I immediately was aware of a dilemma. Do you go with a long club or a short club? If you grab the longest club possible, you can attempt to keep a safe distance between you and the beast. But with a long club comes a lack of agility. If you’ve ever watched an MMA fight you know that sometimes you just get bull rushed and you might need something you can use with quickness.

Then again, with a really long club, like a driver, the velocity at the head of the club is greater than with a shorter club, like the pitching wedge. So you might assume I’m confident enough to think I can connect with the monster with one blow and put myself out of danger with the driver. Not so fast. The head of the driver is big, but it isn’t very dense.  I’d prefer to use an iron. The iron head is more dense and therefore delivers the most bang for the buck at the point of impact. And depending on the nature of this beast, it might be just as likely to play jump rope with the flexible shaft of a driver as it is to be impaired by it.

So I’d think in the split second I have to grab a club from my bag to save my life, it’d definitely be an iron. But I would still want some of the advantage of a longer club so that the head travels at a high velocity. The 3-iron is just too long. I have to think the 5-iron is the winner. That’s my weapon of choice. Of course, there is the 4-iron, but I’m not as familiar with it and I wouldn’t want to attempt to become familiar at a moment like this.

For me, it’s got to be the 5-iron. I became even more confident in my answer when watching Entourage Season 5 on DVD the other day. Johnny Drama decides to attack a car windshield with a golf club, and he definitely asks Turtle for the 5-iron. So that settles it.

What do you think you’d do? I guess depending on the monster, maybe putting the golf cart in reverse and threatening it with that high pitch buzzing news might just do the trick. But I want to hear what club you’d reach for and why. And if you’re going to say the putter, please at least be ready to defend that weak answer.

With Sam Bradley, I had the opportunity to co-author Chapter 87, “Research in Advertising Campaign Design” in 21st Century Communication: A Reference Handbook. View the details on the SAGE Web site, or check it out on Amazon.

I’m so excited to have had the chance to include my thoughts in this reference handbook. You usually hear about movie stars and athletes talking about giving back. And although I’m certainly no pop icon, I feel good knowing that a student of communication may read my writing and have a more thorough understanding of how advertising research takes place and the value in it.

I’m grateful that William F. Eadie at San Diego St. University allowed me to be a part of this educational text.

This commercial

Travelers Insurance has created something awesome. Don’t believe me? Watch the video. Still don’t believe me? Here’s some anecdotal evidence for you. At at time when advertisers are worried about TV viewers using DVR to skip through commercials, over the weekend my dad said he loved this commercial so much he wants to record it with DVR.

This band

The Dead Weather. Have you heard of them? If not, check them out. You might recognize the drummer, Jack White.

*Honorable mention: Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UOJUbiWC5M