Thanks Mike and Jeff (college friends and former roommates with me ) for the insightful comments to the VT blog.

Satya (member of the Vestavia class of 1999; frequently abused by my fantasy baseball team) has started a blog about medical issues and whatever else he feels like discussing, which can be viewed here.

These three blogs aren't even close to all the blogs I read on any sort of regular basis. But isn't it funny how good blogs are at making us feel like we're listening to someone, almost in person? Blogs are a critical part of the way I learn all sorts of new things, which is a pretty incredible statement if you think about it.

For those people who actually attempt to better understand the world around them, blogs are an unbelievable tool. I can actually read what you think, but at MY pace and as many times as I need to understand your point of view. In real life, if you were saying all that stuff, I'd probably just tune you out. And then where would we be?

I don't think we have a good grasp on just how far communication gets advanced when blogs are part of the equation. It is certainly leaps and bounds beyond where it would've been otherwise.


Now, for an unrelated note: one of my all-time favorite songs, "Dream in Color" by Black Lab, is a song you should definitely download. I remember clearly the first time I heard it - I got the album for Christmas in 2005 after being excited to find out Black Lab had a new album out, and heard the song in my car when I was driving to work one day. I stayed in the car once I got to work to play it through again and have been listening to it frequently since that day.

In case its not clear up front, I listen to a ton of different music. All sorts of stuff. When a song stays with me like this after the first couple of months, I know its something I'll be listening to probably the rest of my life simply because it resonates with me so much.

[Black Lab's first album, "Your Body Above Me," which came out sometime around my 8th or 9th grade year (1994-1995? Somewhere around there. I think.) was spectacular in its darkness and moody temperament, but the second album ("See the Sun") which "Dream In Color" is taken from is just as good. "Wash It Away" was the radio single from the first album, so some people will remember the band from their bit of radio exposure they got early on. A third album just came out recently but I haven't purchased it yet from Black Lab's website, though I will be doing that soon.]

While the lyrics of the song are fairly abstract, the song paints an unmistakable picture of romantic optimism and addresses the ambiguity between what happens in our lives and what we intended...or dreamed. The song also uses imagery of marriage and partnership to make the shared vision that the song discusses even more powerful and compelling.

The song could be dreaming of an as-yet-unfulfilled vision - a dream that hasn't yet come to pass - or the song could be reflecting on a life gone by, made complete through marriage and looking forward to meeting again in the afterlife. Or the song could be at some point inbetween.

The song just explodes musically, thanks to some brilliant instrumentation and clever engineering, which helps illustrate the unbridled optimistic tone of the piece.

In the work environment, regardless of industry or profession, you've got all sorts of people who long since forgot about dreams. Not only do most people lack any sort of vision as to what dreams might be possible to achieve, and the discipline through which they might be attained, but most people even go as far as to seem incapable of deriving any joy from their day-to-day existence at all. This isn't to say these people don't smile, laugh, make a joke, etc...but when you watch them over time, you can clearly see they are making a trade-off out of perceived necessity, and not out of passion.

The post-9/11 world (and I suppose its the post-Virginia Tech world, now, too) we live in is a world that fears any risk exposure of any kind, and craves continuity and stability. People simply can't tolerate the temporary vagueness, the momentary ambiguity, brought on by change. Therefore, people end up stuck in veritable no-man's-land, and they stay there. Sometimes for a career.

"Dream in Color" and its triumphant story is a perfect reality-check for me, helping hold me to the truth that God didn't put anyone here to be complacent, to be lazy, or to not fulfill potential by chasing passions in life. And...we weren't put here to chase those dreams alone.


"Dream In Color" - Black Lab

Kiss me once
Just once
You think it's love
Or something close

Do you recall
you say I was sleeping
but I know what I saw.

There were nights I swear we flew.
Dreaming in color, I was dreaming beside you.
Now the sky has gone to gray;
colors have blurred this picture we made.

Ask me once, or twice,
well, they ring them bells,
they're throwing rice
at you and me.
But it wasn't enough...
say, what more could I be

There were nights I swear we flew.
Dreaming in color, I was dreaming beside you.
Now the sky has gone to gray;
colors have blurred this picture we made.

So sleep all day, and watch TV all night...
pictures playing in black and white.

I close my eyes...
I close my eyes...

There were nights I swear we flew.
Dreaming in color, I was dreaming beside you.
Now the sky has gone to gray;
these colors have blurred the picture we made.

There were nights I swear we flew
Dreaming in red, I was dreaming with you
Now the sky has gone to gray
Colors have blurred this picture we made

I was dreaming in color.

There were nights I swear we flew...

The strange, sad tale of the Virginia Tech shootings became so much more bizarre now with the confirmation that the shooter deliberated over this for at least a couple of weeks and possibly longer. Sending videos of his ramblings and bewildered, angry thoughts to NBC, inbetween the shooting incidents at the dorm and the engineering building where he killed most of his victims, is just insane.

Enough has been said about this lunatic to last several lifetimes, but how do we expand the safety net to ensure that the warning signs people like this give off actually result in restorative action, and not inaction?

I think of an individual who lived on my freshman hall at Vanderbilt. Very depressed, very bizarre behavior, would threaten people and actually spent an alarming amount of time watching and re-watching "American Psycho." This guy (who some readers of this will know who I'm talking about) could've been set off while we were in school and certainly could have committed acts of random violence. It just didn't happen, for whatever reason.

This individual ended up dropping out of school later in that same freshman year, and committing suicide a couple of years later.

Is it a masculinity issue? How much is the presence of violence in our culture to blame? Is it just a random atrocity? Or are we going to have to endure another one of these episodes again in the next 2-3 years? This VT guy cited "Eric and Dylan" from the Columbine incident as his brothers-in-arms, after all...this latest incident could spark even more.

The whole thing is just disgusting and very unsettling. Who knows where it goes from here.

I like to talk in this space about the "global war for talent" - that topic that keeps human resources executives up at night, wondering how to best attract and retain top talent within a company workforce. I like to talk about this issue, and human resources in general, because (as I've noted here before) I strongly believe H.R. is the most important, most strategic business function in the modern corporation.

Almost without fail, when the topic of competing for talent comes up, someone inevitably says "well, EVERYONE is replaceable," like that has something to do with the core topic of avoiding search costs, turnover costs, etc. associated with high turnover. Which it doesn't.

But let's address that statement for a minute:

IS EVERYONE REPLACEABLE?

The politically correct answer, of course, is yes. YES, of course everyone is replaceable. YES, no business is devastated by the loss of one key person. YES, any functional team in business (or any other area of life) can pick up the pieces when someone leaves, and move on.

But is it that simple?

My favorite example here is Michael Jordan, circa 1993, and his impact on the Chicago Bulls. NOW tell me that everyone is replaceable.

The rules of the NBA dictate you can only have five players on the court at once. So, while replacing Michael Jordan on an NBA roster might require two, three, or four individuals to fill those shoes and replace that production, you can't have that many extra people on the court.

In business, this isn't so much of an issue. If one person's loss can only be replaced by adding two people to fill the void, there's only the issue of cost.

There's still a problem, though: if losing a special person requires the hiring of more than one person to fill the void, there's still a FEELING of loss - a nasty pessimism / cynicism - that exists among those left behind within the organization. If that person left, and he/she is so good and so great at what they do, what am I missing by still being here? Those feelings are unavoidable in situations of high turnover, or even low turnover but among key performers. A shadow is cast upon the rest of the group from that point forward. A-level performers should never be put in a position to choose.

So, the business takeaway here is that while everyone is technically replaceable, in reality, this should never be a question that gets asked.

Retention of top talent requires constant paranoia, constant attention, constant asking of "how can we better serve our workforce and make them more productive?" If the question of "is this person actually replaceable?" is a way of life, then the organization has already lost.

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

Then, the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.


- Phillip Brooks (1835-1893), Episcopal Bishop



Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.

- Peter Drucker (1909-2005)

Even with as well as the iTest Tournament of Champions is going (Round 3 begins tomorrow, check out some of the problems at www.theitest.com), it's strange to think that between The iTest in September and the Tournament of Champions in March that those will be the only math events the iTest will hold during the year.

Now that both of these events are up and running and have some momentum behind them, we're going to be focusing exclusively on branching out and creating some compelling competitive experiences beyond math. The iTest CS, our computer science competition, will be launching in full force in Spring 2008, and we'll be moving to pilot another competition probably later that year.

Additionally, over the next month, we're going to be kicking off a full-fledged capital campaign as we need to begin raising awareness of the iTest and raising the money we're going to need to take the organization to the next level.

We are partnering with GroundSpring.org on our fundraising site (which is viewable here) and hope to have some success attracting funds from private individuals, corporations, and foundations through this channel.

Nice to see Vandy blow away George Washington yesterday 77-44. On to the next round tomorrow, and if we can beat Washington State, then its back to the Sweet 16. Nice.

The iTest Tournament of Champions begins Monday. This is going to be a huge event. Check out www.theitest.com to see the printable bracket of the top 64 math students in the nation, who will be duking it out head-to-head until one National Champion remains standing.

That person will be walking away with $2,000 cash for his or her trouble. After all, battling your way through a group of students that will inevitably contain people who will change the planet, and coming out victorious and alone at the VERY TOP, is worth something, right?

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. This is the very type of national raising-the-bar that the iTest was created to accomplish.

I thought I had a pretty strange day.

But this is one of the most bizarre stories I've ever seen. Easily.

Note the not-so-crappy template I'm using for this blog now (thanks Google! You're the best!)Also, the domain for this blog is now http://bradleymetrock.blogspot.com ... so update your Favorites! :)

Just wrapped up the 11-day travel fiesta by attending the Harvard-MIT Math Tournament here in Boston. It's extremely cold up here but the tournament was very well attended. I had a lot of opportunities to speak with various students and teachers about the iTest and spread the word, and the iTest logo and link were in the program as well. Very good event.

The iTest website will be undergoing some renovation over the next week or two as we get ready for the iTest Tournament of Champions. I'll post here when the website has been updated.

Time to rest up, relax a little bit, and head back to Nashville tomorrow morning.

Back in Nashville just for a moment...Lori and I watched one of our favorite shows on DVD (Law and Order: Special Victims Unit) and just rested, as both of us were up since the early morning hours this morning. Tomorrow, off to Beaufort.

"Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?"

- Steve Jobs...to John Sculley, in trying to convince him to leave PepsiCo and come work at Apple. Sculley was an innovator and a strong executive talent within Pepsi, and was on the so-called "fast track" at the company before being talked into leaving by Jobs.

Sculley was the one who conceived and implemented the famous "Pepsi Challenge" marketing piece, which allowed Pepsi to gain significant inroads against Coke in the early 80's.

Jobs talked Sculley into leaving and bringing his marketing instincts over to Apple, and not too soon after, Jobs was dismissed by Apple's Board of Directors and Sculley was handed the reins of the company. While Sculley did some great things (laid the groundwork for marketing Mac personal computers and actually coined the term "personal digital assistant" (PDA) ) he was generally outwitted by Bill Gates and Apple never really fulfilled its potential.

Of course, that's where Steve Jobs re-entered the picture in 1997, and Apple's been moving onward and upward ever since.

Anyway, I just find that famous Jobs quote to be pretty interesting when thinking about my generation's very explicit desire to "give back" something to the world. Social causes are among the top considerations in both Generation X and (especially) Generation Y's decision-making, from where they go to college to where they choose to work to where they choose to spend their money.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

HUMAN RESOURCES IS THE MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS FUNCTION OF THE MODERN CORPORATION.

And with that being the case, maybe it's time more employers started winning the global war for talent by using that appeal to a higher calling that Jobs used in the quote above.

Lori and I celebrated our own Valentine's Day yesterday, as that was the only time we could get into Melting Pot (and also, as we found out later, I'd be leaving town Wednesday anyway). We had a great time until a huge table of wound-up 16 and 17-year-olds came in and sat in close proximity to us...again, and I know I've asked this before, are we really getting this old? Where we're casting aspersions on high schoolers just being a little loud, and just being normal?

Regardless, it was nice to celebrate our fifth Valentine's Day together since initially meeting in September of '02. Time is flying.

Out here in Tucson for the moment...nice warm weather. And no laptop power cord, which I left in Nashville. That's going to end this post a little quicker than I'd like. Later.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the last day of normalcy before an 11-day jaunt begins on Wednesday that will take me from Phoenix, to Tucson, back to Nashville for less than 24 hours, then to Beaufort, then to Boston, and back home again.

Everything is job related with the exception of flying to Boston for the Harvard-MIT annual math tournament, where the iTest will be sponsoring the event and I'll be meeting with various students and teachers throughout the weekend. This math tournament is one of the most prestigious tournaments, if not the most prestigious, on-site math competition in the United States. I'm definitely pleased that the iTest is a sponsor this year and we will likely be expanding our partnership with this event heading into next year.

None other than Matt Cybulsky sent me this clip of a true prodigy named Jennifer Lin playing some classical stuff in front of a large audience, but to really see what makes this girl stand out, you need to scroll about 2/3 of the way through the clip and see what she does to interact with the audience (and what famous audience member participates in her little stunt) ... very, very incredible. The girl is very self-aware about how she creates her art (listen to her speak somewhere around the middle of the clip) and it shows in her limitless range on the keys and ability to go from graceful, delicate tones to all-out displays of power and then back again. Hard to believe she's only 14 years old.

On another musical note, I caught some of American Idol while waiting for Lori to return from her short course tonight at Vandy and was amazed to see the show allow a 60-something man "audition" by singing a song to his late wife. It was a moment of rare dignity for a show known more for the way it destroys all dignity of various contestants during the audition process. It was jarring to see something of that worth inbetween "the female Taylor Hicks" (don't ask, or watch, for that matter) and "Sparkles" (again, a horrific experience that I would hate to pass along to anyone else who was fortunate enough to not see it).

Tomorrow, off to Birmingham. Now, off to bed.

10-song playlist on the ol' iPod for heading out of Phoenix tomorrow after a great meeting this morning:

John Mayer - Stop This Train
Angie Aparo - Green Into Gold
Black Lab - Dream In Color (one of my favorite songs, like, EVER)
A Perfect Circle - 3 Libras
Billy Joel - Famous Last Words
The Fray - All At Once
Ben Folds - Zak and Sara
White Stripes - Blue Orchid
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Guster - Either Way

Relaxing in a hotel room in downtown Phoenix...never been to this city before, but I was a huge fan from the moment I walked off the airplane. 70 degree weather in January is like the gift that keeps on giving...

Memo to MSNBC.com editors: I am not interested in Barbaro.
Another related memo to MSNBC.com editors: I will NEVER be interested in reading about Barbaro.
Another somewhat-related memo to MSNBC.com editors: There are more important news stories to report on than having a column about Barbaro's "legacy" headline your front page for the entire day. We have soldiers dying in Iraq, a red-hot political scene unfolding in Washington, and another awesome 24 episode to report about.

This is a horse. I don't want to see articles opining about the prospects of cloning Barbaro (also to be found on MSNBC.com right now) or anything else pertaining to ANY ANIMAL OF ANY TYPE LEAVING A "LEGACY" ... unbelievable.

To the reporter who actually wrote the column about Barbaro's "legacy," you just wasted hours you could've been reporting on the "legacy" of a soldier that got killed in Iraq today. Or the "legacy" of Hillary Rodham Clinton's failed campaign (oh wait, I'm a couple of years too early here) or the "legacy" of our current President ... or the "legacy" of Jessica Simpson's DirectTV commercials ("I don't know what that is, BUT I WANT IT) ... or not ...

MSNBC, you're generally pretty good about not including garbage on your front page, but not today. Maybe I should publish my own news page and write about the "legacy" of my sandwich for lunch, the "legacy" of my meeting with Qwest tomorrow morning, the "legacy" of my fairly tasty snack on Southwest airlines, the "legacy" of me ironing my shirt in preparation for tomorrow, the "legacy" of this soft bed I'm about to go to sleep on, and the "legacy" of a blog post gone horribly wrong.

Little did I know that the Prince video site I linked to in the last post would be shut down so quickly...here's another link. For those on MySpace, this may be easier to access from logging in and searching for "prince musicology tonight show" or something like that in the videos section.

Try this, for anyone else: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1375854149

It's just too good to miss.

This week, its off to Arizona for a telecom meeting and then, toward the end of the week, heading with the iTest crew to Columbus, Georgia. Back on Sunday in time for the Super Bowl.

Quick post before heading off to bed...

I'm excited much, much more than usual about the Super Bowl halftime show, for one simple reason: Prince!

Most people don't know anything about Prince. Oh, they think they do, though: isn't he the sexual deviant that wrote "Purple Rain," oh and maybe that one other song that we heard all the time back in 1999?

Uh, no.

The only thing you need to know about Prince is that a) he's the greatest guitar player in mainstream music and b) one of the greatest songwriters alive. Oh, and let's not forget c) he has a classic, old-school thing for practicing and perfecting live performance.

I'd be really surprised if Prince doesn't perform "Musicology" as part of the halftime show, which is one of his most fun, energetic live songs he's written. If you haven't seen the video of him performing the song on the otherwise boring-as-hell Jay Leno show, watch it NOW: http://www.dailymotion.com/tag/prince+music/video/xvfwn_prince-musicology-live-at-jay-leno

Incredible performance. I mean, what can you say about this guy? He is awesome and is surrounded by all-stars on various other instruments. I love watching this video over and over again.

Yeah, usually the Super Bowl halftime show is an automatic turn of the channel ... but not this time. If you miss Prince, you'll be missing what I can guarantee will be an incredible performance by one of the best musicians alive.

Oh, and Bears 24, Colts 21, in overtime.

FORTUNE magazine has just released its 2007 list of Top 100 Employers. This list is always filled with large companies as well as smaller ones that you've never heard of, but all are deserving for the various approaches they take toward attracting and retaining talent.

#1 this year? Google.

They do some predictable things, like allow flexible working arrangements and hours. They do some unpredictable things, like have on-site oil changes and car washes, and even have 11 on-site gourmet cafeterias serving employees meals like fresh salmon, steak, etc. They offer employees $5,000 if they purchase a hybrid vehicle. They just do a lot of creative things within their HR structure.

Of course, they are extremely demanding as well. One problem with Google is a fascination (held by some top consulting firms too) with hiring only Stanford, MIT, or Harvard graduates, and even then, only those with a 3.7 GPA or above. Apparently, it was some big deal when they reduced their GPA requirement from 3.8 to 3.7 ... lol.

They will be denying themselves some top candidates as a result of this policy, but still, this minor error didn't keep them from ascending to the number 1 spot for 2007.

I believe the most important functional area of a company, in the 21st century, is human resources. And I don't think any other business unit is even close in long-term strategic importance to successful companies.

Thanks in large part to the internet, we've moved from a society where employees stayed at one company for entire careers, to one where employees stay at one company for just a few years before moving on. In response, successful HR people realize that retention is now not a reactive game, where employees who receive job offers elsewhere can then be one-upped by their current company and talked into staying, to a PROACTIVE game where companies must always be raising the bar in terms of perks, compensation, and creating a positive culture for success...or else, employees hit the road so fast that there isn't any time to react.

HR is a battle that successful companies have to win on a daily basis. Keeping star talent happy is simply what this economy requires companies to do. Whether its in a football stadium, or in a corporate boardroom, or in the Googleplex out in California, or wherever it is, talent is scarce...and its nice to see FORTUNE magazine acknowledge the companies that hit the HR home runs every year.

The vision for the iTest is to offer free, best-in-class subject tests to high school students across every major academic subject in order to augment the US educational system. If we ever hope to realize that vision, we're going to have to attract premiere talent across every subject area to help us deliver the product we're looking to create. As 2007 is the first year that the iTest is an employer of more people than just myself, I enjoy being challenged by the FORTUNE magazine's list of top employers to offer those giving up their time and energy working for the iTest the best conditions under which to perform as I possibly can.

The iTest staff will be traveling with Vestavia's math team to Columbus, Georgia, in a couple of weeks to observe a math tournament, as well as to have a "corporate retreat" to discuss goals for this year and how we're going to implement them. Additionally, we'll be discussing how best to handle the first true expansion of the iTest - the iTest CS. The iTest's computer science spinoff will go live, permanently, in the Spring of 2008 and we've got to be prepared.

Welcome to the year 2007.

Random thoughts and comments, since I don't have time to sit and write for long:

1) Titans had an excellent 2006 campaign and are the addition of a quality cornerback and defensive end away from a deep playoff run.
2) Boise State's victory over Oklahoma was unreal.
2a) Every year that Division 1-A college football fails to install a playoff system involving at least 8 teams, I will care less and less about it. This year, I haven't even watched more than one half of any game, and I don't see that changing except perhaps for the title game.
3) The Wii is a monstrous homer by Nintendo in its current battle with Sony and Microsoft, and should see some really creative software in the second wave of titles beginning this spring/summer.
4) Go see We Are Marshall.
5) Season 6 of "24" begins on January 14. I am definitely ready.
6) This may be the season I start watching The Apprentice again. YOU'RE FIRED
7) The holidays were great getting to visit family on both sides and having some time to relax as well.
8) Lori and I are contemplating buying a house here in Nashville before this time next year. That will be weird, but is an obvious next step.
9) "Continuum" by John Mayer was the best album released in 2006. Do yourself a favor and go buy it or download it.
10) 2007 predictions: the Chargers win the Super Bowl, the Mets win the World Series, and the economy will hit a snag later this year as the markets top out and the pockets of inflated housing prices collapse around the country.
11) Time to go, I'm tired.

Regardless of your thoughts on abortion - and my own are pretty negative - how can the human race ignore what fetal stem cells can mean in terms of treating and even curing some of our worst afflictions?

Stories like the one below, regardless of the outcome with this boy, get you thinking about what could be the greatest medical breakthrough of our time in fetal stem cells' potential to overcome debilitating diseases.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16159766/

No one really knows when a life begins, but we certainly know when a life ends ... good enough for me to wholeheartedly approve doing whatever it takes to help improve lives with fetal stem cells.

The Titans manhandled the Giants in the 4th quarter of last week's game to steal a victory, but its clear that the Titans are moving toward status as an elite NFL squad once again.

If you believe, like I do, that Peyton Manning simply is incapable of being clutch enough to win a Super Bowl, then its entirely possible that the Titans represent the best chance the AFC South has to win a Super Bowl over the next 5 years.

Jacksonville's got a good team, but this year has introduced a new problem to their franchise: Jack Del Rio sucks. The Jaguars are probably the most schizophrenic team in the NFL this year, going from incredible powerhouse against one opponent to pushover the next week. Matt Jones hasn't appeared healthy all year, but he strangely continues to be the focal point of the team's passing offense. David Garrard plays well, and doesn't turn the ball over, but the Jags still continue to lose close games. When you consider the additional fact that all of this represents a big step backward from the direction the team was headed prior to this year, Del Rio may be gone after this year (as well as Leftwich) and the franchise may be at another crossroad.

I don't even need to address that other AFC South franchise...you know, the one that didn't draft VY or Reggie Bush...and I refuse to dirty up my blog by even mentioning their name.

Anyone who has even half a clue about the NFL and has seen any of the Titans highlights or play over the past few weeks has seen some truly impressive stuff from both Vince Young and Pac Man Jones, the two guys who are quickly getting positioned in both the local and national media as being the dual cornerstones of the franchise. I've been telling everyone who would listen that Pac Man, for as many off-the-field problems as he's had, is undeniably one of the top 5 most explosive players in the NFL ... and possibly at the top of that list. He has literally forced Jeff Fisher to insert him into the offense to get him touches, even though this is probably the last thing that Fisher would typically do, based on watching him for years. He (Fisher) would much rather Pac be fresh for his defensive role at cornerback, but Jones is simply too big of a playmaker. Its really a pretty interesting situation that's evolved in that regard.

Vince Young, on the other hand, has already become a local sensation and has completely changed the complexion of the offense in just 8 short weeks since he's become the starter. He has almost as much impact on the Titans offense, as just a single player, as Peyton Manning does on his offense. You take out Peyton, you've got a completely different team. Same story for VY.

The scenario of Floyd Reese being asked to leave the team after the end of the season, with Fisher staying on and receiving more authority over personnel matters, has really gathered steam locally over the past week and a half. I hope this rumor turns out to be true. Jeff Fisher, much like Vince Young, simply has "it" (whatever "it" is) that enables him to elevate those around him to another level. He's simply one of the top coaches in pro football. Floyd Reese, on the other hand, is a very forgettable executive who has made as many bad decisions as good during his Titans tenure. (Neither Reese nor Fisher were responsible for the selection of VY...that would be Bud Adams, the owner, who made that call.) Fisher is a pillar of the local community and a true Nashville icon...while Reese is basically a complete unknown to anyone else except the most devoted NFL followers. Its not a difficult decision to make, given that Fisher and Reese have clashed more and more over personnel decisions this year than ever before, and it appears like one of them needs to go.