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Mark Vancil has been called “Michael Jordan’s Boswell.” For more than 30 years that has been the case and it all began when Vancil, a native of far west suburban and charming Sycamore, was a young sportswriter covering the Bulls and their rookie named Jordan for the Chicago Sun-Times. Vancil had come to the paper after getting a journalism degree at Northern Illinois University and working at such newspapers as Florida’s Clearwater Sun and St. Petersburg Times, DeKalb’s Chronicle and the Aurora Beacon-News. “When I came to the Sun-Times in 1984, the Bulls weren’t good, so they took a chance on this young guy,” he told me last week, “I think Michael and I became friends, in part, because I never asked him for anything.” Vancil would soon leave the Sun-Times to cover the NBA for the short-lived sports daily The National. But he never lost touch with Jordan. “I had been thinking about writing books since I was young and finally in Jordan I came upon the perfect subject,” he told me. “I pitched the idea in the late ‘80s and nothing happened. Then in 1992, I was ready.” He was in Southern California, where Michael was practicing with the so-called U.S. “Dream Team” for the Olympics. “We were a stairwell, and he tells me he is going to quit and play baseball,” Vancil says. “I realized that the next season could be his last in the NBA, the timing was perfect for a book.” Vancil explained his idea, telling Jordan, “I can guarantee you a million dollars.” Jordan smiled and said, “You’ve got a million dollars?” “Not yet,” said Vancil. They made a deal, orchestrated an innovative publishing venture and in 1993 the world had “Rare Air: Michael on Michael,” with dozens of striking photos by acclaimed Walter Iooss Jr. and words from Jordan. “This was Michael’s book, his words. I interviewed him all over (on tape) and put it together,” Vancil says. The book was a sensation. It is estimated to have sold more than 2.5 million copies. (You can now find autographed copies online for, oh my, many thousands of dollars.) This success spawned a publishing company called Rare Air Media. Vancil also wrote books about Ken Griffey Jr., Mario Andretti, Dan Marino and musician Johnny Cash. His latest, just published, is unlike the rest but certainly benefits from Vancil’s experiences and opinions. It is a thought-provoking marvel titled “The Last Excellent Man: The Meaning of Our Jordan Year,” which is a bit about Jordan but also a lot else. In it, there is Vancil’s near dust-up with Oprah, the quiet visits Jordan would make to local children’s hospitals, “acts of kindness personal and executed quietly”; and thoughts on politics, technology, sports gambling. Though Vancil, in his self-effacing manner, writes “readers (will) notice that parts of my life string through these pages ... the attention to my own life in these pages is uncomfortable.” Sorry he feels that way but having him pepper the book is what gives it its special kick, its authoritativeness, its philosophical potency as in “The connection between people and their inner lives is largely misunderstood, if acknowledged at all. Yet, it appears to be the source of Jordan’s on-court theatrics, (Taylor) Swift’s three-and-a-half-hour performances, and the soulful countenance with which both travel.” There is no specific “man” referred to in the title, and many men and women are discussed, including Caitlin Clark, Muhammad Ali and Steve Jobs. One of the most moving portions deals with the murder of James Jordan, Michael’s father, whose body was discovered on Aug. 13, 1993, by a fisherman in a South Carolina swamp. I learned things, such as that race car driver Mario Andretti “could pick out his wife in the infield while maneuvering a Ferrari around the track’s 17 turns, sometimes at 180 miles an hour.” I was especially grabbed when Vancil addresses “America’s peculiar desire to attack what it previously cheered.” He writes of the theories surrounding Jordan’s first “retirement,” and how any involved would have had to craft “one of the greatest conspiracies in the history of conspiracies, and then maintained a Black Ops level silence for more than 30 years.” I had not seen Vancil in some time before we sat down last week and our conversation was filled with memories of the newspaper business and the names of mutual friends, such as his high school friend and former Sun-Times and New York Times writer Dirk Johnson. Another of those ink-stained pals, Ron Rapoport, told me, “I remember when Mark was one of us at the Sun-Times, scuffling to get athletes’ quotes and trying to make deadlines, and then all of a sudden he became this journalistic colossus explaining the phenomenon of Michael Jordan to the world. Did James Boswell know as much about Samuel Johnson as Mark does about Jordan? I wonder.” I was happy to hear that Vancil and his wife Laura, who runs a granola company, have been married for more than three decades and have four grown children, often dropping into the family home in the suburbs. And, born storyteller that he is, he told me, “Laura and I went on our first date in mid-January 1993. After dinner, she suggested extending the night at the Old Town Ale House. I was hooked. So, for symmetry, a while later we stopped into the Ale House on our way to a family event, put Patsy Cline on the jukebox, got down on a knee at the bar, and that was that. We were married on Sept. 4.” He still talks to Jordan. They are friends. “Yes,” Vancil says. “Of course our lives have diverged.” He smiles and then says, “For one thing, Michael’s a multi-billionaire and I’m not.” And that’s OK. Money isn’t everything. rkogan@chicagotribune.comLebanon said Israeli strikes Thursday on the country's east and south killed 52 people, as raids also hit south Beirut and Hezbollah claimed its deepest attack on Israel in over a year. More than 11 months of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the Gaza conflict escalated into all-out war in September, with Israel conducting an extensive bombing campaign, primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds, and sending ground troops into southern Lebanon. "Israeli enemy strikes that targeted the Baalbek district" in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley left "40 dead and 52 wounded", a health ministry statement said, listing tolls for 10 different locations. Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said a couple and their four children were killed in a strike on a house in the village of Maqneh, while another couple and their young daughter were among 11 people killed in a raid on nearby Nabha. The ministry also reported "seven dead and 24 wounded" in "Israeli enemy strikes" on south Lebanon's Nabatiyeh district, and "five dead and 26 wounded" in strikes elsewhere in south Lebanon. In Israel, first responders said a man was killed after rocket fire from Lebanon hit the Galilee region in the country's north. In Beirut's southern suburbs, the NNA reported at least 12 strikes throughout Thursday, after relative calm while US envoy Amos Hochstein visited earlier this week, seeking to broker an end to the Israel-Hezbollah war. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee on social media platform X issued several rounds of evacuation warnings for Beirut's southern suburbs, as well as areas in and around the southern coastal city of Tyre, but none for east Lebanon. AFPTV footage showed columns of smoke rising from the southern suburbs, usually a densely populated residential district but now largely emptied. Adraee said on X that the Israeli military "targeted a weapons depot, a command headquarters and terrorist infrastructure" belonging to Hezbollah in south Beirut. Amid a series of attack claims, Hezbollah said its fighters targeted "the Hatzor air base" near Israel's southern city of Ashdod, around 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Lebanon's southern border, "with a missile salvo" -- its deepest target in more than a year of hostilities. In 10 separate statements, Iran-backed Hezbollah said its fighters also targeted Israeli troops in and near the south Lebanon town of Khiam, including with artillery, rockets and drones. The NNA said "the enemy army" was "blowing up homes and residential buildings during its incursion into the town". Lebanon's official news agency and Hezbollah have reported fighting and air strikes in the Khiam area ever since Israeli ground troops first entered Lebanon on September 30. Earlier Thursday, United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert visited Baalbek's UNESCO-listed archaeological area, after the UN's cultural body this week granted more than 30 heritage sites in Lebanon "provisional enhanced protection" amid the war. Lebanon's health ministry said Thursday that at least 3,583 people had been killed in the violence since October 2023. Most of the deaths have been since September this year. The Israeli military said Wednesday that three soldiers were killed in south Lebanon, bringing to 52 the number killed in Lebanon since the start of ground operations. bur-lg/giv
ST. LOUIS , Dec. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Eric Watkins , President of Abstrakt, is shedding light on the significant challenges businesses face when building in-house Sales Development Representative (SDR) teams. Rising costs, complex technology needs, and extended timelines are making outsourcing an increasingly attractive option for companies seeking efficient and effective sales solutions. "We often find companies have already tried to do this all on their own and struggled," said Watkins. "It's a lot of puzzle pieces to put together, and working with a professional team that does this exclusively often gets better results." Watkins noted that businesses often underestimate the full scope of building an SDR team, from recruiting and onboarding skilled personnel to investing in necessary software and AI tools. Additional hurdles include developing outreach strategies, maintaining accountability metrics, and ensuring consistent performance tracking. "Building your own team can be a good route if you have the fully dedicated resources to do so," Watkins said. "But it requires a lot of software, content planning, research tools, and follow-through on sequencing." The rise of AI-driven sales tools has added to the complexity, with many companies struggling to optimize these technologies for maximum impact. Watkins explained that companies often lack the expertise to effectively integrate AI into their outreach efforts, further extending the time and cost required to build a functional SDR team. For many businesses, outsourcing to specialized teams like Abstrakt provides a faster and more cost-effective solution. By eliminating the need for ongoing training, technology investment, and process development, outsourcing offers immediate access to experienced professionals and proven systems. Abstrakt, which handles over 100,000 appointments annually across industries, has seen firsthand how outsourcing delivers measurable results for its clients. "Evaluate your resources, timeline, and ability to stay accountable to your sales goals," Watkins advised. "If there are gaps, partnering with a team that specializes in this work can help you grow faster and more effectively." Abstrakt is a B2B lead generation and marketing agency based in St. Louis, Missouri . With over a decade of experience, the company specializes in omnichannel appointment setting and helping businesses achieve measurable growth. View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/eric-watkins-of-abstrakt-highlights-the-challenges-of-building-internal-sdr-teams-302337750.html SOURCE Abstrakt Marketing GroupEx-Colorado footballer Bloom dedicates time to fulfilling wishes for older adults
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T hat one in eight young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training is a dismal statistic. Nearly a decade after the school-leaving age was raised to 18 in England (in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland it remains 16), and 25 years after Tony Blair aimed to have 50% of young people in higher education, Britain under the Tories went backwards. The problem of a shrinking workforce, and the rising benefits bill it entails, is not limited to young adults. The UK’s lack of a post-pandemic bounceback in employment is a concern in other age groups, particularly the over-50s. But the government is right to be alarmed by the phenomenon of young people emerging from 14 years of schooling unable to work or undertake training. Unemployment and long-term illness are not a great start to anyone’s adult life. So it makes sense that this week’s announcements about benefits will be directed at young claimants . The challenge for Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, is to convince them that finding work – or signing up for a course – serves their interests as well as the government’s. Years of harsh rhetoric around the benefits system and its working-age recipients have made this task far harder. Rather than a basic entitlement and a necessity – particularly for families with children, disabled people and those living in unaffordable housing – social security has been wrongly depicted, by politicians and others opposed to the welfare state, as a reward for doing nothing. If the new government intends to reduce the number of people on sickness or disability benefits from 2.8 million back to closer to the 2 million figure of five years ago, it needs to do this without coercion. As this column has argued often, one of the lessons of the past 14 years is that demoralising people is more likely to make them ill than productive. The lifting of the minimum wage announced in last month’s budget was a positive move. So was the pledge that the 16% increase in the lower hourly rate for workers aged 18-20 (from £8.60 to £10) will eventually lead to equalisation with older workers’ pay. Problems around working conditions , job insecurity and the lack of progression opportunities remain. But at least ministers recognise that if people are to be encouraged to work, then work must pay them enough to live on. The transformation of jobcentres into what Ms Kendall calls a “a genuine public employment service” is also welcome. A stronger emphasis on proactive advice should help more people find suitable roles. Linking jobcentres with other services is also constructive and in line with a health reform agenda that emphasises prevention, early intervention and co-working with councils and the voluntary sector. The limited nature of many of the jobs on offer is one problem Ms Kendall can’t solve. The government’s argument is that by investing in the health service, particularly in areas with the longest waiting lists , while also boosting the labour market, they can nudge the nation back towards a better overall state of health. The hope is that this, in turn, will foster the kind of economic development that creates more fulfilling opportunities and, eventually, lives. The proof, as always, will be in the pudding. But policies to incentivise employment were inevitable given the shifts of the past few years. As long as social and health support systems are in place, this approach is a reasonable one.
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ALLEN PARK -- Josh Reynolds played a key role in the rebuilding of the Detroit Lions. Now, the wide receiver is looking for a new team after being waived from injured reserve by the Denver Broncos. Reynolds has endured a challenging first season with the Broncos. The 29-year-old has been on injured reserve since suffering a hand injury, not to mention injuries to his head and left arm from a shooting outside of a strip club in Denver . Reynolds had his window to return from injured reserve opened last month. Instead of activating the receiver to the main roster, the Broncos have opted to waive him.
The Alberta government wants to attract more family physicians to the province with increased pay for having a minimum of 500 patients and providing after-hours care to ease pressure on hospital emergency departments. The government unveiled its long-awaited new compensation model for family physicians on Dec. 19 to attract more doctors to Alberta, increase retention, and improve residents’ access to primary care. “With this announcement, I think the risk of losing family physicians to more attractive jurisdictions is done. This new model will make Alberta an enticing and competitive place for doctors to come and settle and set up shop and stay for good.” The new model will also encourage physicians to use technology to improve work efficiency and patient care, make their processes more efficient for patients and doctors, and create integrated teams offering various types of care, such as nutrition and pharmacy services, the announcement said. The province said it wants to recognize various aspects of physicians’ work, “including the number of patients seen and patient complexity, as well as time spent providing direct and indirect care.” To qualify for the compensation model, Alberta family doctors must have at least 500 patients under their care. Additionally, the program will only launch if at least 500 physicians sign on. Enrolment will begin in January, with full implementation planned for the spring. The new model will also increase pay for doctors who are compensated through the alternative relationship plan–a model that offers an alternative to the fee-for-service system where providers are paid for each service delivered. The province said it’s taking the step to ensure ensure hospital-based family physicians and rural generalists “receive fair, competitive pay that reflects the importance of these roles.” When asked whether the new model will leave out doctors who are starting in the profession or older doctors who choose to see fewer patients, health ministry spokesperson Jessi Rampton told The Epoch Times the new model’s focus is to encourage doctors to take on more patients so more Albertans have access to primary care. Doctors who don’t meet the 500-patient requirement can still be compensated on a fee-for-service basis, she said. The Epoch Times reached out to Alberta’s Opposition NDP for comment but did not hear back by publication time. The Canadian Press quoted NDP health critic Sarah Hoffman as saying the new compensation model is a good first step and “way overdue.”
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