They May
Defeat You,
Embarrass You,
Insult You,
Hurt You,
Abandon You,
But They
will not,
shall not,
and cannot,
destroy you,
for you
were built on ashes,
and you,
like a phoenix
will rise from the ashes
Defeat You,
Embarrass You,
Insult You,
Hurt You,
Abandon You,
But They
will not,
shall not,
and cannot,
destroy you,
for you
were built on ashes,
and you,
like a phoenix
will rise from the ashes
New General Manager Petr Dano eyed everyone in the mini auditorium that the team used for studying game film. He was well aware of the reputation that the embattled team had around the league and took this first impression very seriously. The room stood silent, except for the occasional muffled cough. Petr looked at the assembled group of players, coaches, staff; then broke into a 20 minute talk about culture and attitudes. During the whole talk, one message was displayed up on the film screen.
RESPECT THE TRAINING
HONOR THE COMMITMENT
CHERISH THE RESULTS
When he was done speaking, Petr thanked everyone for attending and promptly stepped away from the podium, as Assistant General Manager, Daniel Alfredsson walked up to give some closing remarks.
Back in his office, Petr dropped into his leather chair and mentally gave over his talk in head. Critiquing and evaluating his address. At last pleased with his effort, he eyed some of the memorabilia in his office, of the various medals, plaques and trophies he eyed his most prized possession. A photo of himself, with long time NHL General Manager Craig Patrick, a very young Jarmoir Jagr and his brother Matouš. He absently smiled as he reminisced about that moment, that seemed so long ago.
He snapped to the present by the sound of an email notification. Glancing over, he see's it's yet another sports journalist wanting to set up a meeting; the 5th one this morning. Closing the notification, Petr reached over and picked up a stack of papers left on his desk. It was a report that was requested from him that detailed specific information about the players under contract with the team. He held the report in his hand a moment, oddly satisfied with the feel and weight of paper report. He set it back down on the desk and reached for his office phone. Pressing a button a female voice came on the line, "Yes Mr Dano?".
"Yes Julia, please hold my calls for the rest of this morning".
"Certainly, Mr Dano" she replied with the same cheerful demeanor.
Moving the report aside, Petr calmly reaches for a ball point pen and makes a notation on the report: August 20th, 2021, then reclining slightly in his chair, he grabs the report and flips the first page over and begins reading.
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