By Beasley Reece

You have to be very sharp to outwit your opponent in the chess match between pitchers and hitters. The best Pitchers are smart guys. Cliff Lee is no exception.

I enjoyed a one on one interview with Lee today in Clearwater and his answers were prophetic. They changed the way I will prepare for work and golf. It takes a lot for me to be impressed when it comes to motivation and preparation. I played for Tom Landry, Bill Parcells, and Bill Belichick to name a few successful men. I played with Roger Stauback, Harry Carson and Lee Roy Selman to drop a few NFL Hall Famers into the conversation.

Cliff Lee is right there with the before mentioned. It’s not so much what he says, but rather the way he looks when he says it. Unless the guy has acting ability rivaling Denzel, his demeanor, control, and confidence is both infectious and believable.
What do I mean?

First there is clearly little tolerance for poorly thought out questions. He politely answers the questions but the inquirer is left feeling he or she might have developed their thoughts a bit before speaking. Cliff says his focus is on preparation. He talks about going about the day to day process of getting ready to perform at his best. He expects ultimate effort from those around him. Cliff’s favorite saying is “let today take care of tomorrow”. Prepare to win today, and tomorrow will take care of itself.

Watch the interview…

Like the men I mentioned earlier, Lee lives the words that come out of his mouth.

Doc Halladay is a leader. We have another example for the Phillies to follow in Clifton Phifer Lee.