Word: bonding
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...early '90s in Australia, the coach of a high-profile rugby league team decided that the best way for his men to bond would be through an activity that had been one of his favorites as a player: in the build-up to a big match a prostitute would be summoned to a hotel room where numerous players would take turns having sex with her while the others watched. But on this occasion the coach blundered. Having chosen to go first, he was surprised to see some of the younger players looking on with what appeared to be disgust...
...Jeff Bond, former head psychologist at the Australian Institute of Sport, uses the term "pedestal syndrome" to group all the factors that make some athletes believe they can do virtually as they please. League players are especially prone to it, he argues, because theirs is a contact sport: "They're fit, they think they're indestructible." They've also made it in a sport that has recently begun to reward its players lavishly and long encouraged heavy drinking when celebrating a win. Most players are decent people. But they're also younger, richer, more idle and more full of themselves...
Many sportsmen are egocentric and competitive "to the point of having borderline personality disorders," Bond says. Their competitiveness is partly why they're so good at their sport - and their coaches nurture it. But some players have trouble toning it down when the siren blows. Footballers want to make the most ferocious tackles, regardless of cost. Yet the same instinct can drive them to sink the most booze and seduce the most alluring women with similar disregard for consequences...
...relationship of four men in the aftermath of that red-letter day. Craig, Mac and Neil, three former New York art school chums, get together with Neil's brother Rob to attend Neil's gallery opening and meet his fianc?e. In the course of the weekend, they renew their bond in the way that a lot of men do - busting each other's chops, getting into fights, and covering for each other's screw...
...Europe cuts interest rates to combat slow growth. A steady dollar would remove the currency edge of foreign securities, which in dollar terms rose nearly twice as much as they did in local currencies last year. You should favor U.S. assets. As a hedge, hold some European stock or bond funds, which as rates decline overseas could rally sharply. Consider Mutual European or Fidelity Europe Capital Appreciation, which have been top performers over the past three and five years. Credit Suisse Global Fixed Income has been a stellar bond fund over the past five years...