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Coach Ken Hinkley made Port Adelaide players train under a blunt message on day one of AFL pre-season.What Did You Learn was written on the Alberton Oval scoreboard.The biggest thing we learnt is that the standard of last year wasnt good enough, Port captain Travis Boak told reporters on Monday.And we need to come back and want to improve ... they are the words Kenny said and they are the words that will be ringing in the guys ears.After missing the past two finals, Boak said Monday - the first time Ports full group trained together - was an important step.You get a little bit edgy, you certainly wan to get back into it - with the season we had, were ready to start again, Boak said.Things will change. It will be a fresh start for this group, a fresh start for the club and that is the way we want to look at it.I dont want to get too into detail.But just the whole vibe around the club, the enjoyment at training, there is a little bit of game plan stuff which we tinker with every pre-season.And a huge focus on our skills ... there is a few things there that we will continue to work on.Boak said Port planned to use Paddy Ryder and Angus Monfries as inspiration during the preseason after the former Essendon players served a year ban.Not only out on the track and when they play, but around the club, Boak said.For those guys to miss a year of footy, it will be good for them to speak to the group about having something so important to you taken away. Swell Bottles Clearance . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. Swell Bottle Elements Collection . "I was fortunate to play many years at this level with a great organization and unbelievable teammates," said Hejduk in a statement. http://www.swellbottlesclearance.com/swell-bottle-resort-collection.html . -- The plastic that was taped across the lockers in Oaklands clubhouse came down and the champagne that was on ice went back into the cooler. Swell Black Bottle . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans. Swell Water Bottle Clearance . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. Wait. What just happened here? I had the craziest dream. I dreamed we just saw a trade deadline where the Cubs and Indians went for it -- and meanwhile, the biggest sellers in baseball were ... hold on, this cant be right .... the Yankees?Yeah, it feels like a dream. But Im pretty sure it just happened. And if it did, you know what that means? It means the world has officially turned upside down. And its going to take a little while to digest that.The Chicago Cubs made a series of deals that sent a clear message: This is the year. The Cleveland Indians made a trade for Andrew Miller that sent the same message: Our time is now. And the New York Yankees unloaded at the deadline instead of loading up -- for the first time in almost 30 years. Wow. Did I just write that paragraph?No one has ever said those words, said one incredulous scout Monday, as the deadline dust was settling. No one has ever typed those sentences. Its amazing.Said those words? Typed those sentences? Heck, no one has ever lived on that planet.But every season, the earth keeps spinning. And now it has spun us into this unfamiliar place -- where the Cubs and Indians look like your official World Series favorites ... and the Yankees are saying, Wait til next year. Or, Wait til whenever we can finish clearing about $7 billion in ugly contracts off our payroll.Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and the Cubs attacked the deadline like Michael Jordan once attacked the rim. Saw they needed to build a bullpen that could protect a one-run lead in October -- and bam, reeled in Aroldis Chapman, Joe Smith and Mike Montgomery.Thats why Theo is a Hall of Famer, said one rival executive afterward. He recognized it. And he did it.A few hundred miles to the east, the Indians of Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff were following the same script. They paid a huge price (and took on big dollars) to go get Andrew Miller. But it isnt just their bullpen that isnt the same because of it. Its their clubhouse -- and their whole city. Which was already buzzing with LeBron Fever.Now theyre like that high school football team that goes running through the hoop before the kickoff, said the same exec. They just busted through that hoop and theyre going for it.Meanwhile, the Yankees of Brian Cashman had to make a totally different decision, but one just as momentous. It was their time, all right -- their time to move on, move veterans and move forward. Once they were through dealing away Chapman, Miller and Carlos Beltran, they suddenly had a system with six of Keith Laws top 50 prospects in baseball. And if it hurts YES ratings for a couple of months, whatever. Now, at least, they can see the future.As difficult as it was for Brian Cashman to do what he did, said another longtime executive, he did the right thing. Theyve played over 100 games. They were a .500 team. The game tells you who you are. And thats what they were -- a .500 team.But prospects give the Yankees something else, too -- a reminder that in baseball, not all the currency can be measured in dollar bills.They still have money, said a third exec. So this winter, if they want to spend money to sign a closer -- say, Kenley Jansen -- theylll always be able to do that.dddddddddddd But now they also have prospects as currency. And I fully expect theyll take that currency and use it this winter to make deals, at a time when there isnt much in free agency.But we can reflect more on the details of what just happened and where its leading some other time. Right now, its more important to reflect on the bigger picture here.To the people who run these teams, the trade deadline isnt some giant rumor fest, the way it is for you and me. Its an important moment in time. Its a moment when the best GMs in the business dont just weigh who theyre trading and what theyre giving up. They need to have a special feel for the meaning of this moment. And that feel leads to the most powerful decisions they can make.The biggest thing we talk about, said one of the execs quoted above, is that you truly never know. You dont know whats going to happen next year. So I think its important to know when its time to make those decisions. The worst thing you can do sometimes is worry about the future. When your team is good enough, the only thing you can really worry about is now. And sometimes that means you have to just go for it.Knowing when that time has arrived isnt a skill these guys can learn in some sports management school. Its more like a sixth sense, a voice only they can hear that points them toward doing things they might not ordinarily do. But they have to be listening to hear it.It comes to you in a quiet moment, said another of the veteran execs quoted above, where you figure out, This is what I have to do. But you owe it to your organization to do what you did. You owe it to your players. You owe it to your fans. And you owe it to yourself. But if youre honest with yourself, you do know it. People know what needs to be done.Its what Dayton Moore did in Kansas City last July. We know how that worked out. Its what Alex Anthopoulos did in Toronto last July. We know how that worked out. Its what Sandy Alderson did in New York. We know how that worked out.Those men didnt simply make baseball deals. They made This Is Our Moment deals. And this July, it was the Cubs and Indians turn to make those moves.The Cubs have been waiting over a century for their moment to arrive. The Indians have been waiting more than half a century. So its a message that had to be delivered loudly and emphatically enough for everyone to hear -- and understand what they just heard.So I cant say this loudly enough: The tuned-in people who run the Cubs and Indians just told the world: Our time is now. And it wasnt a dream. It happened. In real life. With real earth-rattling deals involving real people.Its the Cubs year? Its the Indians year? And those things are happening in the same year? Holy Rocky Colavito. The planet we live on just spun in a way no living human has ever witnessed before. So we might have to call this the coolest trade deadline ever -- just as soon as we process what happened.Yeah, think how crazy that is, said one of the execs. And think about special it is. ' ' '