This is the featured panel of the day:

• R.C. Buford, San Antonio Spurs
• Bill Polian, Indianapolis Colts
• Brian Burke, Anaheim Ducks
• Jed Hoyer, Boston Red Sox
• Peter Gammons, Moderator

Defending the Title Panel
Photo: David Pinto, Baseball Musings

Update: Gammons starts off asking about turnover. Pat Gillick once said to repeat, you have to turn over 25% of your roster. Jed Hoyer hopes not, since they're bringing back the same team. But Hockey and Football are forced to turn over roster due to the salary cap.

Update: Bill Polian has plenty of praise for the Red Sox, the way they bond with the fans and handle the way players leave the team. The Colts are trying to copy that.

Update: Peter asks about the character issue. Polian says it's very important. He wants focused players, not bothered by off-field issues. People with problems living life tend not to be team focused. They also have problems processing information, which is very important on the Colts. Public image is secondary.

With the Red Sox, Hoyer says they focus on character in the draft, looking for players who can handle Boston.

Update: Buford believes this generation coming through is a very poorly raised generation in terms of character. Since players are in college less, they are less mature when they get to the NBA.

Update: Burke looks for a hard working players in terms of character.

Update: Burke doesn't want twenty leaders on his team. That doesn't work.

Update: There's a discussion about depth. The hockey and football teams feel it's important down to the last man.

Update: Hoyer is talking about the short off season, adding an extra month and starting early in Japan. It's tougher for players to be durable in those conditions. He praises the Yankees of the late 1990s for surviving that every year.

Update: Gammons asks about the pressures in the other markets. Buford says the Spurs are always below high school football. :-)

Update: Hoyer says they write term papers on every more they want to make so they can defend those moves to ownership.

Update: Peter asks if the other sports do management development like the Red Sox. The Spurs say they do, as well as the Colts. The Colts have an intern program, and they've kept four of them over the years, creating jobs for two.

Update: Peter asks about the advantage of being in a big market with a salary cap. Burke makes a great point that the Montreal Canadiens can spend more on practice facilities, put more scouts in the field, and make every thing else better for the organization.

Update: Polian talked about learning from older managers as he came up through the ranks, and as he learns from his younger managers now.

Update: Hoyer says when the Red Sox start thinking like a big market team, that's when they'll fall. They'll be better off thinking like a small market team, trying to save money with young players.

Update: These teams all study other teams from other sports, and learn from each other.

Update: Hoyer says the draft is broken. He wants to fix it with slotting.