Get Through the Darkness, Into the Light

Fighting cancer, or know someone that is?

You can do it, you can beat cancer! You can survive AND thrive! Sometimes, the body gives out but the soul can live on eternally if you choose. That choice is always up to you! My brother, father, grandmother and some other relatives and close friends have died of cancer -- but their legacies of living victoriously reverberate in my heart and give me hope, courage and inspiration. My wife is a brave cancer survivor. So is my step-daughter. Jimmy V said that cancer can take your body but it can't take your heart (paraphrasing). By choosing to live victoriously every day, you can take control of your life over cancer. You can survive. You can thrive. You can beat cancer. Remember, life is about the journey, not the destination. So make the most of every day. Every day you choose to live victoriously, you get through the darkness and into the light. Live life in the light, in victory every day and you'll help others to do the same.

God bless you!

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Finding Your Stride

Running is a part of my weekly cross-training regimen. Usually the first few minutes are laborious. My knees are creaking, my back is saying to me "is this really what you want to do?," and my stride feels like I'm working too hard. But, after five minutes or so, everything seems to gel and I find the right pace, the right rhythm, the right breathing -- I find my stride. From that point on, for the next thirty to sixty minutes, I feel great. My body tells me when to walk a bit, when to run fast and when to jog. The entire time I'm in the zone. When my body's done, I know that too. I'm careful to make sure I push myself, but not so hard that I overdo it. I go hard enough to progress and achieve my personal fitness goals. It's also important to find your stride in other facets of your life. I've found that finding my stride is easy when I pay attention to what my body and my spirit are telling me. It works in working out, it works at work, it works in relationships. I just turned 45 and right now I feel like my stride is pretty good in most areas of my life. There are some areas that I'm still working on, of course, but I'm "striding" much better now than I was ten years ago. Prayer, meditation, getting advice from wise people and listening more than I speak are all things I do to find my stride in areas of life outside of physical training. If things are not working well at work, in relationships or even in your physical health, there are things you can do to change that and find your stride. Just like slowing my pace slightly when I can't catch my breath is better for me than stopping altogether, there are things I also do to make adjustments in other areas of life to get in stride and stay in stride. Today, pay attention to what works and focus on those things. For example, if I eat pepperoni pizza at 11 pm and then go to sleep, it's a guarantee that I'll wake up with severe heartburn around 2 am. So, I have chosen to make sure that I don't eat pepperoni pizza late at night (or any other time, for that matter). I also make sure to eat salmon and tuna a couple of times a week because my body tells me that those things are good for me. Focus on what's working and you'll find your stride. Got a good story about finding your stride? Share it with me! I'd love to hear from you.

A Will To Win

Indomitable adj. Incapable of being overcome, subdued, or vanquished; unconquerable.

That sums up Tiger Woods' victory at the 2008 U.S. Open. I witnessed every stroke of the tournament with complete and total awe. It was the Thrilla in Manilla, Michael Jordan's "flu game" and Braveheart all rolled into one. As a writer, I was mesmerized. As a golfer, I was awestruck. Unfolding before me on the television was a script being written stroke by stroke. Driver as keyboard. Putter as pen. An epic battle of a man's mind versus his body, versus the competition and versus the very ground he walked on. I contemplated making that viewing the last sporting event I would ever watch. And 24 hours later, I regretted not making that decision as I watched the Lakers wilt like drunken lettuce against the Celtics. On Wednesday morning, I immersed myself in highlights of Tiger's unforgettable display of indomitable will to sear them deeper into my memory so that maybe, just maybe, I can use those memories one day to draw down on his kind of strength to sink a putt (or maybe to save my life if ever attacked by Ninja Sumo gangsters in some dark alley).

Three days after Tiger's victory the magnitude of his accomplishment fully revealing itself to me. He climbed Mount Everest on a fractured leg. He stood toe to toe with all comers for five days and on the final day, in an arena filled with more than 20,000 fans, with no competitors left standing, he held the trophy high. He stood alone, triumphant, even then not letting on the extent of his injuries lest another rise up to fight him.

All week long during the tournament telecast, Nike ads featured scenes of Tiger and his late father, with an Earl Woods' voiceover: “I’d say, ‘Tiger, I promise you that you’ll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life.’ And he hasn’t. And he never will.”

That wasn’t a commercial. It was prophesy fulfilled.

Collapse at Staples Center

There were two games played at the Staples Center last night.  The Lakers won the first game, the Celtics won the second.  That's one way to look at it.  The other, correct way is that the Lakers took a seemingly insurmountable lead into halftime and totally collapsed in the second half to lose to the Celtics.  Kobe said they wet their bed.  That they did.  They totally collapsed last night.  I think they got comfortable with their first half blowout and didn't think they had a chance of losing.  Did they forget who they were playing?  The Celtics are a TEAM.  Every day, you have two choices to make -- how you start and how you finish.  Start strong AND finish strong in every aspect of your life.  Finish strong in working, doing, loving, giving, worshipping, praising and all things positive.  If you don't, you can bet that negative things will overtake you.   Don't collapse in the second half of your game, your day or your life.  "Run in such a way as to finish the race!"  That's the mark of a true champion.  

Farewell Jim McKay

Sports broadcasting legend Jim McKay died today at the age of 86.  I met Jim in the early nineties while I was part of the team that was setting up the Baltimore Orioles first credit card program at Camden Yards.  Back then, I was doing some of what I'm doing now, just on a smaller scale.  Writing and being a sports entrepreneur.   Jim and I met through mutual friends and he was one of the nicest guys I ever met.  He was a superstar in sports media, but also a regular guy.  I didn't see him again until a couple of years later.  When he saw me, he yelled across the room "Hey, A.J. like Foyt, Ali like Muhammad!"  I was blown away by his memory, and to this day I use that phrase occasionally when telling people my name.  He made me feel ten feet tall.  He really had no reason to remember me from our first meeting, but he did.  And, he took the initiative to speak to me before I had a chance to speak to him.  That's a little thing, but little things matter.  They obviously did to Jim.  In my humble opinion, he was the greatest sportscaster that has ever lived.  No wonder.  He made even the little things seem ten feet tall.  He took us around the globe with him on the Wide World of Sports and made us feel as if we were really there.  And for those of us that met him, he had a way of making us feel as if we were the only person in the room.  Many things will be written about him.  This is my story.  Farewell Jim.  You will be missed.  Your life and your work was the embodiment of "The Thrill of Victory."  

The Masters

www.masters.org is inviting people to share their ideas about growing the game of golf.  I think that's great, especially coming from an organization that for so many decades was one of the leading offenders in the realm of racism and sexism.  I do believe that the winds of change are beginning to breezily flow through the immaculate fairways in Augusta.  I welcome the kinder, gentler approach to the views of outsiders.  I posted my ideas on the site and just in case they don't appear, here they are for my faithful readers to ponder and share:

"Truly embrace diversity.  Most people in the golf establishment will have politically correct public discussions about diversity being a good thing, but talk is cheap.  There are very few minority executives in golf companies and the photos of leaders at most country clubs are all white men over the age of 55.  Participation in golf is literally dying away.  Golf courses and companies cater largely to their 'core' golfers, which is codespeak for those older white guys that talk a good game about diversity but don't actually play it.  The answer is not to be found from the bottom up, that is, pouring money into youth programs so the guilt of racism can be assuaged.  The answer is to be found from the top down, that is, to invite Blacks and others to fill executive positions, board seats, vendor relationships, memberships and other roles in the business of golf.  The systemic problems of golf being the last bastion of racism and classism have to be cured in order for the game to grow."

A True Champion's Highlight

Philadelphia had the momentum and the football inside the Dallas 30-yard-line with a little more than two minutes to go in a game where the Eagles were leading the Cowboys 10-6. Brian Westbrook received a first-down handoff from Donovan McNabb and broke through the line, staring at nothing but the Cowboy blue end-zone for a certain touchdown. The score would have put an exclamation point on a hard-fought game that saw the Eagles frustrating the Cowboys at every turn. Westbrook was at the 10, then the five, and then he slid to a stop at the one-yard-line! As the clock ticked down to the two-minute warning it took a few seconds for me to realize what he had done. Why in the world did he slide? Did he lose his mind? Did he catch a cramp? Westbrook had 81 rushing yards and 63 receiving yards in that victory and the TD would have added to his stats. He chose, however, a rare and extremely unselfish act of sliding to a stop to maintain possession of the football. His run had given his team a first down. Now all they had to do was run out the final two minutes since the Cowboys did not have enough timeouts left to stop the clock. Had Brian gone in for the score, the Cowboys had an ever-so-slight chance of finding a way to get the two scores they would have needed to earn a victory (think quick touchdown, onside kick recovery and another quick touchdown). Westbrook’s surprising and selfless thinking gave his team a certain victory at his own personal expense – one less TD for his record book and probably one less appearance in a highlight film. In my opinion, this was the play of the year, and it was one that should be aired over and over again on the highlights. It probably won’t though because there was no hidden Sharpie, no dancing and no grand acts to taunt the other team. It was just a smart, heads up play that guaranteed a victory for his team and left everyone in the stadium in amazement.