The Great Escape

To me it's great how sports can be an escape from some of the wordly problems we sometimes have. For me it's baseball. Once it is game time everything else seems to go away. Any family problems, school problems, money problems, girlfriend/wife problems, etc. Once you step inbetween the lines everything else fades away. The game consumes you. At least to me, thats the way it should be.

Baseball Is

by Greg Hall

Baseball is grass, chalk, and dirt displayed the same yet differently

In every park that has ever heard the words play ball.

Baseball is a passion that bonds and divides all those who know it.

Baseball is a pair of hands stained with newsprint,

A set of eyes squinting to read a boxscore,

A brow creased in an attempt to recreate a three-hour game

From an inch square block of type.

Baseball is the hat I wear to mow the lawn.

Baseball is a simple game of catchand the never-ending search for the perfect knuckleball.

Baseball is Willie vs Mickey, Gibson vs Koufax, and Buddy Biancalana vs the odds.

Baseball links Kansan and Missourian, American and Japanese,

But most of all father and son.

Baseball is the scent of spring,

The unmistakable sound of a double down the line,

And the face of a 10-year-old emerging from a pile of bodies

With a worthless yet priceless foul ball.

Baseball is a language of very simple words that tell unbelievably magic tales.

Baseball is three brothers in the same uniform on the same team for one brief summer

Captured forever in a black and white photo on a table by the couch.

Baseball is a glove on a shelf, oiled and tightly wrapped,

Slumbering through the stark winter months.

Baseball is a breast pocket bulging with a transistor radio.

Baseball is the reason there are transistor radios.

Baseball is a voice in a box describing men you've never met,

In a place you've never been,

Doing things you'll never have the chance to do.

Baseball is a dream that you never really give up on.

Baseball is precious.

Baseball is timeless.

Baseball is forever.

Love the Game

Another one of my favorite quotes:

"Love the game. Love the game for the pure joy of accomplishment. Love the game for everything it can teach you about yourself. Love the game for the feeling of belonging to a group endeavoring to do its best. Love the game for being involved in a team whose members can't wait to see you do your best. Love the game for the challenge of working harder than you ever have at something and then harder than that. Love the game because it takes all team members to give it life. Love the game because at its best, the game tradition will include your contributions. Love the game because you belong to a long line of fine athletes who have loved it. It is now your legacy. Love the game so much that you will pass on your love of the game to another athlete who has seen your dedication, your work, your challenges, your triumphs... and then that athlete will, because of you, love the game." -Unknown

Eye of the Tiger

I just couldn't help but post this video. He plays the game with such drive an determination. I, for one, am defiantly glad to see him back on the tour. This video is the highlight from the 2008 U.S. open when he played and won, in sudden death, with a torn ACL.

"They've chosen the spotlight, so they better make sure that there's nothing to see."

Read a good article in today's USA Today written by Drew Sharp entitled, "Public rarely sees Tiger's private life." He talks about how so many athletes let the media catch them at a bad time and it can destroy their image, but Tiger Woods has done a fantastic job at keeping his public image clean and his personal life to himself. No one has a perfect life and as a celebrity the media is always looking for you to mess up. More athletes in today's world need to take a page out of Tiger's book and keep their personal lives...personal. Here is the article:

Golf awakens from its eight-month hibernation from relevance Wednesday afternoon when Tiger Woods returns to the PGA Tour after reconstructive knee surgery, the sport's most eagerly anticipated comeback since Ben Hogan's recovery from an automobile accident almost 60 years ago.

The timing offers an appreciative breath of fresh air.

Can you believe it? There's actually genuine interest in a star's athletic prowess rather than his expertise in wrapping his lips around a marijuana bong or in "stacking" steroids doses. I'm wondering if we can adjust to such a dramatic shock to our senses.

It's not that Woods isn't immune from that most common human characteristic — bad judgment. But he's done a far better job of insulating himself from the prying eyes and fervent pursuers that recently pounced upon the opportunities that Michael Phelps and Alex Rodriguez provided.

Tiger might be the only global sports superstar remaining that the public can honestly trust today only because he makes sure the public rarely sees his private life.

For all anybody knows, he could be a one-man freak show. But nobody will ever know because Woods remains as mentally focused in preserving his well-crafted image as he is in preserving a final round tournament lead.

He's purposely distant. Woods doesn't say anything publicly that isn't first properly vetted. He's basically assumed ownership of his own informational content, "breaking" stories on his website.

He's very selective about those with whom he socializes, attaching a codicil to those closest relationships — protect his privacy or risk becoming an outcast.

Have you ever seen a photograph of him emerging from a nightclub after hours? Has there ever been any whiff of inappropriate public behavior that gives the tabloid back pages its oxygen?

Woods understands the responsibilities that come with enormous fame. You flaunt your celebrity at your own risk.

Phelps and A-Rod don't get that. When caught in a compromising situation, they blamed the overreaction of others on not understanding that their mistakes were solely the result of innocent, youthful stupidity. But when you willingly accept the vast monetary trappings of your athletic success, you lose the privilege of naïveté.

Jordan thought he could do whatever he wanted without further scrutiny because he was Michael Jordan. He finally understood that his fame only invited more inspection, demanding even more diligence in how you conduct yourself away from the arena and with whom you associate.

There is no heroism in sports, only celebrity.

Maybe Tiger gets that better than the others. They've chosen the spotlight, so they better make sure that there's nothing to see.

For the Love of the Game

I recently did a little research on a player that has come to be one of my favorites in the game of baseball. Dustin Pedroia. He is not an outstanding stud of an athlete like many others in the MLB but he could play on my team any day of the week. Dustin Pedroia is a small guy (generously listed as 5'9" 180 pounds by the Boston Red Sox website). He is not overpowering at the plate and, while he isn't slow, he doesn't just have pure break away speed. But, Dustin Pedroia is a ballplayer. He is scrappy. He swings the stick with all the strength he's got in him then busts his butt down the line. In a world where a player jogs (practically walks) down the line if he thinks he is out, Pedroia never gives in. When he hits the ball he is going to make you work to get him out.

The other thing I love about Pedroia is that he plays for the love of the game. He played his college ball at Arizona State University, where he relinquished the last two years of his athletic scholarship so that ASU could recruit better pitchers. He was playing baseball at a top collegiate school and that was enough. Also, the reigning AL MVP recently signed a contract extension of 6 years worth $40.5 million, in addition to a team option for 2015 worth $11 million. Now to us everyday folks that is a lot of money. But in a league where people like Alex Rodriguez have a contract of 10 years worth $275 million, Pedroia (again the reigning AL MVP) could of milked Boston for more. Pedroia simply isn't that kind of player. He got offered a extension, he took it, and got back to playing baseball. So far he has won the Rookie of the Year award in 2007 and the AL MVP award in 2008 (he becomes only the third player to do this in consecutive years joining Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard). What is his goal for this year you ask? In a recent article in the Boston Globe Pedroia stated that he wanted to try to play all 162 games this year. He just has a never say die attitude that I think a lot of players in the pros today are missing. He plays for the love of the game. It's players like that, that should be the role models for our kids. The guys who play because they love what they do. Not the guys who use enhancers to get better. Dustin Pedroia-the way baseball should be played-for the love of the game.

"He just believes in himself. He's outgoing, self-effacing. He puts the team first. He's the ultimate grinder. He'll run through a wall for you. He's hilarious. He's totally fearless. He's what you want in a baseball player." -Red Sox GM Theo Epstein on Dustin Pedroia.

A Sense of Urgency

There comes a time in sports and in life when we must have a sense of urgency. Hopefully this comes sooner than later. In baseball, you can't wait till the last inning or two to realize that you have to start scoring runs. You have to score early and often. You must have that sense of urgency all game long. You have to play the game as if the other team is coming after you every inning (because most of the time they are). It is the same in life. You can't wait till your final years to realize that you need to start doing things right. You must start this early in life and do it often. You must play the game of life as if death is coming after you everyday (because believe it or not it is). If we can learn to have that sense of urgency I think their is no doubt that we will be more successful and prepared for what our opponent will throw at us on and off the field.

Sports as a Metaphor

This quote, in a nutshell, sums up exactly what From The End of The Bench is about.

"Sports remain a great metaphor for life's more difficult lessons. It was through athletics that many of us first came to understand that fear can be tamed; that on a team the whole is more than the sum of its parts; and that the ability to be heroic lies, to a surprising degree, within." -Susan Casey (author and speaker)

Win or Else? from Coach K and Coach Knight

Perseverance

"Victory belongs to the most persevering."-Napoleon Bonaparte

The definition of perseverance is: the action or condition or an instance of persevering OR steadfastness. Persevering. Just as we all look to be inspired in life there will also come a time when we all must persevere. You simply won't get though life without being able to accomplish this task. We will all see struggles and if we want to live a full and enjoyable life we have to be able to get back up and continue to push forward. In the world today we will often see stories of perseverance. Some are just simple acts while others can give you chills to think about. Here is a list of some of the most persevering athletes in sports.

Michael Jordan-missed more than 9000 shots, lost almost 300 games, and 26 times he was trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. But yet we remember Michael Jordan for all of his game winning shots, championships, and unbelievable plays. He knew failure was a part of the game and he used that to help him succeed. He persevered.

Brett Favre- He has started 269 consecutive games (291 including playoffs). Through his career he has suffered concussions, ankle, shoulder, elbow, finger, and knee injuries, just to name a few. Yet Favre found a way every week to put the pads back on and head out onto the field for another game. He persevered.

Cal Ripken Jr.- During his career the "Iron Man" started 2,632 consecutive games. He started every game of his career from May 1982 to September 1998. For 16 years he never took a day off. At one point in his career, when he was in a slump, the media ridiculed him for not taking a day off. They said he was being selfish and thinking only of the streak record. Cal continued to put on his spikes every day and show up. He came out of his slump and the media talk about selfishness ended. He persevered.

Tiger Woods- In 2008 he played and won 91 holes of the U.S. Open on a torn ACL and two fractures in his tibia. After every shot and every movement the pain was evident in his face. Yet, defying doctors orders, he found a way to take Rocco Mediate to a sudden death, and win. He persevered.
Lance Armstong- In 1996 he survived testicular cancer, a germ cell tumor that metastasized to his brain and lungs. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor. Yet he went on to win 7 consecutive Tour de Frances from 1999 to 2005. What else can ya say? He persevered.
Derek Redmond- This Great Britain runner was in the best shape of his life heading into the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. He was a true threat to win a gold medal. But he tore his hamstring in the 400 meters semi-final. Yet somehow he found a way to fight through the pain and, with assistance from his father(who left his seat in the stands and ran down on the track), managed to complete a full lap of the track as the crowd gave him a standing ovation. He finished dead last. But...he finished. Hobbling, walking, crying, and screaming in pain. He persevered.

All of these men found a way to push through and finish the things they had set out to do. Will we fail? Of course. But it is through our failures that we truly learn how to succeed. Without the taste of defeat victory is not near as sweet. We must learn to pick ourselves back up, dust ourselves off, and make the best of the situation given to us. We can't let the fact that we have failed before scare us out of taking the risk to do or to be something great. Persevere....and you just might inspire someone else to do the same.

Here is a video of Derek Redmond in the 1992 Olympics.

Dreams vs Visions

I must admit that I did not come up with the idea for this post on my own. I saw a quote on a post on Eric Musselman's blog and I had to use it. Eric Musselman is a former NBA basketball coach and his blog is http://www.emuss.blogspot.com/. If you are aren't already looking at his blog everyday you need to start. I make it a point to at least give it a quick look once a day. He always has some great posts that I always find very insightful and intriguing. I wouldn't have even known what a blog was if not for his blog. Of the ones I've read its the best one out there. But anyway, on with the topic.

San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary had a quote recently that went like this:

"When I look around the NFL, I'm amazed by how many people have a dream and how few have a vision. The difference is that a dream ends up being passive, accommodating disappointment. A vision captures the imagination. A vision is something that consumes you like a fire, won't let you eat, won't let you sleep until that vision comes to pass."

I found this quote to be absolutely true. Too many people like to lay in bed at night and dream about how great they can be. Why not instead, make something out of your dreams. Turn them into a vision or a goal and act upon them. Anyone can dream, but it takes a different bread of people to take their dreams and turn them into something more. Something to work for. Something that drives them. It is those people who become the successful ones. They turn their dreams into visions and then make them into goals. Goals that they will stop at nothing to accomplish. A .300 hitter doesn't simply dream about being successful and then leave it at that. No, he goes to the park every day with an agenda. He knows what he needs to work on and he is never satisfied until his goal is reached. The Hall of Famers and the world record holders today are the ones that had a vision...not just a dream. We hear the term "dream big" a lot today in our society. That's a great attitude to have, but if we simply leave it at that we are doing nothing but dreaming. It should be "dream big and then act upon it." So lets turn our dreams in visions and make something out of them. Don't simply be a dreamer, but be a doer as well. There is no question that you will find yourself more successful.

Learning Mental Toughness in Little League

Mental toughness is a vital part to success in both sports and life. Yet, sadly enough, kids in today's world don't learn mental toughness at an early age. If you go to any little league park today you won't find very much mental toughness being taught to kids. We live in a world where no matter how a kid does his parents are always telling him how great he is. Growing up if I was 0-4 at the plate my dad didn't tell me how great I was, but rather drive home wasn't so pleasant. Now my father didn't just flat out yell at me. That's not the way to go about things either. But he did make sure I knew how and when I had messed up that day. It wasn’t something I always wanted to hear, but I knew my dad knew the game and knew much more than I did. Of course I was a kid so I let some things just go in one ear and out the other, but there were some things that stuck with me. By doing this my father was developing my mental toughness. If he had told me how well I did when I had done horrible then I wouldn't have learned anything about failure and perseverance. He didn't give me the ol' line, "Well you did your best and that's all I can ask for," because he knew I could do better. By him letting me know where I had messed up I then knew what I needed to fix. Now granted I didn't always fix it on the first try (actually it was very rare that I ever fixed it on the first try). Sometimes he would tell me things "till he was blue in the face," as he said, but I did learn what needed to be fixed. I truly believe that that helped prepare me for my future life. I learned that when I made a mistake it wasn't ok and I didn't deserve a pat on the back. I needed to sit down, reevaluate myself and fix the problem. Now I'm human and I can't say that I have fixed every mistake that I have ever made, but I feel that I have the tools to do so simply because I wasn't told good job when it wasn't due. I learned more from little league than you could imagine. I firmly believe that if we help develop a kids mental toughness at an early age then they will grow into much more capable adults. I thank my dad for giving me that gift. I didn't always enjoy the car rides home after a bad day at the ballpark, but what he told me I always needed to hear.

What can Self-Government teach us about Sports?

"Quite simply, the best government, the simplest, the least expensive, the most local and accountable, the least intrusive, the most efficient, the least threatening, is self-government." -Mike Huckabee--from his book "Do the Right Thing"

I am currently reading Mike Huckabee's book "Do the Right Thing" and Mr. Huckabee seems to have a lot of things figured out. Self-government, in life and in sports, is by far the best government of all. If everyone would govern their own lives then we could save the money that is used on those that have to enforce government. Mike Huckabee uses this example in his book:

"As sophisticated and enlightened as it may sound to say, 'Government shouldn't tell people what they can do,' government is forced into that position when people fail to govern themselves. And we demand it, too. Why do we summon government with a call to 911? Because someone thought he had the liberty to break a window in our home and help himself to the things we had purchased with money we worked hard to obtain. Does anyone think "government" is wrong to "intrude" on the liberties of the burglar by pursuing, arresting, prosecuting, and jailing him? In fact, we insist on it. We want government. But had the burglar governed himself, he wouldn't have been a burglar and the entire expensive process of adjudicating him would have been unnecessary. We all recognize this in the case of burglars, but we fail to see its wider implication."

Now I know you may be asking yourself, how does self-government, or government at all for that matter, apply to sports. Athletes should constantly be applying self-government to their own lives. Unfortunately, a lot of the time players are so worried about making sure that their team is "governed" that they forget to examine themselves. Now I never said that a little constructive criticism from another teammate was a bad thing. It is something that is defiantly needed. But why don't we first check ourselves. Are we constantly working to do things the right way? And while we may not be perfect, are we trying and making the adjustments to do things right? The last person anyone wants advice from is the guy who is so arrogant and prideful that he can't see and fix his own mistakes. On the other hand, if your the guy that is working hard, taking the extra swings, ground balls, shots, passes, etc. then someone is much more likely to listen to your advice. It's only when you are making sure you self-govern your own game that you can be worried about helping others do the same. Often times when someone sees you working hard to keep your game sharp then that will get them to thinking about how sharp their game is. Actions and examples speak much louder then any words ever could. So "govern" yourself first, and odds are, when your teammates see your drive and desire... they will follow suit.

Inspirational Video

Here is a little inspirational video. It can be found on YOUTUBE and any of those sights. It has always been one of my favorites. Enjoy.

The Little Things

"If you take care of the little things, you never have one big thing to worry about." - Cal Ripken Jr.--from his book "Get in the Game."

When you do the little things right, everything else seems to take care of itself. Too often we as people worry and worry about all of the big things in life. We worry so much that we let every minute of every day be filled with worrying about what the next big obstacle is that we will be facing. Well, as the old saying goes, "Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere." Why don't we, instead of worrying about all the big things in life, simply take care of the little things and let the rest take care of itself. No one ever really worries about the little things, but often times people are so worried with the big things that they don't take the time to do the little things right. What we don't realize is that by doing the little things, and doing them right, we take worrying out of the big things.

In sports people are too often thinking about the big plays. the home runs, the diving catches, the buzzer beating shots, etc. Why don't we instead worry about hitting the ball solid, making the routine play, and making the lay-ups and free throws. If we can make those parts of our game clean and crisp then the big plays will come, but they are few and far between. The little plays happen much more often. Instead of the hole in one why don't we put more of our focus on the two foot putt. You don't see anyone get onto the guy that misses the half court shot at the end of the game, but the guy who misses the lay-up with the clock winding down won't ever hear the end of it. Learn to make the routine play and you will subconsciously be preparing yourself for the extra ordinary one.

"One day during practice, a visitor observed Coach (Paul "Bear") Bryant doing something that aroused his curiosity. From time to time during practice, the coach would reach into his pocket, pull out a crumbled little piece of paper, read it, and then put it back in his pocket. The visitor watched him do this several times during practice, and finally mustered up the courage to ask the coach what was written on the paper. Coach Bryant simply smiled, pulled out the paper, and let the visitor read it himself. It said: It's the itty bitty, teeny tiny things that get you beat."- An excerpt from the book "Real Dream Teams" by Bob Fisher and Bo Thomas.