"The Power of One"

Another video I stole from ESPN's E:60. They always seem to have inspirational stories of perseverance that I simply can't pass up. This is about the courage of an amazing 8 year old boy. A must see.

Chapter 7: Life Management

1. In order to play in every game, you have to take good care of yourself year-round.


2. As you get older, adjust your exercise and maintenance programs to handle the inevitable aging process.


3. There is a direct connection between physical fitness and mental strength.


4. The secret of everything you do is between your ears.


5. If you try to separate the professional and personal aspects of your life, then you have to ask yourself which is more important. In the grand scheme of things, it's all important.


6. The organization you work for has a lot to do with your ability to achieve a balance between the personal and the professional sides of life.


7. Helping out in your community will come back to you in ways that you never expected.


8. It's whats you choose to do in life, and how you choose to live, that really make you happy. Your job should be a vehicle for your life, not your entire life.

"Walk On"

An amazing video. It is a little longer than the ones I usually post but well worth every second. Please watch it. I believe it was a video from E:60 entitled "Walk On."

"It is possible to lose, and yet, not be beaten."

Great video that I saw on ESPN last night. How sports and losing can help people push through hard times. Amazing story.

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom."

Great post on Coach Bob Starkey's blog entitled: Perservering: Falling Hard, Bouncing High. An excert from “Think Like A Champion,” by Mike Shanahan.

"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." -General George Patton

Chapter 6: Trusting Relationships

1. It doesn't matter how many of your techniques you share with the other guy. Hr still has to apply them.


2. When you display kindness and decency to your teammates, it will be returned.


3. Good-natured fun is important in building relationships and strong bonds.


4. If you speak to your teammates regularly, misunderstandings will be cut to a minimum, and that promotes stability on the team.


5. There's a wealth of information you can glean from members of the competition. In order to gain access to it, however, you have to build relationships.


6. Don't sit back and wonder what your future is going to be. Open dialogue. Help the manager manage you.


7. Money isn't everything. Living where you want to live, being part of a great organization, and maintaining long term friendships are the most important elements of personal happiness.


8. Find a way to take the high road and play the hand you're dealt.

Don't Quit

Bryce Harper Update

I wanted to keep you updated on the post a made a week or so ago on Bryce Harper, the 16-year-old baseball phenom. Found a recent article about him in the Las Vegas Review Journal and looks as if he will be enrolling into a Junior College this fall so that we will be eligible for the draft next year. Here is the article:

Harper ready to give college try

16-year-old Las Vegas High baseball prodigy registers at CSN, plans to attain GED to speed draft eligibility

Bryce Harper, the baseball phenom from Las Vegas High School, has no future in high school. An extraordinary player is ready to make an unusual move.

Harper, a 16-year-old who just completed his sophomore year, has registered at the College of Southern Nevada, where he plans to attend classes in August and play for the Coyotes next season.

His father, Ron Harper, announced the decision Saturday while in Oklahoma City for a baseball tournament.

"Bryce is always looking for his next challenge," Ron Harper said. "He's going to pursue his education, too. He's going to get pushed academically and athletically.

"I don't see a problem with it. I think we've handled it the right way. I think it will be a great story."

Bryce Harper gained national acclaim by appearing on the June 8 cover of Sports Illustrated as "Baseball's Chosen One." The story hinted at his plans to enroll in junior college to prepare for his professional career.

Harper, a 6-foot-3-inch catcher, hit .626 with 14 home runs and 55 RBIs for the Wildcats this season. He also had 36 stolen bases.

With his combination of power and speed, Harper is projected to be the top pick in the major league draft when he's eligible. That should be next June.

Ron Harper said his son, who turns 17 on Oct. 16, will be draft eligible "in 2010 or 2011. ... There are a lot of rules that people don't know about."

Bryce Harper and his mother, Sheri, recently went to CSN and signed enrollment forms and his letter of intent to play baseball. Harper is aiming to earn his GED test credentials in the fall.

Read the rest of the article at: lvrj.com

Chapter 5: Anticipation

1. All situations aren't equal. Treat every person, every opportunity, and every deal as a separate and distance entity. A cookie-cutter approach is simply ineffective.


2. When you feel some sort of pending danger, don't be afraid to send a message if you think it's appropriate.


3. It's possible to win every game, but it just isn't very realistic to think you'll go undefeated.


4. Even if you're zero for ten in the morning, the law of averages can make your afternoon great.


5. The best way to move forward is with a positive frame of mind.


6. Define your own success. Plan for the end at the beginning. But remember, you can't play tomorrow's game until it gets here.


7. Even though you execute in the short term, you can, with out a great deal of effort, prepare for the future.


8. A desire to work every day, coupled with a willingness to do whatever is needed, can open up doors that you would, otherwise, never expect to walk through.

‘The Greatest’: What a Concept (by: Alan Schwarz)

Roger Federer wins his 14th grand slam title, and is all but crowned the greatest tennis player in history. Stephen Strasburg is drafted by the Washington Nationals as the greatest pitching prospect baseball scouts have ever seen. Another title for Phil Jackson of the Los Angeles Lakers could make him greatest basketball coach of all time, and Tiger Woods prepares for this week’s United States Open hoping to reassert his status as the greatest golfer ever.

Along with Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals and another Super Bowl ring for the Pittsburgh Steelers, this has been one of sports’ greatest stretches for “greatest” buffs, whose greatest obsession is to argue about who is, you know, really good. All this “best” business is enough to make one forget how futile the arguing truly is.

One of the allures of competitive sport is its conclusiveness: the scoreboard says who won, who lost, go home. It’s when each of these daily pixels is considered part of a larger picture that things get far more fuzzy. And loud.

In a sports world teeming with numbers, no statistic is sufficient. No argument is irrefutable. Debates over the “greatest” athletes become Escher staircases of rhetoric.

Read the rest of the article at: nytimes.com

Meet the Bowdens

On July 14th there will be a one day event where you can go and meet all four Bowden coaches. The "First Family of College Football," as they are sometimes called, will be hosting various events throughout the day starting at 7:00 a.m. and ending at 8:30 p.m. They will be held at the Marriot Shoals Conference Center and at Flowers Hall in beautiful Florence, Alabama. For more information visit http://www.una.edu/pressroom/detail.php?id=90&date=2009-06-12. Space is limited and tickets are sold on a first come first serve basis.

"The little guy has big guts...He's not afraid of anything."

I am 5-foot-5. This is relevant for one reason: On Wednesday, I stood next to Danny Herrera. He is 1 inch taller than I. And he is a good relief pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds.

"I'm 5-6," Herrera said. "My first year of professional ball, I listed myself as 5-8, but they had me at 5-8, 145 pounds. That made me feel like I was some frail guy, which I'm not. I weigh 165, 170 pounds. I used to lie about my height, but I don't do that anymore. I am 5-foot-6."

Herrera is the shortest major league pitcher -- according to listings, which aren't always accurate -- since 5-6 Bobby Shantz, who retired after the 1964 season with 119 victories and an American League Most Valuable Player award in 1952. Herrera, 24, is no Shantz, but as a left-handed specialist, he has a 1.96 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 23 innings.

"The first time I saw him was last year during the week of the Kentucky Derby, and we figured he would have to leave the team that Saturday to go ride one of the horses," said Nationals outfielder Adam Dunn, who was Herrera's teammate last season in Cincinnati. "I've never faced him. But I haven't faced anyone his size since I was 11 or 12 years old."

Herrera has heard it all and seen it all.

"The best one was last year," he said. "I was at [Triple-A] Louisville. One of our catchers, Albert Colina, who is a really big guy, picked me up and put me in his lap as he sat in the bullpen. Then he stuck his arm inside my jacket, and up my back. He wouldn't let me go. I thought, 'What is he doing?' Then, whenever I would talk, he would move his lips. Everyone was cracking up. He was the ventriloquist, and I was puppet. That was the best one."

One of the great beauties of baseball is that the players come in all shapes and sizes more than in any other major sport. Even pitchers. Longtime player and manager Sparky Anderson once said, "There's nothing better than a big pitcher," but the game has had its share of short or small pitchers, including, among others, Clark Griffith, Shantz, Whitey Ford, Ron Guidry, John Franco, Billy Wagner, Mike Hampton, Tim Hudson, Tim Lincecum and Pedro Martinez. In his first year of pro ball, Martinez weighed 138 pounds and threw 93 mph. Legend has it that Steve Dalkowski, who never played in the major leagues, was the hardest thrower ever. He was 5-9.

Read the rest of Tim Kurkjian's article at: espn/mlb

Hating to Lose

When you lose, you get that sick feeling in your stomach. Then it turns to anger and the anger gets you to work harder and gets you to show some real pride. Darn it all, there’s nothing in this world as bad as losing. -Joe Paterno

Joe Paterno says it best right here in this quote. If you know me at all then you know that I am a very competitive person. I absolutely hate to lose. It doesn't matter if it's baseball or checkers, I just can't stand to lose. There is no doubt that I love to win. I mean I really love to win, but my hatred for losing is so much greater. In my opinion that is how that you have to be if you want to be the most successful. It feels great to win, but wins just last for that day and then you have to get back to work getting ready for the next game. Losing, on the other hand, that sticks with you. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth and is something that will eat at you until the next game and sometimes maybe longer. You constantly wonder what or how you could have done things differently to get a better result. If you don't have a hatred for losing then your not going to be willing to fix your mistakes. So yes, it is wonderful to love to win, but when it comes down to it, if we really want to be successful, we must hate the taste of losing so much worse.

Chapter 4: Preparation

1. The ability to perform consistently with excellence is a result of both physical and mental preparation.


2. Interact with people from whom you might be bale to glean an advantage. Gain access to key, up-to-date, and reliable information.


3. Proper preparation helps to create a better game plan. It increases your chance of success and decreases the risk that somehting will go wrong.


4. If it's always somebody else's fault, you end up never solving your problems. But if you focus on your own performance, rather than blaming outside forces or other people for your failures, you have a chance to get better.


5. If you take care of all the little things, you never have on big thing to worry about.


6. The more ways you find to contribute to the team, the more valuable you will be to the manager.


7. Keep your destiny in your own hands as much as possible.


8. Before every game, ask yourself, "What can I do to help is win this particular day?"

Jimmy V Says It Best

I had a new blog introduced to me the other day by a good friend of mine. It is by the University of Central Florida Women's Basketball coach Greg Brown. It is entitled UCF Women's Basketball Thoughts. His post was from the notes of legendary coach Jim Valvano's famous ESPY speech. Here are Jimmy V's notes:

1. Time is precious.


2. How do you get through life? Things to do daily--Laugh/ Think/ Cry. These things make a full day.


3. Where you start, where you are, where you end up.


4. How to go from where you are to where you want to be--Enthusiastic for life, Dream, Willing To Work.


5. Give hope to others.


6. Enjoy life.


7. Cancer can take my physical ability, but it can never take my mind.


8. Be enthusiastic every day.


9. Nothing can not happen first without a dream. Goal, Dream, Belief


10. DON'T GIVE UP, DON'T EVER GIVE UP

Chapter 3: Love What You Do

1. The secret to happiness is not in the money you make. It's in the quality of work and how it makes you feel.




2. It's easy to go to work day after day, month after month, year after year, when you really love what you do.




3. Always remember, you can learn something from everyone.




4. Learning starts with awareness. Then, when you're aware of something, you get curious. You want to dig deeper. You want answers. And when you're seeking answers to your questions, you're learning. Awareness-Curiosity-Learning.




5. The one thing that can knock you out of the lineup quicker than an injury is change.




6. If you never stop learning, you can usually handle what comes along and adapt to the change.




7. Adversity draws people closer together. You become closer friends, better teammates, and help support each other in little ways that might not have happened otherwise.




8. In the midst of adversity, to carry you through, you can always fall back on something you love.

Chapter 2: A Strong Will To Succeed

1. Turn a negative into a positive.


2. Channel your aggressiveness in a more productive direction.


3. Be willing to swing at a bad pitch. To succeed, you can't be afraid to fail.


4. You can only prepare so much. At some point, you have to test your plans.


5. Cheating your blind grandma at cards isn't fulfilling.


6. Healthy competition within an organization is good. It can be motivating, synergistic, exciting, and fun. It can also lead to great success.


7. When you give you word, you're committed. True commitment involves your organization, your teammates, your job, and your profession.


8. When your teammates are counting on you to be in the game, never, ever, let them down.

Leadership

I've got to steal another post from Coach Starkey's blog. It is a quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of, if not the greatest President of all time in my opinion. Coach Starkey's post was entitled "The Supreme Quality of a Leader" and Eisenhower's quote is about just that:

“To be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, you must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality of a leader is unquestioned integrity. Without it, no real success is possible whether it is in a section gang, on a football field, in an army, or in an office.”

Success

The Right Values

This past year I read Cal Ripken Jr.'s book "Get in the Game." At the end of every chapter Cal gives Eight Ripkin Principles that apply to the chapter. Over the next few days or weeks I will be posting the 8 Principles from each chapter. Chapter 1 is entitled "The Right Values" and here are the 8 Principles:

1. When it comes to perseverance, hard-work ethic is indispensable. It increases your chances of success at any endeavor, in any field.


2. Never let anyone outwork you. Do not take for granted that you have a job.


3. If you don't want to work, you shouldn't have hired out. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.


4. Set a standard of excellence at your position. Remember, perfect practice makes perfect.


5. Be a straight shooter. If you're asked a question, give a direct answer.


6. Honesty and integrity help a person earn trust. You cannot persevere in any organization without the trust of others.


7. Integrity is being counted on to give your all and perform your job to the best of your ability at any moment, in any situation, every single time.


8. Play every game as if it were the most important game of the season.

College World Series

There is no doubt that my favorite event of the year is the College Baseball World Series. You see players playing for the true love of the game and not just a paycheck like in the Major Leagues. If you have never watched it before I recommend it. You will see pure, raw emotion poured out into each players performance... the way the game should be played. I, for one, am so glad that it is that time of the year again.

College World Series Bracket

SI says: "Baseball's LeBron"

Golf has Tiger Woods, basketball has LeBron James, hockey had Wayne Gretzky and military history had Alexander the Great, but baseball, like jazz, is a discipline that does not easily engender prodigies. Since 1967, only one player has hit a home run in the major leagues before his 19th birthday: Robin Yount of the '74 Milwaukee Brewers. The sport is so skill-specific that even the best, most physically mature young players typically must endure several levels of minor league apprenticeship to learn the game.

So good and so young is Bryce Harper, however, that he explodes baseball convention. He has hit the longest home run in the history of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, and he did so in January, at age 16, with a blast that would have flown farther than the measured 502 feet had it not smashed off the back wall of the dome. Still only 16, Harper stands 6'3", weighs 205 pounds, has faster bat speed than Mark McGwire in his prime and runs so fast that he scored on wild pitches six times this season from second base. As a catcher he picks off runners from his knees, and when he pitches, he throws a fastball that has been clocked at 96 mph. He also does volunteer work, holds down a 3.5 grade point average and attends religious education classes nearly every morning before school.

Read the full article at: The Sports Illustrated Vault

You Got To Be Able To Take The Hits

I was watching Rocky Balboa the other night and whereas it isn't the best movie I have ever seen it does have a few good messages in it. The one I liked most of all was when Rocky was talking to his son about being able to take the life's "hits" and keep pushing forward. While this is just a Hollywood version of a sports story I think a lot can be taken from the message delivered in these lines of the movie. Here is the video:

The American Game

"I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game." -Walt Whitman

Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you. -Frank Tyger

Saw something I liked on The Daily Motivator by Ralph Marston. Ralph posts up something new everyday and it is usually pretty good. This one stuck out to me. I also added a few quotes that I have collected over the years at the end.

Make Something Meaningful

The results you get don't come from the situation. The results you achieve are determined by what you choose to focus upon and what you choose to do.

From the very same set of circumstances, two different people can achieve two vastly different results. The outcome is not based on what they're given, but on what they do with it.

If the results you're getting are not the results you desire, stop looking for someone or something to blame. Start looking for the possibilities that you have not yet considered.

Make your most positive and compelling purpose the filter through which you view everything that happens. That will cause outstanding, powerful possibilities to pop into view.

The world around you is constantly changing. There is always a way to harness the energy of the ever-changing landscape to suit your purpose.

Look calmly and confidently at the situation in which you find yourself. Then step gratefully forward, and make something beautiful, valuable and meaningful out of it all.
-- Ralph Marston

Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you. -Frank Tyger

We are what we do repeatedly. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. -Aristotle