Invitation to Compete

Today, I am thinking about the benefits of competition. I think that, at some level, we all need competition. Even people who don't like to lose need to compete every now and then. There's something about competition that brings out some sort of adrenaline rush that caused all the participants to rise to the level that they don't normally need to reach to. For example, if you don't exercise your muscles, they become weaker and weaker. On a similar level, I think it is important to exercise your mind and body in this hyped up state to make sure that you don't lose that desire to win. We all like to get things easily, but every now and then it feels great to say that you got something because you hardest worked for it.

So, that is what power soccer does for me. It forces me to use parts of my mind that I don't typically have to. For example, it's very unusual that in everyday life I need to worry about pushing a ball to a teammate without having it intercepted by an opponent. In fact, I don't think that has ever happened in real life unless of course I made a Disney movie where I spontaneously burst into power soccer mode at random times throughout the day and call it something like High School Power Soccer or something like that. Of course, then that's not really real life. Anyway, back to the topic. Anybody else out there who feels like they need some competition in their lives but use a power wheelchair, we would love to have you on July 25 at the University of Vermont's Patrick Gymnasium for a power soccer clinic. Registration is at 12:45, and the clinic runs from 1 to 3 with Jerry Frick of the United States Power Soccer Association. Following the clinic, you can see myself and my teammates on the Vermont Chargers meet the New Hampshire Power Cats again at three o'clock where we hope to bring our record to 2-0! All power wheelchair users who can independently drive their chair are welcome to bring their chairs, themselves, and we provide the rest of the equipment to play. I'd love to see any of you all there!

Life Lessons from Coach John Wooden

Since the rest of the sports world is still honoring John Wooden, I guess I will too. Today, how about a bulleted list of some of his most famous quotes that I appreciate, and hopefully you'll find this somewhat relevant and applicable in your everyday life as well. You don't need to be a basketball player to appreciate John Wooden.

• Never mistake activity for achievement.
• It isn't what you do, but how you do it.
• If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
• Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
• Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.
• Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.
• Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
• The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.

I hope that some of these quotes make sense to you because I know that they have been important to me. Again, you don't need to be a basketball player to appreciate this advice, it is relevant on so many levels. For more John wooden quotes go to: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_wooden.html.
Photo by Ed Yourdon on Flickr

Coaching Legend John Wooden Passes On At 99

As I am sure most of you have heard, my coaching inspiration passed away. John Wooden died at the age of 99; a nice number that just barely eclipsed his UCLA teams' record streak of 88 consecutive victories. He had the most successful run of any NCAA coach winning ten out of twelve NCAA championships as well as seven in a row between 1963 and 1975. Not only that, but he was elected to the Basketball Hall Of Fame as both a player and a coach.

However, I personally think that his talents extended beyond the basketball court. Having read many of his books, I think that it is safe to say that he was able to communicate his philosophy with basketball as well as life as well as any other coach I have ever read. Some people write great basketball strategy books, and some people write great moral books, but it is rare that one author is able to do them all. I think that he was from a different era, but he was still able to communicate lessons as well as strategies that remain relevant in today's basketball game.

UCLA was a truly unique program when John Wooden was coach, and I think that this legacy will continue to live on despite the fact that its originator has passed on.
Photo from: http://ffbsccn.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/john_wooden_pyramid.jpg

Roughed Up on the Mound

Since today is Friday, as I have done customarily, I will write fiction.

Despite the fact that the sun was shining and a nice breeze was blowing in from left field, it was difficult to get comfortable on the pitcher's mound. For some reason, I couldn't find my footing along the rubber. If that wasn't enough of a problem, I also couldn't grip the seams well, and my curveball looked more like an underhanded lob because I couldn't get any snap on it.

I had struggled for the first three innings scattering five hits, four walks, and three runs around me. Having an ERA for the game of nine and a WHIP of three isn't too great, but entering the fourth inning, I started to see the hope for a change. I'm not sure what it was that all of a sudden made me feel so comfortable, but I knew I had to take advantage of it while it lasted because surely it couldn't last forever. Among my teammates, I was a notoriously fast worker not wanting to waste any daylight between pitches. However, this day by began to kick it into overdrive. No sooner had I gotten the ball back then I was already up on the mound delivering the next one. Again, when the flow comes you don't argue, you go with it. All of a sudden, I thought I might survive the game.
Photo by DJ Anto D on Flickr

Sayonara Ken Griffey Jr.

There so many options to write about today given the fact that we almost saw our third perfect game of the season last night (something that has never been done before). However, I bet that everyone is going to write about that, so I want to talk about the end of an era. What era am I talking about? The end of the illustrious 22 year career of Ken Griffey Jr. came down yesterday. While nobody can compare to influence Michael Jordan had over the 90s, Griffey might have been his closest competition. The easiest way to tell whether or not you truly have become a superstar is receiving a role in a children's movie of course. Jordan had Space Jam, and Griffey played an integral role in the ending of Little Big League. You all remember that scene where he robs Lou Collins of a home run exhibiting his legendary defensive abilities that won him a gold glove every year of the 90s. However, Griffey's media empire entered the Super Nintendo and Game Boy world. What I remember about his Super Nintendo game was that none of the players except him had real names. They were obviously modeled after certain players, but they never had their names.

All of these things show why Griffey became a rock star, but we also have to talk about how he became a superstar. As I mentioned earlier, he won a Gold Glove every year of the 90s. The 13 time All-Star hit 630 home runs over 22 seasons and almost reached 3000 hits (2781 to be exact). In that legendary year of 1998 where Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa dominated the scenario, Griffey hit 56 home runs of his own. However, the more amazing part is that the year before was almost identical. During the late 90s, when it seemed like everybody was caught up in steroids, nobody has ever gotten Griffey; he was clean in an often dirty era.

We will miss him, but what can you do? Every era has had their superstar from Joe DiMaggio to Willie Mays to Griffey. I guess we will just have to wait for another one.
Photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

Price Floor

You know, if all of the NBA owners got together to try to fix player salaries and determine who would play where next year, I bet that the union would be all over that case. However, when Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and Joe Johnson want to meet to discuss plans for next year, nobody seems to have a problem with it. Maybe this is not their intent whatsoever, but they could totally play the owners by raising the price of each other. For example, say they all wanted $100,000,000. If they all agreed to remain at that price, they all would get it. Without this agreement in place, one of them could get a smaller contract and therefore eliminate the higher priced options from other teams. Again, maybe they are just meeting to talk, but it seems a bit unfair that these guys, even though they are some of the best players in the NBA, could get together and set a price floor. It may work out well for them financially, but as I learned in economics, whenever you fix the prices, you get inefficiency. In this case, this inefficiency is the added money that these guys could receive above what they are worth that could've been spent on bringing in other parts to build a championship team. Basketball is more than a one-man game.
Photo by AndyRob on Flickr

Houston, We Have a Problem

Right now, I am desperately hoping that Roy Oswalt gets traded very soon. When a guy has had almost every start be a quality start, it has a way of getting people's attention. Mainly, he grabbed my attention; he grabbed my attention enough that I was willing to trade away Ian Kinsler for him. That may not seem like a great move because good hitting second baseman are so scarce, but I also have Casey McGehee who's been even hotter than Ian. That way as well will allow me to reenter Alex Rios into my lineup, and he had been having better production than Ian anyway over the last month.

Just because Oswalt has been pitching in Houston and has a 3-7 record, you never hear about his other awesome numbers. For example, he has struck out over a batter per inning (72 strikeouts in 71 1/3 innings), his WHIP is down at 1.079 which basically means he only allows one base runner per inning on average, and his ERA is at 2.77 which is definitely better than most. So, I need him to be put any team that would give him some runs since he has been receiving one of the lowest run supports in baseball to get me some wins and make this trade worthwhile.
Photo by Rich Anderson on Flickr