Sorry for the delay in blogging....as I am prone to say sometimes, real life gets in the way of things I like to, one of which is to write.
After the last post about taking Emily to the theatre, I received some emails and phone calls about a few more Emily stories. Some are more infamous than others.
First of all...Emily was the easiest kid in the world to raise. She didn't give me or her mother ten minutes of trouble growing up. Super smart and super mature.
With that in mind...another Emily story.
--------------------------------------
SEVEN BLANKIN' MINUTES
Emily played AAU basketball from age 10 till she was 18. She wasn't as physically gifted as many of the players she competed against. But she did her best and was a much better player
than she gives herself credit for being.
When she was 16, she began playing for a man name McRae Benefield and his team called the Alabama Lady Cats. McRae is one of those guys that you get lucky when your kids play for them. Great guy. Great coach.
He put together a very good team with sharp kids who did, for the most part, what he wanted them to do on the basketball court. They won many tournaments and beat some of the best teams in the country.
They played in the finals of the Alabama Sports Festival in July of 2003 at UAH. They steamrolled several teams on the way to the finals as did a team from Mobile in the other half of the bracket.
The team from Mobile had a great team. They pressured the ball 94 feet and had great talent.
We had our hands full but knew if we stayed with the game plan, we could win.
For 33 minutes we had the lead, but made some tough turnovers and the Cats were down three points with seven minutes to go in the game. At that point, Mobile's coach did, what turned out to be, one of the most monumentally stupid things I have ever seen a coach do.
His team had a three point lead and momentum. His star point guard had the ball and he yelled "Four Corners! Four Corners!" And then he yelled..."THIS GAME IS OVER! THIS GAME IS OVER!"
With seven minutes still left in the game, the other team's coach had declared the game over with just a three point lead. I was keeping the official time and was enraged. When Em played, I kept the book whenever I could. Kept me calm. But this time, I was just monumentally ticked off that a coach could just up and openly taunt an opposing team like that.
His team stood there. Clock ticking. The point guard just held the ball.
He was walking up and down the sideline....
"YEAH, THIS GAME'S OVER."
I wasn't the only person mad. So was Emily. She was on the Mobile coach's side of the court.
When she had all she could take, she started walking towards him and said, "HEY! THERE IS SEVEN @$%$# MINUTES LEFT IN THIS GAME. DO YOU HEAR ME? THERE IS SEVEN &%#%$ MINUTES LEFT IN THIS GAME!"
The coach was stunned. Didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do but look in the stands to see what Mama from the other team I was going to have to fight to get out of the building.
After the coach got his composure back, he started jawing at Emily who had resumed her defensive position on the floor.
In the next seven minutes, the Alabama Lady Cats outscored the Mobile team 18-3 and won by 12. Great game that should have had an asterisk by it which stood for....*Emily gets one assist for reminding the world that the game isn't over until the clock hits zero.
I miss Em's games. But I doubt she does. Em had severe knee issues that prevented her from
playing at the highest level she could play. Many nights she would go to sleep with ice bags taped to her legs and knees. She paid the price in pain while I just miss the game.
Great kid. Not many like her.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Really Nice People At The Broadway Theatre League
Ok...it's not THEE-ater as we used to call it in Hartselle, Alabama growing up.
It's thea-ter. Just ignore the re and pretend it's er.
The really nice people at The Broadway Theatre League here in Huntsville have slapped a sponsorship banner on my blog. I really appreciate that so much....and in their honor, I have a story about taking my daughter Emily to the "thea-ter."
Emily is 21 now. Hard to believe they grow up so fast. Really fast. One day they are in diapers and the next day they want to know the quickest way to get from downtown Atlanta to those places where they sell the fancy designer purses in Buckhead.
But that is another story and I digress.
As a little kid, Emily was a regular at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Early on, she watched plays presented by ASF and did great. Some kids can't be still for any length of time. Emily sat through and enjoyed everything from A Midsummer Nights Dream to Death of A Salesman.
But taking her to her first full-blown Shakespeare production did cause a bit of concern and
"pre-play planning." She was about 3 1/2 when plans were made to take her to see Twelfth
Night. Or as she used to call it...Twelve Nights Tonight.
We had a game plan going into the main stage at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. We were
third-row center and I was concerned that a 3 hours Shakespeare play...even a funny...one might be too much for a kid as young as Emily.
So I prepared Emily as much as possible. The big advice was "if you need to tell me something, just pat me on the arm and leg and let me know what you want."
Now, the crowd on Sunday afternoon at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival was a little different than other showtimes. On Saturday night, ticket holders had been to dinner, had some drinks, and were ready for a show. The crowd was young, old, and engaged in the evening's entertainment.
The Sunday matinee crowd was the Montgomery Country Club church crowd. They walked into the air-conditioned theatre having just had a huge lunch. That meant that at about 2:30, they were all asleep no matter how good the play was being produced and acted.
This was the case when I took Emily to see Twelve Nights Tonight. We were the only two people in the first four rows of the center section that were awake.
About 45 minutes into the play for Emily and 30 minutes into nap time for everyone else, I felt a little pat on my leg. I looked down at Emily and whispered...."yes, Em?"
She leaned up and said..."DAD, CAN I TAKE OFF MY HAIR BOW? IT'S HURTING MY HEAD."
I forgot to tell her to whisper. Emily had jarred the first two rows awake....and I kept waiting for the actors to say, "BY ALL MEANS LITTLE GIRL, TAKE OFF YOUR HAIR BOW!"
The guy in the yellow tights playing Malvolio I swear started to laugh. But then he realized he
was wearing yellow tights and probably decided laughing at anyone was probably not a good idea.
Love the Shakespeare Festival. Love the Broadway Theatre League as well!
It's thea-ter. Just ignore the re and pretend it's er.
The really nice people at The Broadway Theatre League here in Huntsville have slapped a sponsorship banner on my blog. I really appreciate that so much....and in their honor, I have a story about taking my daughter Emily to the "thea-ter."
Emily is 21 now. Hard to believe they grow up so fast. Really fast. One day they are in diapers and the next day they want to know the quickest way to get from downtown Atlanta to those places where they sell the fancy designer purses in Buckhead.
But that is another story and I digress.
As a little kid, Emily was a regular at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Early on, she watched plays presented by ASF and did great. Some kids can't be still for any length of time. Emily sat through and enjoyed everything from A Midsummer Nights Dream to Death of A Salesman.
But taking her to her first full-blown Shakespeare production did cause a bit of concern and
"pre-play planning." She was about 3 1/2 when plans were made to take her to see Twelfth
Night. Or as she used to call it...Twelve Nights Tonight.
We had a game plan going into the main stage at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. We were
third-row center and I was concerned that a 3 hours Shakespeare play...even a funny...one might be too much for a kid as young as Emily.
So I prepared Emily as much as possible. The big advice was "if you need to tell me something, just pat me on the arm and leg and let me know what you want."
Now, the crowd on Sunday afternoon at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival was a little different than other showtimes. On Saturday night, ticket holders had been to dinner, had some drinks, and were ready for a show. The crowd was young, old, and engaged in the evening's entertainment.
The Sunday matinee crowd was the Montgomery Country Club church crowd. They walked into the air-conditioned theatre having just had a huge lunch. That meant that at about 2:30, they were all asleep no matter how good the play was being produced and acted.
This was the case when I took Emily to see Twelve Nights Tonight. We were the only two people in the first four rows of the center section that were awake.
About 45 minutes into the play for Emily and 30 minutes into nap time for everyone else, I felt a little pat on my leg. I looked down at Emily and whispered...."yes, Em?"
She leaned up and said..."DAD, CAN I TAKE OFF MY HAIR BOW? IT'S HURTING MY HEAD."
I forgot to tell her to whisper. Emily had jarred the first two rows awake....and I kept waiting for the actors to say, "BY ALL MEANS LITTLE GIRL, TAKE OFF YOUR HAIR BOW!"
The guy in the yellow tights playing Malvolio I swear started to laugh. But then he realized he
was wearing yellow tights and probably decided laughing at anyone was probably not a good idea.
Love the Shakespeare Festival. Love the Broadway Theatre League as well!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Officiating and Immigration
The preacher sitting behind me had the whole row laughing early in the game. Alabama was rolling pretty good ahead of Kentucky by double-digits.
But when Kentucky made the game tight, the preacher lost his religion for several minutes.
He went from "THE GOOD LORD LOVES GOOD BASKETBALL" to "YOU #%$@ BLIND BAT ZEBRA, I KNOW WHAT I'M PREACHING ABOUT TOMORROW! WHO IN THE #%#$ TAUGHT YOU HOW TO CALL A BASKETBALL GAME" in the time it takes to lose a lead in a SEC basketball game.
The speed with which the good preacher lost his good humor was directly proportional to Alabama losing it's lead.
Bama finally won and all was right with the world and also the Sunday sermon. But it did remind me of something I've learned after covering sports since 1981 and my daughter playing
AAU basketball at a high level for 10 years.
It is a myth that fans want a fairly called ballgame. Fans in the stands don't want an evenly called game or officials who blow the whistle fairly and squarely.
They want a break. They want an advantage. Don't say the home team fouled. It's the zebra's fault. At the end of the day, it's about winning at all cost and if the officials help us, so be it.
I can see the e-mails now. Jasper from Jasper will write...."Greg, most fans want the officials to do a good job with a sense of fair play."
Yeah....and I'm the King of England.
----------------------------------------
Immigration and the Liberal Media...Well, sure the media are liberal aren't they?
Got an e-mail from a really angry guy named John. Says we are just another liberal media
outlet who ignores important issues like illegal immigration. And because we do, he says, that makes us liberals in bed with other liberal media outlets.
I love the conservative/liberal media debate. Just like the officiating in a basketball game...(see above)...people seek out what they want reinforced and try to discredit what they don't want to hear.
Also, people don't want tough questions asked of leaders they support. But that is what we do.
We ask tough questions. And we expect honest answers. If we don't get those, we tend to get a little irritable.
You want to know why a national correspondent gets a little chippy during an interview. It's because at any given point in the day, someone is trying to mislead him or her.
Be glad that we live in a country where the media are tough. In fact, I sometimes don't think the media are tough enough in Washington, DC. We're lucky. I doubt that any reporter is shouting questions at the guy in Iran.
Back to John and his questioning of illegal immigration coverage....
Every time I turn on my television, there is coverage about how people feel and how the country should react to illegal immigrants.
But I think the dirty little secret on illegal immigration is that there is a significant segment
of the business world that wants nothing done about it. Illegal immigrants are a very cheap and reliable source of labor. As long as that pool exists, and business interests weigh in on the political process, I don't see much changing.
One of the smartest people I have ever met in my life said this today...
"Most controversial issues don't have just two sides... there are usually many dimensions to a controversial story."
Illegal immigration is no different that any other complicated issue that affects our time and out life.
It's like speeding, cheating on your taxes, and wanting a "fairly" officiated basketball game.
It's a "I can do it and I don't want you to do it world" that we live in daily.
More later......
But when Kentucky made the game tight, the preacher lost his religion for several minutes.
He went from "THE GOOD LORD LOVES GOOD BASKETBALL" to "YOU #%$@ BLIND BAT ZEBRA, I KNOW WHAT I'M PREACHING ABOUT TOMORROW! WHO IN THE #%#$ TAUGHT YOU HOW TO CALL A BASKETBALL GAME" in the time it takes to lose a lead in a SEC basketball game.
The speed with which the good preacher lost his good humor was directly proportional to Alabama losing it's lead.
Bama finally won and all was right with the world and also the Sunday sermon. But it did remind me of something I've learned after covering sports since 1981 and my daughter playing
AAU basketball at a high level for 10 years.
It is a myth that fans want a fairly called ballgame. Fans in the stands don't want an evenly called game or officials who blow the whistle fairly and squarely.
They want a break. They want an advantage. Don't say the home team fouled. It's the zebra's fault. At the end of the day, it's about winning at all cost and if the officials help us, so be it.
I can see the e-mails now. Jasper from Jasper will write...."Greg, most fans want the officials to do a good job with a sense of fair play."
Yeah....and I'm the King of England.
----------------------------------------
Immigration and the Liberal Media...Well, sure the media are liberal aren't they?
Got an e-mail from a really angry guy named John. Says we are just another liberal media
outlet who ignores important issues like illegal immigration. And because we do, he says, that makes us liberals in bed with other liberal media outlets.
I love the conservative/liberal media debate. Just like the officiating in a basketball game...(see above)...people seek out what they want reinforced and try to discredit what they don't want to hear.
Also, people don't want tough questions asked of leaders they support. But that is what we do.
We ask tough questions. And we expect honest answers. If we don't get those, we tend to get a little irritable.
You want to know why a national correspondent gets a little chippy during an interview. It's because at any given point in the day, someone is trying to mislead him or her.
Be glad that we live in a country where the media are tough. In fact, I sometimes don't think the media are tough enough in Washington, DC. We're lucky. I doubt that any reporter is shouting questions at the guy in Iran.
Back to John and his questioning of illegal immigration coverage....
Every time I turn on my television, there is coverage about how people feel and how the country should react to illegal immigrants.
But I think the dirty little secret on illegal immigration is that there is a significant segment
of the business world that wants nothing done about it. Illegal immigrants are a very cheap and reliable source of labor. As long as that pool exists, and business interests weigh in on the political process, I don't see much changing.
One of the smartest people I have ever met in my life said this today...
"Most controversial issues don't have just two sides... there are usually many dimensions to a controversial story."
Illegal immigration is no different that any other complicated issue that affects our time and out life.
It's like speeding, cheating on your taxes, and wanting a "fairly" officiated basketball game.
It's a "I can do it and I don't want you to do it world" that we live in daily.
More later......
JetBlue
A few things that caught my attention.....
JET BLUE
Imagine for a second that your getting on a plane. Taking your seat. Getting comfortable and it's 8 a.m. You find out from a hard-working flight attendant the flight is delayed. Well, that beach in Florida will still be there when you get there. Or....It's Valentine's Day and you can't wait to see the person who you can't live without.
9 a.m.
Read the magazines on the plane.
10 a.m.
They give you water and some of those pretzels.
11 a.m.
Noon.
They give you more water and pretzels. Hope you enjoyed them. The plane is all out of food.
1 p.m.
It's hot in the plane and the flight attendants....hard working flight attendants...finally open a door to let some air in the plane.
2 p.m.
No more food and water.
3 p.m.
Are there more magazines?
4 p.m.
Hey! They open the door again to let some air in the plane.
It's been eight hours and you ask to leave the plane.
JetBlue won't let you off the plane. If you try to get your family off the plane and back to where there is food and water, they will have you arrested.
5 p.m.
6 p.m.
No, you can't get off the plane. Sorry. I know you are a U.S. citizen and you are being held against your will for nine hours, but if you try and get off the plane, you will be arrested. Restrained possibly. But you cannot get off the plane.
7 p.m.
Someone at JetBlue finally comes to their senses and has the plane return to the terminal.
Ten hours.
You sat on the plane ten hours and they wouldn't let you off. People wonder why the government gets involved in the things they do. The JetBlue situation is why.
JetBlue says they are going to put $20 to $30 million dollars up to reimburse travelers
who are "inconvenienced" by the weather delays. In fact, they have come up with a
"Consumer Bill of Rights." That's good. When you hold people against their will for ten hours with little food, water, and two port-a-johns pretending to be airplane toilets, it's good to know that some marketing person with JetBlue got a committee together and came up with a flow chart, mission statement, and a feel-good document to e-mail to all that will fall for it.
Good thing. Someone probably should have been led off in handcuffs and taken to jail for letting a plane with real people sit on a tarmac or at the gate for ten hours.
Most people don't want the government to get involved and solve a problem with private business. But when you callously treat people with contempt and disrespect in the manner that JetBlue did, you open the door for actions you don't anticipate. Like the government ringing your doorbell.
It's too bad really this happened to JetBlue. JetBlue is a discount carrier that is trying it's best to make air travel affordable in the world of big carriers. The Valentine's Day weather debacle was a serious error on JetBlue's part, but one from which they can recover.
JET BLUE
Imagine for a second that your getting on a plane. Taking your seat. Getting comfortable and it's 8 a.m. You find out from a hard-working flight attendant the flight is delayed. Well, that beach in Florida will still be there when you get there. Or....It's Valentine's Day and you can't wait to see the person who you can't live without.
9 a.m.
Read the magazines on the plane.
10 a.m.
They give you water and some of those pretzels.
11 a.m.
Noon.
They give you more water and pretzels. Hope you enjoyed them. The plane is all out of food.
1 p.m.
It's hot in the plane and the flight attendants....hard working flight attendants...finally open a door to let some air in the plane.
2 p.m.
No more food and water.
3 p.m.
Are there more magazines?
4 p.m.
Hey! They open the door again to let some air in the plane.
It's been eight hours and you ask to leave the plane.
JetBlue won't let you off the plane. If you try to get your family off the plane and back to where there is food and water, they will have you arrested.
5 p.m.
6 p.m.
No, you can't get off the plane. Sorry. I know you are a U.S. citizen and you are being held against your will for nine hours, but if you try and get off the plane, you will be arrested. Restrained possibly. But you cannot get off the plane.
7 p.m.
Someone at JetBlue finally comes to their senses and has the plane return to the terminal.
Ten hours.
You sat on the plane ten hours and they wouldn't let you off. People wonder why the government gets involved in the things they do. The JetBlue situation is why.
JetBlue says they are going to put $20 to $30 million dollars up to reimburse travelers
who are "inconvenienced" by the weather delays. In fact, they have come up with a
"Consumer Bill of Rights." That's good. When you hold people against their will for ten hours with little food, water, and two port-a-johns pretending to be airplane toilets, it's good to know that some marketing person with JetBlue got a committee together and came up with a flow chart, mission statement, and a feel-good document to e-mail to all that will fall for it.
Good thing. Someone probably should have been led off in handcuffs and taken to jail for letting a plane with real people sit on a tarmac or at the gate for ten hours.
Most people don't want the government to get involved and solve a problem with private business. But when you callously treat people with contempt and disrespect in the manner that JetBlue did, you open the door for actions you don't anticipate. Like the government ringing your doorbell.
It's too bad really this happened to JetBlue. JetBlue is a discount carrier that is trying it's best to make air travel affordable in the world of big carriers. The Valentine's Day weather debacle was a serious error on JetBlue's part, but one from which they can recover.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Real Life Gets In the Way of a Blog
Welcome to February. Sorry...real life gets in the way of updating my blog.
Lot going on in my life in and out of work.
Several things....
Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby was in town Sunday. In one of those moments that I'm sure I will tell my friends about till I die, I got to spend some time chatting with him for a bit.
Cosby was very cordial, and very accommodating.
When he found out that my parent were retired school teachers, he had a thousand questions.
The importance of education has always been an important part of who Cosby is on a daily basis.
The funny thing that happened during the introduction....I went out and did my usual 3-4 minutes of extraordinary observations. Concluding, I said that I couldn't stay for the Cosby show because the police had found a piece of ice on the Parkway and I had to go to work.
Got a big laugh with that one. Last Friday, we went with "wall-to-wall" coverage when ice conditions forced the Parkway to close. So when Cosby came out, he wanted me to explain it to him.
"Mr. Cosby, when the wind blows a peach off a tree in Southern Tennesse, North Alabama gets shut down."
The crowd laughed again and Mr. Cosby sent me on my way.
*Anna Nicole Smith
Raise your hand if you didn't see this one coming.
Did I miss something? Did I miss the war ending? Did the troops come home? Are the wars over? Is gas still $2.10 a gallon? Did poverty end? Did homelessness end?
The amount of news given to Anna Nicole Smith's death was astounding and more than a little embarrassing. The national cable news outlets made her out to be a head of state.
For someone whose tombstone should read "Went Through Life Stoned," she got
coverage worthy of someone who actually made a contribution to society.
The person who cared the most however was probably doing back flips. The death of Anna Nicole Smith will keep Nancy Grace rolling for months.
Not me. I have a rule at home or at work. When I see an Anna Nicole Smith story, I pick up the remote and change channels. Makes me glad that we still carry Andy Griffith.
Valentine's Day
Ok guys...here is the deal. It's part of the "work smarter-not harder" mentality that I find
so hard to grasp.
Just get the wife or the girlfriend a spa gift certificate. Let her get the manicure, pedicure, or the massage and she will be thanking you for days. When the lady of the house gets to indulge herself, she rarely forgets it.
Lot going on in my life in and out of work.
Several things....
Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby was in town Sunday. In one of those moments that I'm sure I will tell my friends about till I die, I got to spend some time chatting with him for a bit.
Cosby was very cordial, and very accommodating.
When he found out that my parent were retired school teachers, he had a thousand questions.
The importance of education has always been an important part of who Cosby is on a daily basis.
The funny thing that happened during the introduction....I went out and did my usual 3-4 minutes of extraordinary observations. Concluding, I said that I couldn't stay for the Cosby show because the police had found a piece of ice on the Parkway and I had to go to work.
Got a big laugh with that one. Last Friday, we went with "wall-to-wall" coverage when ice conditions forced the Parkway to close. So when Cosby came out, he wanted me to explain it to him.
"Mr. Cosby, when the wind blows a peach off a tree in Southern Tennesse, North Alabama gets shut down."
The crowd laughed again and Mr. Cosby sent me on my way.
*Anna Nicole Smith
Raise your hand if you didn't see this one coming.
Did I miss something? Did I miss the war ending? Did the troops come home? Are the wars over? Is gas still $2.10 a gallon? Did poverty end? Did homelessness end?
The amount of news given to Anna Nicole Smith's death was astounding and more than a little embarrassing. The national cable news outlets made her out to be a head of state.
For someone whose tombstone should read "Went Through Life Stoned," she got
coverage worthy of someone who actually made a contribution to society.
The person who cared the most however was probably doing back flips. The death of Anna Nicole Smith will keep Nancy Grace rolling for months.
Not me. I have a rule at home or at work. When I see an Anna Nicole Smith story, I pick up the remote and change channels. Makes me glad that we still carry Andy Griffith.
Valentine's Day
Ok guys...here is the deal. It's part of the "work smarter-not harder" mentality that I find
so hard to grasp.
Just get the wife or the girlfriend a spa gift certificate. Let her get the manicure, pedicure, or the massage and she will be thanking you for days. When the lady of the house gets to indulge herself, she rarely forgets it.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Things I've Learned
Wisdom. Common Sense. Walking Around Sense. Horsesense. Brains.
Good advice. Guidance. Mentoring. Leadership.
All qualities important to living a fruitful and productive life.
But it all seems in short supply these days. Finding true wisdom is like catching smoke with a spoon. Shaping and defining truly important leadership concepts in life is a challenge too important not to screw up for future generations.
With that in mind, I present the January issue of Esquire. Yes, wisdom in Esquire.
Stop...it's actually a decent magazine.
The January issue has their annual "Wisdom and Damn Good Advice" section.
The cover has a picture of Bryan Anderson. He lost both legs and one arm in a roadside
bomb in Iraq. His wisdom?
"For every decision you make, you learn something, whether it was the right or the wrong
decision. I believe everything happens for a reason."
Bryan Anderson believes, three limbs fewer than most of us, that his life has a purpose and while the explosions that blew most of him apart may be a defining moment, it won't be a
defeating one.
After reading Bryan Anderson's story, I think I will quit complaining about work, my car, bills,
friends good and bad, and any other life event that doesn't blow off my legs and an arm.
Some others...
CBS News anchor Katie Couric says "You have to be unwavering in your conviction that you're doing something good, because there are a lot of circling vultures that will eat you alive."
Scientist James Watson says "Do things as soon as you can. If a decision needs to be made, make it. It gives you more time to change your mind."
Legendary record producer Clive Davis says "I take nothing for granted. Failure's right around the corner.
Three people. Three sharp minds who tackle a day rather than ease into it.
So, I have some observations. Here is what I know.
You can tell a lot about someone by how they treat a waiter.
Roses may not help, but they buy you time.
People who make others feel bad because they can get it in the end.
The quality of my life isn't changed whether Auburn or Alabama ever wins a football game.
Giving others plenty of room is more important on I-65 than at the poker table.
Never go cheap on brakes and shoes.
People are stunned when they realize you are actually listening to them.
Writing is a noble and moral pursuit even if it never sees the light of day at a bookstore.
Everyone hates lawyers and reporters till they need one.
When you ask the same question three times and get a different answer that still
doesn't answer the question, it's best to move on.
Ok...it's not The Ten Commandments. My list is a work in progress. The Commandment list
is complete and pretty much non-negotiable.
What observations do you have? What crystal clear nugget of truth can you share?
Send them to me a greg.screws@whnt.com
You can look for them on NewChannel 19 This Morning as the end of the year draws near.
Good advice. Guidance. Mentoring. Leadership.
All qualities important to living a fruitful and productive life.
But it all seems in short supply these days. Finding true wisdom is like catching smoke with a spoon. Shaping and defining truly important leadership concepts in life is a challenge too important not to screw up for future generations.
With that in mind, I present the January issue of Esquire. Yes, wisdom in Esquire.
Stop...it's actually a decent magazine.
The January issue has their annual "Wisdom and Damn Good Advice" section.
The cover has a picture of Bryan Anderson. He lost both legs and one arm in a roadside
bomb in Iraq. His wisdom?
"For every decision you make, you learn something, whether it was the right or the wrong
decision. I believe everything happens for a reason."
Bryan Anderson believes, three limbs fewer than most of us, that his life has a purpose and while the explosions that blew most of him apart may be a defining moment, it won't be a
defeating one.
After reading Bryan Anderson's story, I think I will quit complaining about work, my car, bills,
friends good and bad, and any other life event that doesn't blow off my legs and an arm.
Some others...
CBS News anchor Katie Couric says "You have to be unwavering in your conviction that you're doing something good, because there are a lot of circling vultures that will eat you alive."
Scientist James Watson says "Do things as soon as you can. If a decision needs to be made, make it. It gives you more time to change your mind."
Legendary record producer Clive Davis says "I take nothing for granted. Failure's right around the corner.
Three people. Three sharp minds who tackle a day rather than ease into it.
So, I have some observations. Here is what I know.
You can tell a lot about someone by how they treat a waiter.
Roses may not help, but they buy you time.
People who make others feel bad because they can get it in the end.
The quality of my life isn't changed whether Auburn or Alabama ever wins a football game.
Giving others plenty of room is more important on I-65 than at the poker table.
Never go cheap on brakes and shoes.
People are stunned when they realize you are actually listening to them.
Writing is a noble and moral pursuit even if it never sees the light of day at a bookstore.
Everyone hates lawyers and reporters till they need one.
When you ask the same question three times and get a different answer that still
doesn't answer the question, it's best to move on.
Ok...it's not The Ten Commandments. My list is a work in progress. The Commandment list
is complete and pretty much non-negotiable.
What observations do you have? What crystal clear nugget of truth can you share?
Send them to me a greg.screws@whnt.com
You can look for them on NewChannel 19 This Morning as the end of the year draws near.
Thursday, December 7, 2006
The Bike
A bicycle is freedom to a kid. With teachers, parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and just plain big people telling you what to do every day, a bicycle is a kid's ticket to ride free.
Is there anything better than pulling out of the driveway, putting the hammer down, pedaling as fast as you can, feeling the speed build, and roaring down the block to hook up
with your buddies?
It might be better on a day when you have a baseball card in the spokes of the wheel.
Or a day when you had to turn handlebars back skyward cause you knocked them down ramping off mounds of dirt at construction sites you weren't supposed to be visiting.
Or possibly the day you get to make fun of the only kid on the street who has a basket on his bike cause his mother makes him go to the store three times a day.
To a kid, a bike is freedom. A bike is life. A bike is your ticket to be a kid forever.
Geontae Glass had the greatest smile a little kid could have. It lit up a room. He beamed.
He had a bike. A bike to ride down the street. A bike to race to his friends house.
A bike to see how fast his five-year-old feet would carry him.
Geontae's bike is at the last place he left it. Leaning on the front porch where he used to live.
He won't ride it anymore because someone beat Geontae to death.
The pictures of Geontae Glass make my heart hurt in a way that only a senseless mindless tragedy can.
The picture I cannot shake is not the snapshot someone took of a young
boy whose life ended far to soon. I have dreamed about the bike leaning against the apartment door. A bike that no one is riding today.
Or tomorrow.
Or the next day.
Kevin Andre Towles is charged with beating Geontae to death. His mother, Shalinda Glass,
is charged with a felony count of hindering prosecution.
It is important to remember that Glass and Towles are innocent until proven guilty.
Fundamentally that is more than a talking point. It is the foundation of how justice is
dispensed in our culture.
For the record, I don't know if they did it or not. They are in the legal system and the wheels of justice are exceedingly deliberate but turn exceedingly fine.
But when they put whoever killed Geontae in jail, I hope they put a picture of his bike on the wall of the jail cell. Maybe it will keep that person up at night.
Maybe it won't.
Is there anything better than pulling out of the driveway, putting the hammer down, pedaling as fast as you can, feeling the speed build, and roaring down the block to hook up
with your buddies?
It might be better on a day when you have a baseball card in the spokes of the wheel.
Or a day when you had to turn handlebars back skyward cause you knocked them down ramping off mounds of dirt at construction sites you weren't supposed to be visiting.
Or possibly the day you get to make fun of the only kid on the street who has a basket on his bike cause his mother makes him go to the store three times a day.
To a kid, a bike is freedom. A bike is life. A bike is your ticket to be a kid forever.
Geontae Glass had the greatest smile a little kid could have. It lit up a room. He beamed.
He had a bike. A bike to ride down the street. A bike to race to his friends house.
A bike to see how fast his five-year-old feet would carry him.
Geontae's bike is at the last place he left it. Leaning on the front porch where he used to live.
He won't ride it anymore because someone beat Geontae to death.
The pictures of Geontae Glass make my heart hurt in a way that only a senseless mindless tragedy can.
The picture I cannot shake is not the snapshot someone took of a young
boy whose life ended far to soon. I have dreamed about the bike leaning against the apartment door. A bike that no one is riding today.
Or tomorrow.
Or the next day.
Kevin Andre Towles is charged with beating Geontae to death. His mother, Shalinda Glass,
is charged with a felony count of hindering prosecution.
It is important to remember that Glass and Towles are innocent until proven guilty.
Fundamentally that is more than a talking point. It is the foundation of how justice is
dispensed in our culture.
For the record, I don't know if they did it or not. They are in the legal system and the wheels of justice are exceedingly deliberate but turn exceedingly fine.
But when they put whoever killed Geontae in jail, I hope they put a picture of his bike on the wall of the jail cell. Maybe it will keep that person up at night.
Maybe it won't.
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