by Marty Coleman | May 21, 2010 | Sports - 2010, Vince Lombardi |
Day #3 in my Sports series
David and Goliath is the drawing but I am going to talk about baseball.
My favorite moment in all of baseball history was October 15, 1988. It was the World Series, the Oakland A’s vs the Los Angeles Dodgers, game 1. The A’s were heavy favorites to win the game and the series. I believe everyone on both teams and all their fans thought their team could win at the beginning of the game.
But I doubt that the many of the Dodger fans believed it when they were losing 4-3 in the ninth inning. After all, the best player they had was out for the entire series. He wasn’t in the dugout, he was in the training room, not able to play. It was hard to believe it when there were 2 outs and the best relief pitcher in all of baseball, Dennis Eckersley, was throwing his best stuff.
It was still hard to believe it when the star who couldn’t play because of a bad knee and a bad hamstring, Kurt Gibson, came out of the dugout to pinch hit for the pitcher. Not many believed. They hoped, but the didn’t believe. But Gibson believed. He tells the story of being in the training room, his knee on ice the entire game, imagining the scenario where he might be able to bat in the 9th inning. He spent the entire game believing that if the chance arose he could bat. And it came to pass as he imagined. Even with a full count Gibson believed he could do it. He also believed he could read the pitcher. He knew what type of pitch Eckersley was going to throw. When that pitch came, Gibson hit the most improbable home run ever to win the game. Not only did that hit win the game, but it so demoralized the A’s that the Dodgers went on to win the World Series. Gibson never played another inning of the series.
Gibson didn’t pay attention to what another person said. After all, it wasn’t their bat, their glory, their moment. It was his. He knew that what mattered wasn’t how strong he was, or how fast he was. What mattered is he believed he could do it.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. Sooner or later the one who wins is the one who thinks he can.” – Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970, Football coach, Green Bay Packers
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by Marty Coleman | May 20, 2010 | John Wooden, Sports - 2010 |
Day #2 in my Sports series. It also seems to be turning into a ‘John Wooden’ series since both quotes so far are by him.
I started coaching a beginning running group this week. Maybe that is why the sports idea popped into my head. I do know that my group includes many who are scared and nervous about running. Some are overweight, some are out of shape, some have never done any real exercise in their life, EVER. They don’t know if they can do it.
With each session we have a goal race at the end. In this case it is a 5k race in about 12 weeks. Many are worried they can’t do that. Guess what? They can’t….yet. If they focus on what they cannot do, run 3.1 miles without stopping, they are likely to feel stress, anxiety, nervousness, defeated, scared and overwhelmed.
However, if they focus on what they can do, which is to run this one training run, which includes walking intervals, less distance, water stops, training, coaching and support, then their fears will be much less. It is doable.
What is the huge brick wall you keep staring at that you can’t jump or climb over? What smaller hurdles are before it over which you can leap? In this case, I want you to turn that old saying, ‘Keep your eye on the prize’ upside down. I want you to take your eye off the prize and instead put it on only the next task in your journey towards the prize. Don’t worry, you know and I know you will NOT truly forget the prize. All you are doing is looking where you need to look for the task. You can do that and the prize will actually get closer.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden, 1910 – 2010, basketball coach
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by Marty Coleman | May 19, 2010 | John Wooden, Sports - 2010 |
Long ago I once had a friend who hated sports. He thought it was just the stupidest thing in the whole world for someone to chase after a ball, hit a ball, kick a ball, throw a ball or do any other thing with a ball. It held no interest to him. I also think he saw it as a waste of time. It was not utilitarian, not for a redemptive purpose of some sort. It was frivolous. He took pride in his dislike for sports. I think he saw it as an intellectual badge of honor.
I saw it as elitist and ignorant. Now, I know many will say I shouldn’t say that. That he has a right to not like sports just as I have a right to like them. And that would be true. But I am not arguing with his dislike of sports. I am arguing with his denigration and dismissal of the sport itself, those who play the sport and those who watch it as having no value.
I don’t watch sports a lot, but when I do I find great value in many aspects of it. Great examples of character being revealed, for good or bad. Beautiful displays of physical agility, intense and amazing split-second strategic decision making, and fantastic coordination of individuals into one cohesive team among other things.
If we want humans to only be utilitarian, to be only focused on redeeming their time, money, work, effort for a specific puritan purpose, then many other activities will seem worthless to do or pay attention to, maybe even dangerous. If sports is included in this list, then we should also include:
- Hobbies
- Art
- Dancing
- Music
- Play
- Movies / TV
- Books (especially novels)
- Decorating and landscaping
- Celebrations such as birthdays and anniversaries
You don’t have to like sports. But denigrating them and those who participate them doesn’t make you a better person, it makes you a lesser one.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Sports do not build character, they reveal it.” – John Wooden, 1910 – 2010, UCLA Basketball coach. Read about him and his UCLA teams at his wiki bio. You will be astonished at the depth and width of his character and ability.
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by Marty Coleman | May 18, 2010 | aha moment, Marty Coleman |
Yesterday the ‘Aha Moment Tour 2010’ came to Tulsa and I was invited to tell the Napkin Dad story. They are sponsored by Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company. You may have seen the ‘Aha Moments’ commercials on TV. They are going around the country in a very cool Airstream RV videotaping people talking about their ‘Aha moment’ in life. They will post them on their website throughout the summer. When they are done people can vote on the ones they would like to see put on TV. I will let you know when the video is up.
When I arrived at the RV there was a young woman, Kait, charged with checking me in. We had to wait while the person in front of me was interviewed so she asked me to tell a little bit about my aha moment. She had a wonderful look in her eyes as I told the story. When I was done she sheepishly told me it reminded her of something her father had done.
She said “of course, it is nothing like what you did”, and then she told the story. “He would leave for work very early in the morning, before I was awake. But he would always leave a little folded note for me outside my bedroom door. It wasn’t fancy, just a note saying he loved me, or maybe to remember to do something, like homework or be good. I remember that it was always the first thing I would do every morning, get up and go read my note. I was always so excited to get that note.”
The only false note in that story is about it not being like what I did. IT IS EXACTLY LIKE WHAT I DID! It has the same immeasurable amount of love, thought and care from her father as what I gave. He didn’t do it like I did, but that has nothing to do with the worth of his expression. He loved his daughter and expressed it as only he could, with his creativity, mind and heart. And guess what? She kept them too.
The first and best ‘Aha Moment’ for every child is when they realize they are loved. They don’t want to be loved by me, or some TV star or some cartoon character. They want to be loved by their mother and father. If you are a mother or father who finds a way, YOUR way, to express to your children that they are loved, then you are the best agent of love the world has ever known. If you aren’t that mother or father yet, no time like the present to become one.
Drawing, quote and commentary © Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | May 17, 2010 | Davy Crockett, Fame |
Here in America people who pay attention to the popular culture tend to see a lot of desperate attempts at fame and stardom. These fame pursuers see the greased pig and think they will be the one who can hold on to it. They think they have the right idea or the right looks or music or art or invention or style. They are better than the other ones, they will succeed where the others failed.
They are most likely wrong. The reason is they are pursuing the pig of fame instead of the path of success. I don’t mean that in some cliché marketing way. I simply mean that if fame is the end goal, you aren’t on a path, you are on a hunt defined by your desperation and fame’s fickle route through the prickers and thickets, a route you have to follow mercilessly.
If you’re end goal is success (which may include fame as a by-product) you can make a plan, you can follow through on it, and you can gauge your success on that plan. Most importantly, you will have substance that will sustain you whether fame comes or not.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Fame is like a shaved pig with a greased tail. It is only after it’s slipped through the hands of thousands, that some fellow, by mere chance, holds on to it.” – Davy Crockett, 1786-1836, U.S. Congressman, frontiersman.
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by Marty Coleman | May 15, 2010 | Augustine, Sin and Science - 2012 |
A vintage drawing from 2004
I don’t believe this.
I understand the idea that being unrealistically prideful can make one egotistical or make one think they are better than others. But the truth is we constantly encourage our children, friends, family members to be proud of themselves for great accomplishment. I want my children to be proud and I think it is good that they are when they do something worthy. I don’t believe acting on one hand like pride is bad while on the other pride is normal and healthy does anything to help them successfully integrate their actions and motives.
What do you think?
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Other sins find themselves in evil deeds, pride finds itself in good ones, but both destroy.” – Augustine, 354-430, early christian father, Bishop of Hippo
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by Marty Coleman | May 14, 2010 | Anonymous |
I think this is funny. But I don’t agree with it. I actually get quite bothered when people say something similar to me about their life. I usually want to schmack them upside the head and scream ‘Why are you being so negative, shut up and enjoy your good fortune!’
But there is something reassuring about this quote when you see everything going well for someone who is dishonest, mean, hurtful, prideful, ugly hearted and malicious. It’s called Karma in some cultures, and ‘what goes around comes around’ in others.
Whatever you call it, it’s a good thing to teach your children that while luck ebbs and flows, sometimes to people you don’t think deserve it, and sometimes to people you do, luck will change, life will even out in the end. Our attitude while we go through these ups and downs is the deciding factor in our success and happiness.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“When everything is coming your way, you are in the wrong lane.” – Anonymous
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by Marty Coleman | May 13, 2010 | Jane Austen |
There are two types of people in the world and you know which one you are.
You are either one of the agreeable ones or one of those annoyed by the agreeable ones.
You are either the type that talks first in the morning, or the type that wishes no one would talk until lunch.
You are either the type that enjoys that happy person or the type that wants that happy person fired.
You are either the type that likes liking people or the type that suffers liking people so you can get invited to stuff.
You are either the type that hopes to see someone you know when you are out and about or the type that goes grocery shopping 2 towns over to make sure you don’t.
You are either the type that is laughing at this post or the type that isn’t.
Drawing and incredibly insightful commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
“I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them.” – Jane Austen, 1775-1817, English novelist
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by Marty Coleman | May 12, 2010 | Bullies - 2012, Robert Morley |
I loved my school days. Do I seem like a bully to you? I don’t think you could find a friend from high school who thought I was.
But they would be wrong. I knew how to bully and did it at times. Why did I do it? Let me quote someone else who said it best.
“There doesn’t always have to be a reason. People don’t even always dislike the people they’re bullying, it’s just something they have fun doing … It’s not really something they even care about – it’s just like something they can do, and then friends join in, and it’s almost like entertainment, I guess.”– Dylan Kaufman, 12th grade, Northampton High School
Reported at Gazettenet.com
Here is my worst case of bullying and it fits in perfectly with that reasoning.
In our junior year of high school a number of my friends and I drove to Florida on spring break. In Florida we met up with two girls that were co-workers back in our home town with some of our gang. They were both fun and pretty and we were having a great time. We were also drinking.
One of the popular songs at the time, that we all happened to hate, was ‘Every time I see your face’ by Ringo Starr. It came on the radio when we were driving around with the girls. We started singing along with this song we hated.
In the meanwhile, one of the girls had been upset about something I think, I don’t remember for sure. I do know we were sort of annoyed about it. So, what happened? We turned on her. We weren’t trying to bully, we were letting out our annoyance at her. But with a bunch of guys all drinking, bantering and feeding off each other, it wasn’t long before we were singing very cruel and hurtful lyrics about her and her face. It didn’t cease until she was out on the balcony of our hotel room in tears.
In truth, it had very little to do with her at all. We were just ‘having fun’ cracking ourselves up over who could come up with the rudest lyrics. But our intent was beside the point. We knew we were hurting her and we continued because our fun was more important than she was. We thought she should have understood what we were doing. We thought she should just ‘get over it’. We thought the next day she would have forgotten about it like we did. That was not the case.
It was a shameful and bad thing we did. I remember thinking later how that really was over the top cruel and I never wanted to get that out of control with my words and actions again. I didn’t like being that mean, it wasn’t fun like we thought. It was just mean. If I could find that woman I would apologize in a heartbeat for that cruelty and whatever bad feelings remained with her about that moment in time.
An important note: My best friend, Jim Moore, who was with us on the trip, did not contribute to this cruel episode. I don’t remember it all that clearly but I think he was instrumental in getting us to finally stop. He was kind and thoughtful that way and it made me look up to him even more after that.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Show me a person who enjoyed their school days and I will show you a bully and a bore.” – Robert Morley, 1908-1998, British actor
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by Marty Coleman | May 11, 2010 | Emily Post, Manners - 2010 |
Day 5 of the Napkin Dad’s guide to Manners and Etiquette. This is the last in the series for now. Though if you all get rude and mean, I will come back with more!
I like that this most relaxed and easy of definitions is by Emily Post, the queen of American etiquette for the past 100 years. She was known, as are her descendants, as being easy going, unpretentious and utterly unimpressed with showy displays of so-called etiquette.
Think about those around you and try your best to make them comfortable and cared for. Try your best to not purposely offend them or hurt their feelings. Do those things and most any other issues of etiquette and manners will take care of themselves.
That means you have to pay attention and be humble about your own status and knowledge, especially when traveling to foreign countries. That includes traveling across town in many cases!
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” – Emily Post, 1872-1960, American author and etiquette expert.
Some things to note: Post was a divorced single mother, a pretty rare and sometimes shameful thing back in the 1800’s. She started writing after her sons were grown up a bit, publishing first at the age of 32. Her famous book ‘Etiquette’ did not get published until she was 50 years old.
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