Heart of a Champion

“Nice guys finish last.” - Leo Durocher, baseball manager
 
Leo Durocher may have been a statesman, but he was definitely not a poet. Nor was he a philosopher, a religious leader, or a political influencer. He was a baseball player and manager. Durocher was known as “Leo the Lip” during his baseball days for […]

“Nice guys finish last.” - Leo Durocher
“Leo the Lip” as he was not so affectionately called, could not have been more wrong. At least not this year.
As football fans watched intently for the results of the 2008 Heisman Trophy voting last Saturday night, the winner had already been determined: us.
Not in years have we been […]

When the 2008 Summer Olympic Games opened on August 8, all of the competing 10,500 athletes from the 204 participating nations heard the recitation of the Olympic creed.
The creed, which was first spoken at the 1908 Games, states: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just […]

Even if you are not a baseball fan, this month’s Major League Baseball All-Star game festivities provided one of the great stories of our time.
Not just a sports story.
A human interest story.
It is the story of Josh Hamilton. If you are not familiar with him, Josh Hamilton is a baseball player for the Texas Rangers. […]

As our celebration of Independence Day rolled around this week, I found myself in deep thought. As I sat on the beach, enjoying our family vacation, three main thoughts struck me.
I know what you are thinking: Oh great! Here comes another one of those pieces packed with a plethora of patriotic platitudes and political propaganda!
Well, […]

The World Values Survey, a study released in December 2007, shows that among all of the 194 counties in the world, the United States ranks as the 23rd happiest nation on earth. Does that surprise you as much as it did me? I would have thought that a nation whose constitution guarantees its people the […]

Recalling Eleanor Roosevelt’s great quote on perseverance in the previous blog entry had me thinking more about the topic. I was reminded of how a good friend of mine tells the story of visiting a Caribbean island shortly after the hurricanes had battered that region a few years ago. As he scanned the landscape, he […]

At this time of year, when it seems that a good dose of perseverance is needed…
“I gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which I must stop and look fear in the face. I say to myself, ‘I’ve lived through this and can take the next thing that comes along.’ We must do […]

It was a small note found on page 6 of the sports section in the local newspaper. Just a few sentences actually. And yet, those few words spoke volumes.
Last week, at the U.S. Olympic media summit in Chicago, sprinter Allyson Felix and decathlete Bryan Clay – both favorites to win gold medals in their events […]

re • spon • si • bil • i • ty – The state, quality, or fact of being responsible; something for which one is responsible; a duty, obligation, or burden.
“It’s not my fault.”  “If they had just done their job better, this would not have happened.” “There’s nothing I can do about it.”
Each of […]