Find Your Greatness

Dear Jerry,

From the thousands of tickets you gave out as an incentive to keep kids in schools rather than in gangs, to the genuineness of remembering the lowliest of your employees and buying lunch for those whom you ran into, you were a true man of humility.  You displayed a charisma like no other towards your players (i.e. To Ron Artest:  ”We haven’t had lunch in three weeks, you should call me.”  To Devin Ebanks:  ”There’s a very beautiful model called Ebanks [Selita Ebanks], is she related to you?”  To Matt Barnes:  ”Are you going to be back in time to do us some good?”) and in turn made Los Angeles a desirable place to play.  Thank you for your 34 years of service and playing the most vital role in the accomplishment of 10 championships.  Thank you for energizing and revolutionizing the game of basketball through entertainment and showtime.  But most importantly, thank you for being a role model of the utmost character.  You battled cancer until the very end and though you lost the fight, I will always remember you for this quote:  ”This is going to be our time.  The pride begins to set in, not the fatigue.  The fatigue begins to float away and now they say, ‘Wait a minute.  This is our championship; you’re going to have to take it away from us before you can call yourselves champions.”  You are THE greatest Laker of all time, and a bonafide competitor whose legacy will live on through generations.  Rest In Peace and you will be dearly missed by not only those who knew you, but fans of the game throughout the world. Through winning seasons and losing seasons, through triumph and adversity, I was, is and will be Purple and Gold for life.

Yours Truly,

Jeffrey Hahn (2.18.13)

Here the Dodgers were, going into their final homestand against the much hated San Francisco Giants.  2 games back of the final wild card spot with 3 games left, playing in an elimination game due to the Cardinals defeating the Reds earlier tonight.  Things didn’t look all so great from the get-go when Aaron Harang gave up an early run in the first inning.  Against the Giants, any kind of mistake would costly due to their pitching staff having arguably 4 aces in Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner and Barry Zito.  However, Harang recovered to pitch a masterful 6 innings, Andre Ethier hit a timely homerun off of Cain in the 4th, and Elian Herrera banged in a walk-off single to account for Kenley Jansen’s late-game blunder.  Although the Dodgers will need to win the next two games, and also need some help from the Reds to win their final two games against the Cardinals, at least for tonight the Dodgers live to see another day.  1.2% chance of making it into the wild card game? Liking the odds.  Go Blue. 

Roger Goodell can be reached at 212-450-2027. Feel free to share.

- Courtesy of Green Bay Packers’ Linebacker Clay Matthews

http://www.facebook.com/50ShadesOfClay

So many times in our lives we take our loved ones for granted, when in any day and at any moment, they can be taken away from our us.  Early Sunday morning around 1 a.m. Baltimore Ravens Wide Receiver Torrey Smith received a phone call informing him that his younger brother, Tevin Jones, passed away in a motorcycle accident.  With only a single mother who worked long hours to support the family, Smith at a very young age served as the father figure towards his 6 younger siblings. Family always came first for Smith.  As Jones’ high school football coach described Smith, “They stick together.  It’s all about family with them.  That’s the way families should be.  Torrey isn’t about boasting or bragging, even with his brothers and sisters.  He’s just Torrey.  He’s not like this huge deal.  That’s how family is.  They keep it real and they never forgot where they came from.”  Emotional and reeling from the loss, he joined his family in the afternoon to grieve the loss of his brother; however, with a heavy heart, he still made the decision to play in the Sunday Night Football game against the New England Patriots.  With the support of locker room leader Ray Lewis, and the rest of his teammates, he laid it all out on the gridiron tonight reeling in 127 receiving yards and 2 scores.  Tonight was Smith’s night to shine, and an opportunity to pass on a final farewell gift to his brother.  Tonight the Baltimore Ravens came together as a family and played with passion and a chip on their shoulders.  Tonight was destiny in the making, and no matter what New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady did, a win for Baltimore was inevitable.  There was one lesson that Smith showed all of us today:  to make the most out of our opportunities through joy or tribulation, for we never know what will happen tomorrow.  May he be an inspiration to us all.

Many have come to the evident conclusion that the era of dominance for Tiger Woods has come to an end.  Some claim that Tiger is just not the same as he used to be.  Others claim that he is intimidated by up-and-comer, Rory McIlroy.  On Thursday at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, it was once again a pairing of Tiger and McIlroy.  Tiger up to the challenge, posted a 4-under 66 compared to McIlroy’s 1-under 69, and bested McIlroy for the 4th time out of 5 pairings in the FedEx Cup playoffs.  

The great Jack Nicklaus said, “I think Tiger has a lot of wins left in him.  He does have a lot more competition.  During the couple of years when Tiger wasn’t really there, all of a sudden you have Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley and I could probably name a half-dozen other guys that have all won and learned how to win in Tiger’s absence.  They’re not scared of him anymore.”  The competition has made it known that they won’t back down to Tiger; however Tiger is making it known as well that he won’t go down easily.  McIlroy has won 3 out of the past 4 tournaments; yet Tiger is challenging him every step of the way.  Just like Kobe in his twilight years, Tiger isn’t quite ready to pass on the torch to the next generation just yet.  The elusive 4 majors to tie Nicklaus still dawns over him, and the drive to compete despite what anyone else thinks still exists.  As Tiger simply put it, “Winning takes care of everything.”  On Thursday, Woods demonstrated to the golf world that he could do just that.  

Recently, I was discussing the topic of passions in life with a friend, and that conversation somehow led into talking about sports.  We were reminiscing about all of the great ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries, and came to the conclusion that “Winning Time Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks” was one of the best ever made.  When I think of Reggie Miller, one phrase comes to my mind:  Lights, Camera, Action.  He knew that when playing in Madison Square Garden (one of the most historic professional sports arenas), one’s performance differentiated the stars from the superstars.  He brought it every time he played in New York; however, the greatest moment as a fan was watching Game 1 highlights of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals, when Reggie drained 8 points in 18 seconds.  It was simply remarkable.  From the clutch shots that placed the daggers within the Knicks, to the taunting of Spike Lee following the game, it was here in this very moment, where Reggie Miller cemented a legacy for himself.  Well look at him now.  A Hall-Of-Famer and one of the greatest shooting guards to ever play the game of basketball.  Mark Jackson’s mama would be proud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgJ_MZWg3iw