Thu 18 Aug 2005
So I went to the Knoxville sports hall of fame banquet tonight where Lou Holtz was the guest speaker. I gotta say, Lou motivated me. Two things from his speech really hit home. One, he said if you didn’t make it home tonight, would anyone miss you and why? Basically, are you living for yourself or do you make an impact where you mean something to someone? That’s the type of question that makes you take a long look at yourself. All I could come up with was that I think I am pretty nice to gas station attendants. Does that count? The other impact point Lou made was four fold. He said he lives each day making sure he has something to do, has someone to love, has something to believe in, and has something to hope for. Pretty cool eh?
The coolest part of the event was that the proceeds are going to the area Boys and Girls Clubs. This year they sold a record number of tickets - something like 1400 @ $125 a pop. I’m a product of the Oak Ridge Boys Club (don’t hold it against them) and sitting in the audience tonight made me think about some good times I have had there. My first year of Boys Club tee-ball I passed out in right field during one of our games. That taught me about dehydration. My first year of Boys Club basketball I learned that my mom (all 4 feet 10 of her) would never require a bull horn to make herself heard. Not sure what that taught me, but I love my mom and she’s been begging me to put her in the blog (ain’t that right ma?). In my first Boys Club baseball game the opposing pitcher hit the first two batters and then proceeded to plunk me. That taught me that I am scared of the ball and that a snow cone doesn’t make up for getting hit in the kidney. The Boys Club enabled me to learn how to play pool, ping-pong, bumper pool, wiffle ball, air hockey, fooseball, and a game associated with farting on your buddies head when he ties his shoes. I also learned that even though I may have been interested in some of the activities in the Boys Club art room, it was in my best interest and personal safety not to pursue them. And finally, whenever I got a bad report card, the Boys Club was always a good place to go and temporarily forget about the scolding I would undoubtedly receive when I finally made it home.