Category: Commentary

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Living ‘The Dance’

Garth Brooks just signed a five-year contract to perform on weekends at the Wynn Encore in Las Vegas. Having retired in 2000 to spend more time with his three daughters, the top-selling solo artist of all-time is ready to return to the stage. “He’s been happy being at home attending every soccer game and knowing what his kids like to eat for breakfast,” said Trisha Yearwood, whom he married four years ago. Of course, it helps that Steve Wynn tossed in millions and an 11-seat jet to convince him to perform live again.

While that set-up is likely only available to the rich and wildly famous, the rest of us have a blank whiteboard of opportunities we could pursue with our lives…yet stand in our own way of making them come true, out of fear for what we have to leave behind.

Recently, my wife and I were playing TableTopics, a game of “What If…?” with two couples who are close friends. Among the questions that came up were: “If you got a tattoo, what would it look like and where on your body would it be?” and “If you could belong to any culture, which one would you choose?” Those types of thought-provoking introspections always make for interesting conversations.

Another question we opined on was: “If money were no object, what would you do?” My buddy answered, “I’d get rid of the big house, fancy cars and pressure, and go live quietly somewhere on a beach in Mexico.” His wife said, “I’m right there with him.” When I asked what’s holding them back, he said, “The kids, my parents, responsibilities…the usual ties that bind.” Going into coaching mode, I said, “Why let that stop you?” He turned his head askew and said, “I’m not sure.”

I hope he thinks about that, because they are crystal clear on what would be a wonderful life for them – just unable to take the leap of faith required to make their dream come true. There is no guarantee it would work out, but they won’t find out if they never t try.

And now I’m glad I didn’t know
The way it all would end / The way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain / But I’d have had to miss the dance
~ Garth Brooks, 1990

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Premature Evaluation

Early this morning the announcement came down that President Obama is the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. He becomes the fourth U.S. president to be honored with this coveted award. The first two – Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919 – were well into their two terms in the Oval Office prior to receiving such esteemed recognition. Carter, meanwhile, was removed from the White House more than a quarter of a century before being bestowed for a lifetime of achievement in 2002.

The 2009 prize is for accomplishments prior to February 1st, which means Mr. Obama was inaugurated just 11 days beforehand. Thus, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is honoring what he did prior to becoming Commander-in-Chief. “Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” said committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland.

It is clear that our dynamic president is a powerful speaker who has the ability to engage a global audience. That’s why stadiums filled to capacity wherever he appeared during the campaign – and why the inauguration events were so must-see-TV. It is my hope his decision-making, policy setting and leadership in the next three years live up to the lofty expectations and suddenly glowing recognition.

As someone who spent 15 years working in and around college and professional sports, I’ve seen up close and personal that games aren’t won in the first half or early innings. Being president is a marathon, not a sprint. There are many miles ahead for Mr. Obama, and he needs to start making moves and executing actual initiatives to help our struggling citizens. Only then will he be worthy of all the overwhelming praise.

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This Gun’s for Hire

You may not recall what you were doing exactly 25 years ago tonight…but I remember where I was. At the time, I produced shows for a cable sports channel. That was shortly after MTV debuted, so my co-producer and I decided to take advantage of our access to technology and record music videos for about a month, then throw a party at my apartment complex for our friends to watch them.

A week before the big event, with the help of our director and engineer, we entered the studio after hours and recorded segments to introduce the videos. As amateur versions of J.J. Jackson and Mark Goodman, we named our program “Me and Lee TV.” Once the party rolled around, we were quite surprised – first by the number of people crammed into such a small place, and second that whenever the videos played folks would be loudly socializing…yet as soon as the two of us appeared on the gigantic 24″ screen everyone would run over and listen in silence to our improvisational comedy routine.

The reason I know the date – September 23, 1984 – is because the apogee of our production was the ‘world premiere’ of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark – and it happened to be in celebration of his 35th birthday. The Boss turned 60 today, which means most of the people at that party soon are hitting 50. While I’m amazed at how fast the years flew, today my thoughts are about lifelong friends who are always just a phone call, e-mail or reunion away, specifically Lee, Chris, Mark and Paul…

Once we made a promise we swore we’d always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Blood brothers in a stormy night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender
© Bruce Springsteen 1984

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And The Winner Is

What if you got thisclose to the brass ring and weren’t able to grab it? Sort of like that recurring dream you have in which you’re prevented from success because of blurry vision or your feet are trapped in cement or just as you’re about to win you awaken. If, in real life, you performed high above your own lofty expectations and someone else claimed victory, would you be thrilled…or sad that the rousing applause and falling confetti weren’t for you?

Those are the thoughts I had last night while watching the finale of “America’s Got Talent.” It’s a show I never had seen until the past few weeks. Yet, there we were, family of four, with our eyes fully focused as the 10 finalists were dramatically whittled to five, then four, three and two. Ultimately, a former ‘chicken chaser’ from Kentucky took home the one million dollar grand prize, as voters selected his country singing the best this year of more than 100,000 wannabes.

My thoughts, though, were on the second place finisher. Imagine being on the cusp of becoming a millionaire and ending up with nothing. I envisioned holding a lottery ticket matching all six numbers, only to have it fly out of my hands on the way to the claims office. Surely, something like that was going through the runner-up’s mind when she didn’t hear her name announced.

Of course, the penultimate performer has much to celebrate. She survived cancer. She has a beautiful daughter and loving husband. Plus, now America knows her name, and she’ll probably be able to pursue her dream of performing professionally. By the way, I have an inside source that says she is going to be just fine. You see, she’s a member of my church here in Houston…and that’s why we tuned in to watch. Way to go, Barbara Padilla. Prince of Peace Catholic Community celebrates today with you.

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Making Yourself Free

One of the tenets of journalism, which I learned while earning a degree in that study from the University of Texas, is truth takes precedent over opinion. As information dissemination evolves from the evening newscast of your childhood, to the 24-hour availability of CNN and cable channels, to today’s instantaneous Internet commentaries, there is great risk that truth becomes distorted.

Unlimited access to free information is a gift, not an inherent right. The ability to have the world at your fingertips endangers the long-term viability of news gathering operations. As more and more newspapers – and perhaps someday broadcast entities – go out of business, it begs the question, “What happens when there’s no money to fund investigative reporting?” So, as you rejoice in the speed at which news travels the globe and the power at your fingertips to quickly post thought pieces on your blog, remember somewhere down the road there could come a time when the journalists who identify the seeds of stories become extinct due to a lack of resources.

On the Main Building at UT, there is this engraving from the Gospel of John: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Walter Cronkite saw those words when he matriculated there years before becoming “the most trusted man in America” as the longtime anchor of the CBS Evening News. If media outlets struggle to survive in the coming years, those left to provide information to the great unwashed need to step up their journalistic integrity while eliminating bias and opinion from their vocabularies. Otherwise, you’ll have no idea what the truth is and who you should trust.

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