Tag: Texas

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Promised Land

When I was nine, the Texas Longhorns won the national championship running the new Wishbone offense. I listened to all their games on the radio – every gridiron clash wasn’t on TV in 1969 – and came to revere the quarterback… James Street. He was my boyhood hero. About 25 years ago, I met him at a dinner, and found myself completely in awe and speechless.

The only other celebrity I hold in the highest esteem is Bruce Springsteen. (And if you’ve read any of my newsletters over the last nine years, you already knew that.) It’s not Springsteen the man I admire… for he has plenty of flaws and is the first to admit them. It’s the poet and rocker who looks at the canvas of our world and artistically comments on what he sees. Of course, you can’t mention The Boss without including his incredibly talented E Street Band. I’ve seen them play at least a dozen times since 1978.

In the last few years, Springsteen’s keyboardist Danny Federici and saxophonist Clarence Clemons passed away. Imagine losing two people you stood beside on stage for more than 40 years. That must create a deep hole in your heart and big talent gap in your performance.

The redesigned E Street Band, featuring new members including Clarence’s nephew on sax, just embarked on a worldwide tour. On the first night, during Tenth Avenue Freezeout, at the point where Springsteen normally sings, “When the change was made uptown and the Big Man joined the band,’ everyone went silence in a tribute to their departed mate.

“We spent a lot of time thinking about this show and talking about it,” guitarist Steve Van Zandt told Rolling Stone this month. “The horn section was a good answer to the unanswerable: ‘How do you replace Clarence Clemons?’ Well, you don’t. It’s real simple. The same way you replace Danny Federici. You don’t. You have somebody else playing those parts, but you have to do something else, you have to morph it into a hybrid of what you were. It’s not going to be the same.”

Every team – sports, music and business – loses members… whether by trade, termination or death. While those times create difficult challenges, there is always someone new ready for his/her opportunity. As a leader, your job is to give them a chance to shine. When it happens, remember the wisdom of Born to Run: “Someday girl I don’t when we’re gonna get to that place where we really want to go and we’ll walk in the sun…”

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Burning Brightly

As I write this, the state of Texas is blazing. Sixty-four wildfires started in the past two days as lack of rain, strong winds and low humidity combine to create the perfect firestorm. The biggest conflagration is in central Texas – 500 homes destroyed and 30,000 acres burned in Bastrop. Less than 15 miles as the crow flies from our house northwest of Houston is an inferno that’s consumed 5,000 acres. This latest round comes after a series of fires in North Texas during the spring; the biggest one consumed 200,000 acres and destroyed 250 homes, including our good friends’ lake house.

Wind and rain are an annual threat to those living on the Gulf Coast. Each June, proactive citizens prepare for the worst: buying supplies, developing contingency plans and determining evacuation routes. Tropical Storm Alison flooded downtown in 2001. Hurricane Rita missed in 2005. Ike delivered a direct hit three years ago next week. Until the season ends in November, there is always the possibility of destruction.

Last week’s forecast that Tropical Storm Lee was heading this way brought anticipation of an end to the worst drought since the 1950’s. Instead, Lee took a right turn, all the rain went elsewhere and the backside winds flamed the raging fires. Much like the Dust Bowl that ravaged the Great Plains in the midst of the Great Depression, these roaring flames – along with Hurricane Irene that ravaged the East Coast – are piling on to the nation’s woes at the worst of times.

Life is busy. You get moving fast. Caught up in a lot of little things. Then one day you wake up and are told to evacuate your home… to leave behind all your memories. It’s a helpless feeling, and for some, all their keepsakes will be forever lost. Please take a moment right now in your thoughts to remember those affected by these natural disasters. Say a prayer, too, for the first responders and all those who lend a helping hand. As the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 arrives on Sunday, you know it’s times like these when America’s great light of care shines brightest.

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Green Thumb

One of the things I take a lot of pride in is the appearance of our yard. While the one-eighth acre lot is not exactly a botanical garden, it means a lot to me that it’s always green and clean. While my 16-year-old son and I do the mowing and pruning, we turn over chemical applications to a pro. That’s why I think we have one of the nicest lawns in our neighborhood. Or at least we did for a dozen years.

Last September I noticed a small corner of our front yard was browning in a two-foot wide area. Within a week, it had spread wider, so we called ‘Fertilizer Man.’ (After all these years we still don’t know his name. He just shows up unannounced, does his thing and leaves a preprinted invoice. Then we send a check to his office.) He applied a special treatment to the St. Augustine and said we should be fine with new growth in the spring.

Unfortunately, when the grass turned green six weeks ago, the now 10-foot triangular patch failed to arrive as planned. Add the worst drought in these parts in decades and my pride and joy is looking poor and neglected.

Yesterday, FM returned for his quarterly application. I went out to ask for advice, and the first thing he said was, “I am embarrassed and confused about this. I apologize for not knowing what to do. It has me completely baffled.” He suggested we rake the area clean, replant two trays of plugs, add Leaf Mold Compost – ‘the most magical dirt you’ll ever find’ – and nurture the lawn back to health.

It was great to experience a person who takes so much pride in his work that he apologized and felt the need to admit his lack of understanding. Here’s a guy who spends every day in the hot Texas sun fertilizing yards for people he neither knows nor sees, and yet he treats each lawn as an artist views his canvas. Those are attributes to which every professional should aspire.

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Unfavorable Support

A sports radio show here has a recurring segment titled, “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” about items in the news. For instance, when Charlie Sheen announced that instead of heading into rehab he would be handling drug and alcohol dependency on his own, the host asked listeners to weigh in with thoughts on how badly that idea could turn out.

When I heard last night the Texas Senate approved a ‘highly controversial bill’ to allow licensed citizens to carry concealed handguns inside buildings at public colleges and universities that same question immediately jumped into my head.

Proponents say it would enhance the safety of licensees – who have to be 21 or older – and their fellow students. They suggest the next time there’s an incident like Virginia Tech someone other than the shooter would be armed. Opponents, including regents and officials of the universities, believe academic institutions should remain gun-free. They mention the confusion that could occur when campus security and local law enforcement arrive on the scene and try to determine the good guys from the bad.

With a daughter who will be a senior at the University of Texas and two more kids to follow her over the next nine years, I have concerns should this bill pass the House and the governor sign it into law. My biggest worry is on any given Saturday night – following much alcohol consumption – the ‘testosterone effect’ greatly enhances the likelihood of altercations.

What could possibly go wrong?

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Denying Eyes

The NFL draft begins tonight – which means a few young men barely of drinking age will wear $1,000 suits and smile broadly for the ESPN cameras, rejoicing that they are instant millionaires… and fortunate not to be selected by the Oakland Raiders.

A peculiarity of this annual rite of football passage is how personnel directors and draft experts often skip right past a player’s four-year record of success on the field and downgrade him because a 40-yard dash time was one-tenth of a second slow. Similarly, they’ll elevate someone who delivered average game results to near superstar status because he excelled in the 3-cone drill.

“Yeah, I know he set rushing records down there in Florida, but he’s too small to compete at the next level and he’s a step slow. He might have a brief career as a backup. That’s why we project a low second-round selection for Emmitt Smith.”

A similar approach for determining potential results occurs in our education system. This week here in Texas students are enduring the annual TAKS test – a standardized assessment that for some determines whether they advance to the next grade.

While the intentions are good – see what students know – there are two inherent problems with this tactic. First, teachers spend an inordinate amount of time ‘teaching to the test’ because they are judged on how well their class performs. Schools hold TAKS pep rallies throughout the year to motivate and encourage kids. Second, students miss out on the opportunity to broaden their learning, because, as one of our child’s teachers said, ‘There isn’t enough time for that with all this TAKS stuff.’

Instead of judging success on whether kids know the methods and tricks for answering multiple-choice questions, education leaders should measure how well their students are prepared for futures in this fast-changing world.

Once that’s accomplished, perhaps they will do away with the SAT as the biggest determining factor for college acceptance. From my experience – both as a graduate and the father of a student at the University of Texas – how you perform one Saturday during your senior year of high school has little to do with your ultimate success in college.

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