“Brick walls are there to show you that you want it bad enough.”
– Randy Pausch
Author of The Last lecture
Archives for the month of: April, 2013
Be the man. Be the calm in the storm.
Be the man in an emergency.
Every single one of us has bad days. No matter how stoic we are, we all have to deal with bills, traffic, flat tires, leaky pipes and a whole list of miscellaneous things that pop up and make you want to pull your hair out. It’s called life.
I clench my teeth and drop my head back against my headrest more times than I can count throughout the week. But my role at work does not allow me to lose my cool and scream at the top of my lungs to blow off steam. It’s the sign of a mature man to keep his cool and handle the situation. Nothing gets fixed when you lose it. The coolest most in control men stop, breath, and work the problem.
But being a man brings on even more responsibility. You’ll find yourself surrounded by friends, girlfriends, wives, kids and everyone else who is stressing because of the situation at hand. And it’s easy to see that screaming, crying, and worrying about every “what if” isn’t going to help anything. This is when you really have to “man up”. I’ve found that in stressful situations, the mob mentality spreads fast. So, take the leadership role and stay calm and start to work with what you have. The tires flat – punching your steering wheel won’t fix it. Your son didn’t get to play as much in his sports league as you wanted – making a scene and cussing out the coach won’t make you the father of the year. Be a man and stay calm.
I’ll be the first to admit, when I’m solo and something like a flat tire happens unexpectedly… I allow myself a moment to grab the steering wheel and grrrrrrrr!!! But then you have to breath and analyze your options and work through the problem at hand. But that’s when I’m alone. When you’re a guy, and your loved ones are around, or anyone who is counting on you to be the leader in the situation, the grrrrrr goes out the window.
No matter what the outcome, whether you can rectify the whole situation or not, you become the lead guy by keeping your cool and not losing your head. And if you do fix the issue, you become the coolest most level headed hero on everyone’s eyes.
So aim at being the hero instead of a screaming hot-headed lunatic. Your man-factor will grow by leaps and bounds.
Sports tend to be a part of guys lives’ no matter what season it is. Most guys picked up on the rules of these games throughout life; from their dads, from their friends, and from playing them growing up. But I do have some friends that’s just aren’t into sports, don’t know much about them, and maybe don’t even care.
Yet, almost every guy has found himself in a sports conversation at one point in time. So as the seasons arrive I’ll be posting the basics of each sport. Some of it will be very basic. Some may be a new fact to learn so you can really sound like you know what you’re
talking about. And for anyone reading this who isn’t into sports maybe it will draw just close enough to be interested. But at least, as a guy, should you find yourself at the water cooler or out with the guys – you can at least have some idea what’s going on.
BASEBALL
Spring training begins in March, but the actual season begins in April and carries through the summer months.
Baseball is traditionally known as the national pastime for the United States, but is also widely popular in Latin America and Asia.
THE GAME
The sport is divided into two separate leagues: American and National. The major difference between the two leagues is the “designated hitter rule”. This rule is used in the American League, the pitchers do not hit for themselves. The rule is not used in the national league.
The game is played by two teams, each with nine players:
Offense = at bat
Defense = in the field
THE FIELD
There are 4 bases:
• Home – batter starts here
• First
• Second
• Third
Infield = The area encompassed by the dirt “diamond” including the bases.
Outfield = The area past the bases, traditionally covered in grass.
Base lines = the white lines extending from “home plate” out to the far ends of the outfield.
Fair territory = where the ball is in play, the area inside the base line including the bases.
Foul territory = the area outside of the base lines towards the spectators.
PLAYING THE GAME
Each game is divided into 9 regulation innings. An inning consists of a “top” and a “bottom”. The “top” of the inning is designated as the beginning o each inning. Each team has a chance to be on the offense (at bat) and score as many “runs” as possible while the defense (team on the field) attempted to block them by getting 3 outs, causing the teams to switch positions. In the case if a tie score after 9 innings, the teams will play into extra innings until the tie is broken.
(The record is a 1-1 tie in the national league between the Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers in 26 innings, at Braves field in Boston on May 1, 1920. The game concluded as a tie because the teams did not have lights at the time and it became too dark to see the ball.)
To score a run, a batter must move, base by base, to home plate.
COMMON TERMS
OUT – when a batter either strikes out, grounds out, or flies out.
•STRIKE OUT – When 3 strikes are called against a batter.
•GROUND OUT – When a batter hits a ball into fair territory where it hits the ground but is either thrown or run to first base before the batter can reach the base.
• FLY OUT – whenever a ball, fair or foul, is caught in the air before touching the ground.
HIT – When a batter hits a fair ball that is not caught in the air, and running he is able to touch first base before the opposing player with the ball can reach the base. (This is a base hit, or a single)
DOUBLE – When a batter gets a hit and is able to make it to second base in one play.
TRIPLE – same as above, but the batter makes it to third base in one play.
HOME RUN – When a batter gets a hit and is able to touch all the bases in order as reach home play to score a run. ( a home run can be either “in the park” or “out of the park”, out meaning it went over the rear fences)
GRAND SLAM – a home run with the bases loaded, resulting in 4 runs.
BATTING AVERAGE – the number of hits a player would be estimated to get out of 1,000 official at-bats. (To calculate, divide a players number of hits by his official number of times at bat) any average over .300 ( 30 hits out of 100 at- bats) is considered excellent.
PINCH HITTER/ RUNNER – a substitute for a hitter or base runner.
RUNS BATTED IN (RBI) – the number of runs scored as a result of a player getting hits or “sacrificing” runners home.
This is clearly not a comprehensive baseball training guide, but it should give you the very basics.
Play ball!
“Weak men wait for opportunities; great men make them.” — Orison Swett Marden
Throughout the day I see people in real life and on the news making some very bad decisions .. I like to refer to them as short sighted decisions. But in reality it comes down to just being immature – so immature decisions if you prefer that.
See, here is how I get there: children act without thinking. They only know instant gratification. When they don’t get it, they scream, cry, and throw tantrums. They don’t think about the consequences or possible ramifications of their actions. It’s up to their parents to “teach” them that they can’t always have it their way. They are also teaching them patience, and problem solving skills.
BUT, not everyone gets these lessons apparently. We see people getting in fist fights over parking spots, walking away from fights only to return with a gun, or lashing out and striking someone. Sadly these aren’t even the worst reactions and short term decisions.
People lose their job and come back to shoot up their former office. In my town we recently had a man essentially kill two people (both who had families) over a $2500.00 lawsuit. He ended committing suicide as the police searched for him. What a sad outcome all around.
These short term decisions come to mind because these people don’t think about their actions. Lives ruined, people sent to prison all over things that can be so temporary, things that can be worked through or walked away from without the chaos.
Part of being a true man is being able to control your actions. You have to be able to see the big picture and think before you act. You have to realize the wave of consequences that come with your actions.
Remember children throw tantrums. Men are able to step back, take a breath, and choose their battles wisely.
Can you make big pictures decisions ?
GrowingUpGuy 