Do you enter contests or do you not bother because you don’t think that you’ll win? Ever since I won a trip to Toronto to see the Monkees (a band that also had a show on television) when I was in Grade 6, I have enjoyed entering contests. On Monday morning, my radio came on just a couple of minutes before an announcer on TSN 690 in Montreal asked a question about the 1994 Montreal Expos. As soon as I heard the question, I remembered what happened last week.
On the flight from Phoenix to Chicago last week, I sat next to a man from Iowa who shared my love for baseball. He told me that his favourite player was Andre Dawson (mine too) and he believed, like I do, that the Expos would have won the World Series in 1994 if the season had not ended early due to a management-labour conflict. One of the questions that came up in our conversation was the same one asked on Monday: “Who was the Expos’ shortstop in 1994?” I was delighted to get through and won tickets to an upcoming Expos reunion event. In case you’re wondering, the shortstop was Orlando Cabrera.
In John Maxwell’s book “The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader,” he writes: “If you want to be an effective leader, you have to be committed. True commitment inspires and attracts people. It shows them that you have conviction. They will believe in you only if you believe in your cause.” He goes on to say that commitment starts in the heart. “I am told that in the Kentucky Derby, the winning horse effectively runs out of oxygen after the first half mile, and he goes the rest of the way on heart. That’s why all great athletes recognize its importance. NBA legend Michael Jordan explains that ‘heart is what separates the good from the great.’”
Thought for the weekend: “People stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry on as if nothing happened.” – Sir Winston Churchill
In His grace,
Steve