Friday, June 10, 2011
Tahoe and Tressel....
I'm back from Tahoe and the 100 mile bike ride turned out to be quite an inspiring event. When I participated in this ride in 2008 the weather was spectacular - not a cloud in the sky and the temperature rose to the mid-60's; absolutely perfect conditions. Unfortunately the same could not be said about the weather we encountered last Sunday, the day of the ride. The following is an excert from an e-mail I sent to Tom and Bonnie Collins following the ride. Their 7 year old daughter, Maya, is currently being treated for leukemia and I decided to ride this event in honor of her.........
"We woke up to a less than spectacualr Tahoe morning; we got up at 5 am, looked out the window and it was pouring rain. In addition, it was 37degrees. Needless to say I was not very excited about riding 7+ hours on a bicycle in nearly freezing temperatures and rain. Had I been in Ohio I would have gone back to bed but I trained 6 months for the ride so I grudgingly put on my cycle gear and headed up to meet my team at their hotel.
When I got to their hotel I was, for lack of a better word, pissed! I’d only been outside for a couple blocks but I was already wet, cold and the ride had not even started. I even said a few choice words to my team that I won’t repeat but let’s just say I made it very well known that I was none too excited about going out in that miserable weather and riding a bike. I then looked down and caught a quick glimpse of my wrist and there, peeking out from under the multiple layers of Under Armor, I could see my orange, ‘Magnificent Maya!’ wrist band. I had also folded a picture of Maya up and put it in my pocket so I pulled it out and looked at it (it was the one in her colorful ‘peace sign’ pajamas). I then remembered the last time I had seen Maya, she was on your driveway sitting on her bike. I then thought about all the times I’ve driven by your house and seen her out front playing and waving as I drove by and how much I’d love to drive by your house now and see her out there playing again. At that point I felt pretty ashamed of my attitude and started to cry. I gathered our team together and talked about Maya. I told them we may have to ride through some miserable weather but it doesn’t come close to what your family is going through right now. I told them about the last time I had seen Maya on her bike and said lets all go out and ride today for her and whoever it is that’s near and dear to you who has struggled with a blood related cancer. We all hugged, went out to the start line and everyone completed the ride. Throughout the day, I’d look down at my wrist and the band would inspire me to keep going. I even talked with Maya several times during the ride. I’d say, ‘OK, Maya, I’m feeling pretty cold, tired and sore but we’re going to finish this thing!’ And we did."
So you can see why I considered the ride so inspiring. I've followed Maya's journey on almost a daily basis and I realized that if she is able to endure everything she's been going through, I can go out and ride a bike in the cold and rain. I plan to give her my medal as thanks for being such an inspiration - had it not been for her the ride would have just been another ride. Even in the cold and rain it turned out to be very special.
I haven't been able to give my opinion on the whole Jim Tressel/Ohio State fiasco lately. Needless to say I was very disappointed when Coach Tressel finally resigned. I met him last summer and truly believe he is a good man, a great leader and will miss him patroling the sidelines at Ohio Stadium. I compare what he did to a parent protecting his/her child. When kids come to Ohio State to play football Coach Tressel tells their parents that he will take care of their sons. I think that's what he was doing when he didn't come forward with the information about the players and the tattoo situation. I don't think it had anything to do with winning football games and everything to do with fulfilling promises he had made to the parents of the kids involved. Obviously this doesn't make it right but I can understand why he did what he did. Does this stain his image - of course it does. Does this make him a dirty sleaze, cheat, phoney, piece of crap as some of the media are reporting and would want you to believe - hell no! Should he have lost his job over this? I don't think so but when the sharks (media) get someone in their crosshairs they're not going to stop until they totally destroy the person and everyone thing he/she has achieved. That's what makes me sick. Tressel has done more for his kids (and college football) than 99% of the coaches out there and to read some of the recent stories he's the biggest cheat in the history of college football - that's wrong. All I can say to the media is it must be nice living in glass houses, wouldn't it be interesting if the tables were turned and someone started reporting on the actions of some of these reporters - something tells me they wouldn't like that much!
Tonight is the LLS Man and Woman of the Year event so I have to get off here. I have more opinions on the Ohio State situation - check in in a few days and I'll post more.
GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!
"We woke up to a less than spectacualr Tahoe morning; we got up at 5 am, looked out the window and it was pouring rain. In addition, it was 37degrees. Needless to say I was not very excited about riding 7+ hours on a bicycle in nearly freezing temperatures and rain. Had I been in Ohio I would have gone back to bed but I trained 6 months for the ride so I grudgingly put on my cycle gear and headed up to meet my team at their hotel.
When I got to their hotel I was, for lack of a better word, pissed! I’d only been outside for a couple blocks but I was already wet, cold and the ride had not even started. I even said a few choice words to my team that I won’t repeat but let’s just say I made it very well known that I was none too excited about going out in that miserable weather and riding a bike. I then looked down and caught a quick glimpse of my wrist and there, peeking out from under the multiple layers of Under Armor, I could see my orange, ‘Magnificent Maya!’ wrist band. I had also folded a picture of Maya up and put it in my pocket so I pulled it out and looked at it (it was the one in her colorful ‘peace sign’ pajamas). I then remembered the last time I had seen Maya, she was on your driveway sitting on her bike. I then thought about all the times I’ve driven by your house and seen her out front playing and waving as I drove by and how much I’d love to drive by your house now and see her out there playing again. At that point I felt pretty ashamed of my attitude and started to cry. I gathered our team together and talked about Maya. I told them we may have to ride through some miserable weather but it doesn’t come close to what your family is going through right now. I told them about the last time I had seen Maya on her bike and said lets all go out and ride today for her and whoever it is that’s near and dear to you who has struggled with a blood related cancer. We all hugged, went out to the start line and everyone completed the ride. Throughout the day, I’d look down at my wrist and the band would inspire me to keep going. I even talked with Maya several times during the ride. I’d say, ‘OK, Maya, I’m feeling pretty cold, tired and sore but we’re going to finish this thing!’ And we did."
So you can see why I considered the ride so inspiring. I've followed Maya's journey on almost a daily basis and I realized that if she is able to endure everything she's been going through, I can go out and ride a bike in the cold and rain. I plan to give her my medal as thanks for being such an inspiration - had it not been for her the ride would have just been another ride. Even in the cold and rain it turned out to be very special.
I haven't been able to give my opinion on the whole Jim Tressel/Ohio State fiasco lately. Needless to say I was very disappointed when Coach Tressel finally resigned. I met him last summer and truly believe he is a good man, a great leader and will miss him patroling the sidelines at Ohio Stadium. I compare what he did to a parent protecting his/her child. When kids come to Ohio State to play football Coach Tressel tells their parents that he will take care of their sons. I think that's what he was doing when he didn't come forward with the information about the players and the tattoo situation. I don't think it had anything to do with winning football games and everything to do with fulfilling promises he had made to the parents of the kids involved. Obviously this doesn't make it right but I can understand why he did what he did. Does this stain his image - of course it does. Does this make him a dirty sleaze, cheat, phoney, piece of crap as some of the media are reporting and would want you to believe - hell no! Should he have lost his job over this? I don't think so but when the sharks (media) get someone in their crosshairs they're not going to stop until they totally destroy the person and everyone thing he/she has achieved. That's what makes me sick. Tressel has done more for his kids (and college football) than 99% of the coaches out there and to read some of the recent stories he's the biggest cheat in the history of college football - that's wrong. All I can say to the media is it must be nice living in glass houses, wouldn't it be interesting if the tables were turned and someone started reporting on the actions of some of these reporters - something tells me they wouldn't like that much!
Tonight is the LLS Man and Woman of the Year event so I have to get off here. I have more opinions on the Ohio State situation - check in in a few days and I'll post more.
GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!
# posted by Vince Hopkins @ 4:17 PM 
