Is he any less of an athlete?

Alex was a Formula 1 racer. Formula 1 cars are the fastest and most dangerous  cars to race and often exceed 220 miles per hour (compared with Nascar’s average speed of 180 mph) and Alex was one of the best the sport has ever seen. In 2001 Alex Zanardi’s car was hit by another car as…

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This year’s graduation speech

Last year I wrote a post that I intended to be my speech if ever I was asked to give a commencement speech by a school. (Hey Harvard, I’m still waiting for that honorary degree). Any way, I got some good feedback from it, no one posts comments here but they tell me what they…

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Why I am the proudest man in town

It was this last Sunday and I was struck speechless, a rare occasion for me. It was our team banquet and after dinner the girls had a few presentations to make. They honored each other with gag gifts, I was even given the best hair award (nice!).  They honored their parents for their support and they honored our one…

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Eliminate the excuses, I’ve tried them all, they’re wrong.

“I just don’t have the time” “I would but I get my workout at work”  “Since I don’t have the time to do it every day, I might as well not even start” “That program was too intense”, “I get too sore” “Healthy? I’m healthy enough.” I’ve heard them all, in fact I’ve said them all at some…

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The day I met Picasso, a true story.

This is a long post, but I realized that I never wrote about it before. I swear that it’s true, though the quotes may be fudged a bit. We were in San Jose California. Me, my co-coach Matt and a friend named Jim who, at the time, was going to open his own gym. We…

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Dreaming is not a waste of time

I remember the cartoon we had on our refrigerator when I was a kid. It was of two archaeologists with pith helmets and all looking at a little nub sticking out of the ground in a desert scene. The one archaeologist walking away says over his shoulder to the other “yeah, it’s probably nuthin.” But in a cut away…

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Debunking reasons kids in day cares don’t get exercise

We know that there is an epidemic of inactivity in America when it comes to children. That didn’t start as recently as when electronics began occupying children’s time. In fact it has been a trend for many years and is leading up to the perfect storm of increased obesity, increased sickness and lowering academic skill. Now we…

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The future of our health…..maybe

Lets look to the future. I’m not talking SciFi flying car and perosnal jet packs: I’m talking in 8 years. That’s 2 more Olympics, 2 more Presidentail Elections, when my kids will be 12 and 16. Not too far away. Here is what is projected. Based on a study (National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys…

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Mr. Williams vs. that other guy

Scene: Carleton Elementary school, Milwaukee,  Mr. Williams’ gym class:. We did stuff that I hated, we had to dance to Frankie Valli’s “You’re just to good to be true”. Oh I hated that. But at other times we did things I liked; basketball, football, racket skills, games, and as you could imagine, I loved tumbling and gymnastics.…

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The Valentines hub-bub should be about one thing

As I am sure you have surmised, I am not a big “Holiday” person. I’m the cynical kind of  guy who calls Valentines day a “Hallmark holiday”. But in fact it is a church sanctioned celebration of some Saint Valentine. I say “some” because there are actually accounts of several Valentines in church history and…

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