President Theodore Roosevelt made it incredibly clear, “Curve balls tossed from the pitchers mound should be made illegal in baseball…it’s a perfect example of deceitfulness.”
Although our 26th President couldn’t convince players with their baseball rule maker’s to declare the hooked ball to be tossed out of the game…it’s allowed the generations that have followed to steal from the bases of ethics and morals allowing us to teach each other how to bend with in the wind in the way of seeking nothing more than getting through or around the mountain.
But what if Theodore would’ve become successful with his baseball endeavor? Might our current state of financial loss be less of a daily worry? An addiction to making tremendous amounts of money by all people put the nation on its knees not just a group of overpaid CEO’s grasping onto their belt loops of everyday life and pulling up their drawers before those controlling the stock market hoisted their tails back into the real world.
The American dream used to be to own a home—decision makers brilliantly devised a curve ball that created a boom with no net. Once the final batter struck out the game ended with a zero zero tie.
Curve balls are everywhere! Masterminding plans to defuse your child’s wishes and commands to get a car by fourteen; cell phone use by ten year olds and what about daughters who want to wear eye makeup at the age of six? On a more personal level, common sense tosses a wicked switch in the pitch every time you reach out to make a positive change in your life, weight loss, business gain and better leader on the home front or bathing the dog once a week rather than every other month when they begin to stink.
Ted Williams was a war hero and baseball’s greatest hitter and yet the curve ball moments that crossed the plate after his passing turned a legend into a joke—his body was embalmed for future use. I remember my mentor in life Dr. Ronald Mack being deeply hurt over the family’s decision to preserve Ted for future DNA, “There can only be one Ted! Why do they think they can steal from nature what came natural to only one man?”
Unexpected sickness is a curve ball and everyday winners rise to the occasion with stories that inspire the next to step into the batters box. It’s always been my goal to meet with those infected by life’s quick twists and calmly ask them to pen out the journey so that others can learn from the tablets that came with no words.
If you study a pitcher’s quick hand and change ups everyday your batting average goes up. Ted Williams feared only one ball handler; Randy Johnson…Mr. Williams had an extremely difficult time locating the ingredients required to conquer the speed, energy and swiftness of a quick left at the tracks that Randy delivered.
You do the same thing at work…there’s an enormous amount of employees that push their butts into their publicly displayed positions everyday then spend the next eight hours fearing their boss because he or she has the power and ability to fire them. The end result of their curve ball is a lack of growth, trust and a willingness to want to be part of a team settling instead on being another head in a collection of graveyard cubicals.
Being aware of how you act, react and walk away is the best way to stay in the game. If your choice is to grab the only baseball on the block and take it home…the decision to do so affects not just you but every player and those associated with their efforts of playing a better game.
Isn’t that what we’re truly born to do? Play a better game… Nobody likes playing because too many times curved balls lend too much of a lean on the final piece of a puzzle you didn’t see. Control freaks and micro managers emerge because curve balls put them on the mound—they’re the 9th inning relief whose only mission is to take a pinch hitter and silence their journey.
Maybe that’s why I find pleasure in being a martial artist…if I wait for a punch to come toward my face my nose is going to bleed. By developing a keen eye that puts focus on the movement of shoulders, eyes and the sudden twist of your waist…that sends a signal to my brain that Randy Johnson is attempting to be sneaky with a world famous curve ball bathed in law breaking speed.
One swift look in the mirror and the questions act as bat boys running fresh ball snappers out to the point makers, “So why then do I make so many mistakes?”
Why can’t we find enough confidence to pull what’s left of our modern day chapters out of this recession and put some points on the board? A batter who tries too hard can’t locate the ease required to take his or her sharp view of the world and turn it into a base hit. We’re spending way too much time reaching for the fence when what we truly need is to get to first.
Theodore might have been onto something, “No more curve balls!”
Wait…the rest of the world isn’t listening. Play ball!
The United States are the NY Yankees…we spend big money on top ball throwers and hitters whose vision is to win the October pennant race—but whose got the time to see it through…four innings into the game and half the seats are empty because its already been determined that we’re going to lose.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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