I Had Fun Today!

It has been a while since I gave my last speech, and I needed a fix! I got in my zone and it felt great! Today that drought ended in a big way with my keynote commencement address at the University of Minnesota's Physical Therapy Commencement Exercise. It was short, which is hard for me to do; but, I received many positive comments, saw a few longtime friends and made several amazing connections.

It will be interesting to see what results of the networking that went on with a few professors in the Green Room and a constant barrage of connecting and reconnecting in the reception area after the ceremony!

I played with the professor who hired me, the student who made it all happen and even got in a comment about that big mudslide at the University Medical Center yesterday!

Afterwards, I told one parent every time I give a presentation all I can think about on the way home are the things I did not say and wanted to. It is that way if I give a fifteen-minute keynote address or a six-hour workshop.

It is now more than six hours after my presentation and I am thinking of all kinds of things I wish I would have said.

The ceremony was held in the newly renovated Northrup Auditorium on the University of Minnesota's main campus. The irony in me speaking on that stage was I graduated on that same stage in December 1980 with the grand stairway for "The Nutcracker Suite" dominated the stage. That night, I had to be lifted onto the stage as there was no ramp.

Fresh from the farm in South Dakota, my uncle commented as he stepped into this huge auditorium, "You could sure stack a lot of bales in this place!" It is all in your frame of reference.

Today, the highlight of my speech was when I talked about another commencement address I gave way back in 1998 to the Native American OIC in south Minneapolis and I got to experience something I have never experienced before, nor ever will again. I wrote about it in my book.

I was privileged to witness Dr. Leon Sullivan, who was commonly known as The Lion from Zion. He was a civil rights leader in the 1960s along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a famous Baptist minister in Philadelphia for decades.

I saw the spirit come into him for a few minutes that day and he was able to express the passion he had for his work. I wanted the new graduates to understand they need to be passionate about the work they are going to do with the patients they will help when they start practicing.

They are already aware of the skills they need to be successful in their chosen field, but I was trying to drive home the point one more time. Many of the fifty graduates already have jobs and once they pass their boards, they will be Doctorates of Physical Therapy.

After my speech, they had the rest of the ceremony which included handing out several awards and recognizing students for their outstanding achievements, and as the new graduates received their diplomas, I was privileged to shake their hands and congratulate them on their accomplishments. It was an impressive group of young people who are ready and qualified to take their place as physical therapists. Many of them are in their mid-20s and dare I say it, looks so young! Of course, that is coming from someone who graduated on that stage thirty-four years ago!

Let me close with a photograph from before my presentation as I sat on the stage at Northrup:


Click on the image to make it larger:
 

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

I Upgraded To An iPhone

Several days ago, I received a notice from Verizon telling me I was eligible to upgrade to a free iPhone. I was skeptical at first because I have tried using them at other times with no success. My manual dexterity just is not good enough to touch the buttons with my fingertips, and I did not think I could use one.

I know they have voice recognition, email, a camera, the Internet, and several other useful apps. It also has hundreds if not thousands of apps I will never use; but, the offer was too good to turn down so I decided to go for it. Does anyone use their level app on a construction site or to hang a picture? When I got it home and looked for the operating instructions, there were none! How am I supposed to know how to run my new iPhone if I do not have any directions? Everything comes with directions. I even got directions with my new toaster! A toaster is much easier to use than an iPhone!

You know how men never ask for directions when driving and never need instructions on how to do anything, which is why there are always a couple nuts and bolts left over after you have put your child's new bicycle together at Christmas! Well, I am not one of those men. I thought I could at least get some things right on my own; but it was not to be. So far, I did get a cover because I could hook my lanyard in to make it easier for me to hold and pick up if I drop it.

There was already a phone call on it when I managed to turn it on; however, I cannot figure out how to answer that voicemail. I will get it; it is just going to take some time. I have not had a chance yet to go to the Apple site and see if they have directions on how to operate an iPhone with voice recognition. That is coming right after I post this blog. Wish me luck!

I liked the flip phone I had just fine until it stopped working last week and I was unable to take part in a weekly conference call I usually do from 11 a.m. to 12 noon on Fridays. I found my phone was not working on Thursday and decided I may as well take the plunge and get with the newest technology.

Besides, I think a $750 phone for free is a pretty good deal, even if I cannot use it. I could not use my old phone anymore either. What do I have to lose? If nothing else, I will ask some teenagers to help me figure it out and have them show me how to use my newest toy.

At least now I will look cool carrying around my new iPhone! I just hope no one asked me to make a call for them!

I always talk about lifelong learning, change, growth and development, critical thinking and all the skills I am going to need to figure out how this thing works. If anyone has any suggestions, or helpful  tutoring sites, please leave a comment at the end of this post. I would appreciate it.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

P.S. If you have not read my last post and the very moving comments, you really should take a few minutes and read it by clicking here: http://iamnotdoneyet.blogspot.com/2014/05/witnessed-killings-at-kent-state.html

The Barn Was Rockin' Last Night!

As my longtime readers know, I love watching good college basketball! The energy, quickness, emotion, determination and skill is fun to watch! Especially, when you have great seats like I do In one of the oldest and most storied arenas in the country; Williams Arena is affectionately known as "The Barn."

When Ohio State University’s Men’s Basketball Team came to The Barn last night they were rated Number 11 in the country. The Gophers are not rated in the Top 25. The way the Gophers shut them down, the Buckeyes look more like they would be rated Number 11 in the Big Ten!

The crowd was into it, and when you get more than 14,000 people cheering your every move, you seem to play better. At least, that is the home court advantage theory. This is new Gopher coach Richard Pitino's first win over a ranked team in his first season as Gopher coach.

Pitino outcoached Ohio State's Thad Matta too. At least that is my perspective. He did a good job in switching defenses and exploiting Ohio State's weaknesses on the offensive end.

Of course, it always ends up the players need to execute what it is the coach wants them to do. It seems Coach Pitino had a good game plan, and despite poor shooting through much of the game by Minnesota's excellent backcourt, the Gophers had the Buckeyes down by 13 points with just a little over five minutes to go in the game. Final score: 63-53 and Minnesota had a signature win in the Big 10 Conference.

If you are not a sports fan or following all the conference realignments going on in the NCAA these last several years, the Big Ten has 12 schools and will expand to 14 next year when Rutgers and Maryland join the conference. They are still going to call it the Big Ten! Go figure. It is all about money!

The electricity in The Barn last night was as exciting as last year when the Gophers upset then Number 1 Indiana and the crowd rushed the floor like nothing I have ever seen at Williams Arena.

If you have ever been to a Gopher basketball game in Williams Arena, you know how exciting it can be during a close Big Ten game in January, February and early March!

My mom watched the game, and commented on how many times the announcers made reference to the atmosphere and fun it was to watch a game in the venerable old arena. Williams Arena has undergone major renovations since it was built in the late 1920s, and remains the fourth or fifth oldest arenas in the country with the charm like that of Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas where the University of Kansas plays. I also got to see a game between Missouri and Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse, and it was a real treat!

It remains one of only three raised courts in the country and has so much charm of going into an old, structurally sound, venue that just draws you in. I have had season tickets since I was a student in the mid-1970s, and it is nights like last night that keep me in Minnesota in these cold winters.

I must admit I was skeptical about how the season was going to go this year after losing several seniors and firing Tubby Smith; but, I have seen steady improvement in the team so far this season and last night was the one that has me believing the Gophers can close out a big game over a good team and will make the Big Dance field of 64 for March Madness! That is always a fun month. That is, if you like college basketball like I do.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Alexandria's Aces

Alexandria, Minnesota has a very successful mentoring program going on in their middle school, and it all revolves around basketball. Larry Novotny is mentoring, teaching and coaching a group of young student/athletes through basketball.

Most of my friends know basketball is my favorite sport, and I have been around it my entire life in one way or another.

From the 1977-'78 season through the 1979-'80 basketball season, I was an assistant coach for the new general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Flip Saunders, at his first coaching job at tiny Golden Valley Lutheran College (GVLC) in Golden Valley, Minnesota. We had the youngest coaching staff in the country with Saunders, Mike Cervony and me at only twenty-two years of age. Our third assistant, Dan Kozmoski, was only twenty-one. We had a player who had been in the military and he was twenty-three!

All four of us coaches were still in college. When Saunders played at the University of Minnesota the previous four years, he had been recruited by Bill Musselman as a point guard. Musselman had a pregame show that involved a lot of ball-handling drills, fancy passing, and synchronized activities that electrified home crowds. People would arrive hours in advance to make sure they got a good seat to see the pregame show. If you were ever in Williams Arena during the Musselman Era, I am sure you remember what a show they put on!

Bill Musselman taught a walk-on player by the name of George Schauer to do elaborate ball-handling tricks including spinning multiple basketballs at once. "Crazy George" as he is known today, is still performing his basketball wizardry all over the world.

Saunders liked that pregame show so much he brought it to his first coaching job at GVLC. That is where this post really begins. Larry Novotny wanted to be on our basketball team and Saunders gave him a chance if he could learn to do what George Schauer was doing.

Larry took the challenge and was the star of our pregame warm-up drills. I believe the most balls he had spinning at one time was seven! He would sit down and place a pencil in each shoelace whereupon he put a spinning basketball on each pencil, he had a strap on each knee that held another ball on a pencil, he devised a brace for his chin that held one more ball and lastly, he spun a ball on the fingertip on each hand. That tiny gym was a fun place to be!

Besides our pregame show, we had a pretty good team. We went three years without losing a game at home. We had two Junior College All-Americans, a 63–11 record; won our conference all three years I was there and placed second in the state tournament the first and last year I coached. Saunders stayed there for two more years before going back to the University as a graduate assistant.

That brings us to what Larry Novotny has been doing with his middle school students at halftime shows throughout the country for the last twenty-four years! There is a wonderful article about Alexandria's Aces at this link. Just click here.

Look at the joy in Larry's eyes as he is addressing this year's group of young students who are trying out for the Aces. Does it look like he is having fun? After all, basketball should be fun for anybody that plays and loves the game. When I was the age of the students, I was in the gym all the time. My dad was a high school coach and I spent many hours learning from him and the older student/athletes I so admired. These young student/athletes are also getting that wonderful feeling of enjoyment playing basketball. I think this is a wonderful program Larry Novotny is doing, and I applaud him for his dedication and commitment to these young people.

Click on the image to make it larger:

Think of the trips and experiences these young people are getting as they travel around the country performing in front of as many as 20,000 people. They are learning teamwork, cooperation, coordination, self-esteem and who knows, maybe even a scholarship somewhere to carry on the "Crazy George" Larry Novotny ball-handling tradition!

This was how Larry got his start on our team picture for the Golden Valley Lutheran College Runnin' Royals in the fall of 1978. Larry is seated on the floor front and center right in front of head coach Flip Saunders:

Click on the image to make it larger:

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

I Love Good Quotes

I spent last Thursday at Southwest Middle School in Albert Lea, Minnesota. After my assembly, I ate lunch in the cafeteria with a group of seventh grade girls. When they finished lunch, they ran off to band practice. All of a sudden, a few of them came running back and asked me if I would come and listen to their band practice. I agreed and off we went. I thought I'll try it since I've never done that before.

Talk about chaos! The first few minutes as they all practiced, it sounded like nothing I've ever heard. Then, the director, Mister Dawson, called them to order and I enjoyed watching the concentration on all of their faces as they focused on the songs they were working on.

From there, I went to Brenda Morris' seventh grade health class to spend two hours of follow-up discussion and doing a couple of experiential exercises from my assembly. She had dozens of quotes posted all over her room, and I asked two students to please write them down for me. Here are some of my favorites:

"Make an effort, not an excuse."

"You teacher's goal is simple: to help you reach yours."

"Your 'I Will' is more important than your I.Q."

"Be yourself. You're the only one who can do it right."

"Attitude is the mind's paintbrush. It can color any situation."

"Stand up for what is right even if you're standing alone."

"Let the choices you make today be choices you can live with tomorrow."

"What is popular is not always right; what is right is not always popular."

"Listen and silent are spelled with the same letters."

"Be yourself: an original is always worth more than a copy."

"Courage is doing right when everyone around you is doing wrong."

"Character: it's how you live life when nobody's looking."

"Choices:
1. Making every decision carefully
2. Thinking everything through responsibly
3. Exercising your freedom to choose
4. Deciding what is right and doing it."

I've attached a page of my favorites here. Please click on the image to make it larger; then, print it and put it on your bulletin board to refer to as needed. I do:


Please feel free to add your favorite quotes in the Comments Section. Include the author if you know who said it. I look forward to reading them.

Thanks!

Mike