Growning up in central and panhandle areas of Nebraska, I was like a lot of young boys. I loved football, I loved the Huskers and Saturday’s were spent either watching the Huskers on tv or listening to them on the radio as I threw footballs through a target my father made out of a 4′x8′ sheet of plywood. My football career never amounted to much. I think my best outing may have been a junior varsity game that I threw for over 100 yards. But that never lessened my love for Husker Football.
Yesterday I posted my Ironman Louisville race report and a few minutes later I received an email that said:
Gary, I just read your race report and a couple of the articles linked to therein. I appreciate your perspective. It was nice to see you in L’ville, meet Nikki, and talk with you after the race. And congratulations on finishing your 4th (right?) 140.6!
Over the years, I’ve received similar responses from others through email, at races and on my blog. Endurance sport is a self-improvement project for me and I realize that our events can mean so much more than “first to the finish line.” It’s very hard to have that mindset at times but when I’m willing to view our sport in that way, it begins to be incredibly more self-fulling.
I also realize that sport is not so noble at times. Endurance sports take a pretty big beating at times, especially cycling. The level of drug abuse and cheating is sad, disgusting and takes away a lot of my excitement for what they accomplish. It doesn’t only happen at the professional level as we consistently hear more and more issues with age grouper doping. Team sports can also be ugly, as we saw on opening night of this years college football season after the Oregon vs Boise State Football game ( video here ).
This brings me to a personal hero of mine – Tom Osborne. When I think of Nebraska Football, he is what I think of. As one of the most successful college football coaches of all time, I remember him as a very humble and down-to-earth person. The only experience I have with him in person was at a McDonalds while I was in college. He was there with what appeared to be his grandchildren. As most people were looking and pointing, he didn’t appear disturbed. And when a fan finally went up to say ‘hi’ he replied and didn’t appear to be bothered by a fan interrupting his time with his family.
As a freshmen at the University of Nebraska, I remember walking back to my room in Abel Hall after the football team had just won it’s 3rd national championship in 4 years ( 1994, 1995, 1997 ). As I walked into the dorm I saw 18, 19 and 20 year old college males in distress and some so much so that they were crying. Why? Because Tom Osborne decided to retire. It seemed like we were being left out a little bit, like it was way too early for him to retire. Look at JoePa at Penn State or Bowden at Florida State, why did he have to retire so early?
That’s what I’ve always admired about Osborne. He has the ability to look beyond sport and understand a greater meaning within life. I could go on for a long time discussing why I admire Tom Osborne, but I don’t need to. His actions and character have done well for themselves. He has just written a new book: Beyond the Final Score: There’s More to Life Than the Game
. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I’m excited to pick it up.
If you are interested to hear him speak about the book, just watch the video below. Some people may listen to him and think, “that guy is a little dull”. But when I listen to him I think about all the wisdom he’s offering and how he doesn’t make it about him. You might not think that he could motivate athletes the way a coach that yells and screams does, but if you think that …. then you never watched the Huskers play on a Saturday afternoon while he walked the sidelines – never cracking a smile or throwing a fit.
Also think about this: The last four years he coached college football, his teams were 49 – 2, with 3 national titles. Then like a great western movie, he walked away into the sunset. (Well at least until he came back to save our program as the athletic director).
Growning up in central and panhandle areas of Nebraska, I was like a lot of young boys. I loved football, I loved the Huskers and Saturday’s were spent either watching the Huskers on tv or listening to them on the radio as I threw footballs through a target my father made out of a 4′x8′ sheet of plywood. My football career never amounted to much. I think my best outing may have been a junior varsity game that I threw for over 100 yards. But that never lessened my love for Husker Football.
Yesterday I posted my Ironman Louisville race report and a few minutes later I received an email that said:
Over the years, I’ve received similar responses from others through email, at races and on my blog. Endurance sport is a self-improvement project for me and I realize that our events can mean so much more than “first to the finish line.” It’s very hard to have that mindset at times but when I’m willing to view our sport in that way, it begins to be incredibly more self-fulling.
I also realize that sport is not so noble at times. Endurance sports take a pretty big beating at times, especially cycling. The level of drug abuse and cheating is sad, disgusting and takes away a lot of my excitement for what they accomplish. It doesn’t only happen at the professional level as we consistently hear more and more issues with age grouper doping. Team sports can also be ugly, as we saw on opening night of this years college football season after the Oregon vs Boise State Football game ( video here ).
This brings me to a personal hero of mine – Tom Osborne. When I think of Nebraska Football, he is what I think of. As one of the most successful college football coaches of all time, I remember him as a very humble and down-to-earth person. The only experience I have with him in person was at a McDonalds while I was in college. He was there with what appeared to be his grandchildren. As most people were looking and pointing, he didn’t appear disturbed. And when a fan finally went up to say ‘hi’ he replied and didn’t appear to be bothered by a fan interrupting his time with his family.
As a freshmen at the University of Nebraska, I remember walking back to my room in Abel Hall after the football team had just won it’s 3rd national championship in 4 years ( 1994, 1995, 1997 ). As I walked into the dorm I saw 18, 19 and 20 year old college males in distress and some so much so that they were crying. Why? Because Tom Osborne decided to retire. It seemed like we were being left out a little bit, like it was way too early for him to retire. Look at JoePa at Penn State or Bowden at Florida State, why did he have to retire so early?
That’s what I’ve always admired about Osborne. He has the ability to look beyond sport and understand a greater meaning within life. I could go on for a long time discussing why I admire Tom Osborne, but I don’t need to. His actions and character have done well for themselves. He has just written a new book: Beyond the Final Score: There’s More to Life Than the Game
. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I’m excited to pick it up.
If you are interested to hear him speak about the book, just watch the video below. Some people may listen to him and think, “that guy is a little dull”. But when I listen to him I think about all the wisdom he’s offering and how he doesn’t make it about him. You might not think that he could motivate athletes the way a coach that yells and screams does, but if you think that …. then you never watched the Huskers play on a Saturday afternoon while he walked the sidelines – never cracking a smile or throwing a fit.
Also think about this: The last four years he coached college football, his teams were 49 – 2, with 3 national titles. Then like a great western movie, he walked away into the sunset. (Well at least until he came back to save our program as the athletic director).