The Real Phantom of the Opera

As many of you know, I am a huge YouTube fan. Since I work with media 24/7, I find it good for future ideas, but it is also a great way to bring some humor to the occasionally crappy day. This morning I came across this video of the real Phantom of the Opera, and it was great at filling both needs.  Enjoy.

"Don't Give Up, Don't Ever Give Up"

Around this time every year, ESPN announces it is raising money for the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research. This foundation was put together back in 1993 and is dedicated to the memory of the late great Jimmy Valvano who passed away from this awful disease. For those of you who are unaware of Jimmy V, he was head coach of NC State basketball, who knocked off the famous Phi Slamma Jamma team from Houston in 1983. At the time, it was considered one of the biggest upsets in NCAA basketball history.

So I was perusing ESPN.com today and saw a link for Jimmy V's famous speech he gave in 1993 at the ESPY's where he received the Arthur Ashe Lifetime Achievement Award.  He said, "Cancer can take away all my physical ability.  It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; it cannot touch my soul.  And those three things are going to carry on forever." What many don't know is at the time of this speech, he was literally on his death bed. I get chills every time I see it. If you have a few minutes, I encourage you to watch it. His words are inspirational. Below is an introduction by Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski and the speech follows.

Christmas Comes Early

So it took me a few days, but I had to get this online. For Thanksgiving this year, I flew back to Portland to hang with the family. Among the crying of nieces and nephews, broken bones in Turkey Bowls and overeating during dinner, my brother decides to call me near the end of my break and give me my Christmas gift early. I hate getting Christmas gifts early because part of the fun of Christmas is opening the gift with the entire family there near the tree in my PJs, which have gotten significantly less embarrassing over the years! OK, so the phone call, my brother announces the surprise and tells me he has courtside seats to a Trailblazer game. I immediately tell him this joke sucks, because one of the things on my bucket list is seeing a Blazer game courtside. He reassures me he isn't joking and picks me up for a little dinner at Outback, then off to the Blazer v. Hornets game. 

To describe the feeling of walking down the lower bowl stairs, accompanied by a security official would be impossible, but without mincing words, I felt like a millionaire. Every game I have ever attended, I always sat in pure jealousy of those sitting in the nice black butt-padded seats, talking trash with players and being waited on. I was now one of the lucky ones.

There I sat, within feet of one of the best point guards in the league, Chris Paul, and close enough that every player I yelled at knew exactly what I said. At one point I talked some trash with Peja Stojakovic and he completely glared me down.  Got a great pic of that!!!

At halftime I was walking the halls on the lower level and ran into none other than Jerome Kersey. Funny running into him, because this new Blazer team reminds me of the team he was on, good on the court and in the community.

To top the night off, the Blazers embarrassed the Hornets, though when the game was over I didn't want to leave. I just wanted to hang around as long as possible to take in the moment. After we left the building I think I thanked my brother at least 20 times. I know he got sick of me by the time we got to the car, but I felt like a 14-year old kid for two and a half hours...giddy! Hard to say thank you enough for an experience like that. Easily the most memorable gift I have been given. Hard to think of something that will ever top it! Thanks BJ. Oh, my bad, didn't mean to, just thinking about it makes it hard to believe I was there. Oh, and early Christmas gifts aren't that bad after all!