MESSAGE #612 SACRIFICES…

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“There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren’t willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”

-MICHAEL JORDAN

Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Alissa Goldsmith and Chris Wu.

Many people know me as a die-hard Yankees fan. I bleed pinstripes. I used to go to every first and last home game at “the stadium” and I cried at Joe DiMaggio Day. I know where to get the best hot dogs near the stadium (in front of the bowling alley) and I was at David Cone’s Perfect Game. Every time I walk out the tunnel and look at the Kentucky Bluegrass, it feels like the first time.

Why am I telling you this? Because last night the Yankees flew up from Tampa, their Spring Training home, to test out their new ballpark for three days before the start of the season. Today is their first official practice and it is open to the public. I was offered a ticket by a great friend. I TURNED IT DOWN.

I know what you are saying, “Ed, are you crazy?!#%”

I had already made a prior commitment, and I was sticking to it. Could I have changed it? Probably, but that’s not the point. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to stick to every commitment you make, but you do have to respect all parties and make the best objective decision. I made a sacrifice, and I don’t regret it.

So for those of you lucky fans going to the first practice today – enjoy. And to the Yankees – welcome home. Read below for some interesting information about the new stadium. I took the above photo last summer of the new stadium, before they even completed the letters on the 1923 inspired Gate 3 entrance.

Workers scurry about the new Yankee Stadium on an around-the-clock basis these days, preparing it to welcome the Yankees back from seven weeks in the Florida sun. For the first time since Warren G. Harding’s administration, the Bronx Bombers have a new permanent home.

When the Yankees unpack their bags and settle in to the new cathedral for a three-day test drive, they will encounter a facility unlike most anything in the sports world. Visitors can’t help but be bathed in homages to the old Stadium, even as they try to take in a brand new facility.

“We think this is a living museum with all the history that is here,” Trost said (Yankee COO). “What we tried to do was make it look like Yankee Stadium.”

Gate 4, the main entrance behind home plate, was created with the 1923 original in mind. The Yankees bullpen has been restored to right field. Monument Park has been completely moved and relocated to its original center field position (albeit behind the fence), keeping all plaques and monuments on display for fans.

The dimensions of the previous playing field were maintained, and the manner in which the field is angled toward the sun is also the same. The gap between the bleachers and stands in right field again allows the elevated No. 4 train to rumble by as it passes over River Avenue.

And on the main level near Gate 6, the New York Yankees Museum tells the story of baseball and the franchise through various displays and artifacts, including Thurman Munson’s locker from the original Yankee Stadium.

“It’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Teixeira said. “You can have Opening Day in any other place, and it’s fun, it’s great. There’s a lot of energy and excitement. But there’s only going to be one Opening Day at the new Yankee Stadium, and to be a part of it is going to be unbelievable.”

(From Yankees.com)
Thanks for reading and “Play Ball!”
And remember, nobody ever said, “Work Ball!” – enjoy your sport!

MESSAGE #611 STRETCH YOUR MIND AND BODY…

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“Successful athletes never let up and never stop looking for that extra edge to get better. So training to improve on the little things should be an important part of that process.”
-ANTHONY CARTER

If you have been following this blog, you know that you need to stretch your mental muscles to help them grow. Today’s message talks about stretching, physically.

I’m sitting with Anthony Carter, Manager of Parisi Speed School right now, and today he will share his stretching tips and benefits. These proper stretching techniques are imperative to peak performance.

1. Start with a dynamic warm-up. This type of warm-up simulates movements that you will make when participating in your sport or workout. Examples are: squats, lunges, and jumping jacks.

2. Continue with a stationary warm-up. Straight leg raises, side leg raises, and the superman are examples.

3. Finish with a muscle activation warm-up. Skips, high knees, and side shuffles are included in this category.

Performing this type of warm-up will raise your core body temperature six degrees, which will in turn, increase your energy, flexibility, and decrease chance of injury.

After your workout, 10-15 minutes of static stretching will help muscle recovery and growth.

If you do not warm-up or cool-down properly, your performance will be limited, your results will be minimal, and you may increase your chances of injury.


Thanks for reading and thank you to the great Anthony Carter.

MESSAGE #610 NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP…

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“Fight one more round. When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the center of the ring, fight one more round. When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired that you wish your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round — remembering that the man who always fights one more round is never whipped.”
-JAMES J. CORBETT

MESSAGE #609 A QUOTE FROM ARNOLD PALMER…

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“You’re involved in the action and vaguely aware of it – your focus is not on the commotion but on the opportunity ahead. I’d liken it to a sense of reverie…the insulated state a musician achieves in a great performance…not just mechanical, not only spiritual; something of both, on a different plane and a more remote one.”
-ARNOLD PALMER

MESSAGE #607 YOUR POTENTIAL…

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“Your past is not your potential.”
-author unknown

The other day I had a kumquat. The kumquat is a citrus fruit that originated in China and basically looks like a small oval orange with seeds.

Anybody can count the number of seeds in a kumquat.

Nobody can count the number of kumquats in a seed.

What does this mean?

You have unlimited potential. Don’t let anybody tell you what you can and cannot do.

Anything is possible.



Thanks for reading.

MESSAGE #606 A MODERN DAY DAVID VS GOLIATH

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WATCH THIS VIDEO OF TIFFARA STEWARD, A 4′ 6″ COLLEGE BASKETBALL PLAYER WHO HAS ONE LEG SHORTER THAN THE OTHER, IS BLIND IN ONE EYE AND PARTIALLY DEAF. IF SHE CAN SUCCEED WITH HER DISABILITIES, IMAGINE WHAT YOU CAN DO…

MESSAGE #605 BELIEVE BEFORE YOU SEE…

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“The bird doesn’t sing because it’s happy; it’s happy because it sings…Until now, it was always thought that it was necessary to feel in order to act. But now we know that if we act, the feeling follows. I believe this is the most important discovery of the century for human development.”
-WILLIAM JAMES

Everything depends on belief. Belief creates opportunity. If you believe you will fail, you won’t even begin to try. But if you try, there is always a chance you will succeed. If you fail, you can always try again. With belief the possibilities are endless.

Most people say, “I’ll do it the moment I feel like it.” That’s not the way successful people operate. People who succeed start to do things right away and then find that soon after they can feel the effects of their efforts.

Behavior changes feelings; feelings change through behavior. Intention without action is a delusion. Belief directs action, which directs results.

True belief is the belief in possibility. It is very critical to be able to distinguish between possibility and expectation. Everything I plan in my future I plan as a possibility. If it doesn’t happen, it continues to be a possibility. If I plan my future as an expectation, I will become frustrated if it doesn’t work out; I will lose my ability to believe.

EXPECTATIONS DESTROY BELIEF. POSSIBILITIES ALLOW INFINITE BELIEF.

(From Success is No Accident by Dr. Lair Ribeiro)



Thanks for reading.

MESSAGE #604 SICK AND TIRED?

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“In order to change, we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
-author unknown

Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Alex Ferrara at The Lawrenceville School.

I believe in preventive medicine. I watch what I eat, I exercise regularly, I meditate daily, and I try to stay optimistic. Many people ask me, “Ed, how do you always have such high energy?” The answer is that I take care of myself. Let’s face it, it is easy to be lazy. We wake up late, rush out of the house, oftentimes without eating the most important meal of the day, to sit in our cars and drive to work, so we can sit in front of the computer, then we walk to get lunch and sit down to eat it. Then we sit in meetings and at the end of the day, we go back and sit in our cars to go home and sit at the dinner table, eat, and then sit down to watch TV. Then for a change, we lie down and sleep.

Okay, now for some of you, that might have been an exaggeration, but for others, it may have been eerily accurate.

Preventive medicine is taking action before you become sick. We all know someone who has fought cancer. Though nothing is a guarantee, it certainly can’t hurt to take some steps to decrease your chances of getting it, or increase your chances of surviving it. I recently received some great information from Johns Hopkins on chemotherapy alternatives and cancer prevention. I will share some of the key points below…

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

3. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

4. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

5. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

6. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

A) Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. Better alternative is Bragg’s aminos or sea salt.

B) Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.

C) Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

D) A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

E) Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water.. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

7. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic buildup.

8. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body’s killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

9. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

10. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

Other tips:

No plastic containers in the microwave (glass, pyrex, ceramic are okay).
No water bottles in the freezer (releases dioxins from the plastic).
No plastic wrap in the microwave (toxins drip on to food during heating, use paper instead).

I challenge you to take some preventive measures to ensure a better tomorrow and a higher quality today.

We should spend more time thinking about the future because that’s where we’re going to spend the rest of our lives.


Thanks for reading.

MESSAGE #603 A NIGHT AT THE IMPROV…

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“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
-PABLO PICASSO

Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Jared Shapiro in Ohio and Harry Houdini. Happy Birthday to two peak performers.

I like to think of myself as Picasso-I am the artist of my own life. It’s easy to go with the flow, and live how society thinks you should live. For example, many people choose to become doctors because their parents were. Others decide to get married because they are about that age. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with being a doctor or wanting to get married, as long as it is truly what you want and you are not on automatic, or as I like to say, a sheep.

So do me a favor-if you see me on the street today in the Princeton area, please come up to me and say, “Hello, Pablo!”

I love being creative. I love learning new ways to do things-thinking outside the box, guerrilla marketing, and gaining new insights from other performers/fields. So I sat-in on an Improv class last night in Philadelphia taught by the great Jill Whelan, who is best known for her role as Vicki Stubing in TV’s The Love Boat and blockbuster film, Airplane! When I learned about this workshop, I immediately thought that perhaps this could help me improve in my motivational speaking, and it certainly did.

The first thing I noticed was the energy in the room-people were extremely nice, and confident. They were dancing around even when not in the spotlight. And it was contagious. In improv, you feed off of each other, so enthusiasm breeds more enthusiasm. But unfortunately, negativity does the same thing. This applies to life, as well.

One of the rules of the class was that, whatever someone does, “It must be brilliant.” I really liked this because it promoted creativity and kept a positive vibe throughout the scene. Afterwards, tips on how to improve were given. At one point, Jill said, “Don’t doubt yourself-stay in the moment.” We can all use this, on the field, at work, and in school. Much of sports psychology is focusing on staying in the present and not worrying about the past or future.

There were some great exercises that Jill used in the workshop. My favorite was something called “Freeze-tag.” The group made a semi-circle and two people were in the middle acting out a scene, using animated physical gestures. At any time, someone could shout, “Freeze!” and both actors would freeze in whatever position they were in. The person who froze them, chose one actor to take the place of, started in their position, and then proceeded to create a brand new scene out of that position. So if someone was bent over tying his shoes, the new actor could turn it into someone hiking a football. It really promoted creativity and it was extremely hilarious.

I asked Jill how improv could help you in other areas of life, and she said, “Improv helps you be more supportive of the people around you, it helps you create your own energy (you get what you give), and it helps you listen.” Whelan also felt it important to “show” instead of “tell.” That means, take action instead of talking about it.

There are many benefits of improv, not only for aspiring actors. It can help you focus, listen, perform under pressure, gain confidence, and work better as a team. Oh, and it makes you laugh, a lot. And we all know the health benefits of laughter.

For more information on Jill Whelan and her improv classes, visit: http://www.jillwhelan.com/



Thanks for reading. And thank you Jill.

MESSAGE #602 PEAK PERFORMANCE IN BALLET…

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Today’s message is especially dedicated to the great Nora Orphanides.

Last night I attended the American Repertory Ballet & ARB’s Princeton Ballet School’s Jubilee in the beautiful Patriots Theater at The Trenton War Memorial. The event was in celebration of Graham Lustig’s 10th anniversary as Artistic Director of American Repertory Ballet and ARB’s Princeton Ballet School and Anne Woodside Gribbins, recipient of the Audree Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education.

I have to admit, this was my first ballet, and I was impressed. I used to think of ballet as girls in tutus twirling around. I know that football players are known to take ballet classes to improve their balance and movement, I just had not been exposed to it. I was pleasantly surprised.

The program included a powerful blend of young dancers and seasoned veterans. The music ranged from Strauss to Sinatra. Watching the performances, I gained a new appreciation for ballet and the performers as they showed me new ways to apply the principles that I already teach, such as focus, concentration, teamwork, performing under pressure, and hard work. The choreography was amazing and the strength of the performers was incredible, but these performers were not born to be dancers, they were trained to be dancers.

I realized, just as I did with Dr. Charles Frantz and music, that the skills needed in ballet and the lessons you learn are the same as in sports-and life. It’s all peak performance.

Not many of the performers will become professionals, but they all will walk away with skills they can used to perform in whatever they do.

Thank you Nora Orphanides and thank you, Anna Salvadore.