My Personal New Year Celebration part 2: Tennis Time at the Verizon Center and Thoughts on Excellence

Part 2 of my new year celebration kicked off the Friday before my birthday. I had tickets to see Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Jim Courier, and Andre Agassi play at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. I almost didn’t get tickets for this, but I decided that I wanted to do something nice for my birthday on my own.

 

Pete Sampras is my favorite tennis player. The chance to sit 400 feet away from him and watch him hit tennis balls was an honor. Honestly, I had to stop my heart from jumping out of my chest. I was so upset because the camera on my phone wasn't working! I couldn't take pictures of anyone! That made me want to do this:

http://www.gifsoup.com/view/2800960/throw-phone-outta-the-window.html

( actually if I had that phone I would probably throw it out of a window too. Or use it to start my cell phone museum 0___0 )

The pros played one-set semifinals, with the final being an 8-game pro set. The first match was between Pete Sampras and Michael Chang. What struck me is now normal they seemed. For a while, watching the match was like watching a match on the club courts. Granted, they weren’t playing badly, and the feel of these exhibitions is friendlier than the finals of Wimbledon.  I just expected something more.

As I thought about it some more, I wondered if my perception of the match had something to do with my idea of excellence. They weren’t’ doing anything amazing, but their basics were INCREDIBLE. Perhaps excellence isn’t really about being amazing, but having sound foundations. Perhaps excellence is more work- and commitment- and mindset- based than talent-based. To bring it to basketball terms, what would you rather have in a clinch: a monster dunk over a Honda Civic or a reliable lay-up?

Back to the actual match. This first match between Sampras and Chang was interesting because there were a few wrinkles in it. Any one that knows these two players’ games would know what to expect from them. Sampras would use his big serve and get to the net. Chang would be speedy and retrieve a bunch of balls. While Sampras’ game didn’t change that much, it was Chang that surprised the crowd with hitting more aces than Sampras. He also hit more winners. At one point Chang won a game with three aces and a service winner, which made the crowd gasp in amazement. This crowd was a tennis crowd, and they knew that wasn’t typical Chang.

Chang changed his game. He’s a retired pro, he’s not on the circuit anymore. He’s around the 40-year-old mark.

But yet, he was able to make a change. He still has his speed and consistency, but he was able to add just enough of something different to advance himself.

Encouraging, isn’t it? I guess that means we can do that in our own lives. We don’t have to become drastically different people, but we can expand our horizons enough to enhance our virtues and strengths.

Perhaps our ability to expand our horizons is related to our ability to maintain a vertical perspective.

Anyways, I stayed of most of the match. Sampras ended up losing, and Agassi lost as well (though Courier and Agassi’s match was more entertaining). I left a little early to avoid the gridlock coming out of the garage, and then I was on my way to Eazy E’s (aka Eric Borden’s) spot!

The night was capped off with an IHOP run (I had the most fattening thing possible), a late night appearance by Version 4 and Grand Patriarch (aka Roy Dean Johnson), and me going to sleep at 4am. That day was a good day **Ice Cube voice**

Next: Tat-Tat-Tatted Up!!!!

My Personal New Year Celebration Part #1: Sight Beyond Sight

This past September 24^th was my birthday. I originally wanted to have a big shebang and have a bunch of people out to eat. However, I opted for a smaller series of fun events with people that I love.

The weekend started early when I got my Thundercats Sword of Omens in the mail.

Okay, that sentence might have thrown you a bit. I am 28 years old, and in my possession is a children’s toy that I routinely swing around with the biggest smile on my face. And I. DON’T. CARE.

You should’ve seen my face when the UPS man came to the door. This was my reaction…

I immediately opened the box and began to play with it. See, I’ve wanted a Sword of Omens since I was four years old. That’s 24 years. TWENTY FOUR LONG YEARS. But why should this matter to me now, two and a half decades later?

First, one of the memories that I have with my Dad is cartoons. He introduced me to Thundercats, Silverhawks, He-Man, etc. We watched them together. We bonded over them. Those are some of my best memories with him.

Like most kids, you want the toys from your favorite cartoons. And I wanted this sword bad. My dad looked high and low for it, but he couldn’t find it anywhere. I think that hurt him more than it hurt me.

In looking at my childhood, there were a lot of things that I was looking for that I didn’t find, either. And I guess somewhere along the journey of life I’ve given up on them. There were also a lot of things that were taken from me. My experiences recently have shown that to me. Perhaps me taking the initiative to get the Sword at this point is symbolic of me reclaiming those things that were taken from me and reaching out to claim the things that I really want from life.

Y'know, one of the cool things about the Sword in the cartoon is that Lion-O could use this technique called "Sight Beyond Sight." He could use it to see what was really in his environment, beyond what is obvious. This piece of plastic can't do that...but I believe that ultimately I can, and I must. It's the only way to heal and move beyond.

Whether that's true or not, I still had a blast playing with my new toy. It was a great start to my personal new year celebration.

Next: Tennis at the Verizon Center