Oh, the G O A T is old and gnarly… and brimming full of fight . . .
No, I didn’t select this blog title because of my college mascot (Navy’s Bill the Goat).
My First G O A T:
Like many others, I moan the recent passing of major leaguer Henry “Hank” Aaron into the eternal Field of Dreams. This gent and baseball Hall of Famer excelled, year after year, in those days of higher pitching mounds, and before the prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) that benefitted more recent sluggers like Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds. And, Henry Aaron surpassed the Home Run numbers of Babe Ruth while coping with too many death threats because of his skin color. God rest ye – Hank – as my Greatest of All Time hitter in America’s past time.
G O A T #2 – Tom Brady. I’ve only rooted for “TB12” three times in his unworldlyG O A T football career:
His rookie year upset of “The Greatest Show on Turf” – those St. Louis Rams in a Super Bowl win almost 20 years ago.
His veteran upset win in a later Super Bowl vs the Pete Carroll-led Seattle Seahawks. Why? My University of Southern California pride was damaged when Heisman trophies were removed from USC trophy rooms for NCAA misdemeanors when Carroll was the Trojans Head Coach.
Yesterday’s exciting game WIN vs. the home team Green Bay Packers and “All State’s” Aaron Rodgers in the NFC Championship game. TB12 wasn’t perfect, throwing 3 interceptions in 3-straight second-half possessions. Yet TB12 is leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Super Bowl LIV. Just Win, Baby, as Al Davis used to say…
Here is my chilly Foxborough Fist Bump with a larger than life Tom Brady:
As a long time liker/disliker of Mr. Brady – I call your attention to the SUSTAINED PEAK PERFORMANCE mantra in this image.
Sustained
Peak
Performance.
Here is one more – Argentina’s Lionel Messi – for sustained peak performance in our world’s most popular sport (futbol):
Lady KABOOMERs – contact me for my list of GREATESTs of your gender. In the Wayback time machine- I’d offer Babe Didrickson Zaharias as a bellwether GREAT. But wait, there are more!
For both Mars and Venus types – Why not refocus YOUR developed and persisting habits on YOU in 2021?
When your physical bank is robust – you can and will maintain a fitness age that is lower than your calendar age.
And please remember – you can slow down subversive senescence and sarcopenia – like Henry Aaron and Tom Brady, and your own Greatest of All Time (GOAT) heroes.
Be your own youthful, gnarly goat that is brimming full of youthful fight!
Number Seven is the most popular number picked when folks are asked to name their FAVE… Pinball machines and dice games often celebrate LUCKY SEVENS…And there is even a ballad called LUCKY SEVENS by The Mechanism band:
“Well, the Lucky Sevens, they rule the streets
The dice are loaded an’ they play for keeps
The fire burns bright
In the cool, dark night
When the Sevens are in luck.”
Let’s ponder 7 Sevens with relevance for KABOOMERS on this ultimate day of a calendar year which many sources offer was horrible, awful, and tragic. Let’s create our own luck, good fortune and rule our streets as we play for keeps!
Credit: media.giphy.com
Unplanned pandemic deaths of both commoners and big-name personae added up to natural mortality causes to make 2020 a deadly numbers year. Since Thanksgiving, our great nation has said goodbye – every day – to mortal numbers that exceed either Pearl Harbor or 9/11/2001 World Trade Center deaths.
I tried to do my part with public service announcements in this weblog and in varied podcasts for HANDS, MASKS, and SPACING [H-M-S].
Credit: gov.uk
I suspect that many who dislike these personal privacy matters will queue up for vaccines just the same when their category is called upon?! Short term symptoms and long-tail awful afters make COVID-19 our once-a century plague. But I digress . . .
On this Seventh Day of Christmas – even if you can’t locate:
Credit: Matt Cook on Dribble
Our First Seven – let’s start with those “7 S” elements of your KABOOMER’s Physical Bank. Six pluses and one thief – STRESS.
Credit: KABOOMER: Thriving and Striving into your 90s
2. Seven #2 – The 7 Deadly Sins. Many boomers remember Gilligan’s Island as do I. One of 2020’s big names CoVID-19 deaths was Dawn Wells: the actress who played Mary Anne in that hit show. Do you buy into a linkage of 7 Gilligan’s Island castaways to the “Seven Deadly Sins” as fact? Even a trusted radio channel (NPR) argued for a dark side to this comedy.
Mary Ann represented ENVY as a Sin. Do you know what Koach Dave offers about this sin?
Don’tEnvy or covet other’s success or good fortune.
Do invest and gain your unique assets for your own physical bank. And, be grateful as you build your chart of accounts.
NPR writer, Lindsay Totte, made a key observation which reflects Tom Cahill’s “YOU VERSUS YOU” predicament which many find in themselves,
“…each of us has our own inner Gilligan, that sweet-natured, well-meaning part of us that
always sabotages us from getting what we really want.”
Perhaps we can ask ourselves 7 questions as we start the Roaring 20s tomorrow on 01/01/2021:
What do I really want?
What stands in my way from gaining that?
How can I look at the man or woman in the mirror as a Gainer? Note: This Gainer meaning comes sfrom the Cambridge Dictionary, rather than the Urban Dictionary! I’m not speaking of weight gain…
Am I committed to working on my livingto100 calculator?
Will I lower my fitness age to party past ninety?
Do I place as much focus on my Physical Bank accounts as I do on my fical 401(K) accounts?
Do I live a Stamininety mantra that MOTION is MEDICINE?
3. Third Seven (not to be confused with that regional bank – Fifth Third…)
Mimic Morpheus with about seven hours of restorative sleep. Reboot your Sleep habits with KABOOMER hacks, and/or check out credible Sleep Science!
Credit: media.giply.com
4. Seven Characteristics can keep you STRONG, emotionally STRONG, to max out your Mind-Body-Alignment (what your Koach called “MBA”). Consider these 7 KABOOMER life skills that can help you and me in our activities of daily life:
a. Motivation
b. Empathy
c. Self Realization
d, Gratitude
e. Persistence
f. Humor, and
g. Be Like CELEBS(see your Stress-not Chapter of KABOOMER for details).
5. Seven possible Epitaphs of Luminaries who departed us in 2020:
“In the standing on one leg with eyes closed test, men and women were able to hold the position for less than two seconds were three times more likely to die before the age of 66 than those who could hold it for 10 seconds or more”
f. Shoulder Girdle Strength –
g. Crunches or Bent LEg Situp (or equivalent Core exercises if a KABOOMER has lower back issues)
7. Seven Work(out) from Home Necessities
a. Sweatpants (the new office casual attire for Pandemics)
b. Non-BPA water bottles
c. Comfy and cozy slippers or wild socks
d. Get outside for your Vitamin D3 – whenever, wherever…
e. Get in touch with Nature
f. Take warm, Epsom-slat baths (adding essential oils if you desire) – 90 minutes before shutout time
g. Celebrate each daily orbit as best you can while acknowledging that you can’t change why bad things can happen to nice folks.
I wish I was in Pasadena for a Tournament of Roses spectacle tomorrow. Shucks. And, the Rose Bowl may be re-christened the Yellow Rose of Texas Bowl – Shucks again.
Tomorrow is a blessed WRAP! Peggy Noonan’s premier summary of a most horrible year can be read here. Yet, KABOOMERs are glasses-half-full types, and we NEVER WASTE CRISES…
Here’s to vaccines, public health, America’s common good, gratitude, and KABOOMing in our imminent New Year. And – here’s to your Significant leverage of MOST THINGS SEVEN (skipping ENVY as a Deadly Sin) to Party Past Ninety.
Onward!
Koach Dave
As always – Join the KABOOMERR Movement by texting WP40 to #41259.
Thinking of December sixteenths in history – I can pinpoint two extraordinary anniversaries that still impact our topsy-turvy world…
Brewer patriots had their Boston Tea Party in 1773. We know what those rebel yells led to!
The Battle of the Bulge began on this date in 1944 around the quaint town of Bastogne, Belgium. When life was precarious for our fabled, yet outmanned and outgunned 101st Airborne, General A. McAuliffe offered one of the mojo mottos of all time – “Surrender? NUTS!”
That, as we look in our rearview mirrors, is history. Now, a rhetorical query time . . .
Is there a Better time spot to start our own EXTRAordinary history channels?
Think of these pandemic Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Festivus days as best ever times to establish the important differences between ordinary and extraordinary performance.
If not me, who? If not now, when?
Recall how I differentiated between two notional Baby Boomers – Decent Deb and Great George in KABOOMER.
Sure, Decent Deb did her minimum and hoped for better days. Great George stretched for a little bit EXTRA to stay EXTRAordinary.
George’s Gym or Fitness Age is far lower than his calendar age. And that can be exciting personal history.
Many of us can stretch out to build our extraordinary physical banker portfolios too! Trust your Koach.
Listento your Koach, too, finding discretionary time to invest in an information-rich podcast or two. We could be seeing an added DECADE of your personal history – and a quality-filled history – as your Physical Bank Portfolio grows. KABOOM.
This podcast is also available on other major podcast portals – Apple, Google Play…
My analog calendar advises me that we’ve got just eight days and a wake-up until Christmas 2020. What better time will there be to write your non-fiction greatness?
Be a KABOOMER EXTRAordinaire! Strive to be a Great George. Find your “NUTS” chutzpah like McAuliffe did. Yes, You Can!
Right you are, KABOOMERS. I’m following our last Right Stuff tribute to Chuck Yeager with this accolade for another larger than life hero – Louis “Unbroken” Zamperini.
Both Louis and Chuck were flyboys in World War II. Both inspired many on their stamininety journeys until each slipped the “surly bonds of earth” for the last time at age 97.
Laura Hillenbrand wrote about Zamperini’s odyssey (as a 1936 Olympian and POW) in her 2010 bestselling book – UNBROKEN. Angelina Joline then directed a 2014 movie of the same name. Do listen to both the director and the actor who played Zamperini as they speak of soul, selfless sacrifice, and community support in challenging times.
Zamperini was NOT born exceptional, according to Joline. And, Louie offered that his youth days were “average, rotten” until he found his calling as a distance runner. Then, he becameexceptional in strength, human spirit, and will on tracks of life, in 47 days at sea, and then in despicable prison camps.
We are in a different war than these 2 studs endured. Yet ours is still very much a deadly war. An extended battle in which inner resolve and never quit mindsets can help us to win – together. We KABOOMERS can unite behind these compelling words of Louie Zamperini in our own CoVID conflict:
“If you can take it – – – YOU can make it.”
In this abnormal year, I join many with stints of Zoom fatigue, four-walls of temporary isolation, and communal concerns for our communities – small businesses, at-risk populations, mask wearers, and those who choose not to don them. Perhaps we can discover more human spirit, will, and strength to keep on keepin’ on.
Perhaps these two Greatest Generation stalwarts – Yeager and Zamperini – can help others like you and me MAKE IT to our finish lines.
As we approach the 12-day countdown to The TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS – I suggest that KABOOMERS read or watch both:
THE RIGHT STUFF and
UNBROKEN.
My Navy SEAL buddies whisper that the only easy day was yesterday. Do dwell on that UNeasy warrior pearl as you order these two awesome reads. Or search for them on streaming video. And while shopping, you might even consider another gift that keeps on giving:
I’ll exit this blog stage with this provocative headline of writer and psychologist, Alison Gopnik, in the 8/29/2020 weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal:
“A GOOD LIFE DOESN’T MEAN AN EASY ONE.”
Amen! She closes her MIND & MATTER column with this,
“the unexpected, even the tragic, can have transformative power.
As a great Leonard Cohen song says, it’s the cracks that let the light come in.”
Let’s do our exceptional, darndest to find transformative power and richness in these unexpected and tragic days. We CAN MAKE IT – together.
With unbroken hope and strength…
Koach Dave
ps – Text WP40 to #41259 to get pretty regular tips and tricks to MAKE IT in your GOOD LIFE.
With luck, skill, and timing – many of us can and will keep our hearts glowing!
Here’s a public service reminder for pain avoidance to help us calibrate Physical Banking steps to take both seriously and whimsically this Holiday season:
Credit: Harvard Health
Motion is Good Medicine!
Good folks at Harvard Health say so, as do I as your Koach. No matter how cold and dark your days and night may appear, you can mitigate or avoid creaky joints with judicious and habitual movements.
Laugh often as part of your Immunity Boosts!
And, you definitely want to avoid #COVIDIOTS – right?
Move your joints through their best ranges of motion to stay limbered up for whatever physically distanced festivities you can muster!
KABOOM!
Consider me “on-call” for these Holidays to help you in your Most Wonderful Times of the Year!
I don’t know what percentage of KABOOMERs are ancient history buffs. Without date-checking, I’d guess that my title line is about twenty-five centuries-old; a “300” from the Greco-Persian wars and specifically citing King Leonidas of Sparta’s city-state.
A rather violent, yet epic, movie was released 15 years ago about Spartan studliness (in both genders) and the Battle of Thermopylae. Three hundred (300) Spartans – at least according to legend – defended a Grecian mountain pass for days despite daunting odds in the form of Xerxes’ Persian armies. A lone survivor escaped and told of the loss of 299 Spartans who were snuffed out in their youth.
Yet they were stoic examples of motion as medicine and resistance training and mind-body alignment for the same 4-Fs which are in our modern makeup. Spartans knew their odds of survival in ancient life. Now, we have a fairly good sense of our survival without hand-to-hand combat. Yet mortality factors of environmental pollution, pandemics, and poor lifestyles adversely impact our fighting odds.
Then, overwhelming numbers challenged Spartans. Persian “storm” troopers took down Leonidas and his men.
Today, CoVid challenges Americans to fight tiny microbes with the best immunity factors we can muster.
Get daily sunlight, restorative sleep, exercise, chill rather than stress. Eat clean and laugh.
A quarter-million Americans have lost their battles. Vaccines, as technological advances may help stem this SARS invader tide. Until miracle vaccines get to us to recede the tides – we should rely on our Respect and Honor as Leonidas’ Spartans did.
Respect prudent practices, such as hand-washing and mask-wearing, and avoiding Darwinian follies for gathered masses.
Honor leaders’ rules, regardless of their temporary personal weight. Despite Covid “battle” fatigue, DO NOT:
eat emotionally, have just one more nightcap, or let down your guard.
With respect and honor,
Koach Dave
If you’d like to hear how your Koach is coping and dealing with his fight – Join the Movement by texting WP40 to #41259.
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Credit: media.giphy.com
Credit: gov.uk
Credit: Matt Cook on Dribble
Credit: KABOOMER: Thriving and Striving into your 90s
Credit: media.giply.com
Credit: Harvard Health
