I grew up watching the Seattle Mariners. I loved to go and watch them play and then after the game I would wait in the parking lot to see them leave ... they were "Gods" to me. Eleven years later, I was playing football for the Buffalo Bills and as I pulled into the stadium parking lot I saw a little boy leaning against the barricade. It was then and there that my life flashed before me. I was running late and had to hustle into the locker room but after the game that little boy was in the same spot. So, I walked over and introduced myself, "Hi, I'm Jon. What's your name?" He looked at me with his hands in his pockets and said shyly, "Hi, I'm Joey." I smiled and asked him if he had ever been on the field? He hadn't, so I snuck him and his dad down on the field at Ralph Wilson Stadium. As his father watched him run around he began to cry. He explained that Joey had a rare form of cancer and three months prior was given only six months to live.
Joey and I became friends and I tried to include him in Bill's events. one day he asked me if I wanted to go to the Super Bowl. The Bills weren't that good that year and I told him, "Of course, but it ain't lookin good this season." He laughed and told me he had tickets and wanted to invite me. I was thinking that Make-A-Wish Foundation was sponsoring his trip to the Super Bowl. Instead, Joey pulled out two tickets made out of construction paper - one form me and one for him.
About a month later I got a call from his dad, asking if I could head to the hospital because Joey wasn't doing well. He told me to bring the tickets. Sure enough, when I got to the hospital and looked at the tickets, in crayon was written the date October 18. As I walked into his room, he smiled and looked up at me and said, "You made it. Today is the Super Bowl." October 18 was six months and one day. Joey dreamed of that day, the day the doctors didn't think he'd be alive, and to Joey, that day was his Super Bowl.
That is what I call having a Dream to Overcome a Nightmare.
The lesson: "we must dream again and again, outrageous dreams, and when we do, nightmares fade. Dreams are hard work, sacrifice, and commitment. But dreams are worth the work; they are worth the sacrifice, the blood, the sweat, and the tears. Nothing worth it comes easy!"
John Dorenbos
Center for the Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans, and Buffalo Bills
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There isn't much you can say about this except give a little tear. In the end it says that even if you might not make it you have to know that anything can happen if you try. So just like this kid who had everyone saying you will not make it her put that behind him and fought for as long as possible. Just like we must put all the talk about us never being able to make it back to the playoffs or even win it we have to stop listening to them and just keep trying are hardest. Be it weight room, practice, and the JDRF walk.
ReplyDeleteJoey set a goal for himself, he pushed himself to make that goal. He recognized it and shared it with another person. Your goal might be to bench five to ten more pounds in the next two weeks, or squat fifteen more or even be able to complete all the kettle bell workout, but whatever it is, you gotta work for it.
ReplyDeleteIf dreams really are hard work, sacrifice, and commitment; then nightmares must be saying or going beyond your limitations with no sense of hope or even the mindset to win as well as not being able to back it with proof. The way Joey over came this obstacle was just by living from day to day to prove everyone wrong, but because we are able bodied ours is through showing up to weight room and practice like the coaches and captains have all said before
ReplyDeleteTo me, this story is proof that we shouldn't let other people set expectations for us. The doctors told Joey he only had six months to live, and yet, six months and one day later, Joey was still alive. I can't imagine the sense of accomplishment that little boy had, but if we can each set goals or expectations for ourselves and strive to achieve them, then I believe we can have a small taste of how Joey felt when he beat the odds.
ReplyDeleteJoey set his dream. He wanted to prove those doctors wrong and live past 6 months. He believed he could and he fought his disease and he made it. We must set goals and dreams that even we don't believe are possible. Then we must work harder than we ever have, being committed, sacrificing everything for our team, getting UNCOMFORTABLE, and truly believing we can achieve it. Then we have a fighting chance and can achieve our dreams.
ReplyDeleteJoey set his goal high. If every one sets a high goal for themselfs and pushes eachother we could all have the same results as joey.
ReplyDeleteJoey made his tickets for one day past the time the doctors gave him to live. We need to be more like Joey and exceed any expectations givev to us. We need to be in weight room one more day we need to practice one more day. Maybe if we all put in one more days work we just might get to play one more game when the season is over.
ReplyDeleteThis entire story is about exceeding expectations. We know what we are supposed to be able to do. We have to be better than that. If this means working harder in the weight room, classroom, and on the practice field, then we must make it our goal to exceed our expectations, just like Joey did.
ReplyDelete"Be a dreamer.If you don't know how to dream. You're dead." Quote from Jimmy V. If you think about it dreaming is everything it helps you to know what you want to accomplish. The more you dream about your goals the harder you work. But it's also how bad you want it.
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