Each week I am planning to look at some of the stories and news that I found most interesting.  This space will include some sports, but not all of the sports stories that I normally follow in the areas of sports philanthropy, sports law, sports business, Jewish sports, concussions and otherwise.  If you want to see more of what I am following in those areas, let me know and I can point you to the best spots on my blog or various websites.  You will see that I love to find some of life’s little absurdities and point those out as well as other interesting stories that I follow.

MOTIVATIONAL IMAGES OF WEEK:

OTHER TOP IMAGES OF THE WEEK:

ROY’S RAMBLE:

• Buffalo Wild Wings.  I went to watch the Michigan State-Texas Tech game at Buffalo Wild Wings.  One of the few places now that has the sound on for the games.  Apparently BWW created new menus that the waiter said are supposed to remind you of a coaches clipboard.  Horrible idea. Very awkward and clumsy.   D-minus to the marketing staff.  Waiter said everyone hates them.

• Golf.      A friend treated me to the first round of golf we have played together in a few years. Beautiful day on Saturday and nice to be out there. We used to get in about 25 rounds a year together, but family and work seemed to get in the way the last couple of decades.  I always find some good things to laugh at on the golf course.  This day’s prime item was the way many golfers overestimate how far they can hit the ball.  We had a twosome in front of us that was waiting to hit until the group ahead of them was 300+ yards away.  I am not sure we saw either of them hit any ball 200 yards in the air. Most of them were dribblers or shanks.  On two par fives, they waited for the group to clear the green when they were at their tee shots—about 200 yards off the tee.  Still it is always great being out on the course even with clueless golfers.  I managed to scrape out a few pars and even knocked in a birdie. 

• Neuroplasticity training.              .               Last weekend I got certified in neuroplasticity training and will have more details and information for you about that service soon.  This will be a great benefit to so many organizations and so many individuals that could use the help getting their brain to function more efficiently.

• Cancelled meetings.      Many of us have busy schedules. We all recognize meetings get cancelled, rescheduled or arrivals may be delayed.  But it amazes me when someone fails to let you know that they won’t make a meeting until you email to confirm, EVEN WHEN THEY ARE OUT OF TOWN.   TWICE.  Hey, newsflash.  If you are out of town an hour before our meeting, you knew you were not going to make it that day.

• JT Foxx.  Until about a year ago, I had never heard of JT Foxx.  I attended one of his free events in Chicago last summer. He bills himself as The World’s #1 Wealth Coach.”  Though he comes across as cocky and though he can be hard on some of the attendees that he brings up for coaching, there can be no doubt about his work ethic.  He presents all around the world and opens up many of his events for free.  Having now attended my 4^th event of his, there can also be no doubt that he has some tremendous ideas and helps many people improve their lives.  He does it in a very different way to Tony Robbins, but the impact is very real.  You can read more details here.

• Fundraisers Forum.         Led by Rae Ringel, this was an outstanding event.  You read more details about it here, but if you work with non-profits or try to raise money, her presentations are fantastic and worth of a more detailed look.

• Vendor response. I am planning the Sports Philanthropy World Congress in August. As I was looking for venues for the event, I sent out emails inquiring about availability. It continues to amaze me how unresponsive many companies are, even when you are trying to give them business. One venue that was pitching me for business took over 10 days to provide any of the requested information via email (and even then, came back with only about half of what was requested). #VendorFail

• Final Four.           I hate seeing games decided by controversial endings.  The end of the Virginia/Auburn game was tremendous drama but the missed call on the double dribble will be questioned for a long time.  However, what about the missed grab before that?  Would that have cancelled the other missed call out?  The final call on the 3-point shot was the correct call and was explained very well by Gene Steratore.  He is one of the most articulate referees that we have seen on TV and continually provides great insight. This year’s tournament seems to have the largest collection of tight games that I have seen in many, many years.  It will be tough to top Virginia’s two improbably victories.

• Health Club Redux. You may have read my prior post about the 12 Most Absurd Things You See at the Health Club.” I may have to start a volume two. Today one elderly member kicked two teenagers out of the hot tub because they were not technically old enough, even though they were probably only a few months short of the age requirement. Mind you, plenty of space there. They were sitting quietly and talking.

Many of us spend a lot of time at the health club. Just like anywhere else, you see some crazy things there. Here are my 12 Most Absurd Things Seen at the health club.

• Parking—Part of the idea of going to the Health Club is exercise.  Right?  So why do people stop with their cars parked waiting for someone to pull out of a space for ten minutes so that they can park one row closer to the entrance?

• Lockers—It does not seem to matter how many lockers there are or how crowded the club is, the odds say that the lockers above/below/adjacent to you will be the ones needed by the person changing at the exact same time as you

• Attire—I realize you want to show off your body, but showing off” seems to have the connotation of making yourself look better, not worse. 

• Mirrors—Yeah, you look cool.  But blocking half the floor of the stretching and ab workout area so you can watch yourself in the mirror?

• Pool—I realize you take your swimming seriously but a 50 meter pool does not really necessitate you having an entire lane to yourself and scowling at anyone who dares to enter your waters.

• Hot tub-The jets in the hot tub are for your other” muscles.

• Change area—Aren’t we limited to one carry-on bag to come to the heath club?? The size of some of the bags the way that some people want to lay out their clothes seem to require a King Sized bed for them to get ready

• Showers—Keep the singing and humming in your own shower.  And we don’t need your used razors left in the shower.

• Blow Dryers—Okay, how do we even describe this on a public website.  Let’s just say don’t remove the L” from public because we don’t need to see you blow drying down there.

• Scale—Here is a simple concept.  Get on.  Look at the number.  Get off.  Standing on the scale for 30-45 seconds is not going to make the number go down any lower. 

• Suitmate—This machine is designed to get the water out of your suit.  When it stops spinning, no matter how much longer you hold down the lid your suit will not dry any further and it will never come out toasty warm like you are just getting it out of the clothes dryer.

• Restaurant—Okay, we just worked out.  Burned a few calories.  It is fine to have all natural and healthy types of foods but can’t you have a little bit of junk food for us afterwards.

Which things do you see that drive you crazy?