Here are some of my favorite images, humor and motivation from this past week, ending May 5, 2019

• BBYO Dinner—It was so nice to see both kids enjoy themselves at the year-end BBYO dinner.  The energy in the room was tremendous and seeing the leadership from these high school kids was impressive.  They put together so many speeches and presentations and really learned a lot about themselves, their leadership abilities and their passions.  For those that were leaving the board it was an emotional moment.  For those that are coming on to the Regional Board for the first time, it was a tremendously proud moment, one which will lead to a lot of work, responsibility and excitement over the next year.

• Joliet Slammers—It struck me somewhat incongruous to see a minor league baseball team naming itself after a prison.  Well, not exactly.  But the mascot J.L. Bird is pronounced as “Jailbird” and is depicted wearing prison stripes in the logo and images.  But the image itself notwithstanding, the Joliet Slammers are doing some terrific work in the community, engaging kids in schools and bringing other organizations out to the park to raise money.   You can listen to the podcast that we recorded with Lauren Rhodes and all of the details that she shared. Unfortunately, the weather was horrendous so we couldn’t get any great shots of the stadium, but we still found some interesting places.

• Dare2Tri—I had the opportunity to sit down with Michelle Stroud, the Director of Development for Dare2Tri.  Fantastic to hear about the work that they do helping physically disabled athletes (many of them war veterans), learn to compete in a triathlon.  What struck me a lot from the conversations with Michelle was how many people they help and that the importance of selecting the triathlon model was to give each of these athletes the ability to exercise alongside their family members and friends.  This is a huge benefit to these athletes and their families.  Look for our upcoming feature on www.SportsPhlanthropyNetwork/blog.

• Northwestern development.  Sitting down with Collin Sexton was an interesting experience.  As we discussed the progression of the Northwestern Athletic Department, it was apparent that Jim Phillips’ leadership as Athletic Director has been an enormous benefit for the whole university.  It will be interesting to follow whether Jim gets serious consideration for replacing Jim Delaney as the Big Ten Commissioner.  Jim Phillips has everything you could want in that role: class, vision, energy, passion and foresight.  The main question will be whether his lack of experience negotiating broadcast rights agreements will be a hindrance to his candidacy.

• University of Wisconsin School of Business School—A foggy evening in the Sears Tower couldn’t stop the crowd of alums from the UW Business School from gathering to hear terrific speakers.   It is always interesting to see what direction people take after they complete their degrees and the breadth of the business school really gives people a lot of opportunity.

• Sports Philanthropy World Congress—The excitement for the Sports Philanthropy World Congress on August 9, 2019 continues to build.  Each week we confirm more speakers and we are now about 60% complete with our speaker lineup.  We will continue to keep you updated as we finalize the speaker list and get more sponsors on-board with our vision and educational mission.

• Podcast recordings—One of the things that I love working with the Sports Philanthropy Network is the ability to have in-depth conversations with people that are doing so much good in the world through non-profits, most of them sports related.  This week I had the opportunity to record podcasts with Amy Schiffman, Co-founder and Principal of Giving Tree Associates and Deon Thomas, Community Relations Coordinator for the University of Illinois System.  Amy shared so much insight into setting up and running a non-profit organization that I cannot wait for you to hear her podcast when it drops on May 15, 2019.  Deon provided tremendous insight into the work that he does as well as sharing with the audience the progress of his career from highly rated recruit, to all-time leading scorer for the University of Illinois to two European Championships with Maccabi Tel Aviv.  His podcast drops on May 8, 2019.  I think you will really enjoy both of them.

• Calabash Gifts website—We are proud to finally announce the launch of the Calabash Gifts website at www.CalabashGiftsMadison.com.   It was too long in the making but will now be able to let people outside of Madison see the beautiful array of items that are displayed in the store.  You can also follow our social media accounts at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

• Dream On—Seeing a former student succeed is always terrific.  Seeing one like Kelli Haywood create a meaningful and impactful education focused non-profit from scratch is awe inducing.  Her energy is phenomenal and what she has been able to accomplish over her first five years has been remarkable.  It was an exciting week for Kelli as she celebrated her birthday, received a big award for her Foundation and hosted her Dream On Soiree which was a fantastic event.  You can see the full write up on the event here.

• Soloff Tribute—Rabbi David Soloff was the leader of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin for  many years. He probably doesn’t want us to count how many!! . His energy and passion for the Ramah movement were unparalleled.  So it was fitting to see over 500 people show up to pay tribute  to him at a special event on May 5, 2019 at Beth El in Highland Park. The speeches were absolutely amazing and the energy and tributes to him illustrated the enormous impact he made on generations of young Jews around the country.

• Kentucky Derby—There was lots of screaming and crying over the decision to disqualify Maximum Impact after he had won the Kentucky Derby.  What impressed me the most about the commentary and the reaction was that it was VERY different from what you see in the five major U.S. team sports.  Virtually everyone interviewed agreed that it was a foul and that in any other race, the horse would have been disqualified.  The only question was whether the stewards would have the guts to disqualify the winner.   For purposes of horse racing’s integrity, it is good that they did.  I have never understood or subscribed to the belief that the rules should be applied differently in the last few minutes or a competition, in overtime or in big games.  It is worse for every sport if the officials refused to make the calls that need to be made because then they are truly “deciding” the game. 

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.