During the course of a weekend, there are a number of things that always happen:
- Try and cook up some crazy Sunday breakfast. 99% of the time it isn’t very tasty
- Watch some college and pro football and hope I am winning my fantasy football game
- Break up a fight between my two sons who are arguing about whose turn it is to play a video game
- Try and clean out an area in the house and toss away some stuff
Well last weekend was no different. I was going through a few cabinets in my office and all of a sudden I came across a bunch of trophies. Of course these trophies are very old (no I haven’t gotten any recently) and actually had the years on them (which brought back some great memories–especially the one from 1970 Peanut Champs.)
All of a sudden I came across a trophy that said "Most Improved Player." I can remember exactly when that was from: way back in 1978 and the trophy was for "Most Improved Ping Pong Player." In high school we had a club team that would play ping pong a few times a week and the coach gave me the trophy based on the improvement I made during the year.
I actually sat down in my office chair and gave it some thought. I think I have tried to base my entire life and career on "most improved." For those of you who haven’t met me, I am average height and weight. I never was the smartest kid in class and in a lot of ways I would consider myself average, so based on that I always tried to improve each and every day. Things never came easy to me, so I had to work at them…in fact really work at getting better. Frequently during conference presentations I will say, "try and get better at something every day."
For me this is the most important trophy I have and will ever get. It still represents everything I believe in and live for.
- Have you ever won a trophy or ribbon?
- What is the most important one you have?
- Is there a life lesson in the trophy you won?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Craig says:
Merrill -
Great post. I’m right there with you. I graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington (a very good school, but not an Ivy League school). I made good grades, but not great grades. Now I have Ivy League graduates reporting to me. They are probably intellectually smarter than I am. And they work hard. My message to them is that we can be proud of our hard work and the success it brings, but never satisfied that it’s as good as it could be. The example I often use is Tiger Woods. Many would argue that he is the greatest golfer of our day – his championship count proves that. Even so, he has a golf coach (Hank Haney) because EVEN TIGER WOODS can still improve his game.
I hope I never get to the point where I say “Ah ha! I’ve arrived! I’m finally as good as I’m ever going to be.”
Bill Priest says:
My most prized trophy was winning the state basketball championship my senior year of high shcool in the small AA town of Clayton, New Mexico, which to date is Clayton’s only state title. As for a life lesson, that came the following year when I went to college thinking I was a hot shot all-state basketball player and barely made the B-league intermural team, which pretty much took anyone. Now I’m like Uncle Rico of Napoleon Dynamite reliving the glory years with my kids – ha ha.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Bill,
I never knew you won a state basketball championship. Congrads! The next time I am in Greensboro I would love to hear the stories and if possible see the trophy.
Merrill
Magda Cooling says:
When I read the Title of this Blog – the first thing to came mind was the Potty Champion Trophy both of my kids earned when they mastered the task! OK, they’ll be embarrassed that I’m telling this but, it was their first Trophy and we all made a big deal out of it. And yes, it is still displayed (in the way back) with their other Sports and Academic Awards.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Magda,
Since I have 3 little ones ( one still in diapers) I can appreciate that and believe a trophy is clearly warranted.
Enjoy the holiday.
Merrill.
Joe Baldi says:
Merrill, like you I am taking the opportunity to clean out and in this case it’s my email and therefore the reason for the very late posting. Having played multiple sports over many years I have been fortunate to win trophies and awards. Just about all of them found their way into the trash after cleanups. I do have some in my basement and among those is an award I was presented by Mike Hargrove at the Texas Ranger Fantasy Camp in 1990.
It’s an Award called the Helping Hand Award. There was a mentally challenged young man attending with his dad and they were on the team I was playing with. We gravitated to one another during the week and every day during our workouts we would pair up and play catch and pepper. Unbeknownst to me this was being observed. I can’t tell you how touched I was to receive this award as it was unplanned and completely unexpected.
Joe
Merrill Dubrow says:
Joe,
I can’t tell you how touched I was to read your comments. That is an amazing story. You always give yourself to others – what a GREAT quality to have.
Thanks for sharing this story.
Happy holiday’s.
Merrill