A Real Team

On our way to the NCAA Division II Tournament basketball game last week, I invited our son to join us, raving to him about the wonders of the Ashland University Lady Eagles. Drew’s response to me (paraphrased), was this: “Thanks for the invite, but I’m not interested. I’ll concentrate my basketball viewing on the above-the-rim game, the superior athleticism of the NBA.”

Are you kidding me? While I’m a fan of the Cavs, LeBron and company are paid millions of dollars to play the game of basketball, and they still whine every time they’re called for a foul. Sure, I’ll watch their games and cheer when they win, but outside of the shared context of basketball, there’s no comparison between the wine and gold of Cleveland and the purple and gold of Ashland University.

I made a valiant attempt to convince Drew of what it’s like to attend an AU game at Kates Gymnasium. I told him about the 5’9” Kelsey Peare, the best female three-point shooter in the country this season. I told him about the 50+ percentage shooting of the starters; of Laina Snyder, the GLIAC player of the year; of Andi Daugherty’s game-changer role; of Alex Henning’s tenacious defense; and of Jodi Johnson, the GLIAC Freshman of the Year. All from Ohio.

And then there’s the bench. Most teams, from middle school to the Cavs, lose a step or two when they make substitutions to their starting five. Here in Ashland, that substitution buzzer sends shivers into our opponents, as it means the fresh legs and gritty determination of a new wave of shooters, ball handlers, and defenders. All from Ohio.

Yet with all of the accolades that have come to the individual players, they are the pure example of what “team” means. As Cleveland sports writer Terry Pluto noted at the start of the tournament, “This Ashland team is undefeated, averaging ninety-six points a game, yet no player averages twenty points a game . . . no player is on the court for more than twenty-five minutes a game.” No superstar here who puts the rest of the team on her back and carries them up and down the court.

Lest I forget to tell you about the fans, Drew, the sheer volume of the crowd at Kate’s is a huge part of the winning equation. In the din of the crowd, I’m sure I felt the infamous foot stomp of retired Eagles coach Sue Ramsey, whose many years of work at AU developed the structure of a program that continues to flourish under coach Robyn Fralick (only two losses in two years of coaching).

Yet what I can’t explain to you, Drew, are the components that aren’t measured on a stats sheet or the Richter scale of crowd involvement, those intangible characteristics of a team that mold the character of its players. While we measure a team’s economic impact by hotel room usage or restaurant meals purchased, there’s no way to measure what this team means to both the university and our community in terms of goodwill, of bringing people together.

I’ve described myself as a smitten immigrant to the Ashland community, and a smitten Nana to my sweet granddaughters. Ever since I began to attend the women’s basketball games when our son Dan ran camera as a student in the Journalism and Digital Media department at AU, I’ve been smitten with the Lady Eagles. And so, next week I’ll be crammed into Alumni Hall at Ohio Dominican for the Elite Eight games, believing the Ashland women will bring home the national championship trophy. But win or lose in a basketball game, these young women have once again won my heart.

In life, sometimes there are situations when we do the politically correct thing and agree to disagree (even when we know we’re right). So Drew, despite the indisputable fact of an undefeated season marked by the legendary teamwork of the Eagles, I’ll let you have your NBA glamour and glory. And in case you change your mind, there’s room in the car as we head to the NCAA finals in Columbus on Tuesday. Go Eagles!

A Last Lecture

In the fall of 2007, a Last Lecture by Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch went viral. His was a last lecture of necessity, as he was facing a terminal cancer diagnosis. Yet despite those painful circumstances, his talk on achieving childhood dreams was funny, poignant, and memorable, unforgettably illustrated by one-handed push-ups, a birthday cake, and a parade of massive stuffed animals.

In his lecture, he described his meeting with his boyhood idol and leadership guru, Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, and his unfulfilled dream to be an NFL football player. He acknowledged the lessons from football, suggesting that most of what we learn is learned indirectly, or by head-fake. He had also hoped to become an Imagineer at Disney, and told how a sabbatical season at Walt Disney World led to an on-going consulting relationship. The fulfillment of that particular dream was proof that brick walls are in our lives for a reason, for they let us prove how badly we want things. Perhaps my favorite bit of counsel from Pausch was on how we face our circumstances: “In life, you have to decide if you’re Eeyore or Tigger.”

Dr. Pausch didn’t invent the concept of a Last Lecture, for professors have been doing these for years. Before the age of YouTube, however, few had the overwhelming reach that his did – millions of views and still counting. Facing retirement or illness, preachers, political leaders, and philosophers have done the same thing, desiring to share words of wisdom with future generations. 

In that tradition, Ashland’s own Dr. Don Rinehart will give his Last Lecture on April 15^th at 7:30 p.m. He’ll be speaking on the topic: “Last Lecture: The Beginning of Wisdom” in the Miller Chapel at the university, and the community has been welcomed to listen in to his words. Rinehart officially retired from the AU religion department in 2007, but he’s continued in the classroom through this semester. Now, as he concludes his official teaching responsibility, he’s doing so with this final gift for all of Ashland.

I wonder what he’ll choose to say. As a Professor Emeritus of Religion, surely his final words will be informed by his faith, and will reflect in some way on the courses he’s taught in biblical studies, practical ministry and Christian education. Perhaps he’ll tell a story or two about the study abroad program in Germany that he and his wife Jan have led for many years. It’s also likely that he’ll share from his pastor’s heart. Will he sneak in the names of his grandchildren? If I was giving this lecture, the lovely Madelyn Simone would be mentioned for sure.

The concept of final words is ancient. Jacob blessed his twelve sons, as noted in Genesis 49:28, “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.” Words of farewell spoken by government leaders through the centuries have echoed those of Winston Churchill in 1955: “Never flinch, never weary, never despair.” Even Cinderella’s mother shared her wisdom, at least according to Disney’s newest version of the classic story, when Ella’s mother lovingly told her, “Have courage and be kind.”

Randy Pausch was a young father when he faced his personal challenge of a last lecture. As he concluded, he asked his gathered listeners if they had figured out his final head fake [the lesson from football]. He explained: “This [lecture] was not for you guys. This was for my kids.” As he wrote in his book of the same name, “I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children.”

Pausch’s children were quite young when he died, and so he was concerned with leaving them something of himself through his words. But we don’t have to put ourselves in a bottle to offer meaningful words or effective head fakes. We can model the courage and kindness that sustained Ella in spite of the cinders, Pausch in the face of aggressive cancer. Day by day, our integrity and care for others become our own last lecture, even without words.

We Are the Champions!

We spent the Easter weekend playing Upper Upper with the nephews near Buffalo, and during our return home, the alleged experts from one of Cleveland sports talk radio stations spent a couple of hours predicting that the Cleveland Indians will end their 2013 season at .500, the Cavs may make it to the end of their season with enough players to take the court, and the Browns – well, who knows how they will do. They touched briefly on the Columbus Blue Jackets’ possible appearance as the 8^th team in the playoffs for the NHL, and lamented the demise of the Buckeye’s basketball team in the elite eight. Based upon the sportscasters’ analysis and prognostications, 2013 doesn’t look like a championship year for Ohio sports teams. As my friend Gomer Pyle used to say, “surprise, surprise.”

Finally, I lifted my face from my book and bellowed at the radio – “Hey guys – take a peek down I-71 – you’ve got a national champion in your backyard – why don’t you talk about winners for a change?” They may have started out the day gushing about the Lady Eagles from Ashland University, but I kind of doubt it. Why talk about this amazing championship team when you can talk about the potential tribulations of the Tribe?

Just in case you haven’t heard, the Ashland University women’s basketball team has made it possible for us to say, “We’ve won the national championship!” Do you know how long I’ve waited to say those words? It’s been almost 50 years since the Buffalo Bills won the pre-Super Bowl AFL title game in 1964. Except for the 2002 Ohio State football championship, when the Buckeyes managed to win on the big stage, my teams have needed the Heimlich maneuver in the worst way. The four consecutive Buffalo Bills Super Bowl losses were probably the worst, but being two outs away from a World Series victory in 1997 takes a close second, and let’s not talk about the lack of a ring for LeBron and Company.

 I know – this column is running a week after the championship game – can we stop talking about the national champion Ashland University women’s basketball team and get on with life? The answer is “no.” We live in Northeast Ohio – who knows how long before we’ll be able to utter the words “national” and “champion” in the same sentence again.  I for one am going to savor this moment for a long time.

But it’s not just about the victory - here’s why I really want to keep talking about the Lady Eagles. It’s how they got there. They have so much class. After a heart-breaking overtime loss last year, they could have come home and gone back to life as usual, but they didn’t – they had unfinished business in San Antonio. Their intensity and their energy has been amazing – just as evident when they worked with the Special Olympics basketball team as when they took the court at Kates Gymnasium or in San Antonio.  

While I can’t say they’ve inspired me to shoot hoops every day, they are definitely inspirational to our community. The next time the lovely Madelyn Simone comes to visit, we’re not watching the Bubble Guppies – we’re watching the highlight video from the NCAA National Championship game that the AU Journalism and Digital Media department posted to YouTube – I want my granddaughter to know that whether as an athlete or a sportscaster, or as a mascot, musician or mother, she can reach for the stars and achieve her goals.

And, might I say it one more time – the willingness of these young women and their coaches to speak openly and powerfully about their faith has been absolutely breath-taking. The video clip from the pre-game press conference says it all. There was a common ground in Texas – not just basketball, but that of a life of faith.  

So, Ashland, while the final game is now history, let the celebration continue. Page through Wednesday’s congratulatory  insert in the T-G. Wear purple and gold. Watch the highlight videos and cheer out loud (thanks, JDM). And head over to the AU stadium on April 18^th as we collectively proclaim: We are the champions!   Woohoo!