To Any Athlete

[Bill Bauknecht]

One of my favorite writers was Grantland Rice. I have a framed copy of this sitting on my desk. You young'ins will read it and say "Yep, that's a good one", and somewhere down the road will understand it. Us old timers know the feeling. Here it is:

To Any Athlete---By Grantland Rice

Why is it each is the last to find
That his legs are gone--that his eyes are bad
That the quicker refexes have left his mind,
That he hasn't the stuff that he one day had,
That lost youth mocks, and he doesn't see,
The ghost of the fellow that used to be??

How can they slip from the heights so far,
And never know that the day has gone
When their eyes were fixed on a rising star
With a firm foundation to stand upon?
How can they slip as the comets fall
And read no writing upon the wall??

Caught by a stride which they used to beat-
Nailed by a punch that they used to block-
Trailing the flurry of flying feet,
But dreaming still of the peaks that mock-
Each is the last to learn from fate
That his story is finished-and out of date!!

This does not apply to Uechi-Ryu people!!!
We only get better....

Here's one I always liked, If the shoe fits---

"The older we get,,the better we were."

Bye for now
Bill