How New York City Got Its Juicy Nickname “The Big Apple” — And What It Means To The World

 By Sean Adams        

I love sports. I've loved them from the time I was a young man. Even though I didn't grow up in a sports family I think I fell in love with sports because I saw it as honest.

I’ve been able to do a ton of things because of sports. I was able to represent my university; I was able to become an all-American. I was in magazines and all of those places.  When we talk about the importance of what could be in sports, right now historically there's been four ways by which we raise men in this country in the home, in the church, in the military, and in sports.

Cultural changes have changed the mix on the importance of how those things work in the home right now one-third of American children about 15 million children grow up in a home with no father. That's a lot of young boys growing up without a daily example of manhood in their homes. 

In church, census tells us that less than 20 per cent of American citizens attend a church service on a regular basis. If social trends in America follow Europe like they usually do by 2025 the number could be 12 or 13 percent of American citizens attend a church service on a regular basis. 

Because of technology cyber advancement the current administration's desire to bring the number of active military down to its lowest point since world war II eighty percent of applicants to the military get turned away, not raising a lot of men in the military either.

What we're left with are sports. It could be the last bastion by which we give the characteristics and the virtues with which we raise men. In sports, we learn the virtue of the huddle where you take north and south east and west conservative and liberal black and white you put them in the same huddle and you give them the same colour jersey. You give them a common goal, you let them sweat, tear up and work hard together and special things start to take place where we learn teamwork and community fidelity.

We care about each other; we don't let each other down. You hear coaches tell teams to play for a great fan base.  Teams that play together win a lot of games, teams that play for a great coach win a lot of games, and teams that play for each other win championships - it's a concept we could use in our families right now. 

What about pride where I’m constantly reminded that pride is the worst of the seven sins and I constantly have to remind people unfortunately I got a lot of it but I don't think you get anywhere in this world without some pride without some passion without some accountability where pride for me means personal responsibility and daily excellence that's my pride. We talk about the virtue of sports based on failure. Sometimes those virtues allow us to succeed in life because we've experienced some failure in other places.

I wanted to be a national champion, I had been blessed enough to be an all-American, and I’d done a ton of stuff but I’ve never been an individual national champion.  In my senior year at North Carolina State, I had a shot to be a national champion in a number of events but got second place and third place so I’m all American again but I’m not a national champion and that's what I want it to be. 

We get to the 4x4 relay. I'm the anchor and I want it on me. I’m the kid, I sat in front of my house with my Walter Mitty stories thinking I’m putting myself in places where I can be the hero. I counted down three to two and shot the basket.

I wanted to anchor that 4 by 4 relay, we get down to the anchor and I’m waiting like this, and I’m waiting for my guy to bring me the baton. He gave me the baton, and I took off running. I’m in third place by about 12 or 13 meters within the first 50 meters. I went past the guy in second place somewhere along the back straight. I pull up next to the guy in the first place and for the life of me, I have no idea why I don't go by him.

My coach had always told me if you get up next to him you have to go by him and make him run your race. if you sit next to him you'll end up running his run, tied with him for about 200 metres until we get to 50 metres to go.  I’m closing in about 40 meters to go, he starts pulling in front of me and he's pulling a little further away from me and finally, I’m getting the notion with about 10 or 15 metres to go that I’m going to get my team second place again.

I was miserable and crushed at that moment. It was one of the toughest things I ever had to experience but you know what I learned from it, - do what your coaches and your teachers and your parents tell you to do because they usually know a lot more than you do.  if I’d done what I was coached to do that day I would have won that race.  

Two failures, not a permanent failure like a rain cloud and sometimes it rains on you and you got to ride it out - if you don't internalize it and you don't personalize it you'll realize it's just a part of life and you will grow and become better for it.

All those lessons I learned in sports to manage failure to be in a community to understand the characteristics of diversity to understand the interconnected relationship between preparation and success all of these virtues that we have learnt in so many other places in life that seemingly we have to learn in sports.

Now, where are we going to get them from how important does sports become, former supreme court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes probably more popularized for coining the phrase clear and present danger also said, “the place for any man who is complete in all his powers is in the fight and I don't know if I’m completing all of my powers but having the opportunity through sports to fight for the growth and development of young people when seemingly every historic fixture around them is breaking as a fight that I’m honored to be in.