The World Class Athlete...

...or douchebag. Take one look at the picture below and admit you probably wouldn't like these guys if you met them...



The guy in the black hat and shirt with the cigarettes in his mouth is the starting goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens. The dude second from right is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, players for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mats Sundin. The winner on the far left is Kyle Chipchura, another young player in the Canadiens system. In case you still want to hang out with them, here's another shot...



So they're friends. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Seriously though, I knew guys like this in high school. They sucked. It's why we indoor kids didn't make it out to a lot of sporting events in high school. We didn't feel like cheering those guys on. Looking at these photos makes me wonder what the difference is between these guys and those meatsticks in high school. I think it has something to do with the fact that these guys are world class athletes and those guys are probably landscapers these days.

What bothers me even more, though, is that these guys are among the best in the world at what they do, especially Price and Sundin. They call upon their lungs to carry them through grueling hockey seasons and playoff tournaments. And here they are smoking butts like Europeans. FULL DISCLOSURE: Sundin is European. Regardless, it amazes me that these guys can still do what they do while also doing what they're doing in this photo and then go out and do more of this the next day. If anything, it just further hammers the point that these guys' bodies are gifts from God and mine is built like a chess player's.

You're such a meathead

Meat. I understand that as first impressions go, my previous, first-ever blog entry betrays a certain je ne sais quoi. Actually, I do know what it is and it's meatheadedness, at least according to my future wife upon reading said entry. You can thank her for the title of this entry. You can thank Ogre and the Alpha Betas for showing the rest of us wannabes how it's done and pounding nerds whenever the opportunity arises. I learned in college that the amount of meat packed onto one's frame is directly correlated to the amount of meat one packs into the cranium. The more one talks about lifting, the less one wants to talk about reading, thinking, etc. Perhaps exercise redistributes body stuffs that would otherwise be used as brain cells? Maybe I was just born with natural disadvantages on both fronts. In fact I'm certain of that.

So for the sake of purging red meat from my otherwise gray matter, let's discuss something else. Tampa Bay Lightning franchise centerman Vincent Lecavalier is a wealthy man and is set to become an even wealthier man by way of $85 million over the course of the next 11 hockey seasons. The deal will take him up to his 39th birthday. Naturally, my first thought is that I can't relate to what it feels like to be swimming in money - literally if Vinny ever felt so moved to drain his swimming pool from the fresh Pellegrino he fills it with everyday and try something new.

Something else I can't relate to and that provides better food for thought is the feeling of being the best in the world at whatever it is that you do. Be it hockey, academia, medicine, pounding nerds, whatever. There is always a supremely elite class of performer who knows a feeling that no one else can truly know. One question that comes up is whether everyone has this one thing yet only a select few are lucky enough to unearth it. The idea is rather exhilarating and even egalitarian in a sort of kindergarten-eque, "you're all special" kind of way.

Life is a grind, though, and we only have limited time to explore our talents and capabilities before it's time to get serious. I feel like that time is shrinking, too, with our capabilities and roles being defined, either by others or ourselves under pressure from others, much earlier in life. I already sense this becoming an impossibly long entry, so I'll pick this up later. Suffice it to say now that conventional views of success and education are completely out of whack with what is actually needed from our promising young people.

Sincerely,