Last year the New England Patriots needed a back up plan. When Tom Brady went down with a year-ending knee injury, Matt Cassell had to step up and take charge. And he did, Cassell was successful in helping the Patriots win 11 games last year.

But now Cassell is with the Kansas City Chiefs and Brady is back. After working hard to rehab his knee, he is projected to be ready to go at the start of the season. But there are still many questions that surround his readiness. Will his knee hold up throughout the whole season? Will he be able to move the way he used to in the pocket? Will the injury affect his confidence and passing efficiency?

All of these questions and more are what Brady is facing. I can somewhat identify with how he might be feeling. After facing knee surgery and injury to that degree myself, it takes a lot of hard work to get back into the condition you were in before the injury. It also takes a lot of mental toughness and work to get used to being comfortable in the pocket again. But I am sure that Brady has some of the finest trainers and rehab specialists working with him on his knee.

The other person who has some things to think about is now current Patriots backup QB Kevin O’Connell. O’Connell must prepare to step in for Brady in the situation where Brady might be injured or in need of rest. O’Connell has a lot of pressure on him. Because Cassell and even Brady before him stepped in and succeeded as backup quarterbacks, O’Connell will be expected to perform on the drop of a hat.

The role of a backup quarterback is very difficult. You must prepare just as hard as the starting quarterback on the off chance that you have to step in and perform in their place. You must remain intensely focused the entire game and be physically and mentally ready to step in on any play. O’Connell has his work cut out for him.

But look for Brady and the Patriots staff to give O’Connell plenty of work during camp and pre-season, giving him the most opportunities to be prepared for battle, as well as giving Brady rest as he recovers.

Referee Ed Hochuli is one of the most respected referees in all of professional sports. He has worked hard to get where he is and trained his body and his mind to withstand the rigors of officiating NFL games every year. He has earned the respect of players and coaches alike because of his focus and efficiency. ESPN did an article on Hochuli recently titled, ‘Lock and Load’, which highlights Hoculi’s career. It states, “Before every snap, 160 times a Sunday, Hochuli whispers to himself, “Lock and load,” so his mind doesn’t wander and his hazel eyes never miss a thing.”

Hochuli’s resolve was tested last fall when he ‘made a mistake’. Apparently something that doesn’t happen very often, Hochuli received a call from NFL vice president Mike Pereira. “A few minutes earlier, in a huge Week 2 game between the teams expected to contend for the AFC West title, Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler had reared back to throw with 1:17 remaining and the ball had slithered out of his grasp. Fumble. The ball was recovered by the Chargers, but Hochuli ruled incomplete pass and blew his whistle during the play, signaling it dead.

He was standing roughly 7 yards from the play and knew right away that he’d made a mistake. A peek at the replay monitor proved it. But he couldn’t give possession to the Chargers because of the league’s “inadvertent whistle rule.” He walked over to Chargers coach Norv Turner and told him that he had screwed up but there was nothing he could do about it. Denver went on to score, converted a 2-point conversion and won 39-38″

What is impressive to me about Hochuli is that, instead of jumping on the high horse of referees a trying to convince himself and others that he’d made the right call, he walked over and apologized to the coach. This took character and guts. The Charger’s coach could have used that information to publicly humiliate Hochuli but Ed was willing to take that risk. He was willing to admit that he was wrong. That took character.

So often in sports we demonize referees and sometimes rightfully so. We had nicknames for different referees in high school and college that we knew and they were not nice nicknames. Yet often referees try to control power and deny mistakes. But the great referees earned your respect by making the right calls at the right times and, if they made a mistake, they did what they could to rectify it.

Ed Hochuli strives for perfection and is continuing to do so. And when he makes a mistake, he has worked hard to confront it and fix it. That is true character, a man that we can respect and seek to emulate his integrity.

My dad has always been a Dodgers fan. I remember 1988, sitting in our new home in Sandy, OR watching Kirk Gibson hit the game-winning HR in the World Series that the Dodgers went on to win. It was one of the greatest sports moments of my childhood, and parts of me have bled Dodger-blue ever since. But today is a dark day in L.A.: Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games for the use of a banned substance.

It is staggering how much one person on a sports team can affect an entire city the way that Ramirez has impacted Los Angeles. Coming off of a thirteen game winning streak, the Dodgers were flying high until the news hit. “Someone punched a hole in the balloon,” Joe Torre commented at a press conference on Thursday.

The emotions in L.A. have been mixed: Sadness, anger and some, a full measure of grace. My question is, “Does Manny Ramirez know or care about how much his actions have affected others?”

Often times we think ourselves isolated and independent. And so, if we make a decision, that it will only affect us. What we often don’t realize is how much our actions affect others, creating riptides of pain or joy in others. We ARE connected with others and are decisions DO affect them.

The actions of one man have affected a whole city and baseball organization. Manny’s teammates will have to try and pull the team around for 50 games without him and a black cloud may loom over Ramirez for the remainder of his career.

With that said, Major League Baseball is out of control. Drug use has run rampant and uncurbed throughout every team and MLB city. But should one incident stain an entire career? Does Manny’s suspension now mean that the Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series title was unearned? Certain measures of grace ought to be considered when dealing with human beings in the public spotlight 24/7, trying to perform at the top of their game day in and day out. The temptation must be strong to ‘help’ your body recover and perform through a grueling 9-month season.

Perhaps L.A. will find a way to forgive Manny. Hopefully, Manny will find a way to forgive himself.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Here is my eating record for the last five days. It is open to scrutiny and suggestion. Thanks for keeping me accountable!

Sunday, May 3

Breakfast:
Casserole
1/4 muffin
Orange Slices

Lunch:
2 granola bars (100 calories)

Dinner:
Hamburger
French Fries

Snack:
Icecream

Monday, May 4

Breakfast:
Apple

Lunch:
2 cups of Rice
1 cup Assorted Vegetables
1.5 cup of Teriyaki Chicken
3 small gyoza
1 humbao
12 oz cherry coke

Dinner:
Half a piece of dominoes pizza
2 peach lemonades
half a plate of honey bbq wings from applebee’s

Water Consumption:
2.5 liters

Tuesday, May 5

Breakfast:
Yogurt

Lunch:
Ham & Pepperoni Sandwich
Grapes
Chips
Carrots

Dinner:
Calzone

Wednesday, May 6th

Breakfast:
Yogurt w/ Granola

Lunch:
Pear
Carrots
Chips

Dinner:
Steak
Corn
Strawberries

Thursday, May 7th

Breakfast:
Lucky Charms

Lunch:
Chicken Noodle Soup
Apple

Dinner:
Taco Salad

Snack:
Yogurt w/ Granola

Looking back on the eating record, its apparent that Monday was my least productive day. Two factors I’ve identified: I was very busy and we hadn’t done our food shopping for the month. Once there was food in the home, there was less of a temptation to eat out, thus consuming more calories. Keeping food (healhty food) in the home will be important if I am going to reach my goal.

Let me know if you have any suggestions by leaving a comment below.

I’m back on track! I lost 2lbs this week, down from 270lbs to 268lbs. It feels good to be under 270 and working towards my goal of 245 by August 1. I think it had a lot to do with a disciplined eating schedule this past week. While I didn’t spend a lot of time in the gym, I was out in the wilderness and doing physical labor around the house, so that must have helped. I was triumphantly disciplined this weekend at a camp retreat that I spent some time at, there were opportunities for brownies and smores and I passed on both of them! (Although I did have a few cups of hot chocolate).

I will post the list of foods I have eaten this week (as promised) later today!

Keeping track of what i have been eating as helped to be more aware in the evenings when I have had a tendancy to overeat. Furthermore, knowing the approximate amount of calories I have consumed has been helping. I have also tried to ‘graze’ every 2-3 hours with lower calorie foods like carrots, apples and yogurt, and in doing so curb my hunger around meal times. As I have done so, I’ve found that I am craving less and less those other ‘sweets’ that add many calories and pounds that I don’t need and am trying to eliminate.

So now, the next step is still to get into a regular workout routine to be healthy and balanced. I keeping telling myself that ‘starting tomorrow’ and I’ll begin. Well the final time I make that statement is today! I will try posting my workout schedule on here as well to see if that externally motivates me to work out when I’m feeling tired and lazy.

Thanks for reading and for all of your support!

NFL Training Camp has started and the ‘new recruits’ drafted onto each team are trying to find their place. In the business world of the NFL, it can be difficult to try and fit in. The game is different from the craze of college football, and many players who were stars on their college teams are now a small fish in a bigger pond. Particulary rookies like Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford have to come in and try and assume a leadership role as a young rookie with no experience. This can be difficult. Trying to lead without the experience and earned respect needed to be a leader.

It is important at this point in their young NFL careers that Stafford and Sanchez do one thing really well: work hard. Their work ethic is what will earn the respect of their teammates. If Sanchez and Stafford and other rookies come into training camp assuming that they own the place because they are 1st Round draft picks, they will quickly lose the chance to earn their new teammates respect. Instead, working hard and allowing the veterans to teach and coach them will go a long ways in earning the respect of their teammates. And respect is the most important part of a relationship on a football team, yet one of the hardest things to earn.

Earning respect takes time and a commitment to being humble and teachable. Our world suggests we have to know everything and immediately command control in situations where leadership is needed. But real leadership begins with earning the respect of those around you. Because any coach or player will tell you that they would rather play for or with someone they respect than someone that leads them with arrogance or coercion.

Many of the rookies interviewed on ESPN this week looked like deer in the headlights, trying to take in all that the hype of the NFL has to offer them and simply getting used to their new locations. B.J. Raji looked up ‘Green Bay’ on wikipedia and Matthew Stafford is riding the bus between camp and his hotel.

This new experience will be a memorable one for these rookies. But their key to success in the NFL will rely on their ability to be teachable and to work hard enough to earn the respect of their seasoned teammates.

I’m not sure what happened. Somewhere in the previous week my mind and body spaced my commitment and I began to eat. It may have been the busyness of graduate school finals or perhaps the crummy weather, needless to say I did not reach my goal.

As I stop and look back, trying to evaluate what went wrong, I may need to change the way I attempt to lose weight. I have been simply trying to ‘eat better’ without any monitoring of what I am eating throughout the day. Consequently, I do really well until late at night when I ‘reward’ my self for eating well that day. But I reward myself for eating well by eating poorly. Not sure why this illogical though process enters my mind, again, perhaps too much studying and useless information bouncing around my head blocked the normal, logical processes that helped me lose weight the first three weeks.

At any rate, something new is in the works. This week I am going to write down everything I eat and post it on here for you to see. My folks gave my wife and I a book that contains information about numerous foods and their calorie and fat information. I am also going to keep track of the calories that I intake as best as I can, at shoot for consuming 1800-2000 calories a day and see what happens. This will give you an opportunity to see what I’ve been eating and you can make comments or suggestions on what I might be able to do cut out or add to my eating habits to have better success losing weight. This will also, hopefully, deter me from those late night snacks.

So there it is, my first not so great report. But I have no choice but to press on and improve. I will not be thwarted by my own inability to form new habits. I will press on and I will succeed.