ROL: (Re)Opening Day.

ROL (Return On Life) is about engaging in small incremental changes that can have a large positive impact on living life. It is a non-quantitative adaptation of the financial measure ROI (return on investment). This week's ROL is about Opening Day.

source: Wikipedia

This is usually one the best sports weeks of the year. College basketball crowns a champion and the baseball season begins. When Kentucky won the basketball championship Monday night, commentators remarked that Kentucky hadn't won the NCAA b-ball tourney since 1998. Wow, 1998. The last time the Cubs won the World Series, the great grandparents of the 2012 Kentucky Wildcats basketball team hadn't winked at each other yet.

source:Wikipedia

Opening Day. It really does sound regal. Opening Day teaches that no matter what has happened in the past, everything starts fresh. Even if you haven't won a championship in over a century, you have the same opportunity as everyone else to excel. Opening Day also reminds champions that effort is required to remain a champion. Start coasting and pretty soon your long term record is Cub-like (well, maybe not so soon, but do you really want the success rate of the Cubs?)

Life is full of start over opportunities. Pay attention. Act accordingly.

Spring hopes eternal.

Carpe diem.

Where do restart buttons appear in your life? How do you recognize a start again opportunity?

Review and Revise.

Some updates on past posts:

Last week, the Cubs were on the verge of hiring Theo Epstein to guide them to their 1st World Series title in over a century and 1st World Series appearance in over 6 decades. 8 days later and so far no press conference. Sports talkers say the hiring will happen. Hopefully these are not the same sports experts whose preseason predictions start with: This is definitely the year the Cubs return to the World Series.

Last month, I shared my opinion about "Up All Night" a new NBC sitcom (without the com). I sacrificed another episode and a half to confirm my earlier conclusion. "Up All Night" is unintentionally unfunny. Looking for laughs? Discover "Whitney". Be forewarned if you find cohabitation sans ceremony personally challenging. Also, the supporting characters are stereotypes and not yet two dimensional. Still, the banter is sharp and the relationship between Whitney and significant other Alex makes a great way to spend a 1/2 hour.

Earlier this week, I posted about an exchange between my daughter, Little Suzy and me. I'm not sure which is my favorite part of the aftermath: Little Suzy's sheer delight in ratting me out to Mommy or the tread marks on my chest after my wife threw me under the bus. "Daddy had you sit in the front seat? Daddy knows better than that. Good for you Suzy." after telling me "It's only a block, no big deal." It may be a man's world but the expiration date is getting closer.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

ROL: Cubs Hire Theo Epstein.

ROL (Return on Life) is a qualitative metric modeled on the quantitative metric, ROI (return on investment). The concept behind ROL is to make small incremental changes in habits that generate a disproportionately greater increase in QOL (Quality of Life).

An Introduction.

If you find the world of professional sports as exciting as a collection of belly button lint, you may want to stop reading now. I'm going to be talking baseball. I will eventually get on to other stuff, but I'm starting with baseball. Forewarned is well...forewarned.

Source: Wikipedia

I have a confession. I am a lifelong Cubs fan. Being a Cubs fan involves more disappointment, frustration and embarrassment than and and all the jokes about being a Cubs fan, but according to the news on Wednesday all that disappointment, frustration and embarrassment may be coming to an end. The Cubs are going to hire Theo Epstein, formerly of the Red Sox, as their baseball sherpa. Epstein's mission is to lead the Cubs up baseball's Everest and deliver Cub fans a World Series victory.

Anyone Can Have 
A Bad Century.

Both the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox shared one major distinction for the majority of the 20th century.  Neither team had won the World Series since the end of World War I. Legend has it that both team's World Series droughts were due to a curse.

• The Red Sox had the curse of the Bambino. Before the 1920 season  the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth, baseball's best pitcher to the New York Yankees. Ruth became the greatest home run hitter baseball has ever seen. The Yankees won a bunch of World Series. The Red Sox had to wait until 2004.
• The Cubs have the curse of the billy goat. During the 1945 World Series versus Detroit, Sam Sianis (owner of the Billy Goat Tavern and the billy goat in question) was asked to take his goat and go home, because the goat smelled awful. (I've been in the bleachers in Wrigley Field. The goat gets a bum rap on the smell thing). Sianis, angry due to the eviction, said "Them Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more." The Cubs haven't been to the World Series since.

The Red Sox, cursed due to selling the contract of the eventual greatest baseball player ever. The Cubs, cursed due to the eviction of a future victim of Santeria. Did I mention disappointment, frustration and embarrassment?

Source: Wikipedia

The Red Sox made Theo Epstein General Manager before the 2003 season. The team broke the curse of the Bambino by winning the World Series in 2004. Epstein's baseball acumen regarding key player acquisitions is largely credited with the Red Sox exorcising the baggage associated with jettisoning Babe Ruth. Therefore, Epstein is considered a primary requisite to break the longest running losing streak in professional sports.

Who Doesn't Need An Epstein?

If you watch TV, listen to the radio or pay attention to annoying pop-up ads, everyone is pitching a Theo Epstein. Virility, diet, investing, residual income, complexion and even house cleaning has a one item magic answer. (Anyone have a Roomba?) But Theo Epstein didn't become Theo Epstein by magic. Epstein got a degree from Yale and started at the bottom rung, the PR department of the San Diego Padres. He worked hard, learned his craft and eventually had a hand in the Boston Red Sox winning 2 World Series. In addition to hard work, Epstein is also a success because he is willing to make a tough choice and perhaps be wrong. (Anyone remember John Lackey? Maybe he's selling Roomba's.) So hard work, dedication, discipline and more hard work leads to magic. Go figure.

Note: As I prepare to publish this post, the Cubs have yet to set a press conference to announce the hiring of Theo Epstein. Did I mention disappointment, frustration and embarrassment?