Making Today Important

Don't tell me sports pages aren't good for little motivational blurbs. They have become 'de rigeur' in my inspirational world.

I believe the quality of such sports poetry/lessons has improved vastly over the recent decades because (1) coaches have to work harder: today players are increasingly harder to inspire...due to (a) the fact that they are all multi-millionaires, and (b) cynicism is rampant throughout the culture: to be motivated is to be 'hot'; and today's young and talented desire is to be 'cool'. Ergo, coaches have to work harder/better to heat up their young players. Another reason coaches speechifying has improved is that coaches are now being paid thousands of dollars to give inspirational talks to businesspeople and government bureaucrats, so they have to be constantly 'polishing the product'. They have to issue little homilies and 'bon-mots' with the best of them.

The quote that started me on all this thinking: Golden State Warrior's coach Don Nelson, in today's LA TIMES, responding to the fact that cheering Warrior fans are issuing T-shirts that say "We Believe"--especially now that the team is up 3 games to 1 in a best of seven championship playoffs: "I believe in nothing. " Nelson said. "Yesterday's history. Tomorrow's a mystery. What are you doing today?"

It reminded me of an ad Billy Wilder took out in the Hollywood Reporter and Variety years to announce his next film: he started by first re-iterating his prior three films (all Academy Award Winners, in multiple categories): "He gave you 'The Apartment'. 'Some Like It Hot'. 'Irma La Douce'. Then: "Yea...[Billy added as his ad-tagline]...What have you done for me lately?"

Then as now, in film sports or everday life, 'one-day-at-a-time' motivation is not a motto exclusively reserved for Alcoholics Anonymous!