When One Door Closes ...

It's really not hard to find cliche expressions in life, or particularly in the world of sports. Picking the title or headline for a journal / blog entry is sometimes a thoughtless expression and a place to also borrow from the cliche list. Finishing the very expression I began using in this entry title is pretty simple "... Another Door Opens" (although the finish of "...A Window Opens" is also popular). Although, is it really that simple?

We all have dreams, aspirations, and goals in our lives. How we choose to pursue them and the journey we take to get there is really up to us. Yes, "doors" will be shut in our faces, or closed behind us as we make sometimes painful or awkward transitions (growing up, graduations, marriages and/or divorces, deaths, job losses / changes, etc.). How we handle what happens next is really what defines us.

Tie these things back to the world of sports and contemplate the headlines of the past year, 2010, especially as its end draws nearer. Roughly one year ago (almost exactly), the Tiger Woods saga began ... one year later, Tiger is coming off his worst professional year on record, notching zero (0) wins and really being competitive in only one major (The Masters, his first tournament after returning to competition back in March). Multiple doors closed for Tiger Woods - his marriage, sponsorships (although some could eventually return, but that remains to be seen), and his "spotless" reputation. None of us are perfect by any stretch, but, up until a year ago, nobody thought of Tiger in a truly *bad* way ... his major flaws, as most saw them, were his temper and occasional vocal outbursts (and swearing) on the golf course in competition. He was perceived to be a family man, highly competitive, and quite possibly the best talent his sport has ever seen. This past year made him far more human.

What door does someone like Tiger Woods choose to walk through next? Remake his image in an attempt to regain the public "trust" or at least his credibility as a central marketing figure? Rebuild his golf game to become the most dominant golfer in the world again? Disappear into obscurity never to be seen again? Okay, the last one is highly doubtful, but where someone of this magnitude goes from here is something that almost everybody will watch and have opinion.

An interesting case has been made recently for "transformed" football quarterback Michael Vick, a little over a season and a half removed from his return to the NFL and a prison sentence for running a dog-fighting operation. Unlike Tiger Woods, Vick actually broke the law (which Woods, for all of his extramarital issues, did not actually do). Vick's on-field success with the Philadelphia Eagles this season and subsequent glorification by many does seem to show two things: (1) athletic success increases a willingness to forgive and (2) the general public has a collective short-term memory. There are still many who haven't really "forgiven" Vick for his former actions ... but, let's be realistic for a moment, does he need their forgiveness anyway?

Which really brings me to a bigger issue in all of this ... when a professional athlete "screws up" or bends / breaks the law or whatever form of transgression against society is involved, why do any of us really care? The same statement is generally true for "celebrities" in general as well (of which most athletes of name recognition have ascended into a subset realm). Following the lives of these individuals so intently and chronicling their every move is like the rubber-necking behavior of a car accident on the highway, where everyone must slow down or stop to see. What drives our fascination with seeing the "wrecks" of these peoples' lives? Does it make us feel better about our own lives and minimize our own problems?

When I write about sports, I think about the very thing I just shared. I don't write to glorify or make athletes better than anybody else. I also don't write about them with the intent to tear them down, either. Most would argue that sports are trivial in the grand scheme of things, which, by almost any reasonable argument, is completely true. Most men (and a proportion of women) tend to gravitate to sports for a variety of reasons, but diversion is certainly high on the list. Actually, possibly more than diversion, a factor of envy (who wouldn't want to be paid to play "games children play" for a living, such as the typical "stick and ball" sports like baseball, basketball, football, etc.) is also a big consideration.

This may be one of those *rare* instances where I can honestly say I feel I have more to say on the path topic-wise to where I diverged, but I don't feel like saying it anymore today without bringing this new entry to a more logical close. Close the door on this piece ... time to think about something new.

A Fresh Start and a Reflection on What's to Come

Life is what happens while we're making other plans.

I choose this paraphrase on a line attributable to the late John Lennon as a starting point for this new place to share my own thoughts. This isn't my first trip down the blogging path since I've been doing this in some form for nearly a decade or more between my own websites and other blog sites (including other spots on Blogspot / Blogger). Before choosing the Clubhouse Connection name here, I had a website with the same name for the past five years. After paying for that domain and allowing it to expire, it really didn't make much sense to continue down that path when I was no longer selling anything there (and could sell things basically anywhere via PayPal or whatever means).

So, with what I've done before, why start over new? I had "specialty" blogs (which still exist) for baseball and NASCAR to cover sports as well as a general topics one over at Sporting News website. With tagging and search engines finding whatever might appeal to a general sports fan, there doesn't seem a point to limit myself to those other blogs and just write here. I realistically don't expect a lot of people to read here given so many choices available to them, but I can hopefully provide some perspective that may be enough unique that you can't find somewhere else. Whatever the case might be, that's where I begin.

I am intentionally stopping at a short point here given limited time to resume writing again in the near future where I might give this place some new direction. Until then, welcome here.