Pep Talk: "Pinpoint Control"

“When I have something to say,” whispered a beloved man, “People have to be quiet to hear it.”

Those powerful words came from a man with a fresh scar running from below his left ear downward across his neck and ending below his Adam’s apple, the aftermath of recent surgery to remove a large tumor in a valiant battle against thyroid cancer. Gone is a jugular vein - we have more than one - and his voice for now, but not his sense of humor.

“The kids are joking that it looks like a shark attack bite.”

The prognosis is less than optimistic. A Friday morning Bible study buddy, who I have grown to love like a brother, has Stage 4 cancer. It has spread beyond his thyroid and moved into the vascular system. An upcoming PET scan will determine strategies for moving forward. I so admire the husband and father of six for the spirit and courage he brings to this battle.

It was only fitting that the focus of our gathering of knuckleheads this particular morning was on what we can control in life. There was much banter around the table from 11 dudes in attendance. Finally, we boiled it down to pretty much this: All we really control is our attitude and actions.

Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux was used as an example. He’s the first pitcher in major league history to win four consecutive Cy Young Awards (1992-95) in recognition as the best pitcher in the game. Maddux was known as the “Professor” for his skinny build and scholarly attitude.

Often after a game, when asked about his performance, Maddux would say something like, “It was good for 73 of the 78.” Now 49, the San Angelo, Texas native was referring to the fact that 73 of the 78 pitches came off his hand the way he had planned.

The 18-time Gold Glove winning pitcher realized that once the ball left his fingertips, fate was in charge. All he could control was how the pitch was delivered. After that action, weather conditions, alertness of the hitter, skills of the catcher, judgment of the umpire and abilities of teammates in the field were going to dictate the outcome.

After the rawhide sphere left his highly trained right hand, all control was gone. Maddux won 355 games (8th all time) in his long and storied career. He’s the only pitcher in major league history to win more than 300 games, have more than 3,000 strikeouts and less than 1,000 walks.

What do we control? Our attitudes and our actions, that’s about it. Most thought Maddux was too slight of build to make it to the majors. Doug Wittenberg has cancer and an uncertain future. We have our challenges, too.

This week, let’s learn from Maddux and Wittenberg. Whether demonstrating it with our hand, whisper or hearts, when it comes to our attitude and actions, let’s display pinpoint control.