To be wild, to hear the heartbeat of nature, to feel the rush of adrenal strength, to drink from the fresh air and howl at the moon – these are things that are embedded into men.
Something else that we’ve lost when our culture became civilized and pushed out the wild men – the fire. Today, we gather around the television and let people tell us stories, with the imagination already painted for us. Or we pretend to gather in virtual communities – typing with our thumbs and sending each other cat videos and poop emojis. But in the WILD – men gathered around a fire at the end of the evening. The fire cooked the food from the hunt. It kept the predators away. It kept the tribe warm. But more importantly than that, it united them. It gave them communion with each other, with the stories of their ancestors. They laughed, sang, and told stories while the little ones fell asleep in daddy’s lap. Generations later, we brought the fire from the outside to the inside, in stone hearths. Our tribes were smaller, but the same thing happened. Grandpa played his fiddle, Pa smoked his pipe. Grandma braided hair and they told stories of the good old days. Today, our heat is made from underground pipes or copper coils. Our songs are auto-tuned, and we all listen to our own with our Beats by Dre or earbuds. Our stories aren’t even our own anymore – as we stopped having real adventures generations ago. OR we’re afraid that Grandpa’s war stories might frighten the children, or trigger the young and traumatized adults. (When Grandpa was their age, he was in ‘Nam dodging bullets.) But now Grandpa lives in Florida, or in a nursing home, rather than to spend his remaining years with his loved ones. Can we recapture the tribal fire? Can we sit with our band of brothers, their wives, kids, moms, and dads and tell stories again? Can we teach our kids that electronics are nice, but sometimes the untamed and raw beauty of a fire is what our soul really craves?
This week’s #mancrushmonday celebrates the greatest baseball hitter of all time. He was a legend among men, and his legendary status is almost mythological to every little leaguer. Who doesn’t wish they could step up to the plate and point exactly where they are going to hit the ball. Who doesn’t want to be the strongest and best player on the field?
At age seven, Ruth was sent to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory where he learned life lessons and baseball skills from Brother Matthias Boutlier of the Christian Brothers, the school’s disciplinarian and a capable baseball player. In 1914, Ruth was signed to play minor-leaguebaseball for the Baltimore Orioles but was soon sold to the Red Sox. By 1916, he had built a reputation as an outstanding pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs, a feat unusual for any player in the pre-1920 dead-ball era. Although Ruth twice won 23 games in a season as a pitcher and was a member of three World Series championship teams with Boston, he wanted to play every day and was allowed to convert to an outfielder. With regular playing time, he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919.
After that season, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee controversially sold Ruth to the Yankees, an act that, coupled with Boston’s subsequent championship drought, popularized the “Curse of the Bambino” superstition. In his 15 years with New York, Ruth helped the Yankees win seven American League (AL) championships and four World Series championships. His big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only drew fans to the ballpark and boosted the sport’s popularity but also helped usher in the live-ball era of baseball, in which it evolved from a low-scoring game of strategy to a sport where the home run was a major factor. As part of the Yankees’ vaunted “Murderer’s Row” lineup of 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs, extending his MLB single-season record. He retired in 1935 after a short stint with the Boston Braves. During his career, Ruth led the AL in home runs during a season twelve times.
Here’s a few quotes from The Bambino: “The only real game, I think, in the world is baseball.”
“I hear the cheers when they roared and the jeers when they echoed.”
“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”
“I said I’m going to hit the next one right over the flagpole. God must have been with me.”
“I have just one superstition. Whenever I hit a home run, I make certain I touch all four bases.”
“Baseball changes through the years. It gets milder.”
“I won’t be happy until we have every boy in America between the ages of six and sixteen wearing a glove and swinging a bat.”
“All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill.”
“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”
“Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world.”
“If I’d tried for them dinky singles I could’ve batted around six hundred.”
“How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can, and I try to swing right through the ball… The harder you grip the bat, the more you can swing it through the ball, and the farther the ball will go. I swing big, with everything I’ve got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.”
“As soon as I got out there I felt a strange relationship with the pitcher’s mound. It was as if I’d been born out there. Pitching just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Striking out batters was easy.”
“Baseball is the greatest game in the world and deserves the best you can give it.”
“Watch my dust.”
“I’ve never heard a crowd boo a homer, but I’ve heard plenty of boos after a strikeout.”
“All I can tell them is pick a good one and sock it. I get back to the dugout and they ask me what it was I hit and I tell them I don’t know except it looked good.”
“I thank heaven we have had baseball in this world… the kids… our national pastime.”
“You know this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth – that means the boys. And after you’ve been a boy, and grow up to know how to play ball, then you come to the boys you see representing themselves today in our national pastime.”
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”
“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from coming up to bat.”
“To my sick little pal. I will try to knock you another homer, maybe two today.” “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”
To be wild, to hear the heartbeat of nature, to feel the rush of adrenal strength, to drink from the fresh air and howl at the moon – these are things that are embedded into men.
Hunting today isn’t what it once was. We used to hunt because it was life. We didn’t hunt, we didn’t eat. Now, it’s a sport, a multi-billion dollar industry. A government managed program that requires permits, fancy orange vests, and expensive equipment. At the core of the wild is the idea that we must seek, stalk, kill, and haul our prey home to feed our young. It was a right of passage for young men for generations – to get that first kill. To take the life of an animal, and to learn that our life depends on the life of another. I understand that there are some that don’t eat meat -but don’t think for a minute that you aren’t still killing SOMETHING when you pluck that carrot out of its dirty ground! Our cultured and shiny environment now doesn’t require people to get their hands dirty. If you go to the store to buy meat, you buy meat. You don’t see the beating heart, the twitching nerves, or the cold stare left behind by the animal that gave its flesh for you. Today – our “hunt” may be translated to many things. • Rites of Passage. What rites do we use to identify our maturity into manhood? What ritual marks a teenage son turning to a man? What ritual marks a man turning to an elder? I fear we may have dropped many of these by the wayside, and I think we must begin to resurrect them. “Men cannot be men—much less good or heroic men—unless their actions have meaningful consequences to people they truly care about. Strength requires an opposing force, courage requires risk, mastery requires hard work, honor requires accountability to other men. Without these things, we are little more than boys playing at being men, and there is no weekend retreat or mantra or half-assed rite of passage that can change that. A rite of passage must reflect a real change in status and responsibility for it to be anything more than theater. No reimagined manhood of convenience can hold its head high so long as the earth remains the tomb of our ancestors”
— Jack Donovan (The Way of Men) • Strenuous Activity. Chasing a deer through the woods, wrestling a bear to the ground, or even holding perfectly still to avoid chasing off the rabbit are all strenuous. They build strength and speed in us. What are we doing to build strength today? Are you active? Are you moving? Are you training to build your body better than it is? “Training for me is a metaphor for life. Period. The Dedication. The Determination. The Desire. The Work Ethic. The great success and the great failures – I take that into life.” – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson • Respect for the source. In many cultures, a hunter or farmer would say a prayer as he slit the throat of his animal so that it could be bled out. He respected the beast that would feed his family. Now, we could have a long talk about the evils of factory farming, but that’s another topic for another day. The crux here is: Are we grateful for the sources of our provision today? Do we show respect for the company where we earn our cash? Do we show honor and respect for the work and for the hunt for our success? Or do we just demand and assume that our wealth will be handed to us?
Ask any 90’s kid about their favorite athlete, and chances are good you’ll here about Shaq. This giant of a man is not only known for his skill on the basketball court, but for being a good natured and like-able guy. Here’s what Wikipedia says about Shaq: Shaquille Rashaun O’Neal (/ʃəˈkiːl/shə-keel; born March 6, 1972), nicknamed Shaq (/ʃæk/shak), is a retired American professional basketball player and former rapper who is currently an analyst on the television program Inside the NBA. Listed at 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall[1]and weighing 325 pounds (147 kg), he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA. O’Neal played for six teams throughout his 19-year NBA career.
— Shaq is known for his sense of humor, and we’ve assembled a few quotes that highlight both his humor, and maybe even a bit of hidden wisdom.
The stats win nothing. I’m still sexy. I’m still great.
Shaquille O’Neal
I am Superman. And the only thing that can kill Superman is Kryptonite. And Kryptonite doesn’t exist.
Shaquille O’Neal
I make the game easy. Double and triple me, I’ll kick it out to you for a wide-open shot. I’ll add years to your career.
Shaquille O’Neal
I’m George Bush. I’m the president.
Shaquille O’Neal
I think I’m the only player who looks at each and every center and says to myself, ‘That’s barbecued chicken down there.’
Shaquille O’Neal
They shot the ball well early. What comes out of the microwave hot doesn’t always stay hot. I know, because I eat bagels in the morning.
Shaquille O’Neal
Excellence is a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.
Shaquille O’Neal
If I were a painter, you’d be calling me Shaqcasso.
Shaquille O’Neal
The day I stopped worrying about stats is the day I started winning
Shaquille O’Neal
The biggest thing that will define my legacy is how I’ve done it, and what I’ve done, and who I am. I’m a weird big guy. Doing rapping, doing movies. Do a lot of stuff. But always do things the right way. Went to the police academy to become a police officer. Get his master’s in criminal justice, stayed out of trouble. Played for three different teams. Changed three different franchises around. This is a guy who they would have secret meetings about to change the rules. So, that’s going to be my legacy: the most dominant player ever.
Shaquille O’Neal
I really get motivated when I have doubters.
Shaquille O’Neal
I ate too many Frosted Flakes. I don’t remember what I said last night.
Shaquille O’Neal
My message to little kids who aspire to be anything they want to be is to listen to their parents.
Shaquille O’Neal
We’re focusing on the whole pie, not a slice. A slice is good, but it’s not good enough to get you fat. We’re trying to get fat.
Shaquille O’Neal
I’m going to be on a mission. I’ve handled my personal vendettas and handled them well. Every challenge you put in front of me, I’ve handled it, dismantled it – ate them, dropped them off in the bathroom and flushed them away.
Shaquille O’Neal
I don’t believe in pressure. Pressure is when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from.
Shaquille O’Neal
Keep in mind, I’m not allowed to be tough. I’m tamed.
Shaquille O’Neal
Thank God I had two parents who loved me enough to stay on my case.
Shaquille O’Neal
The only person who can really motivate you is you.
Shaquille O’Neal
You guys make the rules up, so a foul is a foul. It doesn’t matter if a guy is bigger and stronger. It’s not my fault I ate my Frosted Flakes when I was little, and you ate Wheaties.
Shaquille O’Neal
You gotta fight all the karate guys, and once you kill them off, now you gotta get to the ninjas. Once you get through the ninjas, now you gotta get to the showmen. Now me, I’m the showman of big men.
Shaquille O’Neal
I’m always ready for a change. I’m Irish. I’m a leprechaun.
To be wild, to hear the heartbeat of nature, to feel the rush of adrenal strength, to drink from the fresh air and howl at the moon – these are things that are embedded into men. Men are wild, mighty, and fierce. Yet our culture wraps silky ropes around our necks, and shaves our faces, and trims our nails. The wildman isn’t quite socially acceptable. It’s not okay to have dirt under your fingernails, or to kill your own dinner. We don’t have to reject civilization entirely, there is a time and a place for manners and polite conversation and neckties and cologne. But I believe that all men, even the dandier, fluffier ones, have a call – drums beating in the distance – that beckons them into the wild.
“But especially he loved to run in the dim twilight of the summer midnights, listening to the subdued and sleepy murmurs of the forest, reading signs and sounds as a man may read a book, and seeking for the mysterious something that called — called, waking or sleeping, at all times, for him to come.”
― Jack London, The Call of the Wild
Fury. Sometimes, yes. Wild fury and righteous anger stirs up in the hearts of men. Driving them to action, to battle, to fight. Hopefully, it’s tempered with the code, with the order. Fury must be kept in check, and be used to propel justice, to free the oppressed, to protect. Tests of Strength. From the time boys are young, they enter contests, either alone or with their brothers, and their fathers – to see how strong they are. Wrestling, weightlifting, arm-wrestling, “bloody knuckles,” Chinese hot-hands, even thumb wrestling. This wild behavior may seem reminiscent of goats butting their heads against each other, or bears mawing at each other’s necks…. But it’s a part of who we are. We don’t necessarily outgrow it. And that rough and tumble tug-of-war helps shape us, helps bond us together, and helps remind us who we want on our side if there is a time to fight. The call of the wild pushes men to success. It drives men to be refreshed in nature. As long as we wrap it up in silk and lace and soap, it will still be there. “He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars.”
― Jack London, The Call of the Wild
“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.
This ecstasy, this forgetfulness of living, comes to the artist, caught up and out of himself in a sheet of flame; it comes to the soldier, war-mad in a stricken field and refusing quarter; and it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf-cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight.”
Wikipedia has a great bio on Evil, and you can read more about his exploits here:
But here’s a few snippets.
Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel (/ˈiːvəl kᵻˈniːvəl/;[1] October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007) was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps, and, in 1974, a canyon jump across Snake River Canyon (which failed) in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.[2] He died of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida in 2007, aged 69.
One of Evel’s qualities was that he had great pride in his core values. Throughout his career (and later life), he would repeatedly talk about the importance of “keeping his word”.[39] He stated that although he knew he may not successfully make a jump or even survive the canyon jump, he followed through with each stunt because he gave his word that he would. Prior to the canyon jump, Knievel stated, “If someone says to you, ‘that guy should have never jumped the canyon. You knew if he did, that he’d lose his life and that he was crazy.’ Do me a favor. Tell him that you saw me here and regardless of what I was, that you knew me, and that I kept my word.”[citation needed]
In the documentary Last of the Gladiators, Knievel discussed the crash of a 1970 Pepsi-Cola sponsored jump in Yakima, Washington. Knievel knew the jump was questionable, but stated, “I went ahead and did it anyway. When you give your word to somebody that you’re going to do something, you’ve gotta do it.” In the 1971 biopic, George Hamilton (as Evel) emphasizes in the opening monologue that a man does not go back on his word.
Knievel would regularly share his anti-drug message, as it was another one of his core values.[40] Knievel would preach an anti-drug message to children and adults before each of his stunts. One organization that Knievel regularly slammed for being drug dealers was the Hells Angels.[6] A near-riot erupted on March 3, 1971, at the Cow Palace when a tire-iron (or Coke can according to the Hells Angels) was thrown at Knievel during his stunt show, and Knievel and a majority of the spectators fought back, sending three of the fifteen Hells Angels to the hospital. He also starred in a motion picture, Viva Knievel!, in which his character (himself) foils a drug lord’s attempt to smuggle narcotics into the United States.
If you have some time to kill – check out this Evel Knievel Biography
Spring is in the air. The smell of mud and the opening of tree buds just seems to wake up not only the world outside our windows, but it seems to awaken something in us. Men, let’s take advantage of the natural cycle of the universe to reinvigorate our lives!
The winter is in your mind. You know those times when everything has gone WRONG for so long, and you feel like you just can’t get a win? When you’re tired of just going through the motions? When you feel weary from the road? Take a minute and fast forward to your desired outcome. What does your life look like if you were to lose the weight? What does your marriage look like if you fix the problems? What do your kids look like when they grow up? Try not to imagine the worst case scenario, but the best one. Then trace your steps back to where you are standing. What steps do you have to make to get there? What changes do you have to make? What sacrifices and hard work will you have to put in? These rough patches sometimes feel permanent -but they usually aren’t. Especially if you are taking the time to imagine a better path, and to make the changes and put in the work to get there.
Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Babe Ruth
arry Frazee
O’Neal’s individual accolades include the 1999–2000 
areer, O’Neal has released four 
