Written by Have you ever been to a yoga class? If not, you should try it sometime. You learn a lot about yourself, mostly about how inflexible you are. It is a place without judgment. At least they say it is. You hear a lot about this journey you are on, about how you will eventually get where you want if you are constantly staying at the edge between effort and ease. They teach you how to breathe, which is more complicated than you think it is. I highly recommend it.
A few years ago, I would have never thought of stepping through the door of the yoga room. I would see people walk in and out of there while I was sweating away on an elliptical machine. They didn’t look like they were exercising. They weren’t sweating. They were doing what appeared to be napping when you looked through the door. However, my kids suggested I try it while they were home from college visiting for the holidays. I did, and I have been on my journey ever since.
I quickly learned that yoga was challenging. I could barely sit criss-cross applesauce (“easy seated”) when I started. That first class began an episode of self-discovery, where I identified my strengths and weaknesses. It turns out those countless hours doing the same thing over and over again on the elliptical machine had made me out of balance. I had built up strength in certain areas while neglecting others. I had to start addressing my weaknesses if I wanted to be balanced, and being balanced allows me to improve. The journey is about getting in balance.
In addition to tight hips, immobile shoulders, and zero core strength, my biggest weakness was negative thinking. I always thought I was a positive person. I would preach at work to those unfortunate souls forced to listen to me that we were not to use words like “can’t” or “hope.” The “c-word” and the “h-word,” I would call them. “Tell me what you can do,” or “hope is not a strategy,” I would say. But get me into the gym or on the golf course, and I would freely spew out these words and many others beginning with different letters.
The truth is we live in a very negative society. Those in authority tell us what we can’t do every day while telling us to hope for a better future, neglecting the current issues they lack the courage to address. This negative attitude is pervasive, and we see it every day in sports. We write about it a lot in this blog. The culture in and around sports leaves a lot a lot to be desired. However, when the competition starts, we see the opposite. The elite athletes we see performing do not allow negative thinking to enter their minds. They can’t. Once the game, race, or event begins, it is all positive.
I guess that’s why I enjoy watching sports. It is an escape from the negative world in which we live. However, that gets harder and harder to do each day. Negativity always tries to seep in. Thursday night, it was hard for me to watch the Oakland fans boo Jose Altuve when he stepped up to the plate to lead off the first game the Astros had played in front of fans since the revelation of their 2017 cheating scandal. I don’t mind the Astros getting booed. They deserve it, or at least many of them do. But the vitriol against Altuve is over the top, and undeserved. Unproven allegations of buzzers in his shirt and association with the rest of the team, who have gone out of their way to say Altuve refused to participate in the trash can scheme, have made him the center of attention of the haters.
Altuve drips positivity. He is always smiling, and both teammates and opposing players love him. He hustles. He has overcome poverty and doubt to succeed at the sport’s highest level. He has been the face of the Astros from back when they lost over 100 games a year.
The doubt comes from skepticism about his size. Scouts and player personnel executives overlooked and undervalued him because he is only 5’-6’’. Until they saw him play. Opposing team’s fans, especially Yankee fans, never give him the respect he deserves. How can he be more valuable than the giant Aaron Judge? How can hit a series-winning home run off Aroldis Chapman without cheating? They are lost in this narrative that the national media passively props up. This year, they have been quick to point to his downfall after an offseason, followed by embarrassing throwing errors in the playoffs. Lots of players had bad years in 2020. It was a strange and incomplete season. It is time everyone for everyone to take a deep breath. How can you not root for this guy?
Jose was unphased. It was good to see him score the first run of the Astros’ season Thursday night. He was smiling and chatting with Elvis Andrus at second base between pitches. Same old Altuve, oblivious to what bothers the rest of us. Friday, he scored from third on a popup to second base. He has turned what others view as weaknesses into strengths through hard work and a positive attitude.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep working on my journey and try to embrace positive thinking. This month in yoga, we get little plastic Easter eggs with positive slogans in them. They all start with the words “I am.” Our instructor got the idea from a video on YouTube. It is interesting because many of the words can be viewed differently, depending on your attitude. Hopefully, these mantras help me out.
Watching the Astros get booed every road game this year will probably get old. It’s a very long season, but I will do my best to be like Jose Altuve ignore it and focus on the positive. I love baseball. I am inspired by those skilled enough to throw a baseball 95 miles an hour and those that can swing a bat and hit it. The haters can bang their toy trash cans all they want. I won’t let it disturb my journey. Please join me.