An "Extraordinary Comeback" for the Ohio State Buckeyes. After being counted out from an early defeat (Virginia Tech), they kept their heads down, battled back, and now find themselves in the playoffs for the national championship.
But still facing adversity? Yes! Today: 9 point underdogs vs. mighty Alabama. They were 4 point underdogs vs. Wisconsin. To get here, they defeated the Badgers 59-0, and here are the highlights. Who knows what is next for this formidable team? Who can tell what will happen when you refuse to quit? -- despite the odds?
10. Speaking of records, Lions center Dominic Raiola became the first player in Detroit franchise history to start 200 career games. Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson, Justin Smith and Tom Brady are the only active players with more career starts -- pretty good company for Raiola, who grew up with former Bears center Olin Kreutz.
“It was a lot more special doing it with this group as tight as we are, as close as we are,” Raiola said. “That’s what makes it special. I can share it with this whole group and I can really share it with Detroit. I grew up myself with this city and we’ve been through a lot in 14 years. We’ve been bankrupt, we’ve been 0-16. You keep kicking us down and we keep getting up. There is something to be said for that. I share it with them as much as they share it with me.”
The hero of Oracle’s extraordinary comeback to win the America’s Cup last year, the Sydney sailor will go head-to-head with an Australian Olympic crew for the prestigious honour after the five finalists for the top award in the sport were revealed.
Spithill is firm favourite to also win the title of World Sailor of the Year in November after orchestrating one of the greatest comebacks in world sport, when Oracle came from 8-1 down to claim the America’s Cup — exactly 30 years after Australia II’s historic victory.
It took Cohen years to feel that he had the right to sing the blues.
When he emerged from the Zen monastery on Mount Baldy, his enlightenment
was followed with an all too worldly disaster. He had been swindled out
of his life savings—around $8 million—by his former manager and lover
Kelley Lynch. He was forced to go out on the road, and, a few remakes of
“Hallelujah” later (including on American Idol), became the
megastar he had never been before. His previous tour in 1993 had lost
money. But just when he was broke, Cohen became a Canadian Idol. When he
went to London, he didn’t play Albert Hall, he played the 02 Arena
(where Michael Jackson was planning his comeback), and filled it for
multiple nights. Cohen made back the money he lost and kept going.
(Lynch did jail time and is still in hock.) He was on a roll. And the
songwriting inspiration came back, too. If anyone pitched this as a
screenplay, no one would have bought it.
from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/24/excuse-me-for-not-dying-leonard-cohen-at-80.html
We stumbled across this story recently. It is, in the end, a tragic story, but also represents what is possible even in the most adverse of circumstances.
In a "Farewell
to Arms," Ernest Hemingway wrote:"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the
broken places."
We encounter many
occasions of 'brokenness' during our lives:promises, resolutions, friendships, dreams, bodies, hearts.What we do when faced with these tests of
spirit, will and endurance separates those who surrender and quit from those
who embrace the point of brokenness, look it square in the face and move on to
endure.
The latter
qualities are typical of an endurance athlete.
Dr. Scott Logue,
team doctor for the Chicago Wolves who has completed two Ironman laces and
nearly 30 marathons, knows a thing or two about endurance. Dr. believes that in
order to endure, we must look within to find the will to persevere through the
pain and difficulty, in physical matters as well as emotional and spiritual
situations.
"You have to
know and tell yourself that at some point, whether in training or in life, the
dark moments are inevitable and that there will be difficulty," he says."But, if you can persevere through them,
you will feel good again.You will, in
fact, feel better having gone through it."
But how do you look
within?What exactly does that mean?The Japanese Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei,
who perform an incredible 1,000 days of long distance runs as part of their
training in Tendai Buddhism, can she some light on endurance.
Here is their
training schedule:
By the year:
100 consecutive days of marathons,
beginning at 1:30 a.m.
each day after an hour of prayer
100 consecutive days of marathons
100 consecutive days of marathons,
performed twice
100 consecutive days of marathons,
performed twice
On the 700th day, the monks undergo a
nine-day fast without food, water, rest of sleep before having a short rest
of a few weeks and increasing their grueling schedule
100 consecutive days of 37.5 mile
ultramarathons
100 consecutive days of 52.5 mile
ultramarathons, and 100 days of marathons
They train in this
extraordinary, otherworldly manner in order to push the limits of human
endurance in search of a higher plane of spirituality.The monks are not training to run per se.They embark on their grueling sever-year
ultra-endurance training to teach the mind to ignore physical, emotional or spiritual
distractions.Most sports psychologists
agree with this traditional Eastern philosophy that espouse that the mind rules
the body.The mind almost always quits
before the body in training.
While the Japanese
monks and other people look within to find the will to carry on, others look to
friends, training support groups, family or their faith.Regardless of the source one accesses to find
the strength to continue despite insurmountable odds, adverse conditions or
matters that test your strength, will and faith:access it!Dig deep into that well and move through whatever test of endurance you
face.And you will, as Hemingway said,
become stronger in the broken places.
MINNEAPOLIS -- After 50-year-old Steve McKee was
diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer last year, his oldest son
Mitch took it upon himself to try to make the disease disappear -- if
only for a moment.
Mitch McKee
CBS News
"Kind
of flush it all away and kind of have him forget about it for that
moment, and have everybody forget about it for that moment -- just be
happy," Mitch said.
It was a plan only a 15-old boy could
dream up. Knowing how proud dads can be when their sons do well in
sports, Mitch, a wrestler, decided he would try to win the Minnesota
state high school wrestling championship for his dad, even though Mitch
was only a freshman at the time.
"He might not be here next year, so I knew that this was the year to do it," Mitch said.
This
colossally ambitious undertaking began in weight room. All summer,
Mitch got up every morning at 6:00 a.m. to lift. And he practiced --
even when there wasn't practice, he practiced. As a result, Mitch won
his first match of the season -- and his second.
Steve McKee
CBS News
In fact, the kid won so many matches, he not only qualified for the state tournament, he made it to the finals. And
this was it. All he needed to do was win this one last match, and he'd
be the state champion in his weight class. All he needed to do was pin
this one last opponent, and that cancer -- for one moment -- would
disappear.
After the match, even the losing wrestler did a
winning thing. He congratulated Mitch's dad, told him to stay strong.
While Mitch, on the other hand, had far fewer words. He held his dad.
Just held him.
Mitch hugs his dad after the match.
Vanessa Schlueter
"For him to do it, for me, it was very emotional," Steve McKee said. "All the emotions you could ever have were right there."
Asked if he forgot he was sick, Steve quipped, "Was I?"
"Yeah, life was definitely perfect at that moment, you know?" Mitch said. "I just wanted to stay right there forever."
Mitch
McKee definitely did right by his dad. But he had one thing all wrong.
He thought he needed a huge victory to make his dad feel better, when
all he really needed was the love behind it. To contact On the Road, or to send us a story idea, email us.
Another inspiring piece from Imagine, U Chicago publication:
Patient
advocate, spokesperson, fundraiser and law student, Ally Bain has not
let inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) stand in her way.
A
well-known figure in the IBD community since her early teens, Bain was
instrumental in drafting Ally's Law, which mandates restroom access for
medical emergencies. The legislation first passed in Illinois and is
currently in effect in 15 states. During college, Bain expanded her
advocacy work, spreading awareness and raising funds for the Crohn's and
Colitis Foundation of America. Now in her first year of law school, she
plans to pursue a legal area that includes a public interest component.
"Her
resilience in the face of her disease - and what she has accomplished -
are an inspiration to her physicians and to many patients," said David T
Rubin, co-director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center. Rubin
began treating Bain for Crohn's disease in 2005 when she was 15, shy and
afraid of doctors. Today, he regularly invites her to speak to patients
about IBD, and the two often work together to educate the public and
government officials.
NOTHING LESS THAN REMISSION
Bain
still remembers what Rubin promised her the first time they met: "You
will be in remission within six months." She responded well to
infliximab, a biologic therapy that targets an inflammatory protein in
the body. Over the past decade, the regular infusion therapy has kept
Bain's disease in remission. She continues to see Rubin every four to
six months for monitoring.
"I tell my patients to
expect nothing less than remission," Rubin said. "And if they are not
there, we will keep working on it. We want all of our patients to have
the stability and good health Ally has achieved."
Rubin
encourages patients to stay informed about IBD and the advances in
treatment and research. "The more patients know, the less out of control
they feel," he said. Rubin and his colleagues share the latest
information about the rapidly changing field through regular community
education events and social media.
At the University of
Chicago Medicine, patients can expect individualized care for Crohn's
and ulcerative colitis as well as access to the latest clinical trials.
On the horizon: a gut-specific biological therapy that targets
receptors only in the bowel, reducing side effects.
In
addition. to offering innovative therapies and leading-edge technology,
the IBD Center ties clinical work to basic and translational research.
Studies focus on identifying the causes and understanding the mechanisms
behind IBD, the function of the microbiome in digestive diseases, and
the role of environment and diet.
We came across this in the University of Chicago magazine, Imagine:
THE RIDE OF HIS LIFE
Pat Navin is an avid cyclist who's pedaled nearly 7,000 feet to teach the highest point east of the Mississippi River. His determination is as rock solid as his bronze 2003 steel-framed road bike.
So when Navin, then 55, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in the fall of 2012, he did what has always sustained him in challenging situations.
"I knew the fear could cripple me and eat up a lot of my energy; and I just didn't want that to happen," said Navin, head of Inverse Marketing, a downtown Chicago advertising agency; "My mental outlook needed to be strong, and I knew riding my bike would give me the positive outlook to beat the disease."
So ride he did. For 38 radiation treatments over the course of nearly eight weeks, Navin laced up his shoes at 6:30 a.m. and cycled 44 miles roundtrip from his home in Evanston, Ill., to the University of Chicago Medicine's Hyde Park medical campus.
As his friends put it, Navin literally rode his cancer into the ground.
But Navin credits his doctors, Walter M. Stadler, MD, section chief of hematology/oncology and director of the genitourinary program, and radiation oncologist Stanley Liauw, MD, for his now cancer-free status.
"I was very impressed with the doctors at the University of Chicago Medicine," said Navin. "One thing I've really come to appreciate about the medical center is the amount of effort that's put into research, because that's where the breakthroughs happen."
After learning about a clinical trial Liauw is conducting, Navin decided to use his daily bike rides to raise funds for Liauw's research. To date, he has raised more than $15,000.
"To have this type of unrestricted funding is really a blessing, said Liauw, an expert on genitourinary and gastrointestinal cancer. The funds will benefit several projects, including maintenance of a database that analyzes treatment of all prostate cancer patients at the medical center.
"The ultimate goal is to supplement our clinical care with new data that can help make treatments better in terms of higher cure rates and tolerability of therapy," said Liauw.
On his last trek to Hyde Park for treatment, Navin was brought to tears when he opened his door to find 15 of his friends and supporters geared up to bike alongside him. "It was really something special," Navin said. "I think it's important when you're going through something like this to find people you're comfortable with. I was very fortunate to have found Stanley and Dr. Stadler."
For more information or to support the research of Stanley Liauw, MD, please contact Ellen Clarke at eclarke@mcdmail.uchicago.edu.
"One thing I've really come to appreciate about the medical center is the amount of effort that's put into research, because that's where the breakthroughs happen."
Part of the U of C team (from l to r): Eric, radiation
therapist and a serious cyclist in his own right who commutes 19 miles
each way to the hospital; Denise, The-Nurse-Who-Knows-All, Dr. Liauw’s
right hand and also the world’s foremost expert on hormone injections
(OUCH!); my sweaty self; Meghan, radiation therapist and possessor of an
extraordinary laugh that turned hard days into good days; and Dr.
Stanley Liauw, a guy who is changing the world for the better. From Pat's blog, http://chicagobikecommuting.wordpress.com/author/patnavin/
Posts
Pianist Maria João Pires panics as she realises the orchestra has started the wrong concerto 
At 78, Former Oral-B Marketing Executive Works the Grill Down in Florida, Makes Ends Meet, Keeps Smiling
Patient
advocate, spokesperson, fundraiser and law student, Ally Bain has not
let inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) stand in her way.
Part of the U of C team (from l to r): Eric, radiation
therapist and a serious cyclist in his own right who commutes 19 miles
each way to the hospital; Denise, The-Nurse-Who-Knows-All, Dr. Liauw’s
right hand and also the world’s foremost expert on hormone injections
(OUCH!); my sweaty self; Meghan, radiation therapist and possessor of an
extraordinary laugh that turned hard days into good days; and Dr.
Stanley Liauw, a guy who is changing the world for the better. From Pat's blog, http://chicagobikecommuting.wordpress.com/author/patnavin/