A few weeks ago I wrote a post about being 10 years out from Madison Square Garden, and the lessons learned along the way. This past week was one of the most unique I can ever remember, and not only did we get through it but we thrived on it. Now not that this can happen every week, but the ability to budget time, think clearly and most importantly, embrace the experiences vs. things, really makes this wonderful journey quite worthwhile. It’s also not about namedropping and how great you are, it’s about all the great folks you can touch and learn from in just a week…
Here’s a quick look at the week that was, which could never have happened without such amazing friends, colleagues and most importantly, family…
It started with our wedding anniversary on Sunday, then went to learning about La Liga with soccer legend Raul and his business partner David Guerra on Monday for lunch, through the Sports PR Summit on Tuesday and seeing so many friends and colleagues while hearing from smart and focused athletes like Jeff Gordon and Isaiah Thomas and visiting The Players Tribune for the first time. Wednesday, it was breakfast with our friends Dan Lauria, Joe Cacaci and Tommy Kail to talk about their new stage, film and video projects (and Tommy’s latest plans for directing “Hamilton” on the road) and then we were on to the Empire State Building in the morning and our press conference at the NY Athletic Club for USA vs. Iran wrestling called “United In The Square” in Times Square (which was Thursday) and off to Citifield with our wrestlers to take in the Mets and some media opts at night, while the Sports Business Awards were being held in NY honoring a host of friends and colleagues. On Thursday we started with another learning meeting to catch up on the latest in wearable tech and innovation, followed by our Columbia staff meeting where we got to catch up with such a world class faculty and friends of the program and then went down the street in Times Square for wrestling, which helped bring countries and cultures maybe a little closer as we head toward Rio and raise over $1 MILLION for inner city wrestling and education programs through Beat The Streets.
Oh and then on Friday our mom had her hip replaced, which we found out was broken, at Hospital for Special Surgery and got to spend a little time with our amazing little nieces Caroline and Brigid for a quick stopover. Then off to HSS with my daughter Christine yesterday, where things progressed along; We also had Columbia graduation of our great students on Monday, while colleague Jim DeLorenzo ran an Army vs. Navy rugby promo on the Battleship New Jersey (Tuesday) and others got Olympic qualifying moving in Cincy for the AVP. And of course there were the regular calls, meetings, future planning, meet and greets and small favors thrown in along the way.
We got to catch up with so many old faces and meet new ones casually, socially and professionally, and most importantly, we are so proud that our mom Angela overcame her biggest fear and pain and finally got the hip done. It was a great ending to quite a week that had LITTLE to do with things and EVERYTHING to do with people and experiences that you meet along the way and have to hold on to very tightly… no one said it would be easy, but you should enjoy, and try and bring joy and enthusiasm to everything you do, right? Thanks to all I got to see, work with and reach out to this week, I started to make a list that reached into the hundreds literally, but every one is important and special and I would not have traded a moment for anything…
How was your week, lol?
