So after laughing myself silly over Dave’s Top Ten for the 59th time, I was saddened to hear the news that Dr. Robert Cade, the inventor of Gatorade, past away yesterday at the age of 80 from kidney failure. I should have been down because we lost a great man, a creative researcher who dared to answer the question posed to him by the then Florida Gator football coach who asked, “Doctor, why don’t football players wee-wee after a game?”, and in so doing, unlocked the key to a multi-million dollar sports drink industry. Yeah, I should have been depressed about that. But in hearing the news, I was a bit saddened only because it brought me back, way back, to junior high school, after school actually, on the basketball court with friends where I had my very first Gatorade, singing and emulating the commercial as shown here.
Wasn’t that a great song? To me, that was and still is the greatest Gatorade commercial ever. I still catch myself singing it from time to time, especially when I’m running outside, dribbling a basketball (Okay, I haven’t done that in like 2 years, but work with me people!) Although I remain very conflicted about my feelings for Mike—I believe I will need counseling until the day I die to come to terms with how he single-handedly destroyed my hometown team, the New York Knicks, back in the day when they used to be good, time and time again in the playoffs—the truth is, I can’t deny that he was the best player ever to grace the court with a basketball, and was the sports hero I hated to love most growing up. The thing that was the most inspiring, and the thing that absolutely drove me up the wall at the same time, was the competitive fire and the quiet confidence he had everytime he stepped on the basketball court. It was as if he knew and wanted everyone else to know that in the end, he was going to win the game, and we were all just sticking around to find out the details.
You know what, that is exactly how I hope to be when I finally step up to the starting line for the Boston Marathon. Just like Mike.
4 comments:
OOOOOOOOOO that would be a great attitude to take to the marathon. I can totally picture that look you are talking about. He was amazing, wasn't he?
Did you know I have arches like Mike?? (collapsing) I wrote a post about it once with a very cute picture of Mike. I think I must be destined for great things.
LMAO - I love the commercial and Mike! He spanked the Cavs every year so they never made it past the first round when I was a kid. But I still love Mike. And thanks, now I'm going to be singing that all day :)
Amen, brother. I felt the same way growing up watching Jordan play (I'm a Jazz fan, though).
Maybe we'll see each other in Boston. Just look for the guy with the same look on his face. Good luck with your training.
"quiet confidence." that's exactly what he had and why i loved him growing up. you just knew he was going to make the shot. I also hated the knicks. Patrick Ewing and John Starks...grrrrrrrrrrrr
:)
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