THOUGHTFUL ITEMS FOR SCOUTERS

Thanks to Scouter Jim from Bountiful, Utah, who prepares this section of Baloo for us each month.  You can reach him at bobwhitejonz@juno.com or through the link to write Baloo on www.usscouts.org.   CD

Roundtable Prayer

CS Roundtable Planning Guide

“Lord, you amaze us with everything you do: your beautiful creations—sunrises and sunsets, mountains and valleys, planets and space; your mysterious ways; even our very lives, our bodies, and our ability to reason.  Please help us keep our Cub Scouts in amazement and awe or your greatness.  Amen.”

Sam Houston Area Council

Please guide us through the maze of life. Teach us to enjoy and share all of your gifts. Amen.

Amazing Games

Scouter Jim, Bountiful UT

Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. Zig Ziglar

In our part of the world, many people would consider one of the most amazing games in history to be the 1980 Holiday Bowl.  BYU was behind SMU 25 to 45 with less than three minutes to go.  This would be a time when many people would be headed for the exits to beat the crowds and television viewers would be looking for what was on another channel.  BYU had never won a bowl game and it looked like they were in for their third straight Holiday Bowl loss.  In less than four minutes, BYU lead by quarterback Jim McMahon, who would lead the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl Championship in 1986, would score 21 points, with the final, winning point, being a point after kick with no time left on the clock.  This game has long be known as the Miracle Bowl in these parts.

Last summer there was a finish just as amazing in the Summer Olympic games in Beijing.  In his quest to best the great Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps would win his seventh gold medal to equal Spitz, in a faction of a second.  The finish is, and may forever be, the most amazing finish in sports.  He did go on to win another gold Medal to take the title of the Most Winning Athlete in a single Olympic games.

As amazing as these events were, they were not the most amazing games I have personally witnessed.  Years ago, I was on a crew officiating a football game, and at the introductions, one coach explained to the opposing coach the he has a medically fragile special needs boy on his team that he would like to play as a 12^th man on defense.  The opposing coach, knowing that there was no real advantage to this situation for either team agreed and told his players to be careful of the boy on the other team.  Late in the game, the opposing coach sent a message via the game officials across the field asking the coach of the special needs boy to put him in on offense and give him the ball.  The coach compiled with the request.  The boy was given the ball and to the cheers of both teams ran untouched for a touchdown.

This year I watched another amazing game.  I was behind the plate for a local Ten-year-old and under, Recreation League softball game.  As time ran out, I declared the game over, as the team up to bat would be unable under the rules of the League to come back and win.  The coach of the winning team looked over at me and shook his head, “They have two players who haven’t batted yet.  Let them bat.”  The first girl came up to bat and swung at three balls for three strikes making three outs.  I looked at the winning coach and he was holding up four fingers.  I asked him if he want to play four outs?  He shook his head and told me to let the batter take another pitch, which I did and she hit the ball and made it to first base.  The final batter came up and hit the ball and the game was ended.

What made these two games amazing wasn’t that the players were making lots of money or that there was a championship on the line.  There wasn’t so much as an inexpensive trophy at state.  It was just for the love of the game and letting children enjoy the real reason games are played, for the fun of playing and the association of others who love the game.  There was not a big crowd watching either game, just the players, the coaches and officials.  Let us teach our Cub Scouts that games are Amazing not because we win or lose, but for the love of the competition and the lessons they teach.

I have often told people that when I am officiating, I have the best seat at the game.  It isn’t because of the  amazing things that are done.  Often it is the amazing things that are taught to the players by the good men and women who are the coaches.  As Cub Scout leaders, we are also in that role.  Let go out an teach something A-Maze-ing.

Quotations

Quotations contain the wisdom of the ages, and are a great source of inspiration for Cubmaster’s minutes, material for an advancement ceremony or an insightful addition to a Pack Meeting program cover

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” Albert Einstein

Champions keep playing until they get it right.
Billie Jean King

Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time. Lou Brock

Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you. Satchel Paige

If at first you don’t succeed, you are running about average. M.H. Alderson

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.  Seneca

Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records.  William A. Ward

Sweat plus sacrifice equals success.  Charlie Finley

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.  Archie Griffen, two-time Heisman trophy
winner (at 5ft 9 inches tall)

How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.  Lou Holtz

My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging  Hank Aaron

Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart, and mind, confidence is the key to all the locks. Joe Paterno

The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.  Joe Paterno

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.  Michael Jordan

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.  John Wooden

To succeed...You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. 
Tony Dorsett

Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there. 
Bo Jackson

The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a mans determination  Tommy Lasorda

You can become a winner only if you are willing to walk over the edge.  Damon Runyon

If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it. Ronnie Lott

To be prepared is half the victory.  Miguel Cervantes

The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.  Vidal Sassoon

The best and fastest way to learn a sport is to watch and imitate a champion.  Jean-Claude Killy

Sam Houston Area Council

The integrity of the game is everything. Peter Ueberroth
Do you remember who Peter Ueberroth was?

The way a man plays a game shows some of his character. The way he loses shows all of it. Unknown

Life is a challenge, meet it!
Life is a dream, realize it!
Life is a game, play it!
Life is Love, enjoy it!
Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Don't go through life, GROW through life. Eric Butterworth

Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route.
Albert Camus

The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense. Thomas A. Edison

Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.
Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play. Heraclitus