May 3, 2012

I bet YOU can create intrigue with these 5 videos: CAN you? WILL you?

What would you tweet?

This world does not need anymore noise. What we need is more intrigue.

In this, I will be the first to step up and admit that I too… create noise. I create noise each time I share someone else’s content without anything to say about it that tells you why I felt the need to share it with you. Now, hopefully over time, you and I have established a bit of a rapport with one another that it has bought me some time in that if I do share something, at least because of our rapport, you too might find it intriguing or of certain value.

With this, it is my goal to do better at this. What my goal for you is that you join me in being better at this, too.

So, I want to challenge you to do something. I am going to post 5 videos below that will be stories, speakers, causes and organic. They will not generally be produced with million dollar budgets and some might be close to 7 minutes in length.

In this, here is what I want you to do.

  • Create intrigue and not more noise by:
  1. Watching the videos
  2. Share the video link with your network
  3. Pick one of the three items as shown in image above which will give people a reason to want to watch the video by making it your own and share that in your post. (of course, the image was for reading something, but it works here, too)
  4. On Twitter, use #intrigue and mention the names listed by their Twitter handles of those featured in the video
  5. Pick two videos to share and… start creating intrigue.
  6. Not on Twitter, then Facebook it, or G+ it, or pin it…
  • In this, we create intrigue by not just simply passing stuff along without making it your own, we can create it by making it your own.
Bruce Springsteen once said about the power of writing music in that he always tries to compel the listener to become compelled for the things that compel him. A simple pass along doesn’t do much compelling, does it? But, if you take the time to make it your own and mention why it compelled you or what stood out, it can go a whole long way towards compelling others.
  • Video #1
  • @HISG_News #sustainability #intrigue
  • Video #2
  • @JeffersonDSmith @SCTNOW #trafficking #intrigue
  • Video #3
  • @tmproject #mentoring #fatherlessness #intrigue
  • Video #4
  • @oregonfoodbank #fighthunger #intrigue
  • Video #5
  • @AfricaNewLifeRW #rwanda #hope #intrigue

Posted by on May 3, 2012 in Life, Social Cause, social good, social media, twitter and tagged , , , , , , , .

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April 24, 2012

The Humanization of Social Media

From my upcoming book, Strategistics: Practical principles for viral success

The humanization of social media should be upon us, but yet, too often the approach of many gurus and consultants is to go immediately for the tactics of social media and not the heart of it.

We can always get to the tactics, but why do we not always seek to go for the heart? I think if we can take the heart by humanizing social media, we have a much better chance of conquering the use of social media in the long term… and not just the short term.

As I have had the distinct privilege to travel the world and speak on social media, I get a chance to hear a lot of reasons why not use social media. What is interesting is that really, for the most part, the reasons not to use social media are quite frankly internationally in sync.

This is why that when I speak in radio interviews, conferences, or in my day long workshops that my approach is to put the humanizing of social media before the tactics of social media.

When you seek to humanize social media to others, it has the power to awaken something the audience had no idea existed. If I can awaken that, then the rest will follow. And not just follow, but continue on sustainably as well. What this does is push buttons the audience did not expect to be pushed in that setting or on this topic.

In one recent presentation, I was blown away at the response as I surveyed the audience and saw that not a dry eye was in the room.

In this, we must distinguish between the power of the how versus the power of the why.

Certainly, none of it matters if you don’t know what to do with it. But, without a why, why bother? Otherwise, you simply will become noise.

Recently, I traveled to Surabaya, Indonesia to take part in a global conference. While there, I also had the distinct pleasure to keynote the banquet for this conference. To give you an idea of the attendees, most of them were active in disaster response and preparedness as well as sustainable development in key regions around the world.

With my keynote, which was on the power of social media, my objective was simple… humanize it.

I did this by telling real stories of real people in real situations impacted by the use of social media. There was no strategy in those stories or tactics offered… just heartbeats. In this, we then tell the story, without telling the story.

It is my belief that if we fail to humanize social media, we fail to set sail to something that is sustainable. What this looks like is a deep down understanding and belief as to both the power of it as well as the why of it.

This is why my approach will always seek to weave into the presentation the humanization of social media before discussing the tactics of social media.

The “Why” then becomes the infrastructure that is built to last. Tactics then become the application. Reversing the role of the infrastructure and application is never a good thing, unless you plan to build not to last.

Too many people crash and burn too early on their quest to conquer social media for their cause, brand, message, or product. Certainly this can come from not understanding the tactics of it, but I would suggest that primarily it comes from not having a why for it.

To get to the why we must humanize social media. We must make it real. We must share stories of lives changed, impacted, and in many cases… saved. We must not allow the frozen perception that people using social media are not real people to persist any longer.

The humanization of social media should be upon us, if we let it. Once we get this down, we can move on to tactics, I promise.

Posted by on April 24, 2012 in Life, social media, social networking and tagged , .

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April 20, 2012

Personategy is?

Posted by on April 20, 2012 in advertising, social media, social networking and tagged , .

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March 27, 2012

That One Time my Dad Danced

Dad was a very reserved. That being said, no one was funnier or had a drier sense of humor as he had. When you can make dad laugh, you had a sense of arrival. I would give anything to make him laugh once last time.

What spurred this post on was not a memory of dad breaking out in laughter though, but rather something even more rare…

I don’t remember when we first got that huge cabinet that had the LP player, cassette, and 8 track deck in it, but I think we were the first on the block. As we wheeled it into the house and set it up against the wall in the living room/dining room area, I remember the very first 8 track tape my dad put in the player.

It was a Beach Boys greatest hits record. Now, to be honest, my dad was born in 1930 and therefore was more a product of the music of the 40′s and 50′s. In this, it was less on rock and roll and heavy on standards, big band, classical, and jazz.

So all the more to my amazement when Surfin Safari came on the player when something happened I had up to that point never seen before nor did I ever see it again…

Dad danced.

Let’s be honest. Listen to that track and who doesn’t want to at least break out into a twist or something.

But it was more than the dance that I remember. It was the joy I saw in a reserved man who did not often show any emotion, if even at all.

If anything ever gives me permission to smile, that memory does.

In this, I wonder how often I give myself permission to break out like that. I wonder how many times I chose to not break out like that only kept my own child left waiting… waiting for the chance to exhale in life every once in a while from the stress and pressures that bear down on us every day.

As I type this, Fun Fun Fun is playing in my ears. In this, I find myself smiling and pondering what it would be like if I could go back in time and put this music on while hanging out with dad.

You know what? I think we’d dance. Have fun, if even for a moment and let loose.

And why not? Life is too short not to.

I hope someday, if it is not too late that my daughter would look back and remember a time when I did the same rather than all the times I let the stress and pressures of life get to me.

With this, what are we teaching our children? Are we teaching them to let life get to us or rather us getting to life?

It’s a posture thing.

God, let me please be about the latter.

Dance!

Posted by on March 27, 2012 in Life and tagged , , .

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March 13, 2012

My Dad’s Final Moments

Me, Dad, and my daughter on Halloween 2002.

It was the most surreal moment I had ever experienced in my life.

It was 8:05 am on March 13, 2oo3 when life left the room. No seriously, I could feel it.

It was a long night in the nursing home as my dad, now in a coma state, was quickly shutting down. In this, this was it. The end.

The walls of the facility echoed loudly that night from the random TV’s left on in the various rooms. Oddly, it appeared every TV was on the same channel which only accentuated the effect. There were no other noises that night. Just that of the echoing TV’s.

Inside room 42, me, my brother, and my mom sat patiently around my dad as his breathing began to drift across that bridge in the sky while his body grew colder and colder.

We laughed, we cried, we prayed.

All the while, the elephant in the room was what we were all thinking and asking of ourselves…

What will it be like when he takes his final breath? Will I be in the room when he takes his final breath?

We knew it was over. The fight was complete. The end was near.

In this, all I can say… no one can ever prepare you for that moment.

And yet, as I sat their at my dad’s side next to my brother, hospice had entered the room to change his shirt when “it” happened.

Mom had just stepped out of the room as we sat down next to him. It was as if he knew.

As if to say to her… it’s ok, you can let go now, I will be alright.

It was 8:05 am when life left the room. You could literally feel it. Never had I ever experienced anything like that in my life. Yet there was such peace in that moment, it came upon the scene like that of ones final exhale blowing forth their soul into that which lies beyond this life.

You know, I sat there next to my brother and yet we have never discussed what we felt. Odd.

I recall not longer after my dad’s passing as his now still body laid in waiting for the funeral home to arrive and take him to his final resting place a moment that will stick with me forever…

As my family and close friends gathered in the hallway outside of his room, my daughter, who was 5 at the time entered the room. As I looked up, she had got up onto a chair next to dad, knelt down over him, kissed him on the cheek, and said… bye bye Papa Bill.

My eyes well up with tears as I recall this now 9 years later.

Moments later, the funeral home arrived to get dad. It again… was surreal as they place dad in a bag and sought to zip it up all the way. Nearing his face, my brother motioned for them to hold off. Not till we get around the hallway corner in respect for mom.

And with that, me, my brother, and daughter then escorted my dad’s body out of the facility and into the hearse. With this came my third surreal moment that morning.

As we escorted dad out of the building, the other residents, many of them too, facing the same scenario, simply stood in silence through the building. They knew what they were seeing.

From my eyes, I saw not them standing there, but the cries of their souls standing there at attention honoring the recently departed soul of my father.You could see it in their eyes. You could feel it in your bones.

And with that, we turned the corner. And with that, came the motioning from my brother to go ahead zip the bag up completely.

“Not yet!” spoke my daughter as she knelt over from my arms to kiss dad’s cheek one last time.

It was then that it set in.. this would be the last time this world would see my dad’s face. This would be the first time that I would see the face of this world without my dad in it.

It was like everything was new all over again. Sure, I had driven by these places a million times before, but not without dad in this world.

It was a sense that the world had moved on while my heart screamed out loud… stop…. you’re forgetting somebody… dad.

And so I sit here 9 years later and return to that day where I said goodbye and with this, I know two things..

I will see him again and I will never forget.

Posted by on March 13, 2012 in death, Life and tagged , , , .

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March 8, 2012

Stop using social media…

It is my belief that to use social media properly, one must first stop using social media. Certainly amidst the hustle and bustle of seeking to get a leg up on ones competitors, one thinks we must constantly burn the midnight oil logging unending hours getting our social media on. Sure, I get all that. Heck, I do all that. But, that being said… what is it we are all individually doing that positions us with a posture that actually owns these tools, without allowing them… to own us?

With life, we are all building an infrastructure or path to the future. That path is our foundation, or simply put, the reasons each of us believe we exist. The right and wrongs and the things that are most important to us.

It is from there where we base our decisions in life and priorities. With life firmly planted on this infrastructure, it is anchoring us to a path hopefully built to last.

In this, social media simply put, is an application to enhance that experience. Social media did not come to replace it, but enhance it.

When we unknowingly shift to having social media as the infrastructure and life as the application, we’re done. Just like that, it owns us.

What does one do?

Stop using social media… for at least one hour per day to go do something else instead to regain perspective. In other words, unplug yourself from connectivity for at least one hour every single day.

Is this possible?

One might say in response to this.. “But I am not actively on it during parts of the day.”

This is true, but, you have access to it and chances are, you are even monitoring it. I know I do.

I don’t know about you, but I am convicted.

If I am going to travel around the world and speak, teach, or advise others on social media as I do, then I need to be not just a social media user, but a responsible one.

What does this mean for me?

It means every single day I seek to open up the windows to let the bad air out. I do this by unplugging myself from technology for one hour and I take a hike.

Just down the road from where I live is an incredible nature park with amazing landscapes with different scenery all throughout. The trails add up to 3.3 miles and I take my hour unplugged walking them. And yes… unless I am on a picture taking hike, there is no social networking aloud.

In doing this, not only does it provide an amazing physical workout as some of those hills are brutal, it also allows me to regain perspective as I step away from the echoing noise of the social networking echo chamber.

In this, I can become a responsible user with regards to owning my use of it without letting it own me. Now, of course, how you are using it is another discussion. But, when it comes to time, mental energy, and clarity, we all need to see the value of such a daily retreat. Or, at least I know I do.

But, how does this allow one to use social media more properly?

  • Fresh perspective on priorities
  • Exercise is always a key component to healthy living
  • Mental clarity on tasks at hand
  • Reset Boundaries of how your social media usage
  • Rest your eyes

Does that add up to you? It sure does for me.

With a teenage daughter, I know full well the future is all digital. But, I do remember a time where digital meant something we saw in the movies. I remember how much life we lived. Now, I think we miss a lot of life because we are constantly on the treadmill of social media. Maybe every once and awhile we need to actually get off the treadmill and maybe just do the real thing… somewhere else and away from it all.

With this, why are we so afraid that we will miss something?

Yes, life connected to the grid can be addicting. Yet, the world is not going to fall apart because you took a moment to hit pause and exhale. Because if it did, maybe it would be a lesson to us all that we should have never held our breath that long.

So, do yourself a favor, your future a favor, your family a favor, your friends a favor, your whatever a favor and stop using social media… for 60 minutes everyday. (nope, sleep does not count.)

I call this a tech fast.

You might call it crazy, and that’s okay.

With social media, there really are no rules. But, when it starts to own you, adjust. Hit the pause button. Be rational.

Yet, in this… we have all been there and we have all seen it… the over reaction of the pendulum with all the right motives but based on all the wrong things. So in this, let it swing…

So, what we see as a result are the countless attempts I see people take all the time with… okay, I really mean it now… I am going to delete my Facebook account or Twitter or whatever. To them, I say… good for you. In this, Facebook or Twitter was never the problem. They were the problem. We are always the problem once we allow anything to go from being application to infrastructure. Shoot, I can write a book based on all the times I have done the same thing in many areas of my life.

The trick though is in knowing when the switch happens and what to do about it.

Kind of like being on a train to somewhere and yet somewhere along the line, the switch up on the track ahead was flipped and instead of going to that somewhere, we ended up elsewhere.

How does this happen? When does this happen?

With social media, I see it as an amazing tool. I see it continuing to evolve. I see it as a key enhancing component to our future interactivity. Just as long as we own it and it… doesn’t own us. Does this mean adopting a stop-using all together mentality? Nope. But rather a wisdom-based user mentality that places social media as an application and not the infrastructure of life as we know it.

With this, I am certain there will be plenty of times in the future where I will miss something because I was trying so hard to capture something… in a tweet or post. For that and as I write this, please know, I can only offer you that of a process and not perfection.

I will simply seek to take mine, will you take yours? See you in 60 minutes.

Stay tuned in the months ahead for the release of my new digital book on The Mindset of Social Media.

Posted by on March 8, 2012 in Life, social media and tagged , , , , .

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February 27, 2012

Social Media: @NascarOnFox hit a Home Run at the #daytona500 with Twitter

Waiting all day for the rain stop in Daytona was not all that bad.

While intently watching the Hollywood Hotel news crew (which sadly missed Chris Meyers after the tragic death of his son), I was continuously impressed by how Fox Sports and NASCAR weaved Twitter into their ongoing coverage.

For starters, every time a name popped up on the screen, I also saw their Twitter handle.  It wasn’t just for show, either. With a strong and active discussion feed all day on Twitter, the engagement I saw coming from the “celebrities” on the track, both in and out of the rain delay, was far from one-sided.

From comparing Twitter follower counts, sharing Twitter handles, to Mark Martin talking about how much fun he was having engaging with fans via Twitter, the broadcast had it all yesterday.

As a matter of fact, if there was a college course on Twitter discussing effective strategies between on-screen television personalities, athletes, and the fans engaging real time, this could have been it. (Yes, I did say athlete. You try driving 200 mph only inches from other cars in the pack for 500 miles and tell me you won’t get winded)!

Dang, I just get winded watching it.

What I love is that for the last couple of years I have been quietly watching Nascar fans engaging more and more with each other during the races. No fanfare like I see from other sports and events; just real people and real fans converging virally… to watch a race communally.

In this, NASCAR Nation is not alone.

Say what you want about ratings, which I am sure will see a surge with the inclusion of Danica Patrick (who, by the way, boasts over 500k followers on Twitter), NASCAR Nation is now more reflective of a nation that spans across all land masses away from the pockets that have separated it for so long.

With this, people from all over the world are gathering each week to tweet the race while occasionally looking up to watch the race. Certainly, this can be said of other major sports and entertainment events; however, what I love about yesterday was how Fox Sports and NASCAR so naturally harnessed the power of the connection in a way that leveraged the media not to exploit it, but rather embrace it.

I don’t think anyone could have scripted it better. All the TV personalities and drivers played their parts so convincingly, that even they should have been considered for an Oscar!

Yet there was no acting. This was real.

Now, let’s just hope we can get back to racing… and soon!

What better and more natural way to build loyalty beyond what it already is than to unlock the power of Twitter by making yourself accessible to your fan base?

Friends, are you reading this? I am not talking about the NBA, NFL, or UFC… this is NASCAR! This is not supposed to happen in NASCAR Nation, yet there is no more better tool than this to reflect what NASCAR Nation is all about.

Me and Richard Petty when I was 4 at Ontario

With all this said, I give full-disclosure: While growing up on the west coast, all I knew was NASCAR. I remember all the night trips from Portland to Southern California to watch a race at the famed, and now defunct, Riverside or Ontario tracks and then back up to Western Speedway in Canada. Yes, I am a true card-carrying member of NASCAR Nation and proud of it.

For this, I give my weekly social media kudos to both Nascar and Fox Sports for how they have woven Twitter into their DNA as an another extension to reflect who and what they already are.

I give commend them for not appearing like they are forcing connection like a typical marketing gimmick or red carpet campaign. Simply put, this season they have come out swinging with this new found tool.

They didn’t need to change a thing. They just needed to continue being, well… being themselves.

Finally,  just to further my point that they too are also listening to the feed and are engaging (which I love):

Posted by on February 27, 2012 in Life, social media, social networking, SPORTS and tagged , , .

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February 23, 2012

Social Media: Businesses that Listen aka @WashingtonSQ

I love it when a business is listening.

While taking my daughter to the mall today to shop for her birthday, I tweeted this:

Of course, I was half joking. I think as some of us get a little older, we dread the mall. A visit to the mall with your teenager can always be a crash course on all that exists that makes one feel old, but oddly hip.

What was fun about this late afternoon tweet is what happened next…

What makes this even more impressive is with how little this actually happens with businesses “using” social media. In this, notice I don’t even officially mention or tag the mall with their handle in my original tweet and yet still.. they were listening.

With this, I want to say great job to @WashingtonSQ for using social media two ways…

1. Broadcasting

2. Listening

From there, they then add responding to the list.

My goodness, there are so many great tools out there for anyone to be listening or even be alerted to real time chat occurring online around one’s brand that I am surprised I have only had so few experiences like this.

In this case, the response from my random and spontaneous tweets made me to feel as a consumer… special, noticed, and not just a transaction.

If I were a business with a presence in this mall, I would be beyond thrilled that the mall is using social media this way.

If I were a business with a presence in this mall, I would take note and follow suit. (I say this because once upon a time, 15 years ago.. I was one of those businesses.)

If I were a business, I would start doing three things with my social media usage:

  1. Engaging
  2. Listening
  3. Responding

Instead of just:

  • Broadcasting

Because in the end, it is how well you do the 1,2,3 that will buy you the capital to be heard.

But, in this case, once again… social media is not just being used to reach people outside of the mall, it is being used to actively listen in on in store chatter and perhaps look for opportunities to enhance the experience.

Now, some might say this is creepy or that they don’t want to be bothered. But, I would say that if you are thinking that, consider this:

  1. Reconsider why and how you are using social media in the first place
  2. The consumer invited the engagement first by what they tweeted, and the entity took them up on it

For me, I love this and salute @WashingtonSQ for how they are using Twitter to make the consumer feel special.

Posted by on February 23, 2012 in Business, Life, social media and tagged , , .

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February 6, 2012

Super Bowl XLVI, Missed passes, and Social Media Missed opportunities

Like a crucial missed pass opportunity in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, sadly many companies with social media presence faired no better by failing to catch passes they were made to catch during yesterdays big game.

Leading up to the game, whether you loved the teams or not, a general consensus from those in my network said the same as to why they were going to watch the game… the commercials.

That being said, by the end of the game, what was watched most (other than that excited last 4 minutes) was not the game or the commercials, but none other than… you guessed it, the Twitter feed.

With hashtags like #superbowl and #brandbowl driving the conversation, it was amazing watching a commercial and then guessing how quickly that commercial would trend on Twitter.

At first, I thought companies would capitalize with engagement or anything relevant to the conversation outside of… here’s the link to the commercial everybody is talking about. And to be honest, I was impressed with @amazonmp3 for tweeting a link to download “Gonna Fly Now” immediately after it was featured in an Hyundai ad.

But after that, not much social going on with social media as social media was driving the social aspect of the “Greatest show on Earth.”

Honestly, the best I have ever seen a company capitalize on a TV show in an seemingly unstaged way or at least the appearance of was with Baja Fresh when their CEO David Kim was featured on Undercover Boss.

For them, David himself was actively engaging people tweeting about the show while it aired… in all time zones. Of course, their website and everything was staged up to play off the broadcast, but enlisting their CEO to engage too…. TOUCHDOWN!

So where were the companies yesterday during this Twitter bonanza?

Even if you weren’t a company who spent millions to showcase their goods during the game with what I felt was an average showing of commercials, where were you?

Certainly, perhaps dialogue during the game may not have been brand specific, but it sure was customer specific. And what an opportunity it was to come off as not a brand… but actually one of us… the consumer.

Now to be fair, I don’t want to make this a broad stroke of the brush and assume no one was engaging, and maybe they didn’t need to. Maybe their metric was to get people talking about it… in the moment. But for me, if you engaged me as well in the moment, I would still be talking about you beyond the moment.

Did you notice any brands or companies engaging yesterday? If so, who? How did they do?

Posted by on February 6, 2012 in advertising, engagement, marketing, social media, super bowl and tagged , .

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February 1, 2012

My Last Super Bowl with Dad

My dad died of cancer on March 13, 2003. It was 8:05 am when he took his last breath. I was there when life left the room.

It was an experience I will take with me forever. Or at least until my breath too… bids farewell.

Dad was forty years older than me. With this, came much wisdom that still seems to find its way along my path to this day. It is amazing the lessons one can learn from a lost loved one long after they have gone.

Quite frankly, many of them come in the form of a memory. Though at the time, it was simply life playing out, but… over time, many of these memories seamlessly transitioned into a playbook of lessons meant for daily consumption and application.

When did this transition occur? I don’t know.

During the last few years of my dads journey, his health had taken a turn for the worse. What started out 2001 with a heart attack, ended the year with lung cancer.

My dad had smoked most of his life, but quit a decade earlier. I remember his doctor telling him… “It looks like your past has returned to haunt you.”

As if hearing the words… you have cancer is not enough.

Over the next year, dad fought cancer courageously and even knocked it down briefly, only for it to return with a vengeance that December in 2002.

Sadly, this time the cancer meant business as it was also coupled with a stroke. With this, it essentially took treatment off the table. I remember standing outside of my dads hospital room when his doctor told mom and I… “I don’t wish this on my worst enemy.”

It was then that the doctor looked us square in the eyes and said that dad will never be the same again.

Those months were hard. I felt so helpless. With dads condition, he would take one step forward, and ten steps back.

You found yourself in a place where you became afraid to hope. Instead, you simply sought to live in the moments. With doing this, I realized it wasn’t hope that I needed… it was peace that I was looking for.

As I look back, I believe that’s what dad wanted, too.

One Sunday, dad and I found peace…

___________________________________

For nearly 25 years I had faithfully rooted for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL football team. For nearly a handful of those years I did not have much to cheer for.

Over the years, people could not understand how a person living in Oregon could be a diehard fan for such a losing franchise located on the other-side of the country.

I remember how sad I was after that first NFC Championship loss to the then Los Angeles Rams, 9-0. I remember where I was and how I felt. Sadly, it still stings.

The joke always was…

The Bucs will win the Superbowl in the next 10 years…of course I had said that for the previous 15.

Many thoughts passed my mind over the years. What would I do if they ever made it to the Superbowl? I knew for sure the only place I wanted to be was at the game or somewhere in the vicinity of the game. One thing for sure was…a party would be happening.

However, the Bucs kept losing. (again and again and again.)

My first Bucs game in person was in the old Kingdome in Seattle. It was 20 years after the Bucs had lost in that game to the Rams. Ironically, they found themselves in the championship game with the Rams again… and lost.

Oh so close to that party I had been planning for so many years.

Have I told you that I do NOT like the Rams?

With the Bucs continuing their winning ways the next season(except for championship games agains the rams), my day finally came.

In 2003, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally made it to the Superbowl.

However, this was not a year for parties. My dad’s cancer had returned, this coupled with a stroke didn’t leave things looking so good. For several days prior to the game, while I was out of town for work, my dad laid in bed. He had become immobile.

So sad.

With this, there was no question where I was to be for this game. My mind was no longer on all the things I dreamed about making this day into.

My heart was… there was no other place I would rather watch this game then to be at my dad’s side.

As I rushed home from out of town, my brother had got my dad out of bed and out to the living room. He was in his favorite chair. When I arrived, there he was. Not looking good, but in his favorite chair. I found my place next to him. I watched this game at his side sitting in his wheelchair.

The halftime shows at the Superbowl are usually spectacular and yet I found myself during this halftime show getting my dad out of his favorite chair and onto the portable toilet we had brought into the room.

Although I do not remember much more of the game. I remember the look in his eyes as he humbly, yet still, sat on that portable toilet as the Bucs had just won the game. He was so excited for me as he struggled to speak that which only his eyes could say.

…It was a look that said, “I love you.“ that only a heart could produce. It was also a look that appeared to be held captive within a body that could no longer operate the way it once did.

Have you ever wanted to just say something, but for some reason your lips wouldn’t move? This was the case and his eyes told the story.

A story that played itself out in the only way that would seem right, that after all these years, my team won. After all these years, there was no place I would rather be.

This was my party.

Shortly after the game, my post-game celebration consisted of getting my dad into bed and changing his adult-sized diapers. It was a painfully sad task, and not an easy one to accomplish at that.

But, again…there was no place I would rather be.

As we got dad settled into bed, my voice mail was busy being filled up by well-wishers congratulating me on the Bucs victory.

At this point, the game seemed all too distant.

The next day my dad was rushed to the hospital. It would be the last night he would spend in his home. A month and a half later. He was gone.

It would be the last football game I would watch with my dad. Ironically, my dad was a 49ers fan. I watched with him a few weeks earlier as the Bucs knocked them out of the playoffs.

In a weird way, it was like a father to son passing of the torch. I was always excited watching my dad’s joy as his team won. And now…one last time…yet for the first time…the joy was returned.

It would not be until my birthday, one month after he died that I would realize the full extent of that Superbowl victory. I received a Buccaneer jersey and a special addition Sports Illustrated.

That’s right…the Bucs did win!!! What a game!

And now, seasons have come and gone, and yet…I…I will always have that ONE game…I will always have that ONE look.

For it was in that one look that peace was found. It was a peace that but for a moment… took the pain of cancer away and replaced it with the fullness of time spent between a father and son.

Sure this was just a game, but for me… it was much much more than that.

How will you watch the game?

Posted by on February 1, 2012 in cancer, Life, Superbowl and tagged .

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