I had a book when I was younger called “Winners Never Quit”.

Published in 1970, it was a book about different athletes who persevered over an assortment of obstacles and succeeded in their various sports.

It made a big impression on me.

I’d run….throw….tackle…and think, even if my results weren’t “world-class”…even for an 11-year-old…that “winners never quit”…and I’d persevere.

I’d keep working at playing.

I’d turn it up a notch…and play harder.

I was a “winner”…just like all the guys in the book.

(“Guys in the book…”? I just realized that this book was only about the guys in the book! I guess that Phil Pepe wrote it for guys….but these days we’d have persevering men and women in a book like this. Women do persevere, too…right? But…I digress.)

Where was I?

Oh, yeah…winners never quit.

That being said…what’s going on with the world these days?

Anything interesting or strange?

Who’s a winner? Who’s a loser? Who can trust anything or anyone when everything is questioned and distrusted?

Do the math!

Dig deep!

Ferret out the people who’d steal and lie and cheat to achieve their goal…and then remove them from your path!

Don’t let anyone set your destiny on an alternate and less satisfying path!

Not even if it’s 78 million “anyones”.

The world is a cool place.

The world is a kooky place.

Winners Never Quit was written in the days before steroid scandals and all the other kinds of cheating we often see today in sports. It was written when we could still be sincere and trusting and we lacked our now strong ability to always expect the ironic or sarcastic punchline. Why, back in the day, they’d take away your Olympic medals if you’d played semi-pro baseball (Jim Thorpe) and a hero was a hero was a hero. We didn’t know any better. We didn’t have the information. We didn’t have the internet. We could take most things at face value.

Now, we can’t know what face value means anymore.

(My oldest son used to say “I can’t know” when he was little. Pretty funny…)

It’s a skill to spread distrust and confusion.

It’s by design that things are shaken and constantly in flux.

We still want to buy the snake oil if the salesman has a good rap.

Winners Never Quit?

Please.

Just stop.

Puhhhhhhlease!!

Stop the Insanity!