"Random Somersaults" features storytelling based around themes spurred by personal and professional experiences and thoughts that represent a broad range of topics with a few random, yet relevant, detours.
Storytelling, when done exceptionally well and with great excitement, can be mesmerizing.
Perhaps I am drawn to storytelling because it excites me to learn and then share about the journeys of other people. Professionally, I take pride in connecting on a level with clients that allows me to convey their passion and purpose through a compelling and gripping narrative. I use this space to share in a more free-flowing creative way that weave my thoughts with news, reflections, memes, social media, word definitions, quotes, and links to richer and deeper material. As mentioned in the past, there are many ways how one consumes content through a variety of mediums. I’m not whining but ideally it would be great if you read every word, clicked on each link, and viewed the videos, photos, and tweets embedded to complement the blog’s theme. I also realize that in today’s world with the sheer volume of content we sift through on a daily basis, we can’t always take the time to fully digest a piece of content. Generationally, we process information in different ways. Anecdotal proof of this is found in some recent correspondence. One was with a journalist, around my age, responding to my email complimenting him on an article and noting something that he included near the end of the piece. He astutely noted in his reply, “Thanks for letting me know you actually read all the way through without clicking over to something else.” On the opposite end of the spectrum was a former colleague in his 20s who admitted, “I am a victim of the speed, swipe, scroll generation.” Somewhere in between is a young professional who reads “Random Somersaults” regularly and disclosed she hadn’t clicked on one of the videos in last week’s post. She watched it after I told her that she would be entertained by it. No matter where on the spectrum you fall, I only hope you are entertained by learning a little something each time you take a Random Somersault. If you enjoy the blog, I respectfully ask you to share with your network of colleagues, friends, and family. Onward I go. Enjoy reading, clicking and/or scrolling through the remainder of this post. It doesn’t take long for anyone to enter a conversation with me before they learn about my love of the hockey. You could say I am drawn to the sport because of its grace, speed, and finesse. That is all true but is also because of an excitement level that was drilled into me as a young boy. I have met and worked with many notable sports announcers during my career in football. Names like Dick Enberg, Vin Scully, Pat Summerall, John Madden, Al Michaels, Don Criqui, and on and on. But, it is one announcer who I have never met that I credit with instilling such a love for hockey in me. Growing up in Buffalo, New York, the city received an expansion NHL team when I was quite young. The team’s play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret has a unique style, and has become beloved by the fan base during his more than half-century of calling games. He is the longest-tenured NHL announcer and his remarkable career is coming to a close next month. A week from tonight, his sweater (in hockey, a jersey is called a sweater) will be raised to the rafters as he takes his rightful place among the many greats in franchise history.
Listening to games, mostly on radio during my childhood, the sheer excitement Jeanneret exuded made me fall that much more in love with the game. I argue, there may be nothing more exciting in sports than a goal being scored in hockey. His thrilling calls have been unmatched in anything I’ve heard over the last 50 years!
I have so many pleasant memories of the Sabres during my youth and the moments were punctuated by the depiction created by Jeanneret. His enthusiasm with trademarked lines - such as “top shelf where mama hides the cookies” to describe a shot that finds the upper corner of the net, or “call the cops, because (player name) has just been robbed!” to describe a great save by a goalie - continued to hook me through adulthood. This is my plea not to scroll past this video (it takes just 27 seconds of your time, unless you choose to play it over and over again!). The call is of an overtime goal by Sabres' forward Brad May to clinch a playoff series in 1993. This moment is not only famous in Buffalo Sabres’ lore but gained the legendary announcer significant national attention.
“Excitement is the thread that connects you to your path, passion and purpose in life." – Ruben Chavez
This past week I came across the stories of two men that I found incredibly inspiring. Both, blind since birth, didn’t let an obstacle curtail their excitement for sports as their life journey led them to covering games.
Longtime radio reporter Craig Lynch, a fixture at Chicago Cubs games for years, passed away recently. Here’s his story. The other is 30-year-old Bryce Weiler who has followed his passion to announce college basketball, among other sports. (Video: 4:09)
Compelling stories have a way to lure you in even if you may think you had little, or no, curiosity about a subject.
Maybe that explains the popularity of “Drive to Survive,” the Netflix docuseries on Formula 1 racing. I knew nothing about the topic but after having it recommended by a huge sports fan and an artist with little interest in sports, I had to watch!
I’ve learned I am not alone. The well-produced series has ignited an explosion in popularity for Formula 1, especially in the United States. ESPN’s viewership of the races has nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021. Count my wife and me as two who have helped push the needle. Suddenly we are consuming, albeit casually, news about the sport and even have a new text thread going with said artist and sports fan! For me, it is the amazement of how many people comprise a team in order to compete in this global competition.
Last Sunday, we watched our first-ever Formula 1 race. Like the Netflix docuseries, a riveting story captivated us. One of the teams in contention unbelievably experienced both of their cars dying, one with three laps to go and the other in the final lap! The excitement of the sport portrayed through the storytelling in “Drive to Survive” led to last weekend’s season-opening race attracting the sport’s largest television audience in nearly three decades. Also exciting for me is that one of the episodes provided me with an interesting word to feature in “Random Somersaults.”
I assumed the British term meant “whine.” Digging in just a bit, I learned they are entirely different words. Per Merriam-Webster:
This difference invoked the memory of a classic line from a maintenance worker early in my career. Retired from a steel factory, he was working parttime for us. I affectionately describe him as a bit of a curmudgeon when he tended to his duties. Knowing full well I would have to listen to a few minutes of a cranky rant, I requested his service one day. He grumpily obliged then put it in perspective. As he puffed away on his Camel Straight, he quit his whinging and exclaimed, “I’m not complaining, I’m just bitching!”
I can’t resist the excitement of one last Random Somersault to tie this together by sharing that Camel was a longtime sponsor of Formula 1 teams.
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WHY "RANDOM SOMERSAULTS?""Random Somersaults"
features storytelling based on themes spurred by personal and professional experiences and thoughts that represent a broad range of topics with a few random, yet relevant, detours. It is a terrific way to get to know Pete Fierle as you gain insight into how he processes information through this less formal and creative style of writing. The blog has been described as “fun and informative” and “what fun to meander through ideas and streams of consciousness.” AuthorPete Fierle has a love for all mediums but a special affinity for the written word (that flows from a keyboard or fountain pen) as a powerful platform for storytelling. ARCHIVEBe sure to check out the archives and roll through past posts for a variety of topics and stories.
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