Warm & Fuzzy Ep. 1

Yes, I tend to run 25 degrees hotter than everyone else in my house. And, yes, I sport stubble on my face, because my wife likes it and (bonus) then I don’t have to shave very often. None of that is the subject of these posts. The sole purpose of ‘Warm & Fuzzy’ is to provide a brief glimpse into my life, to balance the business/strategy/sales posts I usually write, and to help all of you get to know me a little better.

I’ve only been in one fistfight, and it was in 8^th grade. After lunch at my middle school, we usually had a little free time before we had to go back to class. When the weather did not cooperate for touch football in the schoolyard, I usually played basketball in the gym. That is where I was this particular day. For whatever reason, we were playing “no-foul” which simply means that we were not calling any fouls. This led directly to the impending incident.

During play, I apparently (and inadvertently) fouled another player (we’ll call him Tim). Tim was shooting the ball and I evidently hit his arms. However, if you recall a few sentences ago, we were playing “no foul” basketball. Despite that fact, Tim proceeded to get angry for the foul. And he pushed me.

I was taken aback. Had we been following the rules of basketball, even then the response would have been a couple of free throws. But in “no-foul” basketball, this reaction was baffling. So, I pushed him back.

That did not go over so well. Tim came back swinging. The next few seconds are just a blur, but I do remember that it took 3 of our friends to pull me back, Tim ended up with a bloody nose, and I was fine. I, therefore, claim to have won this fight.

As you might recall, this all happened in the middle of the school gym. Where in the world were the teachers???

What’s the point of this anecdote, you ask? Don’t fight if you don’t have to. But, unless you are willing to be the one who gets pushed around a lot, you need to be ready to fight. And if you do have to fight, fight to win. And I mean all of that (mostly) metaphorically.