What we can learn from a Texas Ranger ...

[Julie Miele]

Did anyone see Josh Hamilton hit those 28 home runs in the first round of the All-Star Home Run Derby last night? Man ... what a performance!

He was last to bat in the line-up. I think there were five or six batters before him, and by the time he stepped up to bat, the top score of home runs was 8. He went on to hit 28. 28! At one point, I believe he hit 17 home runs in a row. In-cred-ible.

This is the guy people have been talking about in the news lately. I believe the story goes that when he was signed as a rookie years ago, he became an immediate super-star and made something like 4 million dollars in a very short period of time. All of which he burned away on drug addiction. I believe they said he became a cocaine and a heroine addict, so we're not talking easy drugs - he was a heroine addict.

I'm sure there's a lot in the middle here that I'm leaving out, but to make a long story short, he obviously decided to turn his life around. He was away from baseball for three years and then came back to hit 28 home runs in the first round of the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium.

And it was amazing to watch. The balls just kept soaring and soaring and soaring. They flew so high and so fast and so far that he also ended up achieving the top distances for the night. The best part, though, is that the NY fans went nuts. Everyone stood watching with wonder and excitement. Fans, teammates, newscasters, the kids everywhere. He literally lit up that stadium last night. And everywhere, you could see the expressions of joy.

In the end, I think he tired out because by the third round, he only hit three and lost to his American team-mate, Morneau. But the most beautiful part was that as he was struggling, all the fans stood up and started chanting Ham-il-ton; Ham-il-ton. They cheered and clapped so loud to keep him going. He still lost, but this guy - after beating drug addiction - moved a stadium full of New Yorkers.

So what does this have to do with us? What can we learn from this Texas Ranger?

There are so many lessons here. I don't have time to develop them all, so I'll let you make the connections. But these are the most outstanding: Hope. Faith. Hard work.

We talked this morning about resistance and frustration from administrators, teachers, students with regard to technology in the classroom. But I think the lesson last night was that when you do amazing work and allow others to witness and participate in this, you can literally move and excite people. I know we're not Josh Hamiltons, and this isn't the All-Stars, but I do believe if we can go into our classrooms and get kids excited about their work and get them to create great material, that will excite our administrators and our colleagues, and then they too will want in. And then we will get those laptops or those grants or that access to the tech room.

Great performances have that effect on people.

[Sonali]

I loved the way you gave a little news blip while introducing your thoughts about technology in the classroom. Thanks for sharing!

[Felicia]

Yea, I was watching the home run derby, too. Hamilton's story is an incredible one. It's too bad about the drug hiatus because all the attention on his trip back from drug addiction somehow takes away from the amazingness of his feat. No other ball player, ex-drug addict or not, had ever hit close to 28 in the first round.
The way you connected the baseball story to technology is the mark of a great writer and pure genius.