Not Eating as a Lightweight. Thank you Thanksgiving

My favorite holiday is right around the corner, Thanksgiving.  It is the one holiday that I am not affected by marketing.  No presents, cards, flowers, candies, just cooking and fellowship.  I enjoy the aromas, sitting around an watching football and I do not participate in the black Friday hoop-lah, so it is a relatively stress free holiday.  The most wonderful part about Thanksgiving is trying to eat like a champion.

Unfortunately, I will not be home with Shaunnah for this Thanksgiving, booooooooooooooooooooo.  Despite five years in the military and four deployments between the two of us, this will be the first Thanksgiving we spend apart as husband and wife.  I'm going to stay in Oklahoma City.  However, that will not affect the status of my belly around 6 pm on Thursday.  Some of the guys I train with are going to stay here as well and we are preparing a mighty feast.

The famous casserole is on the right side of the table in the
dish.  This is in Mom's kitchen.

I am going to help with the Turkey (brine is the way to go) and make what has become a Thanksgiving staple in my life since I married Shaunnah, sweet potato casserole.  Everyone has their thing when it comes to traditional dinners.  My Mom makes the best stuffing you've ever tasted.   The key, I believe is the sausage.  Shaunnah's specialty is a sweet potato casserole.  It does not have marshmallow... oh no.  It has something much better; a thick layer of butter, brown sugar, sugar, pecans and other goodness baked on top of a buttery, velvety layer of sweet potatoes.  I don't really have a specialty.  I just ride the coat tails of the women in my life, haha.

Again, I wish I were home, but I am definitely glad that I can bring some of my home to OKC and share it with my teammates.  I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

- Jimmy

At the Mercy of the Elements

Driving to the course this morning for the Fall Speed Order I saw mirrored reflections on Lake Carnegie.  I was thinking to myself that this will be a fast race with perfectly flat conditions.  In the back of my mind I was remembering the wind forecast I looked up the previous night that said a 8-9 mph headwind would appear between 8 and 9 am.  However, I ignored the forecast saying to myself, "There's no way the wind will pick up from 0-9 mph in 1 hour.  I WAS WRONG (we started at 9:15)

Will and I shoved from the dock at 8:38.  We wanted to get a good warm-up in to row the 6k erg test out of our legs before the race.  About 3k in to the warm-up I noticed there were no more mirror reflections and the wind kept building over the next 10 minutes in to a pretty stiff head wind headed straight down the first 1/2 of the 3 mile course.  I told Will it would be awesome.  We would just pound it in to the head wind and make everyone hurt.  What I forgot to think about was how much it would hurt me as well...

We had a solid piece, but that first 1.5 miles was tough.  After every stroke it just felt like the boat was slowing down way more than it should.  It was painful and I'm sure added a good 20+ seconds to the first 1/2 of the race.  Then we started to turn and found about 150 meters of shelter and started to gain some momentum.  Once the wind became more of a cross head instead of a direct head we got in to a better rhythm and moved a bit.

Rowing is funny.  Conditions can change in an instant and there is nothing you can do about it but bear down and pull hard.  At least it wasn't hailing.

Enjoy the video (Will Newell and I doing some low rate stuff earlier this week).

- Jimmy

Seizing Opportunity and 1x Video

At least once in everyone’s life an opportunity shows it’s self.  I feel most successful people are there because they seized that opportunity.  They saw it and took it.  Those who do not succeed, for one reason or another, whether by choice or chance did not seize that opportunity. 

Personally, I have been very fortunate in life.  My parents raised me with certain values that have helped my brothers and I transition well in to adult life.  We were given every opportunity to succeed because my parents worked their asses off to present their children with those opportunities.  None of my brothers are screw ups (4/4 is pretty good these days).  All four of us have taken advantage of the gifts we were given and utilized them to their fullest.

Opportunity can present itself in a number of ways.  Attrition is one of them.  Whether you are in the office or on the field, there is always going to be someone above you who is leaving.  They could have been transferred to another office, been hurt during a play or just decided to quit.  Your job at that moment and time is to jump on that and attempt to insert yourself into that position.  Raise your standards for yourself and forcefully put yourself in to that new position. 

Placing yourself in that new position can be done in a number of ways.  You can suck up (not my preferred method), you can bring up past results (which may get you there but your past results have only gotten you to this point so more may be needed) or you can just raise your game (BINGO).  Step up.  Show the people above you that you get things done. 

I’ll use sport as a reference, “Remember, you miss every shot you don’t take.”  I don’t know who said that or if it is credited to one specific person, but I think it says a lot.  If you see that opportunity and you idly watch it as someone else jumps on it, then it is your own fault.  If you try and fail, that is much more noble and forgiving. 

I do know one young man who has just started taking more shots.  Believe me, it has paid off.  He has made things happen and helped his team to perform well.  He has done an excellent job of taking advantage of opportunity.  He began seizing opportunity many years ago when his older brothers would rough him up a bit when playing in the yard.  Instead of shying from it and running to Mom he embraced it and became one tough SOB. 

Hope everyone enjoyed Halloween and is ready for Thanksgiving.

- Jimmy

row2k video: HOCR11 - Men's Lwt 8, Jimmy Sopko - Row2k Video Coverage: Head of the Charles

Interview with Row2k following our Head of the Charles victory. Do I always talk out of the side of my mouth?

row2k video: HOCR11 - Men's Lwt 8, Jimmy Sopko - Row2k Video Coverage: Head of the Charles

Charles Weekend

I love racing at the Head of the Charles.  The first time I did it I was at The Gunnery School.  I had only raced 2 or 3 head races prior to it since I only rowed in the spring at Mathews.  I was too naive to realize how big this regatta actually was.  Ever since then I thought it was great and the greatness has magnified in my mind every year since.

My buddy Matt Muffelman from Mathews racing in the
Dartmouth Alumni boat.  

In the summer of 2010 I wrote a blog about friendship and rowing, The Friends Along the Way, for Shivani at shivspix.  I don't think any other regatta gives me the chance to catch up with EVERYONE than HOCR.  When you come to the Charles and walk around the finish line area or anywhere along the 3+ mile course you are bound to run in to old friends.  Yesterday alone, I saw friends from Mathews High School, The Gunnery School, Navy and Pocock Rowing Center in Seattle.  I haven't seen many of them for years, but HOCR delivers.  I also got to have dinner with one of my cousins who is going to law school at BC, bonus.

So, although I'm really glad and super excited to race this afternoon, it's been just as thrilling to catch up with old friends.  I wish you all the best.

- Jimmy  

October on the Charles

It’s that time of year again, my favorite time of year…  Head Race Season!  I don’t like it because I like head racing more than sprint racing. That would be ridiculous.  There is nothing better in racing than locking into the blocks with 5 other boats and seeing the green light.  However, head racing just so happens to occur during the fall, when the weather and scenery are awesome.  Racing when it’s 60 degrees out is amazing.  Although, sometimes it’s 60 degrees at NSRs, but it’s also 7 am, raining and we had to weigh in at 5 am, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. 

DO WORK!!!!

I’ll be racing at the Head of the Charles in Boston this weekend.  I and 8 other guys training in Oklahoma City are going to try to tear it up down the course.  I’m sitting bow and am super excited about it.  My main responsibility will be to set the boat so the others can do the real work AND I get to yell at all of the crews we pass (hopefully)!  That’s going to be fun. 

Over the years I've learned not to take head racing results too seriously.  There are too many outside variables that can affect results.  i.e. crashes, bad steering, variable winds, hitting buoys.  So I try to go out and just have a lot of fun and it's always easiest to do that on the Charles with thousands of people screaming for 3 miles!

If you are in the Boston area come by and watch the racing.  We go down around 4:30 on Sunday.  

True North

What is your true north?  I guess what I mean by that is what direction are you taking in life and what principles are you going to follow to get you there, what symbolizes you?  When I think of that question the image of a compass rose comes to mind.  For some reason, ever since I’ve been making adult decisions, I’ve always gravitated to that image.

As a plebe at Navy I had to memorize every fact about every monument, sculpture, building, ALL OF IT.  It was a pain in the ass and to be honest, I don’t remember all of it.  One thing I did realize after I graduated is there are a lot of beautiful things on the campus that I did not appreciate.  However, despite all of the historically significant monuments and buildings, the one I like the most is not even on the plebe memory list.  It’s a compass rose outside the Visistor’s center, off the historically significant beaten path.  When I go home to Annapolis to spend some much needed time with the wife, I like to run around the yard ( USNA speak for campus) and I usually enter through gate 1, pass Halsey Fieldhouse and run along the water.  Every time I do that I take a good look at the compass rose etched in stone (it’s also hard to miss since it’s about five feet in diameter).  I usually do it to orient myself, but at the same time I never do not look at it (double negative equals positive).  I like what it represents.

To me it represents what direction I’m going to take.  Yes, I’m a cheeseball, but whatever.  I’ve accepted it, along with the fact that I will most likely not have a son and my daughters will be coxswains, haha.  I guess the direction I want to take in life is embodied by principles of hard work, dedication, humility and family.  Almost every successful institution has a direction.  USNA and the Navy, for example have the core values of Honor, Courage and Commitment.    I like these core values because they are meaningful and concise.  

Another successful institution is Apple Inc.  I think of them because of the recent death of the innovator, Steve Jobs.  Their core values are not as concise, but definitely give the company a direction and are one of the reasons why they are one of the most successful companies in the world. 

Apple Inc.’s Corp Values

·  We believe that we’re on the face of the Earth to make great products.

·  We believe in the simple, not the complex.

·  We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make.

·  We participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.

·  We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us.

·  We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot.

·  We don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we’re wrong and the courage to change.

Both institutions have a direction that leads their mission and creates an excellent product. 

Core values can and should also be used in sport.   In my opinion each team should have a set of values that guides them.  It pains me to think this and I'm becoming more in tune with it as I get older, but sport is not just about winning or losing.  It's about growing as a person and a team's core values will help you become not only a great team, but a great person.  I'm going to use another service academy graduate as an example, Coach Mike Krzyzewski (known as Coach K) is a West Point grad and now one of the most successful college basketball coaches in the history of the game.  He coaches at Duke University and his core values are Communication, Loyalty and Unity.  These have been the core values of every team he has coached for the past 3 decades and helped him to an amazing record of 827-225 (.786).  

I'm not saying you have to adopt my, Apples' or Coach K's core values.  Not every person's should be the same, but the point is to have some so that you have a direction.  

So the next time you are trying to make a life or team decision, think about what defines you and apply that definition to the decision.  It should help you in achieving your true north.

Have a good one.

- Jimmy