New Blog Posts at JoeJacobi.com

New posts about the Whitewater World Cup in Prague at:

http://www.joejacobi.com/

Looking Good in Beijing from this Platform

The countdown to the Olympic Games in Beijing reads "60 Days" today and with a new role in the Olympic Games as the Canoe/Kayak color analyst for NBC, I couldn't be more excited. Fellow kayakers, friends, and family have been picking up the pace on questions like, "When will kayaking air on televison?" or "What are the U.S. prospects for a medal?"

The "new and different" elements to this Olympic Games are far-reaching and compelling. At the centerpoint, we have China, a huge and diversified host-country enthusiastically pulling together to put on an event of extreme national pride. No matter where your positions with China lie, if you tune into the Olympic Games this summer, your feelings and ideas about China are likely to be different than they are now.

And tuning into the Games will be a new and different experience too. With 1,400 hours of coverage on the various NBC networks, there will be plenty of action to catch at any time of day but the real progress driving the coverage of the Games is on the internet. At NBCOlympics.com, you'll be producing your own Olympic broadcast with live feeds of events and various options for watching them, customized highlight reels, and re-broadcasts of anything and everything that appeared on the network broadcast meaning if you don't want to watch kayaking at 2:30 in the morning, don't worry - wake up and watch us in the morning.

With 2,200 hours of internet coverage at NBCOlympics.com, updates and alerts on your cell phone on top of the traditional broadcast channels, these Olympic Games will be shared in a more personal way than ever before and I'm honored to help tell the stories behind the sport of Canoe/Kayak and its athletes.

Much more coming about the Games here at the "Gold Medal Living" blog and the Canoe/Kayak page at NBCOlympics.com but with 60 days to go, it seemed like a nice time to step back and enjoy the Olympic view, particularly from this platform.

Turning to Quick Thinking

Tune into any of the 24 hour news networks and given the state the state of the economy, you’d think people are not going anywhere this summer, not doing anything fun, or not learning something new. Here at the Ocoee River in Tennessee, the recent surge of visitors on and off the water suggests an evolving trend – people are in fact prioritizing the idea of getting out of town and putting themselves in different surroundings. In other words, they’re seeking live.

The compelling difference right now compared to past years is the advanced planning that goes into such travel – virtually none at all. Getting away is becoming “last-minute” in nature and people are simply showing up at the front door at our raft company and kayak school unannounced ready for adventure. Jackson Kayaks Founder and President, Eric Jackson, suggested as much in a recent interview saying, “Even in these times, Americans don’t want to compromise on lifestyle.”

The upside of a down economy is that people re-adjust and look for improved solutions. They change past patterns that haven’t produced good results. They stretch themselves into trying new and better things. And they find creative and effective ways to grow, learn, and do better.

These attributes parallel some of the fundamental skills and benefits of navigating rapids on the river and there’s much more to be learned on whitewater that translates to our lives away from the river. Maybe that’s why the river is a good match for the way people want to spend time away from home at the moment. To that end, similar as how we approach the current world and challenges around us, kayaks and rafts are always doing one of two things on the river – working with it or fighting against it. Which one are you doing?

Joe's Baseballism - The Sequel: A Little More Baseball Talk... & Starbucks too...

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Baseballisms.com! You have provided me with a special broadcasting experience that could very well prove to be as useful as any other to do date while on assignment at the Olympics in Beijing this summer. The only question that remains is will you be there to comfort and support me with Starbucks coffee?

For the "rest of the story" on my first Baseballism, click here:

http://baseballisms.com/the-day-everything-changed-for-baseballisms.html

Eric Jackson's Chattanooga Olympic Zone Profile

Back home in Tennessee, I'm fortunate to work with WRCB TV, the NBC affiliate in Chattanooga. I host the "Chattanooga Olympic Zone" in which we profile Chattanooga-related Olympic stories for the evening news broadcast. Since my 1992 Olympic teammate, Eric Jackson, is competing here in Charlotte and houses his fabulous kayaking manufacturing company, Jackson Kayaks, just up the road in Sparta, we figured Eric was an obvious choice for our feature segment. Working in television shouldn't be this much fun and I couldn't be more thrilled that Eric and his daughter Emily will be competing here in Charlotte at the Olympic Trials. Click the link below to see Eric's Chattanooga Olympic Zone profile:

http://www.wrcbtv.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=2409907&h1=The%20Olympic%20Zone%3A%20E.J.%20Sparta&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=183900&LaunchPageAdTag=Olympics&activePane=info&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//www.wrcbtv.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D8210608&rnd=84621745

The Big Mirror

This being the first Olympic Trials of the previous four in which I am not competing, I’ve been wondering what it is about these Olympic Trials that would appeal to spectators, internet users, or viewers of the MSNBC broadcast coming next month. Of course there’s the pure nature of a race, particularly a race of the magnitude where Olympic dreams either continue on or come to a close. There’s also the natural attraction to whitewater and the venue hosting this event, the U.S. National Whitewater Center.

But watching from the side of the river as opposed to being in it, I’ve come to see the Olympic Trials as that of a reflection of ourselves and our own lives. How do we identify with athletes and their competitive values? How do their athletic characteristics parallel our own life pursuits?

Watching a paddler like Benn Fraker gets you thinking about such things. More than any other single athlete in our program, Benn does not blink an eye at taking on challenges that are beyond him. Whether it’s the difficulty of his practice courses or the level of competitor he is chasing, his bar is set at the top. It is people like Benn who take on such challenges that put themselves in uncomfortable situations every day. They also know it is a special path to raising standards and performing better.

Maybe it has been a while since you’ve evaluated how effectively you throw yourself into your own “beyond reach” situations but watching Benn paddle makes you think about it. He and roughly 130 other athletes will be testing their competitive style here in Charlotte this weekend – against the river, themselves, and each other. For those of us watching, it’s like standing in front of a big mirror. Which reflection will you see?

The Source of a River

It’s not uncommon for kayakers to ponder about the source of the river they’re paddling on a given day. Such thinking contributes to the humility and appreciation of an activity like kayaking. Here at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, site of this year’s U.S. Olympic Trials for Whitewater Slalom, the venue is more of a symbol of where the sport is heading more than where it’s been. Having said that, the concept of powerful whitewater rapids in Charlotte where a river never existed before is increasingly becoming a more important part of kayaking’s evolving history.

Back in 2000, two visionaries from Charlotte, Vic Howie and Chet Rabon, attended the Olympic Whitewater Trials on Tennessee’s Ocoee River, site of the 1996 Olympic Whitewater events. Watching the competition on this modified natural river, Vic and Chet kept asking themselves, “Why can’t we do this in Charlotte?” Back in my living room that evening, a bottle of wine, a drawing on a cocktail napkin, and some spirited conversation and brainstorming lifted the concept of the “Charlotte Whitewater Park” up off the ground.

Of course it went further than that. Upon returning to Charlotte, they knocked on doors, introduced themselves and their idea, and shared their vision with anyone who would listen – they knew that openly and honestly engaging people and building alliances would be the only way to gain the public trust needed to complete such a project in Charlotte.

Much has transpired over the past eight years but one of Vic and Chet’s major milestones is about to happen this weekend. The Olympic Trials will be contested here in Charlotte on this venue – a venue that was conceived at one of the great American institutions of sport for “dreaming big,” the Olympic Trials. So with that, U.S. Whitewater athletes take their next step towards Beijing this weekend. And if any of the paddlers here stop for a moment to acknowledge the source of this river, they won’t have to wonder where the source starts – they can just hop out of their boats, shake hands with them and say thanks. I know I will.

Thank you, Oklahoma City

The racing between the start and finish lines at the Flatwater Olympic Trials this past weekend could have taken place just about anywhere and a good, capable group of athletes would have taken a step closer to paddling at the Olympic Games this summer in Beijing. But for the elements that make a canoe/kayak event special, memorable and world-class, Oklahoma City and its Chesapeake Boathouse set a new benchmark for paddlesports and on a personal note, I just wanted to say thank you to the amazing people who made the Olympic Trials in Oklahoma City a reality.

Organizers, volunteers, coaches, athletes, media, and sponsors worked together seamlessly and the result went far beyond fabulous kayak racing. The inclusion and influence of paddlesports on the way Oklahoma City lives, works, and plays by far exceeds the impact of what I thought was possible in a city of this size.

As I turn my attention to Whitewater Olympic Trials this week in Charlotte, thank you Oklahoma City for sharing your community’s spirit with us – the sport is already better for it.

Moving the Gridiron

The Olympic Trials season is upon us and over the next few weeks I will stretch far to make a case why top-contending U.S. kayakers such as whitewater competitor Scott Parsons and flatwater competitor Carrie Johnson ought to be as relevant to you as some of our well-known, mainstream sports stars such as Brett Favre or Mia Hamm. But before sharing the touchdown-throwing and goal-scoring qualities found in our country’s best kayakers, here’s a rare glimpse of the opposite – the effect of kayaking-centric qualities on a small-town quarterback-in-the-making.

On a recent trip to California’s Kern River, I paddled with a talented young kayaker, Evan Moore. At 12 years-old, Evan is a Kern River veteran – his family owns and operates Sierra South, a fabulous raft and kayak company. Even at such a young age, kayaking is a big influence on Evan and he has some impressive results to show for it including winning a medal at last year’s Junior Olympics in Colorado. Evan’s kayaking pursuits do not make the front of the local paper’s sports section (yet) but as the quarterback of his school football team, his mainstream sports pursuits do.

The culture of sport in America reserves a special place for the quarterback on a football team. We typically associate such a position with leadership, status, and success. There’s also a natural tendency to examine the qualities of the people who take on these jobs and compare them with our own choices, work ethic, and abilities. So from where do these traits come?

Not often does the answer involve kayaking. But, in Evan’s case, a clear sense of humility, personal responsibility, and willingness to take risk comes straight out his life-lessons on the river. Kayaking is a sport where with each paddle-stroke through the water, you’re constantly reminded that you’ll never be bigger or stronger than the river but working with its strengths and power can get you places that you never thought possible.

It’s a different twist for the type of person whom the rest of us would typically label as “Everyone’s All-American” but this 12 year-old with a great head on his shoulders does an outstanding job of positioning the attributes of kayaking in his life and the game of football is better for it.

Kayaking's Infectious Smile

For a few weeks every four years, Olympic-level whitewater slalom racing enjoys the bright lights and world-wide attention that only the power of the Olympic stage can deliver. From the athletes to media to sponsors to mainstream sports fans alike, it’s a short window in which a niche sport like kayaking enjoys pure sunlight and then tries to sustain that energy for another Olympic cycle.

So, as the 2008 Olympic selection gets set to start in the coming weeks, I begin to wonder what are the pieces from this Olympic run that will fuel this sport for another few years following the Beijing Games? Of course the U.S. program has a few bona fide medal contenders and genuine people like Scotty Parsons, who set an impeccable standard of performance and character. But, while observing “seriously good” racer after racer nimbly blitzing their 11-foot carbon boats through the slalom course at the U.S. Open Whitewater Championships this past weekend, I couldn’t help to feel that the already wide gap between kayak racing and kayaking had just widened out some more.

And then, something changed. First, Emily Jackson barrels down the course exuding happiness from ear to ear. A few minutes later, her father and my ’92 Olympic teammate, Eric, flexes his grin while making the tricky course look too easy. Finally, Dane, the youngest of the family, is happiest when changing the challenge of navigating whitewater and gates into a blissful learning on-they-fly pursuit. Together, these three are the heart and soul of kayaking’s infectious smile, the brand logo of the family’s world-class kayak company, Jackson Kayaks. The smiling symbol represents an attitude that has changed kayaking and redefined what fun is on the river. For a few minutes at one of the most intense slalom races of the spring, the three Jacksons have made me forget that whitewater slalom is an elite endeavor that is extremely hard in which to break in and belong. For a few minutes, the nervous anticipation of family and friends watching from the shore has turned into a simple and fun spectator experience.

The one brand that has profoundly impacted kayaking more than any other in the past decade is the one brand that whitewater slalom needs more than ever. The Jacksons acutely understand what their paddling stands for and they share it with others in connective ways that go far beyond what kayaking people thought was possible in this sport. Quite simply, nobody sells “smiles on the river” better than the Jacksons.

More than any other segment of kayaking, whitewater slalom racing could really use a few smiles right now and that’s about to happen.

While racing at the U.S. Open last weekend, Eric and Emily qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials next month in Charlotte, NC where their energy and approach will be a welcome addition to the biggest whitewater slalom event held in the U.S. since the 1996 Olympic Games on Tennessee's Ocoee River. Their approach and style will stand out and resonate with every touch-point of the event. While infectious smiles alone will not get the Jacksons to Beijing this summer, it’s reassuring to know their spirit will be a part of the “Olympic journey.” And maybe for the first time in a long while, the gap between kayak racing and kayaking becomes a little smaller.

(photo courtesy: Bob Hollifield of www.ColemanRoadProductions.com)

A Very Thin Line

I love thin lines. Thin lines in politics. Thin lines in business. Thin lines on the river and on a bike. But, the thinnest line I’ve come to know between man and dog starts and ends with Jeff King. Jeff King is professional musher and as I head to bed on Tuesday night, still a four-time winner of the most famous dog sled race in the world, the Iditarod. But, if you call Jeff an athlete, he’ll be the first to correct you – “I’m a coach!” he says proudly.

He’ll tell you that his real “athletic” work during the race starts as soon as the team arrives at rest areas – getting the dogs fed quickly so they can get some sleep is critical in 1,000 plus mile trek across Alaskan tundra. As for the “work” that gets done while the sled in his motion, Jeff is paying attention to the team – how they’re “getting along,” working together, and ultimately determining the best combination that will allow his team to finish strong.

But for Jeff and his family, the Iditarod is hardly a race. It’s way of life. And one that doesn’t stop. Nearly every touch point in this man’s life connects with his passion for living and this is where that thin line gets thinner. In fact, one of the coolest things we did on one of our Alaska trips was to visit his kennels, which thousands of people do each year. While many would view this as one great business operation, Jeff sees it as a way to acclimate the pups to large crowds - another opportunity to gain an edge, do better, and simply keep learning.

When we visited his kennels just outside of Denali in 2006, Jeff couldn’t wait to start talking “performance” – every aspect of performance you could imagine – physical training, mental preparation, nutrition, alternative training methods, and equipment technology to name a few. The conversation weaved back and forth between humans and canine so many times, it just eventually blurred into one. Which is where I believe Jeff is most comfortable and at his best too.

People ought to have more thin lines in their lives – they are good for your perspective and good for your soul. Thin lines are places where “passion for living” happens.

Sometime between when most Americans went to bed on Tuesday night and when they woke up on Wednesday morning, the 2008 Iditarod’s first and second place positions on the podium will be known. Jeff will have finished in one of those two spots and of course, the margin between first and second will have been, by all Iditarod standards, a very thin line. Where else would you find Jeff King?

Dancing vs Fighting

Whitewater kayakers learn and re-learn this lesson every time they head to the water – if you’re not working with the river, you’re working against it. No matter how proficient you are paddling through rapids, one fundamental rule of whitewater kayaking never changes – you’re never stronger than the river.

Life mirrors the river too in that the field on which we play also has energy to give and take – and in navigating its challenges, we either dance with that energy or fight against it.

In the world of politics, when candidates shout at me how much they will “fight” to win, the red flags go up. In the world of business, when CEOs use analogies of war, I tune out. In the world of sports, when coaches speak about the struggles of achieving success, I instantly wonder if there isn’t a better way.

For seven consecutive years, bicycle racing television commentator, Phil Liggett, has often used the phrase, “Dancing on the Pedals” when describing the way Lance Armstrong “glided” UP the sides of French mountains the way most of us could hope to “glide” down. Sure, there’s an output of serious work there but before that, there’s taking whatever you can get out the mountain first. Surfers use the same principle with the wave, mountain bikers with the trail, and kayakers with the river.

Of course there’s going to be challenge on the road to living better and perseverance plays a big part in overcoming obstacles. But knowing yourself and the field on which you’re playing are key “game-changing” dynamics throughout the journey of getting there.

As kayakers know, there’s plenty of energy out on the river and most of them will tell you, “It’s never too late to dance.”

Escaping What?

In starting a blog, I started to read a lot more blogs. It’s astonishing how many posts there are about escaping your job, your office, your company, your cubicle, your co-workers, your commute, your home, your neighbors, your friends, and even your family. In other words, “escaping” your life.

As someone living the outdoor/adventure lifestyle, this strikes me as fairly drastic thinking. Sure we want to do better in all facets of our lives, raise standards, be happier and more enlightened. But what is realistic and most likely to put us on such a road?

Too often I see people trade out their current lives to “start over” again here in the mountains. Drawn by the appeal of anything that is the antithesis of their current existence, a new home, a new culture, and a new environment make for a huge change. But too often, it doesn’t work out so well. It was too much change too quickly and people were never well situated to gain a decent "outside looking in" perspective of themselves and successfully evaluate such a change in the first place. They never quite knew or understood what it was that they were escaping.

Over the years, the happiest people I’ve seen (and continue to see) on the trails and rivers seem to achieve great balance in their lives with a deep understanding of how the activities they love doing integrate into their “bigger picture.” In other words, they are intentional about what they “live for” as opposed to what they are “escaping from.”

I enjoy encouraging and supporting friends to follow paths toward happier pursuits. I’d be the first to admit that changing “realities” is one exciting journey. But on such an important journey, getting the “big result” requires a lot of bite-sized change. “Wholesale Change” thinking is powerful, but implementing small, attainable, and tangible goals into your current lifestyle starts moving you in a better direction.

Where do you make your "tough decisions?"

The daily mountain bike ride or paddle on the river is a routine part of my life. Sure, it's good, healthy, and a little out-of-the ordinary exercise but there's more in it for me than that. It's become the glue that holds my life together. I count on this time in the outdoors to help me evaluate how I take risk, build trust in relationships, be comfortable in my own skin, and evolve my perspective on the world. It's a place to form innovative ideas and make the tough decisions that need to be made in life.

Which got me thinking, where are people when they are dwelling on life's critical decisions? I fear that for many, such places too often include the "parade of taillights," the slow procession of red lights each morning or evening winding down a road four lanes wide and as far into the distance as the eye can see. While this environment may be helpful in deciding what you don't want and where you don't want to be, it is pretty limiting in deciding what you do want in life and where you really want to go.

So what's one to do? While mountain biking and kayaking may not be directly out your door, the "outdoor lifestyle" is. People are increasing using parks, lakes, trails, and paths for their daily "Time-Out"and increasingly letting such amenities contribute to living well. And even better, people are creating their own personal or shared outdoor space - a deck, patio, or garden.

On a recent trip to Dallas/Fort Worth, I was visiting a kayaking friend in his busy surburban neighborhood. Living outside of a town of about 300 people myself, I'm always a little overwhelmed at first by the volume and density of metro areas like Dallas/Fort Worth. But once at my friend's house, we stepped out on to his patio and were instantly "removed." This friend has embraced and incorporated such space and the outdoors in general into the lifestyle that he and his family enjoy. Moreover, it played a critical part in deciding to move forward with his dream of bringing whitewater park to the Dallas/Fort Worth area in hopes that many more people might derive similar benefits for themselves, their families and friends.

In the simplest form, that is what "Gold Medal Living" is all about. Thoughtfully and purposefully using the outdoors to progress your best lifestyle and positively influence your relationships with others.

Look for more thoughts, ideas, and life lesson from the outdoors right here on the "Gold Medal Living" blog.