Fully Committed

Riding down the highway the other day, I noticed a car, first because it was a brilliant yellow Mustang, which I thought was cool, and then because it had Red Sox stickers on it. (I'm a big Sox fan). Upon closer inspection (traffic was at a standstill), I saw that it was a young female driver, who obviously has a great love for the Red Sox, and for Dustin Pedroia in particular. She had the Red Sox logo on her license plate and in the center of the rear window, and the oval shaped "15" (Pedroia's number for you National League fans) sticker in the lower right corner. "MVPedroia" decorated the lower portion of the rear window, all adding up to a BIG LOVE for the very accomplished infielder.

We have a great tendency to wear our hearts on our sleeves, as it were, for sports teams and causes, our country or our candidate. I recommend that each of us be even more committed to ourselves. Not for selfish reasons, but to be better people, for ourselves and for those around us. It brings to mind the safety instructions on airplanes: the flight attendants remind us, in case of emergency, to put on our own oxygen masks before helping others.

It's simple - if you're going to do it, be fully committed.

How 'bout a cuppa . . . green tea for Terry

Perhaps other Red Sox fans in Boston have heard Terry Francona's Bigelow Green Tea ad on Red Sox Radio WEEI. I heard it for the first time recently and found it funny initially, but maybe it's right in character. Terry's public persona is quiet, rational, sometimes humorous and I think green tea is a good drink for him (and his friend, Joe Torre). I wonder if Terry knows that you can swish tea instead of mouthwash to prevent cavities? This is according to a study at the U of Illinois in Chicago. Maybe that's why Terry has such a nice smile? Here's Terry with Joe Torre and Phil Simms, along with Cindi Bigelow talking about tea.

I went to the Bigelow Tea company site and learned that Bigelow is a local company, started in Fairfield, CT, in 1945 by Ruth Campbell Bigelow. Since then, Bigelow has grown from a one-product entreprenurial business to probably the most popular specialty-teas company in the U.S. And it is still 100% family-owned. Remarkable! Third generation Bigelow President, Cindi Bigelow, recently honored as one of the "Top 100 Women in Grocery" by Progressive Grocer, lives by this mantra: "Do the right thing and good things will follow." Couple that with the health benefits of green tea, and success is inevitable.