Fridays with Mac: Delightful Detours

It’s the time of year when we pause to give thanks for the blessings, engage warmly with beloved brethren and eat far too much food. And to think? So many of the blessings, at least for me, would NEVER have occurred had this roller coaster somebody coined life not thrown a naive Missouri lad many curveballs. Trust me, being a competitive chat, I took a big swing at the ball, but whiffed mightily more than once. Well, in retrospect, maybe not.

Life, it’s what gets in the way of our best laid plans, right? However, quite often those unexpected and unwanted twists and turns lead to some pretty cool stuff. For instance….

The wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with one of my true mentors, former University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney. It’s well documented, the Hall of Fame coach has Alzheimer’s. Yep. But the dude is still coaching. Nobody’s more exuberant in exhorting an ol’ washed up sports television guy to pour heart and soul into lessening the impact of homelessness and increase the opportunities in education than “Billy Mac from Hackensack.” But wait, there’s more. I’ve written often about how supportive McCartney was when the young sports guy CBS4Denver assigned to “Get in the back pocket of the CU football program” was going through his first divorce. Tough times. Each week an admitted “Wounded Duck” would get a hand-written note from the only coach to ever lead the Buffs to a national title. Those letters imploring me to prevail against what ails. I’ll never forget Mac’s tender heart in that trying time. All the relationships with the McCartney family and others from Buff Nation? Players, coaches, their families, administrators and fans? Priceless.?

Wouldn’t have ever happened if MY plan would have unfolded. That plan was to be a major league ballplayer by 22, a member of the 3,000-hit club by 40 and into Cooperstown by the ripe ol’ age of 45. That was my plan. If not for freakish head and upper-body injuries my senior year in high school, this southpaw outfielder who could run, throw, field, hit and hit with power would have had a chance to pursue those dreams. It didn’t happen because the injuries were too debilitating to play baseball at an elite level. But guess what? That life-changing moment set in motion - it took awhile - a journey leading to earning a master’s degree in journalism at Mizzou, entering the television sports world and coming to Denver in 1988 to work at a station, then “Home of the CU Buffs.” What a blessing life pivoting in a different direction has brought to me. In all likelihood, the two “Mac’s” never meet if my baseball plans unfolded as desired. Humm.

And then there’s my amazing bride. Good buddy Bob Dernier, who played a decade In the big-leagues as an outfielder with the Cubs and Phillies, likes to joke, “Mac, you’re a good two-strike hitter.” Amen to that. Had two women who blessed this knucklehead with two amazing children, son from first and daughter from second, not decided to take their lives in different directions? The door would not have been open for a Chicago native to veer in and change things forever. We’re both active social animals with significant networks but the odds of Kathleen Ann Gans and Mark McIntosh ever crossing paths had the latter still been married? Slim and none and, apparently, Slim was just seen slipping out the back door. In other words, connecting with Kathy? It ain’t happening.

We all have our stuff. As long as we’re drawing a breath? It’s always gonna be that way. It’s just the way it is. However, and this is something emphasized over and over in A Stronger Cord’s work with those on the comeback trail from addiction, incarceration and homelessness, if we can somehow challenge our minds to consider, “What can I learn from this?” Perhaps, in the long run, something absolutely beautiful will rise from the ashes of disappointment and despair. A Phoenix.?

An incredible friendship with McCartney and Buff Nation. Ditto with darling wife. Born from adversity. So thankful for the rich blessings each has bestowed upon one lucky fella. It’s my thanksgiving prayer you discover similar joys from unpredictable and undesired, but eventually delightful, detours through time.