“I have no idea what you are writing about, but that advice you just gave would be good for a lot of people.” So, while I’m thinking about it, allow me a serious moment here.
For people undergoing surgery:
• Expect the unexpected. Somehow something happens that can throw you if you let it.
• Judge improvement by the week, not by the day. • Be patient. Did you get me?
Be patient. It takes time. When it is over you won’t remember the bad.
• Do your rehab. This is a must. Sometimes it’s painful, but do your rehab.

Unrelated favorites:
1. Women and cats will do as they wish. Men and dogs should get used to this fact.
2. The game film looks suspiciously like the game. Coach Bum Phillips
3. On Coach Landry of the Dallas Cowboys: “Does the coach ever smile? Player (Walt
Garrison) “I don’t know, I’ve only been here three years”.
4. “…if you could have a conversation with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?”
Response: “Living—-you think I am stupid?” From Jim Hightower.
5. Eulogy at “Curly’s funeral. “God, we give you Curly. Don’t piss him off!”
From “City Slickers 2”.
6. From Coach Darrell Royal
A: …faster than small town gossip”.
B…”I had hoped God would be neutral”.
C ”You are “what-iffing”. Anybody can “what- if”.
7. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. W.B Yeats.

8. Every harlot was a virgin once. W. Blake
9. Courage is fear, holding on a minute longer. G. Patton
10. Buy the ticket, take the ride. Hunter Thompson
11. Don’t go around thinking the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. M. Twain
12. If today was a fish, I’d throw it back in.
13. Jesus was a Jew, yes, but only on his mother’s side. Stanley Ralph Ross.
14. It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life. Irish Proverb.
15. Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life a champion. Muhammad Ali
16. Expect problems and eat them for breakfast.
7. He that hath no children brings them up well.
18. A good scare is better than good advice.
19. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.
20. For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but phone calls taper off. Johnny Carson
21. Diplomacy is the art of saying “Nice doggie” until you can find a rock. Will Rogers. •22. One Father is worth more than a hundred schoolmasters. George Herbert
23. Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable. Plato
24.”…he that is without sin…Pick some up”. Barry Saunders
25. “I graduated with a 4.0, but it was my blood alcohol level.” James Carville.
26. “I cussed him out in Spanish, and he threw me out in English”. Lou Pinella, on being
thrown out of a game by umpire Armando Rodriguez.
27. “I can’t believe that out of 100,000 sperm, you were the quickest. Steven Pearl.
28. “All pro athletes are bilingual. They speak English and profanity.” Gordie Howe
29. “Thank you from the heart of my bottom”. Nick Faldo.
30. “I’ve been around since “Preparation A”. Jack McKeon
31. “Think you are a leader? Turn around and look back: if no one is following, you are just taking a walk.”
32. “It’s hard to kiss the lips at night that chew your ass out all day long”. Vince Gill in drag (You Tube)
33. I used to be Snow White, but I drifted. Mae West
34. I’ve been in more laps than a napkin. Mae West
35. I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died. Richard Diran •36. Schizophrenia beats dining alone.
38. “I’ve worked 3 weeks on this “impromptu” speech. Mark Twain.
39. The mystery masked man, he was smart,
He found himself a Tonto,
Cause Tonto did his dirty work for free.
But Tonto, he was smarter, and one day said, Kemo Sabe, kiss my ass.
I’ve bought a boat, and now I’m out to sea. Lyle Lovett Bob Dylan Quotes:
•On the “Ball Park Tour” with Willie Nelson. “We intend to touch all the bases, and get home safely”.
•There are no ex wives. Only additional wives. Willie Nelson
•Kick your shoes off, do not fear, and bring that bottle over here. I’ll
be your baby tonight.
•Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.
•Bob Dylan introduces a backup band as…”my wife, my ex wife, my next wife, and my girlfriend”
•High Water Every Where: Got a crazy love for blinding speed, Got a hopped-up mustang Ford. Jump into the wagon, Love, Throw your
panties overboard.
•I ain’t lookin’ to block you up. Shock or knock or lock you up, analyze you, categorize you. All I really want to do is baby, be friends with you.
•Living in the land of Nod, Trusting their fate to the hands of God. They pass by so silently, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee.
•In the dime store and bus stations, people talk of situations, read books, repeat quotations, draw conclusions on the wall. Some speak of the future, my love she speaks softly, she knows there’s no success like failure and that failure’s no success at all.
•I was raised in the country. I been working in the town. I been in trouble ever since I put my suitcase down.
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•Lots of water under the bridge, Lots of other stuff, too. Don’t get up gentlemen, I’m only passing through.
•People are crazy and times are strange. I’m locked in tight, I’m outta range. I used to care, but, things have changed.
•Well, the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy,
The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers.
•You’ve gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely But you know you only used to get juiced in it.
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street And now you find out you’re gonna have to get used it.
•I got sidetracked in El Paso, stopped to get myself a map,
Went the wrong way into Juarez with Juanita on my lap.
Then I went to sleep in Shreveport, woke up in Abilene
Wonderin’ why the hell I’m wanted at some town halfway between.
•To make you Feel My Love
Storms are howling on a raging sea,
And on the highways of regret.
The winds of change are blowing wild and free, You ain’t seen nothing like me yet.
•If your memory serves you well, You’ll remember you’re the one That called on me to call on them To get you your favors done.
Duck Dynasty:
•“My guess is she’ll do most of the talking” … Phil Robertson (on a conference with his Wife). •“The top ten times I’ve been in trouble always included Si”. Phil on brother Si
•“Healthy Friction” provides a family balance.
Justified:
•“That is the purpose of “organized crime.” It’s supposed to be organized.”
•“We don’t sell donuts, so why don’t you get your fat ass outta here.” (From roadhouse bartender)

From Bill Bryson (another favorite) and his ONE SUMMER (1927). This was the year of Babe Ruth and his herculean 60 home runs:
•”… let us note in passing that even with the benefit of steroids most modern baseball players couldn’t hit as many home runs as Babe Ruth on hotdogs.”
•” throwing at batters was a common strategy accepted by all. Burleigh Grimes of the Brooklyn Dodgers was famously bad tempered. He set a record of sorts by once throwing at a batter in the on-deck circle.”

Pat Conroy is certainly an American favorite particularly a Southern American favorite of mine, and legions. One of his new books, MY READING LIFE, details his choices, love of reading them, and thanking his “reading mentor”, one of his high school teachers. One would be wise to consult this inside “guide.”
One comment by Conroy stands out as I write this: “IF THERE IS A PROFESSION MORE VALUABLE IN THIS LIFE THAN TEACHING, I WISH SOMEONE WOULD TELL ME WHAT IT IS BEFORE I DIE.”

BRACKETOLOGY
Filling out “the brackets” have become an American ritual. Two guys took this further in their book entitled BRACKETOLOGY. Mark Reiter and Richard Sandomir took 64 items, or the size of the basketball brackets, and filled them in tournament fashion that played down to one winner, or champion, in each category. This is fun and unique work. I have listed some of finalists from a few of their brackets:
• Moments from NCAA tournament history: Laettner over Texas Western (Now, you see!) •Where were you moments: 9/11 over JFK?
• Jock films: Raging Bull over Field of Dreams.
• Leonard Elmore books: Kill Shot over Swag.
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• Golf swing thoughts: Focus on target over stay smooth and balanced.
• Marital arguments: “That’s the dumbest way to stack a dishwasher” over “When are we getting married?” (That surprised me, but so have a lot of my basketball picks).
• “HIP”: Miles Davis over “Young Bob Dylan”. “Young Bob” ousted “Old Bob Dylan” in the semi- finals. (Pictures young, old Dylan)

OLDIES
Richard Pryor, Jonathan Winters, Johnny Carson, Robin Harris, Jackie Gleason and the list goes on. If you don’t know these guys you missed great moments in comedy. Dean Martin and the roasts, Chuck BurrIs and the Gong Show. Still laughing. Here are some clips that a little research will render.
• Bob Nelson, His classic being his All -America football selections (“shoulda ma pads”).
• Any by Jonathan Winters. He was THE BEST of em all. Precursor to Robin Williams, his Maude Frickett, Elwood P. Suggins, and uncanny improvisations are tops.
• Amos and Andy. While banned, great. Red Foxx got away with the same thing.( Remember Iron jaw—-“…yeah, but can he do this?”). Flip Wilson, Eddie Murphy, Pryor was untouchable.
• Brother Dave Gardner? “Hail Caesar. Hell yes.”
• There was a football game on ESPN between South Carolina State and Grambling University. The game went eight overtimes. Damnedest game I ever saw. And I’VE WITNESSED A TON. I made a sincere and severe effort to procure a film of this classic. Still will offer considerable cash.
• The next few will take some research: 1. the squirrel maze. Fifty consecutive puzzles; they solve them all. You can’t defeat squirrels.
• Pumpkin chunking. On Sunday Morning-CBS. About the year 2000. Computer geeks bomb a lady’s mustang, a mile away.
• From MICROCOSMS (again, about 2000). I made every team watch that “dung beetle” roll that “ball”. After their viewing it, I would say nothing. Just stare at them until one of them figured it out: “Oh, I get it, Coach. No matter what it takes get the ball where it’s supposed to go.” AH—EDUCATION.
• Oh, and Robin Harris doing BEH BEH’S kids. Plus “Sweet Dick Willie” and DO THE RIGHT THING.
•Steve Martin, doing FLYDINI on the Johnny Carson Show. 82
•Bobby Rush from the introduction to Ken Burns jazz documentary. Featuring “Mizz Lowe”. OUTST ANDING!
•I heard David Sedaris bought a beach house in our town of Emerald Isle, N.C. years ago I mentioned an article David had written on Brother Paul. My nephew, Scott Ritter and wife, Denise, told me they went to school with David. Lots of Sedaris pub since then, but YOU CAN’T KILL THE ROOSTER is hilarious. Every time I go to town, I look for David. I want to find out more about Paul. (Google David and “the Rooster).
• Most of the jewels above can be “googled”, or “you-tubed”.

I’d like to share a copy of my writings, comments, and a collection of sources that have helped me.  Between the books and the blog, this a “haystack” of thoughts of various types.  It is, perhaps, a folder of inspiration that goes in many directions and is presented in no particular order.  Mainly it deals with coaching and teaching tennis  in America over the past fifty years. Lately I have concentrated on helping high school tennis teams, coaches, and players.  Some handpicked “lessons” are enclosed, excerpts taken from earlier writings, new blogs,other sources, etc.  I have doggedly tried to help enhance the amount of scholarship  money going to American men and women, as evidenced inside.    As Ray Charles once said, “You may not like all of my music, but hang on, I’ll find you.”

Download the full Helping file (160 Mb) here: helping-by-tom-parham

DARK HUMOUR
It comes from everywhere. Keep your eyes open. A short pencil is better than a long memory. Like a lot of people my age , I read newspaper obituaries. I think I started during my drinking days. There were mornings I felt so bad I think I was checking to see if I was listed. There are lots of ways to write of one’s demise. Some write their own, surely ahead of time. Here are some examples of gallows humor.
• A man named Tom Traylor had paid in advance to be cremated . A cancer patient, Tom wanted to renegociate the price. When he signed the original contract Tom said that he had weighed about 180 lbs. Cancer treatment had affected his weight downward to about 140pounds. Tom reasoned he’d lost easily about 30% of himself. Shouldn’t he get a discount?
• Another interesting observation about obituaries came from a Professor Clotfelter of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The good professor was not only an observer of obituaries, he had strong feelings about all the hub bub of attacks on the integrity of the great University and the controversy surrounding athletics at Carolina.
Professor concluded, and I hope I accurately paraphrasing his logic, that the citizens held sports, and particularly college basketball in extremely high regard. None more than the Tar Heel faithful. BUT—-Carolina people weren’t the only ones. Quite often in the Old North State obituary loyalties were firmly and proudly proclaimed. Sometimes even in opening statements as such: “Joe Jones, an ardent Duke fan…” Or, “Mr. Smith, a lifelong supporter of Deacon Basketball yadda, yadda.” Here are two the professor cited for support:
• When this North Carolina State gridiron faithful could no longer attend games in person he was despondent. He really missed the live action. Still it was reported that he never missed an Wolfpack game on television. He watched every game in front of his home TV. Frequently in a three point stance.
• Clotfelter did admit fanaticism was not limited to North Carolina. He cited a man from Wisconsin who stated in his obituary:” I love the Badgers, the Green Bay Packers, and most of my grandchildren.”
And then the man from Ohio, who requested that his six pallbearers be members of the Cleveland Brown’s football team. Asked why? he reasoned “…I want to be LET DOWN one last time by the Browns.”
•One person concluded: “Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they would tell you how the person died.” I said “dark”.