Having a glass of wine or two at Duffy’s Sports Grill the other night and because we’re in the middle of spring training in South Florida, I got to sit next to a major league scout. After chit chatting with him for a while about the coming season I couldn’t resist bragging to him about my grandson Nathaniel.(shown above at bat) Nathaniel I told him loves the game so much that he’s memorized every statistic that he can get his hands not to mention that he’s also a pretty good baseball player. The scout responded by saying that he hoped my grandson was also good at something else because as he said he had a stat that Nathaniel’s not going to like. He went on to claim that less than 1% of the kids playing baseball today will ever be drafted. Now as much as “N” loves stats and I love him, there’s no way that I’m passing that one on.
Thinking about the road ahead for the baseball kids I started wondering what the odds were for a kid who was just starting a rock & roll band would ever get a record deal? Thank god nobody warned me because when I was a kid I just knew that I was either going to be a professional football player (141 lbs) or a “Rock Star.” Hey as they say “ignorance is bliss” so like a fool I quit school because whatever they were trying to teach me it didn’t seem to be helping me achieve my goals.
Years later when my daughter Candis who is a singer-songwriter asked me how a kid from a small town outside of Winnipeg called Transcona could figure out how not only to get a record deal but also release four records and get all of them on the charts? I had to tell her the truth because you dare not lie to your daughter … The truth is honey I only got it done because I was too stupid to know that I couldn’t.
A BUNCH OF OTHER WORDS THAT ALSO DON’T RHYME…
If you keep counting your assets you’ll always be profitable.
We have more ways to communicate now than we have things to communicate.
I don’t think you can ever un-hear somebody saying something despicable to you nor you saying something equally as nasty to someone else.
Almost every day I discover another person I know who is suffering from depression. Now I’m wondering if it’s become the new norm.
A teacher is one of the very few people in the world who has the opportunity to assist someone who may discover or invent something that could change the world.
They have a name for all the bad things you did as a kid that seem to last forever. Consequences!
Does anybody have any idea what the hell they’re saying on the speaker in the drive-through lane at Mickey Dees?
Most things that they claim are being done for safety reasons have little to do with safety and a lot to do with incompetence.
9 times out of 10 a creative person can whip a gifted person. However, if a gifted person ever learns creativity none of the rest of us stand a chance.
Just ’cause your left doesn’t make you right.
We only exist because of a few inches of top soil and a little rain.
Have you as I have ever wondered who “they” are?
When the president refers to all the hard working Americans he’s not talking about government employees right?
If you plan on playing any music on AM radio it better be very unique.
I only tease the people I like.
Rev up parties do little where as rating parties change people’s lives.
A good product produces more revenue than selling does.
The day Ron Chapman told me that he wanted to be big enough to have difficulty walking down a Dallas street I ordered a new ‘Vette because I knew that we were already half way there.
Most folks only change when something very emotional happens to them.
The only place on earth where the government pays for health care, education, clothing, housing, and utilities is a place called prison.
The moment Walt Disney found someone who could draw Mickey better than him he fired himself.
I remember living in Indianapolis when we were all excited because they were predicting that an Indy car was going to do 200 mph on the track that year. Now, my buddy, Bob Christy sells Dodge’s right off the showroom floor that will hit 206.
Mr. Fairbanks once told me that what America needed most was stronger rats.
Using a poem, a song, a movie, a play, a dance, a painting, a sculpture or a photograph to communicate your point of view may do wonders but a kiss does it better.
Much more @ GeorgeJohns.com and on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Would love to read and respond to your comments and appreciate you sharing my musings with others.
I was once told that a wealthy person is one who can see something in a store window, and without a second thought, just go in a buy it! The same person told me that, when questioned, that you should drive six miles from the center of town, and buy land. In 1963, that philosophy would have worked very well.
Tough to get rich while just observing.
Hiring a guy who could sing and write songs also played a big part in getting the recording contracts, heh, heh.
By the way, a big portion of the kids that don’t get to the majors depends on what time of year they were born. The later in the year, the less the chance of making it. They tend to give up because the older kids born in the same year are usually better.
If you look at it, 1% must be quite a pile of kids, considering how many play the game.
If Nathanial knew that stat, it could be a good thing as it may make him try harder to reach that lofty goal.
Always good to have a singer songwriter in a band Bruce but back in the day none of us knew that because even the Beatles were doing mostly “covers.”
The reason most kids will never make the “bigs” is why they are paid so much.