Two Different Men, One phrase

Thinking of two individuals whom have had some sort of influence on my life was a simple task. I selected two coaches, my former high school coach and one of my recent college coaches.

Greg Gano, my high school coach is a man that has influenced me in many ways. Most high school coaches usually only care about winning and their players on field performance. Coach Gano on the other hand was more than a coach. Day and in and day out he demonstrated great character, dignity and great leadership skills. Coach Gano was the perfect role model.

The second letter that I chose to write was to my coach from this past season. For the past four years Mark Banker has also had a huge impact on my life. Coach Banker made my transition from high school to college a lot easier. Banks emphasis how important it was to work hard day in and day out. Off the field he was some what of a father figure. Being from California and coming to Corvallis, OR was a huge culture shock to me and Banks understood this and provided me with some very helpful advice and let me know that he was always here for me.

I consider myself lucky to have played and learned from both, Coach Gano and Coach Banker. So when asked to write a letter to two individuals who had influenced me, it was a no brainer. I decided to write both coaches a letter similar to one another of course they had some tweaks here and there but the purpose of the letter was very similar, just letting them know how much I appreciated them as coaches, mentors and as friends. My next task was to figure out which one I would email and which letter would I send via snail mail. I figured since I wanted both coaches to receive the letters at the same time it was best that I emailed Coach Gano who was back in California. With Banks being closer in distanced it was easier for me to hand write his letter and simply put it in his mail boxes.

I purposely delivered these letters on Friday to see which coach would respond right away and which coach would respond over the weekend. I predicted Coach Gano would respond right away due to the fact that his letter was sent through email and I figured Banks on the other hand would be too tied up in one of his numerous off-season obligations that college coaches usually face.

After waiting a couple hours I received a call from Coach. Surprisingly the voice on the phone wasn’t that of Coach Gano, it was the voice of Mark Banker. Although I was surprised that it was Banks rather then Coach Gano who responded first the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I may have thought these two coaches would receive these letters at the same time but thinking about it later it was much easier for Banks to go through his mailbox then it was for Coach Gano to sit down and check his email. I know personally I check my email numerous times of the day and only check my mailbox once a day. It made sense to me, despite checking my email numerous times a day; it is my mailbox in which I check first.

My prediction was wrong and Banks was the winner. In fact neither one of the coaches wrote a letter back. The two choose to call instead of responding in a written letter. It shows how much technology is taking over in from a communicational standpoint. In Postman’s writing he talked about how information used to be sent through telegrams and only travel as fast as the train could go. These days with technology on the rise we can send letters and receive responses in the same day. As for both there response being via phone it just shows us the value of the mobile phone for communicational purposes and how easily it is for someone to simply pick up the phone and talked to someone rather than writing it down.