Gold Standard!

July 19, 2008 at 8:18 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

It’s time for the Big man to acknowledge the Big heart of a little guy.  I’m talking about Duncanville resident and Olympian Luis Yanez.

Yanez is USA Boxing’s light-flyweight representative at the worlds games, he’s the teams Captain and until last week had been suspended and had to fight for reinstatement because he was awol from USA Boxing’s camp in Colorado Springs for several weeks.

The truth is that Yanez’s initial disappearance had a lot to do with the fact he and Team Yanez, the group of supporters who’ve nurtured his career,  simply weren’t getting along well with the more regimented training of the Team USA Coaching Staff.   Familiar surroundings is what got Yanez to the Olympics, Team Yanez’s mindset simply is why fix something that isn’t broke? 

That said, they should have had better communication with USA Boxing, which claims Yanez simply left them without any explanation and ultimately suspended him nearly derailing his chance for Gold.

What was unknown is that in Yanez’s defiance at returning to Colorado over coaching beefs, something called life happened.  Yanez’s sister, who’s battling drug addiction had to be checked into a hospital by her family and essentially forced to stay in rehab.  

If you know anything about people addicted to drugs, when I say forced to stay in rehab, I mean someone better physically be there or an addict will simply leave.  That calling for that next hit is a powerful thing, it defies all logic and is unimaginable to most but real to everyone who’s been exposed to it.

Bulmaro Yanez, Luis’ father, was doing the best he could, working his job and trying to care for his daughter but let’s face it, a man has got to sleep! 

That’s when Luis, stepped up.  In the middle of training for the most important moment of his life, the Olympics, a world stage event where a medal performance, especially Gold, could secure Yanez’s future financially for generations, he agreed to watch over his sister in rehab to give his father a break.

I had a chance to speak with the Senior Yanez about his son’s decision, He immediately broke down in tears…He told me he loved his son, was proud of him and proud that he chose to help his sister.

I asked him if he was aware his son nearly sacraficed his Olympic dream and perhaps millions of dollars had he not been reinstated?  He said quietly “yes, I’m aware…I’m also aware, he loves his sister.”

Man that hit home, I have one sister whom I  adore!  She’s older so a significant part of who I am comes from the love, lessons, nurturing and occaisional butt kickings I got from her growing up.

I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t do for my sister, I can’t think of anything that could ever come between us.  I know that if I were in Yanez’s shoes, I would have made the same decision without hesitation.

I will be rooting for Luis Yanez as he pursues Gold in the Olympics, agonizing every second of every round.  Whether he medals at all at this point in his life he’s proven  himself worthy of the Gold Standard for being a brother.

It’s certainly nice to know that a guy who get’s hit in the head for a living had the good sense to recognize the reality of his sister’s situation and place it’s importance above his own dreams.

it’s a big man’s world, it’s a big man blogging.