Phil will be proud. and surprised....... Thanks to everybody who checked in last week, I have never read any blogs and don?t really know what I should be writing about but something always seems to pop up and tonight?s post is from watching the home run contest on ESPN. Now stay with me....i realize the ?all sports channel? is pretty far off from the ?all cooking channel? but have y?all heard of Josh Hamilton? A few years ago Josh was chosen as the number one pick in the baseball draft. He was held up on a pedestal by everyone his whole life and at 19 or 20 years old was given four million dollars and told he could be the best there ever was...until he turned into the worst he would ever be...drugs and alcohol got him. The money was soon gone. He was given chance after chance until he struck out in baseball and was banned from the game. He turned up at his granny?s house 40 pounds under weight everything a blur. His wife was beginning to give up hope and that was what it took for him start working towards getting right again. We will never know how hard that fight must be for him. He turned to religion and stayed close to home and began to work out again....and saved his marriage. He was seen as a sure thing out of high school, its called a five tool player. Hit for average, hit with power, ran fast, had a great arm and could catch anything. Five tools....can?t miss. A pure player is not easy to forget in the ranks of major league baseball and Josh stayed clean long enough to be given a chance last year with the Cinncinati Reds and played the last part of the season for them and was traded to the Texas Rangers in the off season. The Rangers assigned a fella to tag along with Josh and help him make the right decisions in his climb back to the bigs. Josh said he only carries $20 dollars in his pocket to help fight temptation. He had a dream to compete in the All-Star game and participate in the Home-Run Derby. He has said he felt this was the best way for him to spread the word of his belief and set an example for folks who felt they were beyond help, no longer worthy of love and compassion. So he changes his life...and makes it as a starter for the All-Star game tomorrow night and gets to compete in the Home-Run contest tonight. Josh made the cover of Sports Illustrated a few weeks ago and I was anxious to see how he faired after reading his story. The first thing I saw tonight was that his pitcher for the contest (the player can choose his own) was his old coach from American Legion ball. Coach Counsil is seventy one years old. Seventy one! How cool is that? In Yankee Stadium, packed house, at the All-Star game pitching to a kid that he watched blow it all and then come back to this....wow. Well, of course all Josh Hamilton does is set the new record for home runs set in a single round during the contest. Twenty-eight home runs. The entire stadium began to chant his name half way through and as he took a break to wipe what may have been tears off his face and I took a break to wipe what were tears off of my face I deceided I?m buying me a new hat tomorrow. A Texas Rangers cap, the team of my new favorite player and one of the best stories I have ever heard...but y?all know I love an underdog story. Bobby and I are headed to momma?s tomorrow to start filming for a special coming up on the Food Network details to follow.... Thanks again y?all. Have a great week and do good things. -Jamie
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