I am from Reading, PA. Reading is a place where, despite the protests of their wives, the men play rec league basketball until their legs fall off in their late 40s at Southern Jr. Hs. gym because we just love to be part of the game.

It's a place where they gather in local pubs after high school games and fathers tell their sons about the local greats who came before them as if re-telling the history of Achilles and Odysseus assaulting Troy: Football Hall of Famer Lenny Moore, the NBA's Stu Jackson, NBA Player Donyell Marshall, Tampa Bay Buc's John Gilmore, current Miami Dolphins QB Chad Henne, and in this year of the Titans, Kerry Collins.

I have been following Kerry's exploits since I was a paperboy for the Reading Times and he moved to Wilson High School. Throughout high school in the late 80s, When my brother Ben and I would get up before the crack of dawn to deliver the newspaper it seemed like not a day would pass that didn't have a Kerry Collins highlight referenced on the front page of the sports section.

When I attended Penn State at the same time as Kerry in the 90s, his exploits were duly recorded in the Daily Collegian newspaper.

Now I turn to the web for almost all my news. As a professional in the web industry I am tracking how the web grows and its various trends. The web is fulfilling its promise of digital media by allowing me to follow national and local news.

However, there is a greater lesson here. Once given up for dead as an NFL QB, Kerry has risen from the ashes like a phoenix. Now poised at 10-0 as the Titans QB to make an historic run at an undefeated season, even has Mercury Morris of the record holding Dolphins is applauding his efforts! As I am writing this blog post with ESPN on the TV, Sportscenter is talking about Kerry Collins as an MVP candidate.

And you know what, I hope it doesn't happen but even if he does lose a game, Kerry has proven that you can take the punches of life and get back up and keep going despite the odds, the pain, or your age. He has secured his place in lore, at least in the hearts of the fans back in PA, where I know fathers are telling their sons about his Odyssey from Wilson HS to the NFL record books.

Like Kerry, many of us have had our demons, our ups and downs in business and in life. These are tough economic times for our nation. Kerry has proven that if we are honest with ourselves, continue to work hard and stick to it, success will follow.

I leave you with an inspirational clip from another mythical figure from my own youth, Rocky Balboa, as kids all of us went by his statue many times on our way to a game down on broad street. Kerry already demonstrates this Rocky Philosophy, but perhaps Vince Young , Wall Street and the rest of America should consider it as well:

 

This is the link to the article about Kerry that inspired my post today:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3710467