I have such a deep respect for professional athletes. I am actually writing this blog at the breakfast table here in Aspen with revered Olympic field hockey player, Taeke Takema (left in action pic above).
My friend, who I will be headed down the mountain with today, won the silver medal for Holland in the Athens Olympics, and is on break before the world championships begin. We are trading war stories from the road and realizing the similarities and the differences in what we do.
I’ve always loved sharing my stories of how young I was when I started my life with music – from putting on shows as a five year old, to playing my first gig at CBGB’s in NYC with my band STAGE. Many of you probably don’t know that although my parents were super supportive of the arts, my family for the most part was the “Athletic Family.” Years ago, my older brother was a professional Triathlete, so many of our vacations revolved around his and my father’s (marathon runner) work-out schedules and races. By default I had to keep up.
Although I love getting my heart rate up and experiencing that natural high you get from a good run, I never had the stomach (literally) for competitive racing. When I was a kid, my dad would enter me into several races that the rest of my family would do. I was super, super fast and I would be leading my age group up until the end. When I saw the finish line 100 yards out, and heard the cheering of the encouraging crowd, my nerves would burst. I would keel over and start hacking. Nothing would come out, (I believe the technical term is the dry heaves) everyone would pass me by, and I would walk with my head down past the finish line, losing minutes to my puking session. I did a triathlon once and all that meant was 3x the heaves. I was a mess. Put me in front of an international TV audience of millions and I was fine, but put me on the starting block at my high school varsity swimming race, and I wanted to die.
Then there were my little league years. In training, I was Mariano Rivera in the making – but put a batter in the batter’s box and kiss the hitter goodbye. I would usually nail him in the arm or something. It made my decision to choose my passion of music over the professional world of sports easy. This life journey of experiences made it easy to be in awe of what professional athletes do and how focused they need to be. I never wanted to “be like Mike,” but I did want to write his theme song!
Twitter Updates
Great blog, Ryan. I love how seamlessly you are able to illustrate the relationship between sports and music in your life. Keep ‘em coming!
Comment by Peggy ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 08:12 am
Your body was rejecting competitive sports because you belong on the stage. You are a musician to your core – lucky for us you followed your calling. Thank you for not becoming a baseball star
BTW – good luck with Jason Bay. Sigh.
Comment by Brooke ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 08:12 am
Amazing!
Comment by james ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
great blog (again haha). It seems like your entire life has been about the link between sports and music. Your body clearly knew you belonged on a stage and not a starting block and lucky for us you figured that out. Have a happy new year!
Comment by Meg ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
It seems like a lot of musicians used to be baseball players in the making. I wonder what the connection is there. I’ve read people say that baseball is the thinking man’s game. Maybe that’s what it is. It takes a lot of thought to make music.
Or maybe it’s just because they’re both awesome.
Comment by Niki ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
It’s a good thing you chose music over sports. It seems like sports isn’t really your thing
well running anyway. I bet you’re good at snowboarding:)
And yes, you do belong on stage.
Love reading your blogs!
Comment by Alexis ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
That’s an interesting story. I’ve never quite heard anyone who has had such an aversion to competing especially someone who is leading, but as someone mentioned above, perhaps you subconsciously rejected it in lieu of your passion, music.
Sports is way to release emotions, very much like music is, and I love that you drew parallels between the two, especially since you’ve grown up with both.
Thanks and have a great new year!
Comment by James_Padfoot ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
I can not tell you how happy I am that ypou chose music over sports. Your music has touched my soul.and although I have no doubt that I would be a fan if you were a baseball player(as long as you did not play for the yankees) I am glad you picked music. Thank you for what you do.
Comment by Emily ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
I am incredibly glad that you chose to follow your passion for music. I don’t know what I’d do without your music in my life. Thanks for the blog
Comment by hiedi ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
Well, to perform the way you do ryan – you probably have the wind of a formidable runner or swimmer! keep up your sport and your music. They probably provide a balanced yin and yang effect for you.
Comment by brett aaron ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
Love it!!!
Comment by Amy ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
You’re an iconoclast RS. Amazing scribe musically and bloggingly
Comment by PSG ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
It’s amazing how the body can and does express our emotions. The two are connected, and often the body can express our innermost thoughts and desires before we can articulate them fully.
Comment by limes ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
So, If you weren’t a singer you would be an athlete?
You chose the music, good for us!
Then write theme song for sports: ♫ “This could be the moment you’ve been waiting your whole life to show the world that you are ready”♪
Love
Comment by solange ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
I love your blogs Ryan. I love hearing the stories you have to share. keep them coming, along with the music
Comment by mandy ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
Wow, no wonder you and David Cook are such good friends. You guys are both into sports but realized your true calling was music.
Comment by Karen ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 09:12 am
Hey Ryan! Another interesting blog – I’m going to miss these when you are done! How awesome is it to know you are doing exactly what you should be?! I wish I had that. It’s amazing that a crowd cheering at a finish line freaked you out, but the thousands who cheer for you on stage seem to put you at peace! The world is a better place with your music and it wouldn’t be the same if you had become an athlete! We would have missed out on some wonderful music and lyrics and one incredible voice!!! You have got the best of both worlds now – you get to perform and do what you love and go snowboarding or running for fun and exhiliration. By the way, I must say you look pretty athletic in that snowboarding gear from the photo above ; ) Have a fabulous day flying down the mountain on your new board!
Comment by Lia (ryanstarfan) ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 10:12 am
We are blessed that you decided to pursue music. I have enjoyed reading your posts. Happy New Year, Ryan! I know this year is going to be full of great things for you! Blessings! Bonnie
Comment by Bonnie Davis ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 12:12 pm
Great blog…as usual! At least in music there are less injuries…well, maybe not in your case;P How are your teeth these days?;P
I thank God you chose music over sports…you ROCK at it!! You are touching so many lives, my friend!! Keep it up! Happy New Year!! Happy Snowboarding=D Be careful…
All love
Comment by Dana (pixie2214) ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 01:12 pm
I hate competition. Of course I hate losing – failure is not fun. But I even hate winning. The desire and drive to be better than someone else is in me, but I really consider it to be one of my uglier emotions. It goes right along with vengance and greed. So, I avoid competition whenever possible. As kids my brother and I were expected to be active, so to avoid competitions, I chose dance, cheerleading and synchronized swimmming. Syncro is a competition, but it never felt that way since we were never head to head with our rivals, it was just me alone in the water striving to do my best. I high school, my cheerleading squad went to a national competition. The number of girls on our squad put us as the smallest possible in the “large squad” category. One less person would make us the largest possible in the “small squad” category- much more advantageous. So I volunteered to sit out the competition. I went to practice and served as an extra set of eyes to identify areas for improvement. I traveled to the competition and helped with hair and make- up and I cheered the loudest (from the stands) when they took the stage. I know that I decreased the stress level of my senior year considerably. I think the problem with competition is that it represents a desire to prove that one is better than others. I never barfed like you did, in the face of competition, but I most deffinately had rocks in my stomach and an uncomfortable heart rate.
Comment by Shannon ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 02:12 pm
Interesting, from a parent’s perspective, reading your blog, Ryan. It is never easy to go in a different direction from perhaps what your parents had in mind for you. I have two sons in their twenties and I tried hard not to mould them into miniature copies of my husband and myself. Of course, we wanted them to succeed, to do well, to have good jobs and to be happy. Sitting back and watching them emerge as young men wasn’t always easy, as I am sure your parents must have felt watching you as your honed your musical career. Having seen you in concert several times in the past year, you strike me as someone who thrives on the challenges you set for yourself, rather than what some might consider perhaps to be the more competitive challenges of a race or as a member of a sports team. Setting the bar for oneself and the diligence it takes to succeed in the challenges you set for yourself is one of the hardest, yet most rewarding, experiences you will ever have. I wish you well, with continued success as a musician, and hope to see you perform again in the near future.
Comment by Karen ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 04:12 pm
Hey r~
I look forward to reading your blogs.Sounds like you’re having a awesome vacation.
I can relate to the getting sick before or during competition.I would always get sick before I’d reach the venue where the karate tournament was being held.Luckly for me once I got sick I could focus on what I needed to do.I used meditation to get me centered.
Anyway Have a nice evening.
P.S. I told my field hockey player,snowboarding daughter about your snowboarding friend and she said “I wish I could have gone down the mountain with those guys”
Comment by Heather C ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 04:12 pm
Musician and athlete-is there anything you can’t do?
Comment by Stephanie ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 05:12 pm
Thank you (and your body) for choosing music. Interesting physical reaction to competing physically instead of musically.
Thank you, also, for another well-written and interesting insight to who you are.
Comment by Carol Burnett ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 05:12 pm
Well it’s easy to understand why you snowboarding. You are an athlete of sorts. Good musicians need to practice and stay focused just like athletes. I think people who can write lyrics and melodies to create a song that actually pulls an emotion from someone or bring up an old memory rather happy or sad oe a fantasy in a person listening to that song is an amazing talent. You definitely have that talent. Thanks for sharing.
Comment by Felicia ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 05:12 pm
amazing !!! enjoying all your blogs this week !
Comment by thisrocks ///// Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 @ 08:12 pm
For anyone in the NY/NJ/PA area, tix still available for Jan 9 at the Borgata opening for Rob Thomas. You have to call Borgata directly at 1-866-900-4849, the website doesn’t work to get the tix. I just got good seats, let’s get a good showing for Ryan! (Plus I’m sure Rob Thomas will be worth seeing.)
Comment by Paul ///// Thursday, December 31st, 2009 @ 06:12 am