A Deeper Look Into the Mind of Brad

The other day on a joke news site I saw this headline: "97-Year-Old Dies Unaware Of Being Violin Prodigy."  It made me laugh at first but then it made me think about how sad that would be to have a talent that you never developed.  Then I started thinking about myself and if I had any talents that I never developed.  My first thought was baseball because I quit when I was 11.  As I was trying to recall my top baseball moments, the only thing I could remember was running out to second base in between innings, jumping into the air for no reason at all, landing awkwardly on second base and spraining my ankle.  Ok probably no undeveloped talent there.  I've spent the last few weeks thinking about this and here are the top 3 things that I think I could have been pretty good at had I put the proper time and practice into them.  So without further adieu, let me introduce you to...


Brad the Olympic swimmer

Up until about three years ago, I swore I was the worlds fastest head-above-water swimmer.  I hated swimming lessons when I was younger and didn't feel the need to practice proper technique if I wasn't setting any world records.  10 months ago however, I learned how to swim properly and have been doing it twice a week at the gym for exercise.  I don't want to brag, but I'm getting pretty darn good.  I'm not basing this opinion on any times or people that I've raced, but I do regularly get asked by other people in the pool for tips, and that makes me feel pretty good.  Now I can't say how good of a swimmer I would have been had I practiced when I was younger, but I do know that Michael Phelps is 6'4" with size 14 feet.  I am 6'5" with 13s.  I'll let that sink in for a second.


Brad the Nascar Champion

If you've ever driven in my car you have probably noticed that I am a really good driver.  Right now some of you may be thinking yeah right you tailgate everybody. Yeah well you know who else does? Jimmie Johnson.  So yeah.  Every time I'm driving up to Salt Lake and weaving in and out of traffic I know I should be a racer.  I've been trying to think of what has shaped me into such a great driver and I think I've found it.  I remember being about 10 years old and my dad asked me if I wanted to go ride the jetski.  I of course said yes and we walked down to the dock.  Dad handed me the key and said, "Alright here you go, you are old enough to ride by yourself now."  Even my young mind thought that was a bad idea, but I wasn't about to say no to this opportunity. Ever since that day I was driving that thing all the time.  I attribute my young jetski driving experience to the car being an extension of my body today.  


Brad the Tennis Superstar

I never really played much tennis growing up.  But I think if I would have I could have been the next Novak Djokovic (by the way do people call him The Djoker?  They better because that is a sweet nickname.  If it's not already being used then I want credit for it.) I remember the only time I would play tennis we would make a rule that there was no out of bounds and the ball could bounce as many times as it could but once it stopped bouncing that would score a point.  In High School I got out of weight training class to take the easy PE class where we played games all day.  I know you're all wondering right now how I got such big muscles without lifting weights, and I don't have an answer for you.  One day in PE class we started a tennis section where we learned the basics, played for a few days, and then had a singles and doubles tournament.  I dominated the singles and then won the doubles tournament. So I would say that made me the best tennis player in my high school (aside from almost everyone on the tennis team of course.)  When I got to BYU my freshman year I had a couple of friends that had played in high school so they talked me into playing with them.  We would play about once a week and at first I wasn't much competition for them.  After a little practice though I became a pretty formidable opponent.  I wasn't dominating them, but our games were pretty back and forth.  Since then I've played tennis probably twice.  When I was playing regularly I got good fast and I can't help but wonder how good I could have been had I put some time into tennis.  **Note** Right now some of my family members might be thinking about my poor performance last December in California.  The only excuse I have is that I play to the level of my competition.  Also, those rackets were crappy.


Ok well I've shared a lot with you all today.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Now is the fun part.  If you read this post then you MUST leave a comment and say what you think you could or would have excelled at.  If you are too ashamed to attach your name to it then you can leave it as anonymous, I don't care.  But you gotta do it.  If you don't do this then you will be cursed and you will never excel at anything in your life.  Also you will be super lame.