Jimmy’s Blog

Tonight I attended a tribute to Sean Taylor, the former Redskins Pro Bowl safety, who was tragically murdered in his own home during a robbery attempt in November of last year.   The event, which was held to raise funds for Sean’s two-year old daughter, was attended by Redskins teammates, staff and friends of the team at a steakhouse near Redskin Park in Ashburn, VA.

Many of Sean’s personal items, including a boat, several cars and ATV’s, were auctioned off both there at the event as well as on eBay.   Other items, including autographed jerseys, footballs and photos were also auctioned.  Dave Feldman, Fox-5’s terrific sports anchor, emceed the event.

Fortunately, tens of thousands of dollars were raised for Sean’s wife and daughter.  BTW, his wife and daughter (who’s a highly energetic and adorable girl) were there as well as her parents.  It was a highly emotional evening, particularly when they played a video tribute to Sean — with many comments from his former teammates and coaches.   The piece was superbly produced by the Redskins video team.

It really is such a tragedy that a young man was murdered at the age of 24.  He did a lot in that short period, but it has to be so tough for his family.   Obviously, his teammates, coaches and Redskins fans are deeply saddened … not only in losing Sean but also when they try to imagine what a great pair of safeties that he and LaRon Landry would have been for the next decade or so.

As one of his teammates so eloquently put it last night, the tributes have been terrific and heartfelt over the past week, but one final way to honor Sean Taylor is for the Redskins to retire his #21.  Let’s hope they make this happen.  It would indeed be one more fitting tribute.  Peace.

The sports theme continued through the rest of Thanksgiving Weekend.  It started out with basketball and hockey, but then it turned primarily to football.

On Saturday, my friends, Rynthia and Katie, hosted a group of friends at their beautiful farm in Purcellville.  They have a wide variety of fascinating friends, including their wonderful neighbors, the Walker family.  After a couple of hours of talking, eating and drinking, they hosted their first annual football game.   The Commissioner for the game was all-time Redskin great, Brian Mitchell.  The game was co-ed and it included young children.  So, the hitting wasn’t too ferocious and the skill level wasn’t particularly high (plus some of us were in street clothes since we forgot to bring football gear), but we had a blast playing ball.   Fortunately, no one got hurt.

Then, on Saturday night, my favorite college team, the OU Sooners, battled the OSU Cowboys.  This was a vital game for the Sooners since they’re battling the Univ of Texas and Texas Tech for the number two ranking in the BCS Series.   Just like they did last week against Texas Tech, they posted over 60 points against the Cowboys and walked away with a 20-point victory!  Of course, now there’s a three-way tie at the top of the Big 12 South.  And, the teams have to rely on two polls and the convaluted BCS rankings to see who’ll come out on top.  President-elect Obama is right — we do NEED a college football play-off tourney put in place!!!

On Sunday, my friend, Rob, visiting from Montreal, and I went to FedEx Field to see the Redskins play the defending Super Bowl Champion, NY Giants.   I thought the team would play well, especially since they were honoring the late Sean Taylor (who most of you know was tragically murdered during a robbery attempt at his home in Miami last year).   Unfortunately, the Skins came out flat and were dominated 23 – 7 by the Giants.  Boo.

Fortunately, I got home in time to see the Georgetown Hoyas play an outstanding game against their DC neighbors, the Maryland Terps.

So, this was one great sports weekend — pro hoops to hockey to college and pro football.  Plus, turkey, family and visiting friends.   The sports theme will continue as we head to Vegas next weekend for the De La Hoya – Pacquiao championship fight.   Go Manny!

First, I’d like to thank those of you that wrote very touching and personal notes about their own experience of spending Thanksgiving without a loved one.  As I wrote on Thanksgiving morning, this was our first Thanksgiving without my father, who passed away earlier this year.  I deeply appreciate the wonderful emails and comments from friends.

So, Thanksgiving Weekend became a Sports Weekend.  I went to the Wizards – Magic game on Thanksgiving Night at the Verizon Center.   It wasn’t the best idea to stage a game on Thanksgiving Night.   Although it was a nationally-televised game and the Dwight Howard, one of the best five players in the league was playing, it was a woeful crowd.  The announced attendance was 12k but it looked more like only 6,000 or so in the seats.   And, the Wizards played with little energy and got thrashed by the Magic.

Last night, Friday night, was a much better sports experience as the Capitals welcomed one of the all-time great sports franchises, the Montreal Canadiens (or the “Habs” as they’re affectionally known).   Verizon Center was jammed full … most people were in their seats before face-off … and there was a play-off like energy and buzz in the crowd.   The Habs’ ex-goaltender, Jose Theodore, now playing in goal for the Caps, put on a stellar performance and shut out the Habs 3 – 0.   The Caps and the San Jose Sharks are the only teams that have not lost a game in their home arena this season.

Although DC has historically been much more of a basketball town vs a hockey town, especially with the excellent collegiate programs at Georgetown and Maryland (and, good ones at GWU and AU), in regard to the pro game, the Caps have become a hotter ticket than the Wizards.   If you get a chance, go check out the Caps – they play at home twice next week.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, but today’s Thanksgiving Dinner will be a bit different since it’ll be the first one without my Father, who passed away in February after a lengthy bout with Alzheimer’s.  As those of you that know me, my Father was one of my heroes and idols.  I love him and miss him dearly.

But, instead of being down, I / we are actually happy with the thought that my Father will be reunited with his parents and four brothers for Thanksgiving for the first time in a long, long time (he was the last surviving of the five Lynn brothers).

I also want to say thank you to so many, many wonderful friends that were there for my family and I earlier this year when my Father passed, including the memorial service at Ft Myer Chapel, the interment at Arlington National Cemetery and the reception at my home.   Also, a major debt of gratitude to the U.S. Army, who honor its’ military veterans in such a classy and terrific manner.

Many of my friends asked me how I got through the eulogy without breaking down.  It was because of the love, support and friendship from so many family members and friends that filled Ft Myer Chapel.  I gained so strength from all.  And, for that, I’m eternally grateful.   I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friendships.   Thank you.

So, on this Thanksgiving Holiday, please hug your loved ones and let them know how much you care about one another.   Happy Thanksgiving.

I posted that I started blogging on both Facebook and Linked-in.   The sites helped drive traffic to these new blogs I just started posting over the past month.   The ones where I blog about the non-profits and philanthropy seem to generate the most comments / interest.

So, today, I’d like to talk about one of the terrific organizations in the DC area … the group is called Year Up.  I’m meeting w/ the head of the DC office, Tynesia Boyea Robinson, today for lunch.   Much like Susie Kay at Hoop Dreams as well as many other Executive Directors of non-profits, Ty is a high-energy, smart, disciplined and vivacious person.

Year Up, as described on its’ website, http://www.yearup.org, is a one-year, intensive training program that provides urban young adults, ages 18 – 24, with a unique combination of tech and professional skills, college credits, an education stipend and corporate apprenticeship.

I’m a huge believer and proponent of this program since I’ve seen first-hand what kind of terrific young men and women come from this organization.   Since Jan ’07, we’ve had five to seven apprentices at AOL, every six months for the past two years.   I’ve “group mentored” each group of students — primarily meeting with them on a regular basis; introducing them to others at AOL (outside of their dept); teaching them about business, financials, marketing, networking, diversity and inclusion, etc.

After finishing their six-month apprenticeship, the goal is to gain full time employment.   We’re proud to say that nearly 50% of the apprentices have become full-time employees at AOL.  That says a lot about the program, about the quality of students and the commitment of AOL to this program.   Todd Alston, an AOL co-worker and good friend, and I have been both fortunate to be honored with Year Up’s “Urban Empowerment” Award, but this is truly a group honor since there are so many others at AOL (too numerous to list) that have been involved as managers, mentors, coaches, etc.

So, in this week of Thanksgiving, I’d like to say thank you to the leaders of Year Up for their drive and commitment to make a difference in the lives of our urban youth; to the many students we’ve worked with over the past two years for your desire to improve yourself and to create a path to a brighter future; and to AOL and the employees for their commitment to this terrific and important program.   We all have the opportunity to create a more level playing field for others, especially the youth in our community.   Thanks to all for your commitment and efforts to make this happen.

Believe it or not, our team played baseball today in the frigid weather.  And, we didn’t just play one game, we played two games!  We were supposed to play in the semi-finals of our league’s play-offs last Saturday; followed by the Championship Game last Sunday.  But, the games were postponed due to the heavy rains and wet fields.

The games were rescheduled for this weekend … and due to quirky scheduling, we had to play back-to-back games if we won the semi-final game.  At 7:15 am today, I went outside to get the newspaper … it was about 22 degrees!  I was thinking we must be nuts for playing hardball today.

Our semi-final started at 9:00 a.m.  I bat lead-off and play center field.  So, what happens in my very first at-bat?  Yes, I got hit by a pitch.  LOL.  Then, I was given the steal signal.  The ground was icy hard — I did steal second but it was not fun sliding into the rock-hard ground.  We went on to win the semi-final game 7 –  6, which put us in the championship game at 12 noon.

Thanks to a great all-around team effort, including great pitching, good defense and timely hitting, we won the Virginia division of the Ponce de Leon League!  It defintely was a great feeling, especially we have a great group of guys on the squad.   No more baseball until mid-April, when it’s hopefully in the 70’s!

I took my Mom Christmas shopping earlier today.   This is our fourth straight year that we took our annual trek to the Leesburg Premium Outlets at around Thanksgiving time.  I was curious as to whether it’d be crowded or not, due in part to the harsh economic times.  But, the place was packed.  Of course, an outlet place might do better business than the glitzy malls since people are being more careful about expenses.

My Mom is not too big … she’s about 5 feet tall and 90 pounds, but she’s full of energy!   She likes the Leesburg place since there are a number of good places for her to find petite size clothers.   Fortunately, today was another successful day as she found plenty of things she liked.   I can tell she was happy since she was chattering all the way back on the 45-minute ride back to Arlington.

I’m planning on doing most of my Christmas shopping online – primarily to avoid the crowds and associated hassles (parking, long lines, short tempers, etc) – at the malls.   I’ve already finished about 50% of my holiday shopping.

Later tonight will be one of our fund-raisers for the wonderful Hoop Dreams Scholarship Foundation.   We’re going to hold an iKY Clothing Fashion show at the Shadow Room, a popular new spot in DC – near GWU.  All the proceeds will benefit the HDSF.

HDSF is now in Year 13.  The phenomenal Susie Kay, who is the founder, is still plugging away.   Her energy and enthusiasm is incredible.   The group has raised nearly $3 million and dispensed over 950 scholarships for DC public high school students.  It’s great to see the efforts put in by so many wonderful and caring people.

I’ve been a member of the board of directors for the past few years.  The board is full of great people — who care and want to make a difference.   It’s so worth the effort.  A majority of the HDSF students come from a single-parent family; are the first person in their family to attend college; and come from less privileged backgrounds.

I’ve helped mentor a few of the students — they all make me so proud.  One is a graduate of Hampton and now works for Verizon; another one is a senior at Temple; a third is a junior majoring in education at American Univ (where Susie and I both matriculated); and another is sophomore at Princeton.   I’m so proud of them all.   And, I / we are very grateful to all have helped us over the years.  http://www.hoopdreams.org.

When it comes to Philanthropy, I’ve been blessed with two outstanding mentors, Ted Leonsis and Mario Marino.   They have done so much for this community … and they have also taught many of us the importance of community service, mentoring and giving back.   I’ve also witnessed the great philanthropic efforts of Jean and Steve Case, Raul Fernandez, Jack Davies and so many others.   It’s heart-warming to see the positive differences and changes they’ve made for so many people  in the greater Washington, DC region.

In regard to “giving back,” there are four basic options — 1) donate time, 2) donate money, 3) donate time and money, or 4) do nothing.   A majority of the people do option 4.   Everyone is busy and not everyone can give back, but it’s important for those of us that are involved in philanthropy to teach others and to set examples for others in the community.

With the downturn in the economy, people made not be able to donate money, but they can clearly donate their time in helping with the non-profits and community service organizations.   To be able create a more level playing field for others is a good, inner feeling.

I work with a number of outstanding organizations.  Here’s a listing of the various groups that I work with either as a board member, advisory board member, mentor, connector, adviser or donor.  If you’re interested, please review the links and I’ll be more than happy to put you in contact with any of the organizations.   Thank you.