Billy goes Gollum

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A Boys of Summer editorial from a long-time A's junkie.

“Precious…”

Come late October/early November, Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane will look at himself and think: “So this is the end of a ill/well-spent season…or perhaps era.” With the acquisition of Jon Lester and Jonny Gomes for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, Beane has once again set the baseball world on fire. Talk about all in.

Just one month ago Beane traded away the teams top two farm prospects in short stop Russell Addison and outfielder Billy McKinney for the Cubs Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. Outsiders who have claimed to understand Moneyball or the inner workings of Beane’s mind were once again tossed aside this morning with the shocking trade of clubhouse and fan favorite Cespedes. When the A’s were seriously drawn into the Lester conversation yesterday, my response was that Beane was merely driving up the price to make sure whomever landed him paid a hefty price. Turned out that was Beane.

Over his tenure, Beane has stockpiled picks for later at times (trading away big names like Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder or budding superstar Carlos Gonzalez) and made plays for bigger names at other times (Milton Bradley, Frank Thomas and Matt Holiday). This year is an all out push. This is the ring or bust. After consecutive post-season losses to the Tigers, largely at the hands of pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, Beane has decided he won’t be fooled again.

The line to consider is whether or not Beane has gone too far, given too much for what amounts to a short-term rental of Lester (he’s only signed through the end of the year) and the best shot the A’s have had at a ring in decades. While the starting rotation of Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Jon Lester and Jeff Samardjia is positively devastating, the smoking hole created in left field by Cespedes departure and the clubhouse is worthy of conversation. There are those who have long said Cespedes is more thunder than lightning – his value increased by the ROY, All-Star and home run derby titles and occasional highlight reel throws from the outfield. His numbers at the plate over his three years with the A’s are good but not great 2012: .292/.356/.505/.861 2013: .240/.294/.442/.737 2014: .256/.303/.464/.767.  

My knee jerk reaction was “oh no”. That had largely to do with my fan-side that loves the guys in green and gold and sees them as part of the family. Cespedes was an exciting part of this crew over the last couple of years. But if pitching wins championships, if you believe in closing windows of opportunity (with several contracts coming up in the next two years) and the ring is the only thing that really matters, then Beane has made yet another bold and brilliant move. The high-wire part about it, of course, is that it’s really only bold and brilliant if the A’s win it all.

Beane has long been a subject of fascination for baseball GM’s, fans and commentators. He’s tough, bold and devastatingly sharp – that blade cuts both ways. While the A’s have been competitive nearly every year he’s been at the helm, they’ve never even sniffed a World Series. Without a ring, rightly or wrongly, many people will forever question Beane’s true efficacy as a GM. This is his moment – to shine or flame. Is he a genius or a buffoon? Come late October/early November, the rapidly eroding middle ground will be gone.

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Meeting Dr. Gonazlez, Quantum Neurology creator

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“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

Arthur Schopenhauer

To understand a bit more of what my dad has been undergoing this summer, we interviewed the man Dr. DeMartino calls his guru in many ways, Dr. George Gonzalez, creator of Quantum Neurology (QN). First things first – what is QN?

“Doctors are taught how to strengthen weak muscles, restore lost sensation and use the bodies’ natural actions, reactions and reflexes to achieve a desired result. When the body responds to rehabilitation it commonly demonstrates immediate improvement. Our experience has been when these weaknesses in the nervous system are strengthened; the body has the best opportunity to heal itself.” [from Quantum Neurology.com]

We visited Dr. Gonzalez and his wife at their home in Mid-town Los Angeles to get their story and philosophy.

“We take a person who has any sort of nerve damage, whether that’s motor weakness, muscle-skeletal weakness or sensory loss and we’re able to rehabilitate that,” Gonzalez said. 

Gonzalez says the challenge is getting people to know about QN. He says the general reception from most experts is good. It is the precise ability of QN to turn specific nerve switches on and off that makes it ground-breaking.

“What’s great is it’s natural, safe and non-invasive,” Gonzalez said.

I know – too good to be true? You’re right to ask. And, to his credit, Dr. Gonzalez never ducked the questions – even to the direct question of whether or not he was called a quack (pun fans rejoice).

“Coming from a martial arts background, you see a great grand master,” Gonzalez said. “Somebody might come up to him and say ‘Your stuff doesn’t work. You don’t know what you’re doing.” The Grand Master could flick them off very easily and hurt them very badly. But that doesn’t happen because with that level of understanding comes a great level of control and respect. Similarly with Quantum Neurology, we have that level of control and respect for the nervous system. We’re able to understand the terrain of the individual patient we’re dealing with – understand the specific, exact nerves that are damaged. Each of the layers can be restored individually.”

There are several things here that are very important to my dad. One, he’s reached a relative dead end with traditional western medicine. He’s been told he’s not a candidate for deep brain stimulation surgery (and he doesn’t want holes drilled in his head anyway) and he’s maxed out the pharmaceutical options. He’s always been a fan of natural health care where possible, believing in his body’s ability to heal itself. And finally, he’s seen positive results from this process over the last couple of months.

“I feel the medical model is very interested in doing business the way they want to do business,” Gonzalez said. “Which is drugs, surgery, and that kind of model.”

Gonzalez went on to say a number of things that interested both me and my dad. His approach is about respecting the body. He says “knowing theyself is true health” and that “We must leave room for the things we do not understand”. While some might dismiss those thoughts as to esoteric, I think they belong square in the discussion of health. They speak to humility, process, respect and empowerment.

Ready to geek out for just a moment? Follow Dr. Gonzalez here:

“We’re using different physics with Quantum Neurology,” he said. “We’re using Quantum Physics and light therapy to work with the body not Newtonian Physics. There’s a difference. That alone gives us a different understanding. Just like field hockey and ice hockey are different because they’re using different physics in their games. Same thing with Quantum Neurology.”

“Most methodologies look at the body as a chemistry set,” Dr. Gonzalez said. “You get your blood work. They don’t look at any of the other information. They just say, this one’s off we’re going to give you whatever drug matches for that. That’s a tough way to go.”

The idea of giving away one’s power to a doctor because he or she says she knows what’s best for you (definitively) is a mistake, in my opinion. The most knowledgeable doctors are still guessing. To be clear, I am not denigrating western doctors or any other form of medical practitioner, only arguing for what Dr. Gonzalez says in that we must leave room for the unknown. We must respect it. We must explore it. We must remain humble in our approach. And when all else fails, we must consider our bodies for the immense gift that they are – tremendously powerful and pliable, able to transform in ways that can absolutely astound us if only we give them the proper input – and that comes on many levels.

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Running Man

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Tuesday July 29, 2014

Running Man

Time is a blur. Mom and Dad are heading home from Las Vegas to Walnut Creek this Thursday. I had the distinct joy of taking my family to Yosemite, for about an hour, and then Lake Tahoe this past weekend. When we left I was concerned about the last three months of therapy unraveling as my dad had hit a plateau and my mom clearly wants to go home. All of these things stirring at once led into a panicked phone call from my mom about five minutes before our morning session with Dr. DeMartino was scheduled to begin. Apparently my dad left their hotel at about 8:05am to go for a walk. As per usual, he did not have his phone on him (my dad’s frequent disappearances without any way to reach him are “an issue”). His walks normally last about twenty minutes. By 8:30 my mom was concerned. By 8:45 she was downright scared and understandably so. This is a man who has Parkinson’s, is always a fall risk, is in a busy area of a somewhat familiar town and is running late to an appointment he very much looks forward to.

I turned my car their way. My mom told me where I should start to look when I arrived. A ton of scary thoughts ran through my mind. In 2004 I remember seeing my dad as vulnerable and having strong protective feelings about him – almost flipping the parent/child relationship. Ten years later, with my dad markedly more vulnerable and on his own, my fears were piqued. About five minutes into my trip I got a text saying he was okay and they were on their way.

Dad tells me his morning story

At Dr. DeMartino’s, my dad walked in out of breath – almost like he walked there. I wondered if this wasn’t far from the truth considering how my mom likely tongue-lashed him – or maybe he was just hustling for safe cover after a getting an earful during the drive. I asked him how his adventure was. He said it was a good/bad situation. He said he lost track of time. My first thought was, “Oh no – this is a cognitive thing”. Then he added it was because he was enjoying the walk so much. He simply forgot to look at his watch because he was out exercising and wasn’t in pain as has become the norm. When he did look at his watch he saw how late he was. This is where it gets great: he ran a half mile back to the hotel.

My dad was an avid runner in the late 70’s through the early 90’s. He continued to run after that, but golfing became a bigger focus in his retirement in 1994. But running was very dear to him because of the mental peace it brought him as well as the physical satisfaction. After his diagnosis in 2001, he didn’t give much of an effort to run. His last effort was in 2005 while Annamaria and me were living with them. He did a 5k and it hurt – a lot. He hadn’t run since.

When I asked Dr. DeMartino about it, he smiled, shrugged and said he wasn’t terribly surprised. He’s been telling us for weeks how impressed he is with my dad’s physical makeup. For all of Dr. DeMartino’s athleticism, he has said he’s never been a distance runner. He laughed and said, maybe I should run with you (Dan). I am going to do my best to hold him to that.  

Improving through Improv

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Day two of our journey to Los Angeles included a pair of interviews I felt were very important to our story. The first was with Rob Belushi, son of Jim Belushi, and a man I consider to be a good friend after spending time studying improv with him at Las Vegas’ wing of Second City. My dad and mom wondered aloud what Rob’s added value or pertinence to the documentary would be – not as a person, as they didn’t know him, but in a "what’s improv go to do with it?” sense. Improv is a faith-based performance exercise. You have to walk on to the stage believing you and your stage partners have enough with just what you have (which is just you). You have to connect. You have to be truthful. It helps greatly to give a lot more than you take. In the words of Jim Belushi (according to Rob), “the guy who gives the most wins”.

My line with Rob was to have him talk about his experience as a performer and teacher and draw a line between improv, faith and health. 

“One of the core principles is to say yes,” Rob said. “As we become older we become more comfortable with a certain way – our daily experience levels tend to shrink. By saying yes, life can continue to surprise you.” 

He also talked about fear, as a personal motivator for him and what it’s like to be on stage, wondering if what he’s doing will be funny or work on any level. 

“[It’s important] to not let fear totally destroy your ability to participate in things”. 

That one hit home in a number of ways for me and my dad, too. Dad doesn’t like the attention on him or his Parkinson’s so he tends to shy away from some social situations. It isn’t that he’s a recluse, but, at the same time, he’s inclined to stay in an increasingly shrinking comfort zone. That’s one thing I worry about quite a bit.

“What we learn in improv [about fear] is that it’s going to be okay,” Belushi said. “Just keep taking specific steps and making choices and it will lead you somewhere that you couldn’t see over here.”

One of the things Rob does in his class to set his students at ease is give up something personal about himself, often something personal.

“There’s a feeling of ‘we don’t have to be perfect here’,” Belushi said. “We’re just trying to be real.”

He made another interesting insight when he talked about how in creating an improv scene, performers often have to take on unsavory roles or characteristics because that’s what their partner has given or labeled them. It’s by saying yes to these things that the performer earns the audience’s applause and laughter. This applies to life off the stage, too.

“I think when people are struggling with health, mental health, addiction, the main instinct is to isolate,” Belushi said. “It’s a form of denial, of shame, of being overwhelmed, hopelessness, despair – all of these things make you want to remove yourself. An improvisational coach would say to wear these types of things with a badge of courage and fully engage more. The ‘scene’ of your life is being shared by more people than just you.”

The Boys of Summer roll along, but we need your help to complete this year's journey. Please see our site for the latest on how to contribute. Thank you!