On  Mother’s Day, I was intrigued as 39 year old Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte took the mound for his long awaited come back after a year and a half in retirement.   He also recently gave testimony again in the perjury trial of his charismatic mentor and longtime teammate Roger Clemens. The soft-spoken Pettitte admitted using steroids in 2008.  His latest testimony against his friend backed off from the certainty of his original assertion that Clemens told him he was using steroids as well.  Some questioned whether that hesitation would hurt the trial or damage Andy’s image with fans.  Yet even though the final score in that Sunday’s emotional game against the Seattle Mariners went against him 6-2, the crowd gave the legendary winner of five world series titles a standing ovation as he left the mound.  That sounded like unconditional love to me.

I don’t think Yankee fans will ever forget the stunning Game 6 victory Pettitte gave his team in the 2009 World Series and then his emotional retirement.  But now Pettitte is being given the chance to save the Yankees’ suddenly endangered pitching line up this year.  In a time of so much uncertainty, I think we need more Andy Pettittes, and not just in baseball.  Back in 2008 sports blogger Richard Justice wrote that “Andy is a man of such decency and humility that it’s impossible not to admire the things he has attempted to stand for. He admitted his mistakes and asked for forgiveness. What else can he do?”  Let’s hope he continues winning and inspiring us to do the same.

According to Daily News reporter Ralph Vacchiano, Giants Coach Tom Coughlin’s speech to his entire team the night before the Super Bowl went over three themes he had been repeating since their first meeting back in July – Finish, Belief  and Love.  http://nydn.us/xg6RHS

Coughlin started the season by showing the Giants a video of a high school cross-country runner from California named Holland Reynolds, a female athlete who courageously crawled across the finish line after she collapsed to secure a medal for her team. Coughlin replayed the video before they left for Indianapolis to reinforce that each player needed to finish everything they started, both in practice and in the game. It‘s a stirring video for everyone to watch, so I’ve put in the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqBerM9FPwA

Reynolds, in subsequent interviews, talked about her determination: “It never occurred to me that I might not finish.” http://bit.ly/zm35Zs

Coughlin’s last presentation, according to Myers, was not the usual fiery pre-game speech, but came straight from the heart, and covered the last two parts of his mantra – belief and love.  He told them how their belief in themselves had inspired thousands of fans and he declared “I love every guy in this room.” His inspiration resulted in incredible plays by the entire team, including wide receivers Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham, who made a spectacular fourth quarter catch.

No matter what your career struggles are, it’s good to remember that competition does not have to feel like a relentless battle.  Instead, a combination of  ‘finish, belief and love’ for the  team around you–whether it’s business colleagues,  friends or family –can carry you over the finish line a winner, just like Holland Reynolds, and just like the Giants!

In interviews, Ritvo is enthusiastic and upbeat. She told USA Today that she doesn’t try to be a role model for female trainers, but added she’d be flattered if she is.

“If I am, that would be great,” she told reporter Jesse Halladay, “but they just need to hang in there like me.” She added that there’s a lot of good days and a lot of bad days. “You hold on to the good days and forget the bad days.”

Ritvo shared the spotlight in making Kentucky Derby history for women with jockey Rosie Napravnik, who had a ninth place finish with longshot Pants on Fire to make her the highest finishing jockey of her gender. Napravnik credits the first and second generations of women jockeys who opened the doors for her— including 11^th place finishers Patti Cooksey in 1984 and Julie Krone in 1995.

As Ritvo now prepares for the Preakness and another shot at first place, she might be inspired to ignore the naysayers by noting how trainer Steve Asmussen conditioned Rachel Alexandra for an historic upset in 2009: she was only the fifth filly to win the Preakness and the first horse of either gender to win from the farthest outside position – the 13^th post.  Rachel Alexandra went on to become horse of the year and is now retired in glory.

In fact, the Triple Crown always remains a place where entrepreneurs of either sex can be reminded that records – and traditions -  are meant to be broken.  For Ritvo, the Preakness is a chance to claim another milestone in history for women.  She’s still hanging in there.

A late starter, the imposing six year old mare named Zenyatta had her first race on Thanksgiving 2007 and has now beaten 112 other horses and has 19 victories and no defeats. It is a record being called the longest streak in thoroughbred racing by a horse competing at the sport’s pinnacle.

This Saturday, Zenyatta defends her title in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, facing up to 14 rivals that could include the Preakness winner Looking at Lucky and top older horses like Blame and Quality Road. Yet Zenyatta lost out last year to another distaff named Rachel Alexandra in the voting for Horse of the Year. Rachel Alexandra had a dream season in 2009, becoming the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness Stakes. She also won the Haskell Invitational and Woodward Stakes against the boys. But her campaign in early 2010 was disappointing and she was retired without meeting Zenyatta.

Whatever happens, Zenyatta’s owners will retire her after Saturday’s showdown. Even if you’ve never been a thoroughbred racing fan, I recommend tuning in this one on ESPN. If she wins, there’s talk that she could challenge Secretariat’s hold on the American imagination as the greatest super horse of all time. Even if she loses, it will be a long time before racing sees two giants of the female gender like Zenyatta and Rachel competing for the ages. As a marketer, I salute the trainers of both Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra for brilliantly showcasing these superstars and retiring them at their peak. The result has been an inspirational storyline in a time of national doubt.

Rachel Alexandra, who won the Preakness and was undefeated in eight starts last year, won Horse of the Year honors in January over Zenyatta. Yet this weekend Rachel faced her first defeat – after a six month layoff – at the New Orleans Ladies Stakes.  For anyone unfamiliar with thoroughbred racing, this level of competition between two ladies is unprecedented!

Before the upset, the two super horses were supposed to face off in a race for the ages at the $5 million Apple Blossom invitational on April 9 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.  According to the New York Times, Rachel’s co-owner Jess Jackson began hedging his bets a week ago when he said he would send his filly to Arkansas only if she were dead-solid perfect.  After this weekend’s race, trainer Steve Asmusssen said they would reassess their filly’s schedule.

All this drama just underlines the ironies of our times.  The economy may be still struggling, and it’s often hard to find good news,  but history is being made on the nation’s racetracks by two unlikely heroines.

What an unusual and exciting twist for Women’s History Month!

including hockey and alpine skiing.  After all, our neighbors to the frigid North seem to have these winter sports and lots more in their DNA.  I know – I grew up in Michigan with a Canadian-born father and spent my childhood rooting for Detroit’s  superstar hockey player Gordy Howe (the greatest of them all) and challenging cousins to contests on skates and sleds on both sides of the U.S-Canadian border, loving every moment of it.

Yet something remarkable has been happening – previously star-crossed U.S. Olympic teams are currently dominating this year’s events on the hills and on the ice over Canada and European powerhouses Germany, Austria and Russia.  And the mighty Canadian Hockey team was just taken down a huge notch by the scrappy U.S. team.

Sports writers have been making a lot of surmises, but one theme that seems to keep coming up is expectation versus preparation.  Key American skiers are coming back from a disappointing Olympics four years ago in Turin, Italy, where the U.S. may have come in second in overall medals at Torino 2006 to Germany, but many of the superstar skiers came up short.  Turns out they just got more determined this time, while the Canadians may have assumed it would be a rerun.

Business success, from entrepreneurs to global enterprises, often works on the same principles as sports.  An expectation of superiority often proceeds a fall – just look at the on-going drama in the auto industry.  Yet skiers Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn are proving this year yet again that past disappointments in the Olympics can be turned around with dedication. On the other hand, the hometown advantage and crowd support won’t ensure success.  Practice and persistence, in the end, can win out. And hold on, we’re still awaiting the final act on this Olympics drama.

It promises to be exciting!

The New Orleans Saints had never made it to the Super Bowl and they seemed to offer little inspiration to a city that needed to learn how to win again. That all changed this year.  The Saints were the clear underdogs going into the Super Bowl against the legendary quarterback Peyton Manning and his Indianapolis Colts.  Despite a slow start, the Saints rallied to take the trophy 31-17.  In the interviews that followed, it became clear that the whole city of New Orleans took this win as their own – and declared the team’s victory as proof their town was back on its feet.  Based on the fact that this Super Bowl drew the largest audience of any televised event in U.S. history, there may be an argument that the nation embraced the Saints as well.

While the Saints, and New Orleans as well, seemed to have the odds stacked against them, it all turned around again in a moment.  Endless news stories about the generosity of the team members, and in particular the quarterback Drew Brees and coach Sean Payton, reflects the now-seamless identity of team and town.  The branding of this city and team is a great case study in creating the best possible kind of brand loyalty. Who Dat Nation can truly yell,  go, Saints!

For more information on branding, consider attending a special NAWBO-NYC panel – register at www.nawbonyc.org

Rachel Alexandra, who won the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, is getting rock star treatment at Saratoga this summer as her owners debate which Stakes Race she should be entered in next.  Early in August she cruised to her eighth straight win in the Haskell Monmouth Park in New Jersey, just a few ticks off the track record.

http://www.nj.com/sports/njsports/index.ssf/2009/08/rachel_alexandra_romps_in_hask.html

The other super filly is in California. Zenyatta, five years old, has never tasted defeat in eleven starts, including winning last year’s Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic, but she has only run against fillies.  Zenyatta was a late bloomer, who did not begin racing until she was a three year old and last year was a strong contender for Horse of the Year. She was awarded the Eclipse Award as American Champion Older Female Horse for 2008.

However the rap is that Rachel’s owner Jess Jackson says he won’t run on the “plastic” tracks out west where California’s racing surfaces are synthetic and Zenyatta’s owner Jerry Moss  seems in no hurry to head east.  I wrote about horseracing and spent a year working for a few trainers at the New Jersey tracks in the late 70s, when it truly was a male dominated sport. I was thrilled to get to know one of the few  gutsy women trainers then and watch that era’s super filly, Ruffian.  It was the same time that women were just beginning to challenge the status quo in the workplace as well as in sports.

I’m excited to see we’re moving to a new level this year. Although, as one sports writer put it, it seems that not even the sport of kings can get a pair of queens into the same race!  Stay tuned, the story’s not over yet.

I remember the day Ruffian died.  She was a huge black filly with unbelievable spirit and beauty.  It was July 6, 1975 and she was locked in a duel with the Kentucky Derby winner, Foolish Pleasure, a small chestnut, in a highly publicized match race at Belmont Park.  Then as dark clouds gathered, Ruffian stumbled and went down.  The roaring fans in the grand stand gasped collectively. My friends and I were in shock and then the tears came.  The gallant filly had broken her leg. She was later euthanized.  It was as though the heavens weeped as a thunder shower moved in that day.

I missed last year’s tragedy where Eight Belles broke down after running second in the Kentucky Derby and was put down, but I think I would have cried again, even though two strong fillies have won the Derby since 1980 (and Regret won in 1915). The truth is that fillies race against colts all the time in Europe, but the classics are generally run on the turf there as opposed to on the dirt in America. I’m convinced that is what makes the competition more prone to injury.

This year a brave filly named Rachel Alexandra is flashing the charisma and spirit of Ruffian and her owners decided to test her in the Preakness against another small brown Derby winner, this one a longshot 50-1 gelding called Mine that Bird, a Canadian champ trained by a maverick cowboy out of New Mexico who didn’t get any respect at Churchill Downs until he blew the competition away.

I balked at the idea of watching two gutsy horses of opposite sexes matched up again in a classic race, especially when one of them is an underdog you want to love! It seemed unfair, I thought, to mess with a storybook ending for Mine that Bird when I originally read that the race was shaping up and that Jockey Calvin Borel was abandoning his mount on Mind That Bird to ride the filly.  But I wasn’t surprised that a lot of feminist sites loved the idea of the match!

Still, when Rachel Alexandra won that Saturday in May, I took a deep breath then gave thanks for all the ways the world has changed since Ruffian and for a cast that Hollywood could never dream of!  And stay tuned this racing season for more episodes with Rachel Alexandra, most recently racing and winning again with fillies in the Mother Goose at Belmont, and two “birds” still testing themselves, now that Summer Bird won the Belmont Stakes over his “brother” Mine that Bird (both were sired by Birdstone). Could it be a better reality series?