Failure

It's Monday morning and my mind is still wondering about what happened this past weekend. We had a huge game and everything was going our way until "it" happened. "It" is the situation we all want to be in as competitors. We all have an eternal hunger to be placed in a situation where what we do can determine the outcome. Those situations we are placed in I feel like help define us. I had the ball with the ability to make the game winning shot. I was hungry for the chance to make the winning play for my team and lead us to a much deserved win. But then "it" happened. I was dribbling the ball waiting for the opportunity to make my move and all the sudden I see the ball rolling out of bounds. My heart sunk into my stomach and I realized that I had just lost the game for my team. I've never had a situation like that happen to me in all my years of playing this wonderful game. We ended up losing the game and you can only imagine the heart wrenching feeling I had on the walk back into the locker room. I felt like I had let my teammates down. I've always felt that in any team game the worst thing you can do as a teammate is to let the guys in that locker room down. That night after the game I couldn't sleep at all. I could only keep replaying that image of the ball rolling out of bounds. That next morning I woke up and prayed about what happened. I asked God why would he let something like this happen to me and consequently my team. Then he spoke to me and told me that we all have to go through these failures at times. We all have situations in which we feel that we have everything it takes to thrive in those situations. But as God always does, he flips the script on us. I had to figure out if I was going to sit around and sulk about the situation or if I was going to move on and learn from it. Was I going to let this simple mistake define me as a basketball player or was I going to use this situation to make me better. Many people have seen all the great game winners that Michael Jordan has hit in his career, but what people don't know is for as many shots as he did make, he also missed more than he made. When we fail, it's up to us to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off. We must use that failure to fuel us. To ignite something in us to be better, greater, and stronger. You gain strength when you fail because you know that if you continue to strive for greatness, you will succeed more than you will fail. I won't let this define me or define my life. What about you? 

Life's Journey So Far...

Hey to all you die hard Singletary Report readers! I know it has been a while since I've written to you guys and told you about what is going on in my life, but this summer has been kind of crazy so far. I've been traveling a little bit with the family as well as having to get my wisdom teeth out. We all know how fun getting your wisdom teeth out can be. This summer God has blessed me with the opportunity to see some of the most amazing places on this Earth and I felt like I should share with you guys about my journey. After we won the championship in the D-League, I got an offer to go play for Barako Bull a team in the Philippines. I was basically there on a tryout basis to see how I would fit into their team and to see if I would be a good fit for their next conference season coming up. We played in a tournament in Dubai and I got to see one of the most amazing places on this Earth. It's funny how we as basketball players that get to travel, take for granted the places that we get to visit and experience. I've seen some places that most people won't ever get to visit and I feel like it's an injustice almost to those people if I don't write about my visits. The Philippines was awfully surprising to me with how warm and embracing the people were to me. It's hard to judge when you first get these offers to go to this countries as to how you will be accepted and treated. But in the Philippines, I was treated with a lot of kindness and they really took care of me. I think it really is amazing how God places us in these different places and cultures to broaden our horizons on different parts of the world. I think he does this to give us an open mind of how other countries can be just as amazing as this beautiful country that we live in. When I got told that we were getting a chance to go to Dubai, I immediately began researching and looking at pictures. If you ever have some time go to google and type in Dubai and click on images. You will be amazed at some of the pictures that show up and it almost looks as if they are fake. I really enjoyed Dubai and told my wife Alec that one day I would take her back there so she could experience it all. My next trip was a family trip to Florida to see some of my wife's family. It was going to be the first time that I had gone to Florida and I've always heard good things about it. I mean who doesn't like to be on the beach all day and in the ocean enjoying the beautiful breeze. It was definitely a great trip to meet some of the family members that I hadn't met yet. We had a condo on Amelia Island and were about 40 steps away from the beach. I can honestly say that all these trips have really changed my view on traveling. When I was younger, I wasn't very big on traveling and going outside of the country to see some of these places. But now that I have, I would honestly tell anyone that if you have a opportunity to go explore some of these different parts of the world, it should be a no brainer. Life is to short for us to want to be bottled up in our comfort zone. Jump outside that comfort zone. You will soon figure out how close minded you were and realize how much you have been missing out on in your life. That's enough rambling on for me, but I do want to leave you guys with a little slide show I made of my travels. Hope you enjoy. Until next time.

Fatherless

I started this blog to be very personal about not only my life, but the experiences that I have gone through. I want all of my readers to know more about me and my life, so that whatever they are going through they have someone to relate to. I titled this blog fatherless because I like too much of the population grew up fatherless. My dad was around when I was younger until my parents got a divorce and when that happened it seemed like I never saw him again. My mom would always ask me if I would want to talk to my father and of course my answer would be No. I was so angry and hurt that he wasn't around during my years of being a teen. Those are the times when you need your father more than anything. To teach you how to be a man, how to be responsible, and how to grow up in to be the man God created you to be. I never had that and for so long I held this deep dark demon in my heart that hated my father. I remember distinctly in high school when I was asked many times by different people, "Is your dad Mike Singletary the football coach?". I was so embarrassed and hurt that I didn't have the "ideal" family with a dad around that I would often tell people that he was my dad. Don't get me wrong I was never ashamed of my mom and the hard work that she put in to deal with my brother and I growing up. But, every kid needs a father figure in their lives and a mother can't be the role of both parents as hard as they try. I was fortunate enough to have my grandpa around as well as my Uncle Chris who really taught me what it takes to be a man. My uncle passed away in April of 2009 and I miss him very much, but I am glad that he was around to help me grow into the man that I am today. I now have my step father Hawk Carter who has become a father to my brother and I. He has been to a lot of basketball games and football games for us both as well as teaching us how to be responsible. It wasn't until later I found out that when I thought I was fatherless as a young kid, all along I had a father. Someone that I could always turn to and talk to whenever I needed advice or needed guidance. Someone who was watching over me and helping me to be the man that I was created to be. God was and always will be my father and I'm sad that it took me so long to realize how truly blessed I am to have a father like that. So to all of you out there growing up and feeling the same way I was when I was younger, just remember that you are not "fatherless." You are not alone. God is and always will be there for you in your time of need and in him we can do great things beyond our own imagination. I hope that this helps some of you out and gives you a look into my life.

Champion

It's 5:30 in the morning and I can't sleep because my mind is wondering about all the things that have happened throughout this season. Through the great times and the bad times, this season has overall been a good year for me personally as well as in a team aspect. Coming into this season I had no idea what to expect because every year you have the same routine of waiting and finding out what the best deal for you will be. Whether that is overseas or whether in my case this year the D-League, it is all about patience and trusting in your agents to work for you. The season started off great for me personally. I had a big role on a team full of really talented guys and we got off to a good start for the first part of the season. Just when I thought that everything was going really well, I got traded to the Erie Bayhawks. I had no idea what was going on and it all happened so fast that I almost felt betrayed by Rio Grande Valley even though it's all just business. It makes you think that your not good enough or that what you were doing wasn't enough for them to keep you around. But, I had no idea that God was working in a mysterious way for me throughout the season. It's usually during those times of uncertainty and questioning that God is usually working that much more for you. It took me some time to really realize that and when I did, it made me that much better. I kept telling myself that I would use this trade as motivation to basically stick it to the Vipers for trading me and I would make them really think hard about why they made such a decision. Things in Erie didn't go as I had planned and thought they would. My role kind of diminished from what it was like earlier. During one of the times when I was at my lowest, I got hurt. Once I got hurt I got frustrated and stopped seeing the good things throughout the situation I was in and that really hampered my game. With that frustration came the loss in confidence of my game and any basketball player can tell you that once you lose confidence in your self, it's hard to get it back. I tried to play throughout the injury and I just kept hurting my ankle.Took a while, but  I finally got healed up and started to gain my confidence back. We were making a playoff push and I had told myself that I was going to do everything in my power to help this team win the championship. As we were coming back from a road trip, I had a gut feeling that something was wrong. My mind began to wonder about many different scenarios and finally I just had to ask Coach what was going on. He told me that I had been traded and all I could think of was, "Wow, again. What is wrong with me? Is basketball really something I should continue to pursue?". I took it all in and asked him where I had been traded. He told me that I was traded back to the Vipers and at that moment I had so many feelings going on in my head. I didn't know what God was doing and when we don't usually know what's going on, we begin to question God. We begin to think, "Why are you putting my family and I through all this change and uncertainty." But, we fail to realize that he is testing our faith and patience to accept his will for our lives. When I got back to the Vipers, the team was completely different then when I left, but I was really grateful to be back. There were only a few guys that were left from the team when I was here earlier and I had no idea what my role would be like coming back. It started back where I had left off and I had a big role on the team, but soon that changed. My role diminished again and I began to get frustrated again about not playing as much as I felt like I should be playing. I had to take a look at myself and figure out that I could only control what I could and when I was given my time, I had to do the most with it. When I changed my thinking, God really rewarded my team and I by allowing us the opportunity to win a championship. It was an unbelievable ride as we won our last 16 games and broke many records along the way. I was really blessed to get to play with this group of guys, the great coaching staff and a really awesome organization as a whole. This season has really come around full circle for me personally. I've learned to not worry so much about the things that are going on in my life because every change is God putting us in a position to set us up for success. We have to just accept that change as hard as it might be and move forward knowing that he is in our corner. When God is in your corner you can NEVER lose! I'm just thankful that God blessed me with the ability to go through all the things that I went through this year. I got the ability to play for a great organization and to play with a great group of guys. At the end of the day, the ups and downs even the uncertainty was definitely worth it. Excited for what God has next for my wife and I!

Your Time is Coming

It seems to be very cliche for your parents or people that you look up to telling you that your time is coming. I know it's hard to believe and it's hard to practice the patience necessary for us to wait on our moment, but it will happen. In the media today we tend to hear about people as being over night success stories, but what they really don't talk about is how long it took for their dreams to become reality. Of course it takes hard work and some God given ability, but it also takes adversity. Adversity is the times we get kicked down and are in the valleys. In the times of adversity we tend to begin the thoughts of second guessing ourselves and negative thinking. That's the moments when we have to take a second and get out of the valley that were stuck in. I've always been told that God only puts his strongest warriors through the biggest battles. We have to know that we are all Gods strongest warriors and that in our times of need, that is when he is working his hardest. Be patient and know that your time is coming. It may be next week, next month, or even next year. But your time is coming. Continue to have faith in yourself and your abilities so that when your time does finally come, you will be ready for it . I'm still waiting on my time to come. Will you continue to be patient along with me or will you stay imprisoned in your valley?

TeamWork

I know that I haven't written to you guys in a while and I know that most of you a heartbroken that its been a while since you've heard from me. With the season coming to an end and a lot of other things going on in my life it's been really hectic. Nothing really came to me either during these past couple of weeks that I felt was worthy of talking about. So I began to ask around to some of my family members and friends on what they felt like I should talk about. My mom like all mom's usually do gave me a great topic about the importance of teamwork in a basketball perspective, as well as in my family life and my faith. Everyone knows the definition of team work, but I don't think we really understand how much more we can accomplish by allowing others to help us out. In my profession, team work is everything. There's the old saying of the best "team" will win the game. They never say that the best "player" will win the game and that's usually for a reason. One person can't beat a team no matter how hard they try it just can't be done. For example one of the greatest players in basketball is Kobe Bryant. He had 81 points in a basketball game against the Toronto Raptors a few years ago and they happened to win the game as well. Sure Kobe had a remarkable game scoring wise and some people tend to say that he won that game singlehandedly. But a lot of people haven't taken a look at the box score of that game and seen that Smush Parker had 13 points, Chris Mihm had 12 points, and Lamar Odom had 8 points. The Lakers won that game by 18 points so without those 33 points by those 3 guys, Kobe would have just had an amazing game, but the better "team" would have won. I think Phil Jackson might have said it best, "The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each individual member is the team". Basketball  is definitely a love of mine and I'm blessed everyday to be able to go to work and get paid to play a "game". But team work is almost more important in my family life between my wife and I than almost anything else. I have to rely on her as much as she has to rely on me and we have to be there for each other to make our marriage better and better. Team work is a lot of sacrifice for the good of the "team". There's a lot that we must work on to keep our marriage and our communication going. There's plenty of times when I'm tired after a basketball game or from practice, and my wife wants to talk about "feelings". Now I know that a lot of guys hate to sit and talk about their feelings trust me I've been there. But that's the sacrifice that I am willing to make to show my wife that I love her and that I care about how she's feeling regardless of how tired I am. It's that sacrifice I believe that makes our "team" the best. Team Work in my faith is another area of my life that is extremely important. You may think, " How can you have team work in your faith". Team work to me in my faith is knowing that I am on the winning team. Knowing that I am on the best team. The team that never loses and the team that everyone should be playing for, and thats God's team. Without my faith and trust in God, nothing I have done this far would be possible. If he had not gave his life for me, then I would still be leading a lonely life and I would be playing for the losing team. That team work and bond that I have with my God is the most important thing to me. The amount of confidence that God puts in me and the will that he puts in me strives me to be great not only for myself, but for the team of Believers/ people out there who are looking to someone to help them find their way. I feel that everyone should find that sense of balance in every area of their life on how to help others, but also allow those same people to help you as well. We must always be willing to give as much as and even more than we are willing to take, and by doing this we allow ourselves to grow in our family life, our profession, and our faith. 

Legacy

I'm reading Tony Dungy's book Uncommon and came across a section in the book talking about Legacy. So it made me wonder, " What do I want my legacy to be". Legacy to a lot of people is what you leave behind for everyone to remember you by. We all have a different view on what kind of legacy we want to leave. Some businessman want to be known by their numbers and percentages of growth that they helped their company maintain. Pro athletes and a lot of people in my profession get asked this question a lot and most of the answers are the same, "I want to be considered one of the best ever to play my sport" . Now as a competitor sure that is a great answer and that is something we all strive for in our profession. But there is so much more out there for us than the lasting legacy of being a "great" athlete. For me, I want to be known for more than just a good or great basketball player. I want to be known as a godly, honest, hardworking, and family man that I believe that I am. I would like my legacy to be much more than, "Oh yeah Mike Singletary was a stand out basketball player." I want people to say Mike Singletary was/ is a man of God who always exuded positivity and was willing to help others in any way possible. I mean that is what we were put on this Earth for right, to be servants and to love each other even in our faults. To pick each other up when we are down and feel like we can't seem to get up. I know that I want to be that person lending out that hand to help those people get back on their feet and point them in the right direction. There's so much more to being a professional athlete because your playing career only lasts for a short period of time. So with my time of being a professional athlete dwindling down as we speak, I want to continue to use this platform that God has placed me on to do great things. To encourage, to inspire, and to help anyone out there who is searching for which way to go and how to get there. So I guess the real question that we should all be thinking about is, "What legacy will I leave". What legacy will you leave for everyone to remember you by?

The NBA D- League Grind

This season has brought many surprises for me and has helped me grow tremendously in my faith. There's been many things that I don't understand, but have to realize that I am not in control and God's will is being done in my life and he knows what's best for me. There have been many ups and downs throughout this season, but we have managed to overcome all the obstacles that have been in front of us. I was first traded to the Erie Bayhawks earlier in the season, which really shook me up mentally. Don't get me wrong I was really excited about the opportunity to continue to play the game that I love, but it was the first time I've ever been traded. It made me feel as if I had done something wrong, or that the Vipers didn't want me. But I soon realized that it's just part of the business that exists in this game that I love. I was excited about the new opportunity and felt like I was going to succeed tremendously with the Bayhawks, considering the amount of talent they had. All and all, I enjoyed my experience in Erie and met a bunch of people that will be lifelong friends. Erie didn't go the way that I had planned, but I will always be grateful to the organization for giving me the opportunity. I had a feeling that a deal was going to happen, but I had no idea if I was going to be in that deal. I got the call a few days ago that I would be going back to the team that drafted me and back to my home state. I had mixed emotions running through me at the time. I once again had the feeling as if I didn't do enough for the Erie Bayhawks and felt like they didn't want me. At the same time, I had a feeling of joy because I was going back to a situation where I felt really comfortable and felt like I excelled in the Vipers system. It's been great to come back home to a situation where I feel comfortable and to come back to a coaching staff/ organization that wants the best for you. I'm excited about what the rest of the season holds for me, and the Vipers. I just know that if I continue to have faith, and trust in God's plan, then everything will be completely taken care of.

Wild at Heart

My wife and I decided about a month back that we should stop watching so much TV and social media, and read some more. Whether they were magazines or books, just something that would get us feeling a little bit more intellectual about ourselves. I've never been much of a reader up until now. One of the only books that I can remember reading up until about a month ago was one of the Harry Potter books that I was forced to read in elementary school. I guess I was one of those kids that stuck to the kid saying of " Reading isn't cool". Anyway, the past few months I've read the Hunger Games trilogy, as well as a book written by Tony Dungy. The latest book that I read was called Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. My wife suggested this book to me and when I read the intro, I was iffy on whether I would be interested in the book. It seemed really sappy and seemed to be a book about getting in touch with your feelings. I read it anyway, and was surprised at all the things in the book that I learned about not only myself, but about how to be a better husband. The book describes how we as men don't feel of any worth without having some type of adventure. We must have something to go after, and there must be some sort of uncertainty on whether we will fail or succeed to test our "manhood". Eldredge says, " A man is never more of a man than when he embraces in adventure beyond his control, or when he walks into a battle he isn't sure of winning". I never realized how true this really was, but for me, I like the challenge of being able to go after something. When I accomplish that challenge, I feel like I'm on cloud 9 and that's one of the greatest feelings as a man. It also taught me a lot about women, particularly my wife. Woman have to feel as though they are desired, wanted, and cherished. They want a man to fight for them. Look at all the stories we hear as children. The classic example that I can think of is one of my favorite movies growing up, Aladdin. Aladdin had to fight for Princess Jasmine. She wanted to be desired and loved. As men sometimes we don't always express our love for our wives or girlfriends. We don't make them feel desired or cherished, and when that happens, they tend to find that feeling of desire from someone else. A true man desires his wife, cherishes his woman, and tells his woman everyday about how much he loves her. I recommend this book to any man no matter what age or where you are in your life. It will help you learn more about trusting in your faith, what it takes to be a man, and how to love your spouse. I'll leave with a quote that described my life perfectly. Oswald Chambers says, " We look upon uncertainty as a bad thing….Certainty is the mark of the common sense life; gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth". 

Fear

Every game day we have chapel in the morning before our shoot around. This week spoke to me so I decided that I would write about it and share my thoughts on our subject of fear. We were referring to the story in the bible on how God was delivering the Israelites and sending them to the promised land. 12 men went to search out the land and they saw that there were people living there. 10 of the 12 men were astonished by the size and might of the people that were living there and instead of trusting in God's plan that this was their promised land, they didn't want to face the challenge of acquiring the land from those that lived there. So this had me thinking about some of the things that we may fear in our lives. We all have fear of something in our lives regardless of where we are in life. Is it fear of failure? success? providing? Whatever your fear may be, one thing that we don't realize is that fear is doing nothing positive in our lives. Fear is only creating a sense of negativity around our lives that can cripple us. We become so caught up in our fear that we becoming shackled to that thought of fear and become a prisoner to that fear. What do you fear? For me personally, I've always had a fear of failure. I've always been a pretty confident person and confident in my abilities, but at times I'm scared of what will happen to me if I fail. If I fail will I be able to get back up and try again? Or Will I fail and crumble into a downward spiral of negativity? I have to believe that I will be the man that gets back up and continues to try because I believe that is my nature. But I know not everyone has that belief in their self, and I hope that this can help them overcome that fear. There's a saying that the worst part about failure is if you don't ever try because of your fear in failure. Even the famous quote, " We have nothing to fear, but fear itself". Instead of putting all our feelings and our complete self into that sense of fear, we must put all of our being into FAITH. FAITH? Yes, faith! Have the faith in your abilities that whatever your a poised to do in this life, that you will do it to the best of your ability and that you have that same faith that you will be successful. Don't fear failure! Don't fear anything because that is the perfect opportunity for the enemy to attack that fear and make you doubt yourself. One of the worst things that we can do as human beings is doubt ourselves because once you do that, then your done! No one can take away that doubt in your mind but yourself. Yes people can help chip away at that doubt, but ultimately it is battle within yourself. You have to stand up and say, " I will not doubt myself, I will not live in fear, but I will live in FAITH". Do you want to be shackled, crippled, chained by your fear? Or Do you want to be free, confident, and faithful that God has placed you on this earth for a reason and whatever that reason is, you will fulfill that calling and be successful in the process. The choice is up to you! Live in fear or dwell in FAITH? 

Basketball : The Journey Pt. 2

 With all the uncertainty going on in our life back in the Dallas area, my wife and I decided that this had to be a sign from God. What was he trying to do in our lives and in my basketball life specifically? When I got back home, my family and I sat down and talked about what would be coming next. We didn't like the way that my agent had been working for me, and we came to the decision that we must go a different direction. When I got hooked up with my next agent, they thought the best thing for me to do would be to continue playing somewhere while we searched for something better. We got an offer from a team in Uruguay and decided that this would be the best situation for right now. So I packed up my bags and got on a plane to a country that I had no idea about. When traveling overseas, you never know what to expect. There are so many questions that you wanted answered, but a lot of the time you must figure out the answers to those questions yourself. That's one thing I will always be grateful for about playing professionally overseas because it taught me how to be more independent, as well as becoming more of a man. I landed in Uruguay, and was immediately surprised by how beautiful this country was. It was almost like I was in Florida with the beautiful palm trees and the sun beating down heavy. I got in and it was a rush to get all my paper work done to be able to play in the game that night. Playing in a game after flying for more than 8 hours? These people have to be crazy right! I thought the same thing, but I had to suck it up and go out there and do what I love to do. I only played a few games in Uruguay before changes started happening within the organization. The coach left the team for a better offer, and with the coaching change there went my shot at staying on the team. When I found out that I would be leaving the team, I was a little bit upset and once again had me wondering if this basketball thing was going to work out for me. As I was waiting to leave the country, I had given them my passport for all the paper work that they had to fill out for me to play. I went 3 days with the team telling me that they would come by my apartment and bring me my passport. They never showed up! I was scared and furious that I wouldn't be able to get out of the country and I would be stuck there. Eventually everything got worked out, and my next offer was to Montenegro. I had no idea where Montenegro was and for some reason the name Montenegro intimidated me. I thought I might be going to some deathly place that I would hate and I would immediately want to get out of there. Man was I wrong! Montenegro was the most beautiful country that I have been to in my life and I was definitely happy about being there. I was in Montenegro shortly before my wife came and joined me. I was on a team that I enjoyed and my wife was with me to make things more comfortable. Life couldn't have been any better at that time. We lost in the first round of the playoffs to a team that we shouldn't have lost to, and I soon figured out how serious management took the game of basketball. We were basically hanging out a week before we got a call on when our flights would be and when we would have a team meeting to get our final payment. My season of uncertainty was over and now it was time for summer. The main part of my summer was taken over by wedding planning and working out mostly. Even though my wife and I were already legally married, we had a wedding ceremony for friends and family on the 17th of August, and headed to our honeymoon in Riviera Maya, Mexico. We had a blast at our all inclusive resort and when we came back it was time for our next adventure. Through that summer it seemed like nothing was happening for me in the sense of basketball. I wasn't getting the offers that we believed were best for us, and we kept waiting for something to come up. In the meantime, I found out about a D- League tryout for the Austin Toros and decided that I would check it out. After going through the tryout, I was pretty certain that I was going to play in the D- League this season. I was drafted by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and played about 16 games for them before being traded to the Erie Bayhawks. My journey hasn't been a conventional or ideal one, but it has been a journey of testing my faith. I will continue to put my faith in God and have him direct my path because the plans that he has for me are bigger/ better than anything that I could have for myself. Have faith and continue to believe! Until the next chapter of my basketball journey.

Bar, Montenegro

Wedding Party

Riviera Maya, Mexico

All Star Break Vacation

Hello World! I know that you guys have been dying (not literally) without any new posts on the Singletary Report, but I'm back. My wife and I decided to take a little vacation to Niagara Falls over our brief All Star break. It happened to also lie on the week of Valentine's, which is definitely a plus. We looked into figuring out what would be the best way to get there and came to the conclusion that we would ride the Greyhound. If you have never ridden a Greyhound bus before, like my wife and I, be prepared to be amazed by the people you will meet along your trip. Don't get me wrong I am incredibly grateful for the ability to get a ride to Niagara Falls, but some of the things we encountered on our trip were interesting to say the least. 9 o'clock in the morning and the first two people that we see in the bus station are having conversations with imaginary people. We had to make a stop in Buffalo, then we were on our way to Niagara Falls. On top of the two imaginary conversations that took place, my wife and I got the privilege to sit next to some people who did NOT believe in deodorant or any kind of smell good. Needless to say, those first two hours of the trip stunk literally. Enough with all of the downers about the trip. We had a great time in Niagara Falls, while staying at the Sheraton on the Falls. The room we were in was located high enough that we could see both the Canadian Falls, as well as the American Falls. It was amazing to actually see one of the great natural wonders of the world and think about how God created something that beautiful for us to enjoy.We found this trip on Groupon, which was a great deal because we got hooked up with tons of little perks. It was definitely a great trip for our relationship. We were able to enjoy a nice romantic getaway, and able to celebrate our 4th valentine's day together (2nd being married). I would have loved to be in the D-League All Star game, but I am glad that I was able to recover mental and physically so that I'm able to finish this season strong. Now I'm ready for what lies ahead in this season, as well as all the things that God has planned for my wife and I. I'll leave you guys with a few pictures of our trip and hopefully you guys will get a little laugh at our photos. Till next time!

Basketball: The Journey Pt. 1

Basketball has always been my refuge and is a game that I love deeply. I was always that kid that said they were going to be an NBA player in the future. I got a scholarship to Texas Tech University to play for the winningest coach in D1 history, Bob Knight. I learned a lot from Coach Knight as a basketball player and even more about what it takes to be a man. Coming out of a pretty successful college career, I thought I would definitely have an opportunity to play in the NBA. When my senior season ended, I had time to sit and think to myself and I always came back to this one question: "What comes next". I think for a lot of basketball players, basketball takes up so much of our lives, that when were without it for a period of time, we don't know what to do with ourselves. Almost like we don't know who we are as individuals besides being basketball players. I eventually found an agent that was going to handle all my workouts, draft process, and marketing. I thought for sure it would be easy to get into workouts and draft camps based on what I had done in college. Those calls for the special team workouts and draft camps never came. I was stuck sitting at home wondering if I was even going to get a shot at playing basketball somewhere. From May till August I sat at home contemplating on what I was going to do. I married my wife August 31, 2011 and found out I was leaving to play in Belgium 2 days later. It was hard to leave so quick especially since we weren't sure when the team would be flying her over. It wasn't the NBA, but it was a chance to play at a high level and make a living doing something that I love to do.
Belgium was a great experience that changed me drastically as a man, husband, and basketball player. My wife was flown over a month after I was. I had never been out of the country and having to start the journey overseas alone wasn't as easy as I thought. It tested my limits and mental toughness. When my wife got there I felt a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I finally had my partner and we would be able to take on this adventure together. The season didn't start as we would have hoped as we went 0-11 up until the first part of December. Basketball overseas is very cut throat, and players started getting cut left and right. The pressure to perform on a team that started off so badly was heavy. It was hard not only on the players, but the staff was on the burner as well. Things started getting weird between me and the coaching staff and I was beginning to wonder, " Am I next"? My playing time began to drop as well as my production. A few weeks went by and I finally got an email from my agent telling me that the team was thinking about releasing me. Releasing me? It immediately infuriated me. I began to become a very negative person and didn't trust in God who was changing my path. I immediately began doubting myself and when you doubt yourself as a person, the enemy has an easy entry to take over and attack. We came to an agreement that I would leave the team and go back home to figure out the next step. So my wife and I got on a plane and headed back home with so much uncertainty.

Throwback Thursday

Hey Guys! In honor of it being Throwback Thursday, I've decided that I would share with you journal entry that I wrote about a year ago. Hope you guys enjoy reading it and I hope that it can help anyone who is in a similar situation!

May 11, 2012

This is the first time that I've actually decided to sit down and start writing in a journal. I've always had a feeling about starting one, but never actually sat down and decided to write one. I guess something was speaking to me today and told me that it would be a good idea for me to document everything that is going on in my life, my thoughts, and my feelings on different things. Yesterday while doing devotional with my wife Alec, we read about how you approach and deal with problems that you encounter. The devotional was telling us not to run away from our problems, but when those problems do arise, that they arise for a reason. God stirs up those problems and difficulties to see how we will react to them. Will we use those problems and that bad situation to turn to him? Or will we just make complaints about why things aren't happening to go our way. That's really speaking to me right now because of the things that have been going on with me in the past year. It's been a bumpy road this past year and a half from basketball to growing up and having multiple responsiblities. Things haven't gone smoothly on the basketball front and I'm learning everyday that playing overseas basketball is definitely different. I've learned that it doesn't matter about how much talent you have or what you feel like you should be entitled to. It's about connections, its about your attitude, and its about letting go and letting God have control of your life. I've become a better believer/ follower in Christ this past year. I think God has put me in these situations for a reason. He wants me to let go of the reigns and turn them over to him and let him guide my path. I've been wanting to read more books lately and just started to get into Tony Dungy's book "Quiet Strength". I've head really good things about this book and have seen/ heard about Tony Dungy being a devote Christian. Something in the chapter that I read today said that Tony learned a very good lesson from his parents early in his life that goes with everything that is going on in my life. "Things will go wrong at times. You can't always control circumstances. However, you can always control your attitude, approach, and response. Your options are to complain or to look ahead and figure out how to make the situation better." This is a slap in the face literally for me because this past year I have done a lot of complaining and wondering why these bad things were happening to me. I think by me getting more into the word of God, I've learned that I have to change my attitude and my approach to these situations to make them better. This is a brilliant concept that has really hit home for me and I will continue to get better in this area of my life. My motto that I have taken lately in my life is USE EVERYDAY TO BECOME BETTER IN WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU DO. BECOME BETTER IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FAMILY, GOD, YOUR JOB, YOURSELF, ANYTHING! And I will continue to strive to be a better husband, a better individual, and a better follower of Christ my Lord and Savior. I don't really know how to end this things since this is the first journal I've started, but I'll be writing more on my life so that maybe one day this can help my children or help someone else who knows. Till tomorrow. 

First Post

Hello World! My names Mike Singletary and this is my first ever blog. I've been thinking about starting a blog for the longest time and finally (with a big push from my wife Alec) decided to stop talking about it and just do it. It's going to take me a little bit to get use to writing on this thing, but I'll eventually get the hang of it. My whole purpose in starting this blog is to try to help motivate, and encourage to pursue their dreams no matter how big. In this blog I want to be completely honest to my readers about the struggles along my journey as well as the good times. Thanks for stopping by and hopefully you enjoy it! Feel free to leave any advice or comments.