Georgia Magazine - September 2010 - (Page 5)

www.georgiamagazine.org (800) 544-4362, in Georgia; (770) 270-6950 Goooooooal! BY PAUL WOOD President/CEO, Georgia Electric Membership Corporation GEORGIA Magazine, the largest-circulation monthly magazine in the state, is published by Georgia Electric Membership Corp. (GEMC), the trade association for Georgia’s 42 consumer-owned electric utilities. On average, more than 500,000 members welcome the magazine into their homes each month. Georgia’s not-for-profit electric cooperatives provide reliable, safe and affordable electric service to more than 73 percent of the state’s land area serving 4.5 million residents. For more information, visit www.georgiaemc.com. EDITOR Ann Orowski, CCC MANAGING EDITOR Jennifer Hewett, CCC ASSOCIATE EDITOR Victoria Scharf DeCastro PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Steve Jacobs ASSISTANT EDITOR Kevin Braun ASSISTANT EDITOR Jim Jess EDITORIAL INTERN Sarah Bakhtiari CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jimmie Batchelor, Justin Cave, Dennis Creech, Margie Fishman, Jane F. Garvey, Deborah Geering, John Kane, Jackie Kennedy, Sibongile B. Lynch, Bill Verner CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS I John Carrington III, Justin Cave, Kelly and Diana Combs, Joseph Edwards, Jane F. Garvey, Alexis Hughes, Stephen Morton, David Nash ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Laurel George, (404) 541-0628; Laine Kirby Wood, (770) 289-5700 NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE National Country Market, (800) 626-1181 DESIGNERS Trudie Thibodeaux, Kerstin Weis Mary Wellman, (770) 270-6981 SUBSCRIPTIONS 2010 ADVISORY BOARD Christy Chewning, Jeffrey Ferguson, Stacey Fields, Tony Griffin, Johnnie B. Hall, Pamela Keene, Doyle Medders, Jeff Pierce, Donnie Prince, Steve Rawl, Brandon Reese, Romeo Reyes, Tony Sinclair, Jere Thorne GEORGIA EMC OFFICERS CHAIRMAN Neal Talton, Flint Energies VICE CHAIRMAN Alice Mallory, Coweta-Fayette EMC SEC.-TREASURER Randy Crenshaw, Irwin EMC PRESIDENT/CEO, GEMC A. Paul Wood georgia Magazine (USPS-473120, ISSN 10615822) is published monthly by Georgia Electric Membership Corp., P.O. Box 1707, 2100 East Exchange Place, Tucker, GA 30085. Periodicals postage paid at Thomaston, GA, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to GEORGIA Magazine, P.O. Box 1707, Tucker, GA 30085. Printed in Georgia by Quad/Graphics. Acceptance of advertising by GEORGIA Magazine does not imply endorsement by the publisher or Georgia’s electric membership corporations of the product or services advertised. GEORGIA Magazine’s LIABILITY FOR ERRORS IN, OR OMISSIONS OF, ADVERTISEMENTS, WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR IN TORT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES TO THE ADVERTISER’S BUSINESS, SHALL IN NO EVENT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF CHARGES FOR THE ADVERTISEMENT THAT WAS OMITTED OR IN WHICH THE ERROR OCCURRED. have a friend who is such a football fanatic he will not watch any other sport. “If it is played with a round ball,” he told me, “it doesn’t count.” I understand his passion; I love football too, but his sweeping statement dismissed many other sports, including soccer. Until this summer when the U.S. soccer team moved up to compete in the Final 16 at the FIFA World Cup, I did not follow soccer closely. But I found myself watching with about 19 million other Americans as Team America tied England (1-1) and defeated Algeria (1-0). By the time they were eliminated from the competition by Ghana (2-1), I finally understood the difference between back-heeling and banana kicking, not to mention the famous nutmeg move. When I heard that 400 million people around the globe watched the games, I wondered if the international community—our competitors on the world stage—had already learned the most important lessons to be taken from the games. Their discipline on the field told me they had. Here is what struck me about the best teams: Every player plays at the highest level at all times. If one loses focus or intensity for even a moment, the whole team suffers instantly. To be more precise, the team that executes its passes and shoots the quickest and most efficiently as a team usually wins the game. The best team does not More online at www.georgiamagazine.org always win. Not all calls go the team’s way, even if they play perfectly. Good teams, however, rise above bad calls. Remember that lastminute goal by U.S. player Landon Donovan in the game against Algeria? He rose above the bad calls, never gave up and lifted his team to victory. The best soccer teams are those that have a defense as good as their offense. In other words, the best teams are as good at preventing bad things from happening as scoring. I wondered if British Petroleum officials were watching and learning. Every member of the team is capable of excelling, but most importantly, each has to find a way to call up his best effort when needed for his team. When all perform at the same high level simultaneously, there is nothing the team cannot achieve. Some will even inspire their team to levels of excellence they did not know they possessed. You may think these are such simple lessons that surely they were mastered long ago. But that’s not true. It takes awhile for each new generation to learn them. Have you ever seen a screaming bunch of 5year-olds tearing around a soccer field in a tight knot pursuing that ball as if they were just one player? In time, they will learn to play as a team. They will learn lessons many adults have not yet mastered, and I predict they will succeed in life by benefiting from lessons learned on a soccer field. And it doesn’t hurt to score first. 5 September 2010 http://www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.georgiaemc.com http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - September 2010

Georgia Magazine - September 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This!
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Special Energy Report
A Fast Track to the Airwaves
Crossing Cultures
Georgia's First Botanical Garden
The 2010 Washington Youth Tour
Higher Education in Georgia
Around Georgia
Travel Guide
My Georgia
Georgia@Home
Georgia Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Cookbook of the Month
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - September 2010