Rocky: the flim that started it all for me

While everyone else is anticipating the holidays and doing their last minute holiday shopping I am looking forward to the latest and final of the Rocky saga. Three decades ago, when I was just four-years–old, I fell in love with this Cinderella story.
It was 1976, and my favorite sport was boxing. Knowing that I loved the sport my grandparents took me to see this Oscar winning film. Although I was a a little young I really loved the movie and watched it many, many times after that. The movie made such a big impression on me that I really wanted to be the character Rocky. My grandmother, being so devoted to me went along with my infatuation and reenacted a few of my favorite scenes. In Rocky I, Sylvester Stallone trains by hitting a side of beef. I guess my grandmother couldn’t afford a side of beef so she got a frozen chicken and hung it by its feet. I would kick it for hours. Another time I made her put three raw eggs in a glass and feed it to me. You see I am a true Rocky fan. She also used to try to copy the ring costumes that Rocky wore in the movies. This seems funny now but back then I really loved it.
Every time a sequel of this movie would come out I would be one of the first fans in line to go see it and get all of the memorabilia from the movie. I had trading cards, punching bags, action figures, and I even had a Mr. T sprinkler. I guess I went a little overboard but I was young and the movie really inspired me to become all that I could be.
When I first heard rumors of another sequel called Rocky Balboa was coming out I couldn’t believe it. It had been more than 15 years since the last Rocky film. But once the press got wind of it the idea caught on like wildfire. Then I saw trailers on the internet and I knew that it was true. At first I didn’t think Stallone, at the age of 60, would be able to play a believable role as the same character that he last portrayed on screen more than a decade and half ago. However, I knew if anyone could do it he could. This guy does not look his age at all and he slips into this famous role like he played it yesterday.
The Rocky movies are more than films. They are stories that everyone can relate to. They are stories that motivate and inspire people to go after things they would normally only dream of. I know this because that is what these movies did for me.

The drive to compete

What drives a person to compete in a sport? For some it is a way of fitting in with their peers, for others it is an unseen force that drives them. A few months ago a friend of mine took his passion for a sport to the extreme.
I met Anthony D’Arezzo about 12 years ago when I was lifting weights at Gold's Gym with my friend Lonnie Morris. Lonnie, being a wrestler, knew quite a few weight lifters and fellow wrestlers who trained in my gym, D’Arezzo being one of many. One day Lonnie introduced me to D’Arezzo. I had seen few people with the enormous stature that this man had. He really looked like a professional wrestler or a football player for the NFL, but when he spoke to people you could tell he was very intelligent.
As time went on D’Arezzo became more and more comfortable around me. Like most people he was a little hesitant to start a conversation with me because of my disability and my speech problem. Not long after he would often give me suggestions on how to improve my workouts. The thing I most remember about D’Arezzo is he would constantly tell me to “lift lighter weights and concentrate on your form. You are not a large guy.” I always agreed with him but never really listened too much. At the time I didn’t put to much weight in his suggestions, I figured I knew my body best and I was going to lift as much as I was able to.
Over the years I didn’t see D’Arezzo as often as before, but on occasion I would run into him at a club or sporting event and he always made time to ask how I was doing. Late last spring I bumped into him several times at a Providence nightclub. This is where he informed me of his health problems and he probably would not live to an old age. Like anyone else would do I told him don’t talk like that you will be all right. He said thank you and we moved on to more pleasant conversation.
The first time I met D’Arezzo at the gym Lonnie told me stories of how competitive he was and how he was such a great wrestler at Johnston High School as well as at Boston University. Lonnie said that he had a work ethic like no other.
In recent years D’Arezzo had been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a type of heart disease, this condition made him stop competing in bodybuilding and reduced his training to a minimum. Although he wasn’t competing, D’Arezzo still had that competitive spirit as a personal trainer. Over the years he helped countless individuals become physically fit.
Last year, like most elite athletes D’Arezzo succumbed to the urge to compete in one last body building competition in Pittsburgh. Although his doctors were against this notion D’Arezzo had his mind made up and began to train once again, but this time harder than ever before. His training was progressing well and everything was in place for him to excel at this competition. Then it happened just an hour before he was to take the stage he collapsed and passed away in his hotel room.
Some might say that he took a risk that he shouldn’t have taken, but people like D’Arezzo with such a passion for excellence, there was no other way to live his life. D’Arezzo once said that he would rather die on a body building stage than to die of old age in a hospital. On that hot July day in Pittsburgh D’Arezzo got his wish and we all lost a great friend and motivator