An open letter to this year's graduating class:

Richard M. "Pek" Gunn is known in some circles as the "Poet Laureate of Tennessee." One of Gunn's creations is a poem entitled, "The Optimist," which reads:

I passed a sand lot yesterday,

Some kids were playing ball.

I strolled along the third base line

Within the fielder's call.

"Say, what's the score?" I asked the chap.

He yelled to beat the stuffin,'

"There's no one out, the bases full,

And they're forty-two to nuthin'!"

"You're getting beat, aren't you, my lad?"

And then in no time flat,

He answered: "No sir, not as yet!

Our side ain't been to bat!"

We smile at these lines and yet we identify as well because we always want to believe that there's hope.

Many years ago, I played chess in a league. There would be times when I was so far behind that logic dictated that the gentlemanly thing to do was to concede. In fact, many opponents would become frustrated with my staying in the game against all odds and would implore me to give up the fight. My reply was always the same: "While there is life, there is yet hope!"

You'd be surprised how many times I snatched a draw when I should have been beaten. Like the lad in Gunn's poem, I feel that, as long as you're in the game, victory is possible.

Over two centuries ago, John Paul Jones answered the British invitation to surrender by replying, "I've just begun to fight." In World War II, an allied officer, hopelessly outnumbered by Axis forces, received a demand from the enemy to surrender. His one-word reply was, "Nuts!" Sir Winston Churchill was in the United States to address a college graduation ceremony. Sir Winston stood before the anxious crowd, surveyed the young graduates with a steely gaze, and delivered his speech: "Never, never, never, never, never give up!" and sat down.

This attitude is what keeps businessmen going when things look bleak. It is this state of mind that empowers an athlete to strain mightily against all odds. This optimistic belief kept patrons and fans going