May 8, 2020 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of JetBlue Airways Corp earnings conference call or presentation Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 2:00:00pm GMT

Wolfe Research, LLC - MD and Senior Analyst of Passenger Airlines, Aerospace & Defense

JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division - U.S. Airline and Aircraft Leasing Equity Analyst

Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division - MD & Airline Analyst

Good morning. My name is Erica. I would like to welcome everyone to the JetBlue Airways First Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

I would now like to turn the call over to JetBlue's VP of Investor Relations, David Fintzen. Please go ahead.

David E. Fintzen, JetBlue Airways Corporation - Director of Investors Relation [2]

Thanks, Erica. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us for our first quarter 2020 earnings call. This morning, we issued our earnings release, our investor update and a presentation that we will reference during this call. All those documents are available on our website at investor.jetblue.com and have been filed with the SEC.

Joining me here in New York to discuss our results are Robin Hayes, our Chief Executive Officer; Joanna Geraghty, our President and Chief Operating Officer; and Steve Priest, our Chief Financial Officer. Also joining us for Q&A are Scott Laurence, Head of Revenue and Planning; and Dave Clark, VP of Sales and Revenue Management.

This morning's call includes forward-looking statements about future events. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements due to many factors and therefore, investors should not place undue reliance on these statements. For additional information concerning factors that could cause results to differ from the forward-looking statements, please refer to our press release, 10-Q and other reports filed with the SEC.

Also during the course of our call, we may discuss several non-GAAP financial measures. For a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to GAAP measures, please refer to the tables at the end of our earnings release, a copy of which is available on our website.

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Robin Hayes, JetBlue's CEO.

Robin Hayes, JetBlue Airways Corporation - CEO & Director [3]

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Thanks, Dave, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. And Dave, before I start, congratulations on your promotion, which occurred since the last earnings call. And of course, with everything else that's happened, we haven't really had a chance to celebrate that, but you do a terrific job. And thanks for what you do for the JetBlue team.

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David E. Fintzen, JetBlue Airways Corporation - Director of Investors Relation [4]

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Thank you, Robin.

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Robin Hayes, JetBlue Airways Corporation - CEO & Director [5]

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I could not be prouder about JetBlue family, not just over the past 2 decades, but for their service to each other, our customers and our communities as they provide an essential service during this coronavirus pandemic. In our 20th anniversary year, we are facing the biggest threat we've seen to our company and our industry. Our crewmembers, though, yet again, have risen to the challenge to inspire humanity at a difficult time, all while living our founding values of safety, caring, integrity, passion and fun.

We are deeply saddened to have lost 6 crewmembers to the coronavirus, including a pilot, 2 members of our in-flight community, 1 support center colleague and 2 airport crewmembers. Ralph Gismondi, Charles (Chuck) Lewis, Jared Lovos, Kevin McAdoo, Ray Pabon and Nikki Thorne were valued and amazing members of our JetBlue team, each with a special and unique story. Ralph joined us from after retiring from the New York City Fire Department including 2 tours of duty at ground zero, and we honor him with the cover of our earnings deck today. Chuck was known to his fellow ground ops crewmembers as a natural and confident leader. Jared brought the same warmth and compassion to our people team here in LSC, Long Island Support Center, that he demonstrated in his previous role as an inflight crew member. Kevin retired after distinguished service with the U.S. Air Force, where he served for 20 years and had multiple tours. Ray was known for his caring nature. And Nikki was known amongst her airport ops crew -- colleagues for being extremely kind hearted and having an excellent sense of humor. Our hearts go out to their families and loved ones as we are supporting them and also to all of our crewmembers who have been impacted by this virus. For those that we have lost, we remember them every day, and we pause briefly now as we remember them as our beloved members of the JetBlue family.

Turning to Slide 4 of our presentation. For the first quarter, we reported an adjusted loss of $0.42 per share, driven by an unprecedented fall in demand that started late in February. It has been a couple of very challenging months, and our team have responded with extreme urgency and taking actions at every level to protect JetBlue.

We were fortunate to have entered this crisis with the second strongest balance sheet among U.S. airlines. In the last 2 months, we have moved quickly to both protect and strengthen our liquidity position. Since the beginning of March, we have made decisive changes to our growth plan to minimize cash burns, including deep capacity cuts to our schedule. We have reduced our CapEx plan by $1.3 billion between now and the end of 2022, and by the end of May, we anticipate we would have lowered our operating expenses by about -- by around 50% year-over-year.

We are so incredibly grateful for the support received from our business partners and crewmembers who have helped us minimize cash burn during these challenging times.

In March, Congress passed and the President signed into law of the CARES Act. JetBlue is very grateful to President Trump and his administration, particularly Secretaries Mnuchin and Chao, as well as Congress, especially Senate Minority Leader, Charles Schumer for strongly recognizing the value of our industry and for supporting our crewmembers. I also want to thank Nick Calio and the team at Airlines for America for their amazing teamwork as we came together to protect jobs.

This law alone will not solve the longer-term problems that the coronavirus pandemic is creating. But it does provide much-needed temporary support for our crewmembers and buys us vital time to plan for both a changed demand environment and, of course, eventual recovery. We reached an agreement with the Department of Treasury and received $936 million in payroll support. In exchange for these funds, the U.S. government received approximately 2.6 million warrants as consideration for the amount granted to JetBlue. And of this $936 million, $251 million must be repaid to the U.S. government.

In late April, we also applied for the federal loan program, which would provide up to $1.14 billion in further liquidity. We will continue to evaluate all alternatives to raise cash and plan to access the facility, if needed. Given our actions and government support, we believe our balance sheet remains one of the strongest amongst U.S. airlines, and our cash and short-term investments currently equates to over $3 billion.

The demand environment continues to be exceptionally challenged due to the coronavirus. As we move towards recovery, we have 3 priorities: the first one is the immediate need to protect the safety of our crewmembers and customers. The second is to minimize cash burn. The third priority is to set JetBlue up for future success by restoring customer confidence by returning to cash generation and by rebuilding our margins and balance sheet. We are preparing for a number of recovery scenarios and working with different leading indicators.

For JetBlue, we expect our path will look a little different from many of our peers, given our network footprint, customer demographics, low-cost model and our customers' trust in our brand. As you'd expect, we are being conservative in our planning and as states reopen and the economy comes back online, we are planning on being flexible and quick to adapt.

We believe that building customer confidence will be a critical part of recovery, not just for JetBlue or the airline industry, but the travel industry overall. We believe confidence will come from a cross-functional effort that includes working together with industry partners, local governments, regulators and other entities. We also believe that the broader travel industry will need to make a collective effort to stimulate and promote a return to travel. Only by getting things moving again, will we get back to generating cash. We look forward to working with our travel partners throughout the recovery. We have taken a leadership position in our industry and started by giving competence and flexibility to customers with travel waivers. We were also the first carrier to provide free flights to health care professionals for relief efforts and transport essential medical equipment. It remains critical that we collaborate and support each other in these challenging times.

We believe that, not only will we get through this crisis, but we will emerge as a stronger JetBlue. Over the past few years, we focused on strengthening our balance sheet and preparing for an eventual downturn. After the start of this pandemic, we were well on course to deliver on our financial commitments in 2020. As we move into recovery, we look forward to getting back to executing our building blocks, improving our network, our product offerings, investing in our fleet, all while remaining true to our low-cost routes.

Just as in past downturns, along the way, we anticipate looking for opportunities that may not have been possible for JetBlue just a few months ago. JetBlue has been a true force for good in our industry, and we have been resilient through crisis for over 20 years. Most importantly of all, I want to once again thank our 23,000 amazing, inspiring crewmembers for their vital role in this tremendously challenging time.

And with that, I'd like to pass over to Joanna.

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Joanna L. Geraghty, JetBlue Airways Corporation - President & COO [6]

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Thank you, Robin. I'd like to start by thanking most profusely our crewmembers for their outstanding service and loyalty, not only to our customers but to each other. From the very beginning of this pandemic, a few short months ago, predictions and forecasts of every type each day only proved how uncertain the future could be. At JetBlue, however, each new day brought one absolute certainty. And that was the professionalism, humanity and commitment of our crewmembers to delivering a safe and secure JetBlue experience while living our values. This constant has been and continues to be an inspiration to us all.

Our first priority since the onset of the pandemic has been equally constant, ensure the safety of our customers and crewmembers. We've responded quickly to changing conditions and overseeing the rapid evolution of policies and programs designed to address the threats to crewmembers and customer safety posed by this virus.

We were early to announce the COVID-19 sick pay and quarantine framework and to implement an internal contact tracing and notification process.

And as the press recently reported, we were the first to acquire customers to wear face coverings. We've aggressively managed capacity from the very outset, doing our best to eliminate any nonessential flying while also ensuring CARES Act compliance.

We've focused on crew protection by increasing cleaning and disinfection across our operation in all facilities, eliminating New York City overnight crew layovers, working with crew transportation companies to ensure social distancing, implementing jump seat buffers, mandating the use of facial coverings and the use of other PPE, reducing service touch points on board the aircraft, modifying in-flight briefings and deferring training events.

I would now like to turn to Slide 6 and our revenue and demand trends. Beginning of last week of February, we saw a sharp fall in forward bookings across our network, and revenues in March were down 52% year-over-year. Following a very solid start to the year, our first quarter revenues declined 15% year-over-year, resulting from both lower demand volumes and a very challenging fare environment. During April, our revenues were down approximately 95% year-over-year.

While the overall number of bookings remained extremely limited during the second quarter, we expect to see small increases in demand as various geographies in our network begin a phased reopening.

To provide some additional detail regarding the level of our capacity changes, we are currently operating around 100 flights per day. This compares to our previous average of approximately 1,000 flights per day. The customers we fly today are largely people who are traveling for critical reasons or due to essential needs. And our load factors averaged between 10% and 15% for much of April. We believe that we've reached the bottom in terms of demand around mid-April. That said, we expect to have a better sense of the third and fourth quarter of 2020 by early summer.

We envision this environment of very limited demand will continue into at least the short, if not medium term, and believe our inherent strengths as a trusted brand with an unparalleled culture and superior product should serve us well as customers evaluate their air travel options. We plan to continue to be thoughtful as we adapt to changing customer needs.

As Robin mentioned, we are working on a number of scenarios for recovery. And although we are conservative in our planning assumptions, we will respond quickly to changes in demand with capacity, pricing and customer policies.

Moving to capacity on Slide 7. Our March capacity declined 19% year-over-year as a result of scheduled reductions and close in cancellations. As the pandemic began to manifest during the month, we adjusted our March flying levels to mitigate cash losses and rapidly declining load factors. We typically would have managed reductions at this level through a schedule change. But due to the speed and impact of the pandemic, we are put in a position of having to make these changes much closer into the travel day. I'm very proud of our crewmembers for reshaping our operation in such a short period of time and reaccommodating our customers under enormous pressure.

For April and May, we have had more time to adjust our schedules, and our working assumption for the second quarter is for capacity to be down about 80% compared to our original plan. We've been aggressively managing all capacity decisions with the goal of maintaining only an essential level of flying in our markets and complying with the CARES Act.

In mid-April, we consolidated operations across 5 metro areas through June 30 and now operate at only 1 or 2 airports in each, including Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C. Based on our projections for continuing low demand in the near term, we expect to reduce many markets to less than 1 flight per day.

Due to ongoing border closures, we have already suspended service to more than 20 of our international cities. We anticipate the situation will remain fluid as we head into the summer as states and foreign governments reopen their geographies.

Given the meaningful capacity reductions, we have grounded approximately 170 aircraft. This has been a significant source of cash savings. As we look to future quarters, we expect to remain flexible, managing our fleet and adjusting our capacity in response to travel demand.

While much of our team is focused on navigating the near-term challenges, we are also laser-focused on how the business will look for customers and crewmembers as we transition to recovery. Our focus will be on safety from the ground up, which includes healthy crewmembers, clean air services, more space, fewer touch points and travel flexibility.

Given the goodwill and trust that we've built in our brand over the last 20 years, our mission to inspire humanity is now more important than ever. We believe we are well positioned to be the airline of choice for customers as they become more comfortable returning to flying.

Thank you, again, to our crewmembers for continuing to serve our customers and maintaining a safe operation. Over to you, Steve.

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Stephen J. Priest, JetBlue Airways Corporation - CFO [7]

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Thank you, Joanna. I would like to add my thanks to our crewmembers on the front line and support centers who in this sub-time of crisis are working day and night to take care of each other and our customers.

I'll start on Slide 9 with a brief overview of our financial results for the quarter. Revenue was $1.6 billion, down 15% year-over-year. Adjusted pretax margin was minus 9.5%, down 13 percentage points from the first quarter of last year.

GAAP loss per diluted share was $0.97, and adjusted loss per diluted share was $0.42. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 24%.

In just a few short months, the coronavirus has significantly disrupted our business. Thanks to our continued focus over the last few years on managing JetBlue to investment-grade metrics, building a strong balance sheet, improving our cost structure and strengthening our margins, we believe we are in the best position of anytime in our 20-year history to effectively weather this crisis and emerge even stronger.

From a financial perspective, we are focusing our efforts over the coming months on 3 key areas: preserving our liquidity, reducing operating expenses and managing our capital expenditures.

Moving on to Slide 10 and our actions to preserve liquidity. We started the year with good momentum ending 2019 with over $1.3 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Since the start of the crisis, our treasury team has done an incredible job raising additional liquidity. In mid-March, we've quickly raised $1 billion under a term loan arrangement. And in April, we drew down our revolver of $550 million. We also raised $150 million of cash to the sale of future points.

Finally, 2 weeks ago, we received a cash injection for $936 million from the CARES Act to support our crewmembers. At the close of April, our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments reached $3.1 billion or 38% of our 2019 revenue.

As we move into the summer, we plan to take further actions to bolster liquidity. We recently applied for the federal CARES Act loan for $1.1 billion. However, we are now prioritizing additional liquidity raises in the public markets, including issuing secured debt and entering to sale-leaseback transactions to take advantage of our unencumbered asset base.

Excluding the CARES Act loan, our goal is to raise up to $750 million over the next couple of months, which would take our total liquidity to approximately $3.25 billion by the end of the second quarter.

In addition to successfully raising liquidity in a short period, we have acted with urgency to minimize our cash burn, reduce our expenses and rework our plan for capital expenditures. We lowered our cash burn from an average of $18 million per day during the second half of March to an average of $12 million in April. As we enter May, we expect that cash burn to be just under $10 million per day. We expect to see further improvements in the third quarter aiming our cash burn to range between $7 million and $9 million per day.

To be clear, all of our cash burn assumptions do not include the CARES Act proceeds. We are leaving no stone unturned to protect the financial security of JetBlue.

Turning to Slide 11. We spent the last 3 years executing our Structural Cost Program and building a cost-conscious culture across the whole of JetBlue. We are all in this together. And since the start of the pandemic, all of our 23,000 crewmembers have been relentlessly focused on finding ways to manage our costs and preserve our liquidity.

Starting in March, we quickly reduced our operating expenses to lower our daily cash burn and extend our liquidity. We took action, eliminating all nonessential discretionary spend and minimizing marketing, training, catering and onboard services. In addition, we took the opportunity to in-source services across 29 airports in order to reduce our cash costs.

As Joanna mentioned, we are able to cancel some of our flying for the month to avoid some variable costs. However, much of our cost base was relatively fixed, partly due to the timing of bid periods. As we moved into April and especially now into May, we are improving our daily cash burn as we further reduce our variable and fixed cost structure. We continue pulling down capacity aggressively to ensure we achieve variable cost savings, and we are taking steps to hammer down our fixed costs across the organization. This includes consolidating airport operations, parking aircraft, reducing landing fees and optimizing maintenance expenses. Looking ahead, anticipate shifting our focus to more permanent Structural Cost Program savings.

Thanks to these assets, we successfully moved around $150 million from our cost base during the first quarter. We expect operating costs, including fuel, to decline approximately 50% year-over-year in May. I'd like to extend a massive thank you to our amazing crewmembers who have volunteered to participate in time-off programs and to all of us in the JetBlue family for making a personal sacrifice. I'd also like to thank our business partners for their flexibility and for working with us to extend payment terms and renegotiate contracts.

Moving to Slide 12. During the past couple of months, we negotiated a deal with Airbus to rationalize our order book. We appreciate their partnership in supporting a new delivery schedule that helps our efforts to protect JetBlue. As a result, we expect to take fewer aircraft than our original plan. And our CapEx for 2020 to 2022 is now lower by $1.3 billion. In addition, we suspended our plans to take the 4 leased aircraft we announced in January, deferring associated ending CapEx required to add those aircraft to our fleet. We also halted our A320 restyling program, having completed over half of our fleet. We appreciate the related impact on customer experience, but we do not anticipate resuming our efforts until demand improves. Lastly, we have reduced non-aircraft CapEx by suspending all nonessential projects across the organization.

Moving to Slide 13. At the end of March, our debt-to-cap ratio was 44%. We anticipate principal and interest payments through the end of 2020 of approximately $100 million per quarter. Over the past few years, we invested the majority of our cash from operations back into JetBlue. It's too early to know what the right level of leverage and liquidity will be during recovery, but our conservative approach in managing our balance sheet will not change.

We remain confident that we will navigate this crisis as we have in the past and emerge even better positioned for success in the years to come. As a trusted travel brand, we believe that our efforts to inspire confidence will help support recovery. On behalf of the JetBlue leadership team, again, I would like to thank our incredible crewmembers, as well as our business partners, and our communities for all of their support as we navigate these unprecedented times. We also want to thank the many government agencies out there on the front line, supporting essential travel needs. Our hearts are with those, including friends and neighbors who have been impacted by COVID-19. We will now take your questions.

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David E. Fintzen, JetBlue Airways Corporation - Director of Investors Relation [8]

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Thanks, everyone. Erica, we're now ready for the question-and-answer session with the analysts. Please go ahead with the instructions.

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Questions and Answers

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Operator [1]

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(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Duane Pfennigwerth from Evercore ISI.

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Duane Thomas Pfennigwerth, Evercore ISI Institutional Equities, Research Division - Senior MD [2]

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Just on the -- on the CapEx. So you've taken that down nicely. And I just want to check out that implies about $500 million for the remainder of the year. And are you done? Should we consider this sort of your final work on 2020? Or you're continuing to work that down?

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Stephen J. Priest, JetBlue Airways Corporation - CFO [3]

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Just before we guide any further, I just wanted to have a shout out to our partner Airbus. I think such a challenging time where they're going through their own sort of response to the crisis, they've been true partners as we navigate through this event. You're not far off in terms of your math, Duane. You're pretty much in the ballpark.

And with regards to, like are we done, our work is never done. We are ruthlessly focused at taking down the cash burn as we navigate through 2020. I'm incredibly proud of the work of the team, taking us down from, as I said, $18 million at the back end of March per day down to sort of $10 million in May. And hence, whether it's on the CapEx side of the business or the OpEx side of the business, you can expect us to continue to act with rigor and expediency to get our cost structure down and continue to reduce our cash burn.

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Duane Thomas Pfennigwerth, Evercore ISI Institutional Equities, Research Division - Senior MD [4]

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Excerpt from:
Edited Transcript of JBLU earnings conference call or presentation 7-May-20 2:00pm GMT - Yahoo Finance

Washington DC: Researchers in the United States have said they have seen the development of rare inflammatory problems like stomach pain, bubbles and swelling in the arteries of children who have been exposed to the novel coronavirus infection.

Paediatric specialists, including representatives from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, opined that the cases appeared to have some characteristics of an illness known as Kawasaki disease, The Washington Post reported.

The doctors, during a call on Zoom app, noted that the mysterious symptoms started three to four weeks after the big wave of COVID-19 hit Europe and the US. At present, hospitals worldwide have identified about 100 similar cases of the syndrome, while half of them are in the US.

"Not in my lifetime have I seen anything remotely similar to what is going on right now," said Jane Newburger, medical director of the cardiac neurodevelopment programme at Boston Children's Hospital.

"There is this very small number of patients, thankfully, who are presenting with this shock syndrome, at the same time that there are a large number of (COVID-19) patients in the same community," said Jane Burns, a professor of paediatrics at the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine.

Burns, along with other doctors, emphasised that parents should not panic as the vast majority of those younger than 18 who are infected with coronavirus have mild symptoms or none at all.

However, researchers have not confirmed so far whether the condition of the mysterious syndrome is caused by COVID-19 or something else.

"Those with 'paediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome,' as doctors call the new illness, are a small genetic subset of children who appear to be susceptible to this crazy thing," Burns said.

On Monday, New York City issued a bulletin warning doctors they had found 15 children with the condition at their hospitals, and the CDC is contacting health departments about surveillance measures.

On late Wednesday, the American Heart Association issued its own alert saying that some children "are becoming very ill extremely quickly," so those with symptoms should be swiftly evaluated.

For more typical respiratory viruses such as influenza, children are often the first to become sick. While COVID-19 is an anomaly, killing the elderly at high rates while leaving the very young mostly untouched. Only a small fraction of American children -- including an infant and a five-year-old who were children of first responders -- have died of the disease.

Separately, the CDC is financing the creation of a registry that will track COVID-19 cases among children at more than 35 US children's hospitals to understand why some children get very ill while most do not.

"We know the rate of infection in children is way lower than in adults," said Alkis Togias of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"What we do not know is whether, actually, they do carry the virus and transmit it without getting sick or getting very mild symptoms. We have so little knowledge, I cannot give you an answer on almost anything related to children. So we need to figure this out," Togias added.

Excerpt from:
Researchers say children falling ill with mysterious inflammatory syndrome probably linked to COVID-19 - ETHealthworld.com

The COVID-19 lockdown and subsequent reopening scheduled have raised the bar on restaurant cleanliness, especially hand cleanliness.

Operators are filling their entryways with hand sanitizer dispensers as one might expect following all the public briefings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But there is also unexpected use of technology that even the CDC hadnt thought about. Crushed Red, in their seven restaurants, assures customers that prep-line handwashing is a verified reality, even for restroom hand washes.

Please wash vs.Thank you for washing

Customer trust is the simple outcome of a well-conducted symphony. When it comes to the handwashing factor, data is the maestro, according to concept founder, Chris LaRocca. We replace hope they wash with know they wash. Data gives us facts which further drive staff motivation and professionalization.

The Crushed Red employees find this paperless logging of handwashing convenient and even motivating. First, their name appears in a window on the voice recognition box, attached to the soap dispenser. Then, via realtime reports, their compliance to the handwashing policy is confirmed. Their personal performance becomes a link in the chain of teamsmanship success.

Excerpt from:
Letter to The Editor: Reopening restaurants with digital handwashing - Food Safety News

But that's the problem with putting an incompetent reality TV host in the White House: After four years of gross incompetence and blatant ineptitude, we've come to simply be grateful for any kind of consistent and capable leadership we do receive, instead of demanding the kind of leadership we deserve.

But the New York governor is not the hero this moment in world history has positioned him to appear. And as a country, we must not let Trump's incompetence and selfishness erase the ways in which Cuomo has failed his state.

The governor initially downplayed the seriousness of the Covid-19 threat, didn't plan to provide sufficient funding for the health care system and hasn't done enough to protect the most vulnerable parts of the population.

In the early stages of the disease spreading in the United States in March, Cuomo said "Excuse our arrogance as New Yorkers -- I speak for the mayor also on this one -- we think we have the best health care system on the planet right here in New York. So, when you're saying, what happened in other countries versus what happened here, we don't even think it's going to be as bad as it was in other countries."

Just as Trump was wrong for initially downplaying the threat, Cuomo was also wrong.

"The places that are getting the most funding now because of what the federal government did are the hospitals," Cuomo said. "They are doing better than anyone else."

Instead of seemingly blindly praising Cuomo for his leadership, we need to put his actions into context: President Trump has set the leadership bar very low.

Go here to see the original:
Trump's incompetence makes Andrew Cuomo's performance look better than it is - CNN

Editors note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them are classics, watched and re-watched time and time again. But for a few, maybe well be able to convince some of you to check it out for the very first time.

How could it not be Brians Song?

A Chicago Bears fan for as long as I can remember, this movie still chokes me up today. I watched the movie speech given by Billy Dee Williams as Gale Sayers again this week and, well, I felt like a 11-year-old watching it for the first time.

The movie speech was what Sayers actually said on May 25, 1970, while receiving the 1969 George S. Halas Courage Award.

... He has the heart of a giant and that rare form of courage that allows him to kid himself and his opponent cancer, Sayers/Williams said. He has the mental attitude that makes me proud to have a friend who spells out the word courage 24 hours a day, every day of his life.

You flatter me by giving me this award, but I tell you that I accept it for Brian Piccolo. It is mine tonight, it is Brian Piccolos tomorrow ... I love Brian Piccolo, and Id like all of you to love him, too. Tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him.

Picollo died less than a month later at the age of 26.

The original Brians Song movie was released in 1971. A remake was made in 2001, but I couldnt bring myself to watch it. The original is a classic.

Truth be told. I dont remember the story as it unfolded. I was 4 years old when the Chicago Bears drafted Sayers out of Kansas in 1965. I was 11 when he played his final season. Ive seen the highlights of his career, however, and am convinced he is one of the all-time great running backs in the NFL. He played only six seasons and averaged 5.0 yards per carry.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT

The movie starring a very young Williams, James Caan as Piccolo and Jack Warden as Halas was based on Sayers book I Am Third. Their friendship was controversial in the 1960s a black man and a white man not only becoming great friends, but rooming together on the road. The movie tells that story, as well as Piccolos relentless prodding to get Sayers back in shape after a knee injury.

That 1970 speech was after the 69 season when Sayers won the Comeback Player of the Year Award.

But mostly, this movie is a story about friendship, about the love two teammates can share.

This movie not only appealed to fans of the Chicago Bears and football fans all around the world, it was the most-watched movie on U.S. television in 1971 and, at the time, the most watched made-for-TV movie ever.

The theme song The Hands of Time also was one of the most popular of the time and still rings in peoples ears. Listen to it and it will bring back fond memories and maybe even a few tears.

1. Brians Song

2. Hoosiers

3. Rocky

4. The Legend of Bagger Vance

5. Bad News Bears

6. Without Limits

7. Caddyshack

8. A League of Their Own

9. Major League

10. Field of Dreams

11. North Dallas Forty

12. The Blind Side

13. The Longest Yard (original)

14. Remember the Titans

15. Foxcatcher

Comments: (319) 368-8696; jr.ogden@thegazette.com

10:16AM | Thu, May 07, 2020

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Best sports movies: 'Brian's Song' is about more than football - it's about friendship - The Gazette

Take time to find the cure that is within you

You have within you a powerful ability to improve your physical and emotional health. A positive mental attitude combined with optimism has been linked to strengthening your immune system. Norman Cousins is a perfect example of this phenomena. Norman, a magazine editor, was 49 years old when he was diagnosed with a crippling connective tissue disease. He was told that he only had a 1 in 500 chance of recovery. Cousins had previously done research on the impact of human emotions on physiology. He had a firm belief that positive emotions were a key component to fighting disease. Cousins created a recovery program which included massive doses of laughter brought on by watching comedy films and television shows. He discovered that 10 minutes of intense laughter gave him at least two hours of pain free sleep. When the pain set in again, cousins would resume watching the comedies. Cousins laugh therapy aided his full recovery from the debilitating disease. In addition to Norman Cousins experience, research shows laughter decreases stress hormones, increases 'good' cholesterol, and reduces artery inflammation. You can actually laugh your way to physical and mental health. So, look for the humor which exists in most situations. A good sense of humor is an integral part of the cure within you. The placebo effect demonstrates the power of your mind to cure ailments. When new drugs are tested, two groups of test subjects are used. One group gets the new drug, while the other receives a placebo. The test subjects do not know which group they are part of. At the conclusion of the drug test, the percentage of people who took the drug and saw improvements is compared to the percentage of the placebo group who also experienced improvements. A fascinating aspect of these studies is that there is a percentage of people on the placebo who experience the same benefits as those taking the drug. This is incontrovertible evidence of your minds ability to cure various ailments. This power also boosts the effectiveness of medications. People who take medications have better results when they believe the medications will work. Your mind has an amazing ability to facilitate your wellbeing when directed by a positive attitude. What you say to yourself has a tremendous impact on your physical and mental wellbeing. Positive self-talk boosts the cure within you. Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own negative self-talk. Yet, too many people regularly say awful things to themselves. Dont internalize negative emotions. Dont connect a negative emotion with a physical ailment. For example, dont say to yourself, Im so upset I have a stomach ache. If you do this you are inviting the ailment into your body. Additionally, negative emotions are linked to lowered immunity. Release negative emotions instead of hanging on to them. Exercise enhances the cure within you by lowering stress. If you are stressed out because you dont know how to deal with a problem, just go and get some exercise. Even if you dont feel like it, just go do it. You will feel better. Acknowledge the powerful cure that is already within you. Stop any behavior which interferes with it. Focus on the strategies which enhance it.

NOW AVAILABLE: "Dare to Live Without Limits," the book. Visit http://www.BryanGolden.com or your bookstore. Bryan is a management consultant, motivational speaker, author, and adjunct professor. Email Bryan at bryan@columnist.com or write him c/o this paper. 2020 Bryan Golden

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Dare to live without limits Week of 5/11/20 - Press Publications Inc.

Photo: Mint Images | Paul Edmondson | Getty Images

There Will Be 4 Identity Types in This Recovery. Which One Are You?

The following article is based on excerpts from Ben Angels book, Unstoppable: A 90-Day Plan to Biohack Your Mind and Body for Success. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes Noble | iBooks | IndieBound. And be sure to order The Unstoppable Journal, the only journal of its kind based on neuroscience, psychology, and biohacking to help you reach your goals.

Nearly half of adults in the United States reported that their mental health had been negatively impacted due to worry and stress over the coronavirus, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation poll. Adverse mental-health effects due to social isolation may be particularly pronounced among older adults and households with adolescents, as these groups are already at risk for depression or suicidal ideation.

The pandemic is likely to have both long- and short-term implications for mental health and substance use. Those with mental health concerns pre-pandemic, and those newly affected, will likely require mental health- and substance-use services. Keeping this in mind, you must know where you sit on the mental-health continuum to understand how it is affecting you physically. When people undergo traumatic stress either mentally or physically, it creates a pattern within the body that soon emanates into psychological and biological side effects. You can now track where you fall into this continuum by taking an Identity Quiz on how well you are coping with your current situation. We have been able to survey more than 50,000 entrepreneurs and found out 54 percentof them fall into the two lowest categories:The Guardian and The Defender.

Related: 5 Ways to Boost Your Immune System During the Coronavirus Outbreak

There are four identity types in total:The Catalyst, The Synergist, The Guardianand The Defender. Your goal is to ensure your physical and psychological energy stays above a 50 percentcharge,the state at which you become a conscious creator and feel motivated, focused, and driven to achieve your goals.

When you fall below this state, you switch into a state of self-preservation mode where you run out of physical and emotional energy. This is where your fight-or-flight response is triggeredand your brain prioritizes vital bodily functions over personal or career goals.

Below, you're going to learn which identities we need to be most concerned about and what you can do to change your identity to help you through these harrowing times.

Operating at 0- 25 percentof their capacity. Traits of Defenders:

Rely heavily on caffeine or other stimulants to make it through the day.

Food cravings of sugars and carbs.

Anxiety.

Lack self-awareness and typically have low self-esteem.

Cognitive functions are in severe decline, like forgetting names, numbers or information;inability to make decisions.

Low levels of concentration.

Quick to exhaustion as brain doesnt have the fuel it needs to focus.

Chronic digestive issues, joint pain, skin rashes and unexplainable brain fog and fatigue.

Insomnia.

Defenders are depressed, anxious and struggle to make it through the day. Many will blame this on a poor mental attitude and feel they are lazy. They are emotionally depleted and need love and support from others, including medical professionals, to help them get their health and their life back. Defenders must seek out medical and professional help immediately.

Operating at 25-50 percentof their capacity. Traits of Guardians:

Procrastination and criticism derail their efforts.

They can keep going, briefly relying on willpower.

They have goals, but they seem unattainable.

Self-doubt has laid its foundation.

Chronic stress.

Nutritional deficiencies taking their toll.

Poor diet and lifestyle choices.

Less energy and focus.

Takes longer to recover from physical or emotional events.

They can endure for some time, but this constant state of fight or flight is taking its toll on many of their bodily and brain functions. It's typically the first time in their life they can't function as they used to, and many in the medical field will tell them it's typical aging and prescribe a drug to help alleviate the symptoms without treatingor accurately definingthe cause.

Operates at 50-75 percentof their capacity. Traits of Synergists:

Learning to balance willpower with sustainable energy, though starting to find it harder to maintain willpower alone.

Energy levels tend to fluctuate throughout the day.

Focus and concentration also varies throughout the day; unable to maintain constant energy.

They have an inner understanding that rest helps to reset the body for long-term success.

Relatively even moods.

Deliberate and conscious creators.

Not easily distracted.

Can quickly slide back into a Guardian if they fail to look after their physical and emotional health.

Operates at 75-100 percentof capacity. Traits of Catalysts:

Greatly self-aware ofhow their brain and body works for peak performance.

Abundance of psychological and physical energy to fuel them daily.

Able to troubleshoot problems calmly and methodically.

Able to pinpoint underlying issues and correct them successfully.

Operates from the higher executive part of their brain.

Strengthens their cognition through meditation, education, supplementsand a healthy diet.

Are society's game changers, both locally and globally.

Yes, we all can become The Catalyst, but it takes self-awareness and courage to dig deep into the root causation of your illnesses. Here are the first steps you should do to get yourself on the path to becoming unstoppable.

If you scored as a Guardian or Defender, you mustn't go on this health journey on your own. Finding a functional medicine doctor who specializes in chronic conditions will have the additional training needed to get to the root cause of your concerns. Following the steps below will aid in your knowledge of brain and body consciousness so you can increase your energy and build emotional and physical resilience to manage these stressful times.

Food sensitivities can trigger a range of issues, including; fatigue, bloating, brain fog, respiratory problems (e.g.asthma, sinusitis, rhinitis), headaches/migraines, depression, anxietyand sadness. They cause an inflammatory response in the body. Keep a food journal for a minimum of 30 days to track your mood and links to food. For a comprehensive report, you can order a food sensitivity test from companies such as Everlywell.

According to one study, 92 percentof the U.S. population has a nutritional deficiency. Nutritional deficiencies can occur regardless of whether an individual eats a healthy diet or not. This is due to farmland soil becoming deficient in essential micronutrients. Before you supplement, visit a functional doctor and have a full blood test done. Your doctor will be able to uncover any deficiencies that are impacting your physical or mental performance.

Nootropics are smart drugs or synthetic substances taken to improve mental cognition in healthy individuals. Consult your doctor before taking it. If we do not replenish ourselves, it can lead to burn out, exhaustion and depression. L-Tyrosine, L-Theanine, L-Carnitine, Magnesium, vitamin Dand Ashwagandha are but a few nootropics that can help you maintain proper brain function. They are go-tosfor Silicon Valley elite.

With all of us dealing with this new normal, we can optimize this time to go within and discover what is holding us back. Many of you suffering from depression, anxietyand fatigue may find the answer within these lines to help you get your body and mind back to optimal performance.

Related: 5 Ways Brands Can Reinvent Their Digital Marketing Strategy You Now Have An Extra Week to Return Your SBA PPP Loan There Will Be 4 Identity Types in This Recovery. Which One Are You?

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There Will Be 4 Identity Types in This Recovery. Which One Are You? - Thehour.com

Im telling this because its a major part of resilience. Social connectedness, anywhere you can find it, helps us get through these days with a more positive mental attitude. Its one step in the resiliency quotient.

I have looked at some resiliency research theres a panoply out there. It talks about making connections, seeing problems as not insurmountable (although, in fact, some are), accepting change as part of living, moving toward your goals, etc.

And I have read that since the COVID-19 pandemic, sales of self-help books have skyrocketed. Im not shocked about that. It makes sense.

But the bottom line is where to start? I think starting in whatever way you can with others is where it happens by phone, by video chat, in person with a smile under that mask, with a thank you for someone who might deliver something to your door.

Lately, I have been very interested in change how to make it, where to go. I have been impressed with the idea that small changes make a big impact.

Saying youre going to lose 50 pounds if you need to is awesome, but what about 5 pounds over the next month or two? If you do that, if you see progress, it helps to spur you on.

My spin: The same is true about social connectedness. The small steps you take today will undoubtedly reap big rewards tomorrow, for you and others. When youre done reading this, call or video chat someone you love or havent seen for years and years. I did this the other day when I called an old roommate from my medical school days in Chicago someone I hadnt talked to for 40 years. I found her phone number, dialed it, had a 2 hour conversation that made both of us smile and smile and smile. This was just as important to my well being as hitting the elliptical Its resiliency work. Stay safe and stay well.

This column provides general health information. Always consult your personal health care provider about concerns. No ongoing relationship of any sort is implied or offered by Dr. Paster to people submitting questions. Any opinions expressed by Dr. Paster in his columns are personal and are not meant to represent or reflect the views of SSM Health.

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Dr. Zorba Paster: Reaching out to others builds resiliency - Madison.com

New York National Guard soldiers, airmen and active duty and civilian medical providers fighting COVID-19 in New York City are getting the benefit of licks and a wagging tail to lift their spirits.The troops are returning the favor with belly rubs.The dogs are courtesy of Puppies Behind Bars, a New York City nonprofit organization that pairs inmates in regional prisons with puppies to be trained to become service dogs.The group brought the dogs to hotels where guardsmen and medical providers were staying, as well as the alternate care facility at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, to give those responding to COVID-19 a stress break, according to Gloria Gilbert Stoga, the program coordinator.Army Sgt. 1st Class Richard Masci, a New York Army National Guardsman assigned to the 104th Military Police battalion, first suggested the idea April 10 when he was talking to the unit's rear detachment."The National Guard was asked by Sergeant Masci in Kingston if they needed anything, and their answer was, 'Service dogs?' half in jest,"Stoga said."There's something about a dog that people love and they gravitate to and let their guard down,"Masci said.The idea was raised up to the governor's office, Stoga said, "and they recommended Puppies, so here we are.""As soon as we were asked, I said that of course we would help, and one week later [Friday, April 17], we started," Stoga continued.Puppies Behind Bars began in 1997 and has almost two dozen years of breeding and training experience to prepare dogs for service or therapy duties.It was a perfect fit for the current military missions in New York, Stoga said."The amount of stress that the military and medical personnel serving in New York City are going through is extraordinary,"Stoga said. "The fact that our dogs can provide some comfort makes me prouder than I think I have ever been of them."The dogs are raised and trained in seven different correctional facilities in upstate New York. About 140 prison inmates raise the service dogs and with support of the Puppies Behind Bars staff, train them for wounded veterans and first responders.To prepare them for the work, the dogs receive some 100,000 hours of socialization during their two years of training."We're set to do eight shifts a week, two hours each, and the idea is that this is a way for the young soldiers of the Guard to decompress, to just pet a dog and have a dog lick them and kiss them."The dogs live in prison with "puppy raisers,"inmates who are matched with them for the mutual benefit and bonding the training brings."Our dogs learn, instinctively, to help people who need them,"Stoga said.Stoga discovered that the efforts have reached further than the uniformed responders in New York."The Guard is also taking the dogs to meet with the nurses when they come back from the hospitals around the city, and what I've found out that I didn't know is that the nurses are literally coming from around the country,"Stoga said."They don't know anybody, they're working 12 or 20 hour shifts and they're coming back [to their hotels] and the National Guard is there with service dogs, and the nurses get to pet them and love them."The ability to hug and pet a dog during a time of social distancing is what makes the difference, said Army Capt. Yvette Valle, the headquarters detachment commander for the 104th Military Police Battalion."The experience here is quite surreal and unlike anything I've experienced in the military," she said.With the long hours and the stress of the unknown,the missions for soldiers during the pandemic has been unlike any other disaster response effort, Valle said."The biggest thing I promote within my company is a positive mental attitude during this crisis, and their attitude has been more than I expected with everyone willing to do whatever is needed,"Valle said.Bringing in the dogs has certainly made a difference."Coordinating the dogs has definitely boosted morale with the soldiers and with the nurses,"Valle said."It gives them a piece of family, a closeness that we can't experience due to social distancing,"Valle added. "They can get that through the dogs. It gives them love and warmth that they are sacrificing being here for this cause.""The dogs are doing amazing work out in the world and at this particular moment in time, are bringing a tiny bit of joy and normalcy to people for whom joy and normalcy seem almost impossible to remember,"Stoga said.The dogs, trained to work with veterans, wounded warriors and first responders, are a natural fit for supporting the National Guard response effort and can make a real difference for soldiers, said Army Maj. Gen. Ray Shields, the Adjutant General of New York's military forces."I am sure this means the world to all those who get to spend time with the puppies,"Shields continued."I went twice last week with two dogs," Stoga said. "One was raised in Fishkill and one in Bedford Hills."Serving as a stress relief, the visits are now a regular part of the working shifts for military and medical responders at the Javits Medical Station and hotels in Manhattan.Stoga spoke with one off-duty soldier during a visit on April 18, and asked where he was from."A small town in Dutchess County,"he replied, "Fishkill."Pointing to one of the dogs, Stoga said, "This dog was raised in the Fishkill Correctional Facility!"The soldier couldn't believe it, he got down on his knees to meet a new hometown friend, she added."It's been a great success,"Masci said. "Everybody is thrilled to see them.""For Puppies Behind Bars, all of our service dogs go to wounded war vets or first responders,"Stoga said, "So these dogs being able to help in this way before they are placed is just phenomenal. We're just thrilled to be able to work with the National Guard like this."(Army Col. Richard Goldenberg is assigned to the New York National Guard.)Related linksU.S. Army COVID-19 GuidanceArmy.mil: Worldwide NewsArmy.mil: National Guard NewsDefense.gov

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Puppies bring stress relief to those fighting COVID-19 - United States Army

Former Indian cricketer Subramaniam Badrinath, who is trying to help players to stay motivated, increase mental toughness, and reset their goals going forward with a new platform MFore, hailed former India skipper MS Dhonis mental toughness. Badrinath said Dhoni goes about his business as if 50,000 people are not watching him and also believes in his abilities. Also Read - Chennaiyin FC Player Anirudh Thapa Expresses His Admiration For MS Dhoni's 'Down to Earth' Attitude

He is not bothered about anything else. He completely believes that whatever he is doing is right. That is the approach everybody needs to have. I would like to say that just do what Dhoni is doing as a cricketer. He is totally detached from everything automatically. When he is going out there, going about the business, it feels as though the 50,000 people watching him are not there. He is alone, he knows clearly in his mind what he needs to do, and he goes about it, he said in an interview with The Indian Express. Also Read - Apart From 2011 WC Final, 2016 T20 WC Q/Fs vs Aus Second-Most Important Match: Virat Kohli

Badrinath also hailed off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as the most talented and mentally strong player in Tamil Nadu. Also Read - Please do Not Use This Bat: Matthew Hayden on MS Dhoni's Reaction to Mongoose Bat

In Tamil Nadu, I think its R Ashwin. He is phenomenal the way he is. The way he thinks about the game. He is talented, he is blessed with a lot of talent, but he is the one who knows his cricket inside out, he added.

The 39-year-old played 145 FC games and scored 10245 runs at an average of 54.5. It includes 32 centuries and 45 fifties.

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Its Like 50,000 People Watching Arent There: Subramanian Badrinath on MS Dhonis Mental Toughness - India.com