The best speech ever

There have been some excellent speeches over our many years.

Orators from John F. Kennedy to Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, Congressman John Lewis, and even Sir Winston Churchill or Patrick Henry have wowed us with their words in the past and inspired us to greatness.

To name a few.

Listening to them and their use of vernacular is like watching Baryshnikov perform in ballet—a thing of poetic beauty and artistic brilliance.

The words ring powerfully.

"Give me Liberty or Give Death," "My only regret is that I have but one life to give to my country," "Mr. Gorbachev, tear that wall down," "We are more than a collection of red states and blue states. We are and always will be the United States of America," and "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country," are all classics that have become part of our nation's very core.

But the single best speech I ever heard? The most inspiring?

It has to be the one Jimmy V gave at the ESPN ESPY Awards show. Basketball coach Jimmy Valvano was battling cancer so bad he could barely make it to the stage, but when he did? Man, did he ever shine.

His speech, dotted by the line "Don't give up, don't ever give up," is a classic that will live forever. It never gets old and never ceases to bring a tear to my eye, no matter how many times I have heard it.

He died a couple of weeks after giving that speech.

Suppose you have never heard it. I have but one word for you. Google. If you have heard it before? A revisit is guaranteed to re-energize and invigorate.

Consider this reminder my holiday present to you, our great Chicago Star readers.