{"id":22621,"date":"2025-05-11T15:22:26","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T15:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=22621"},"modified":"2025-05-11T15:22:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T15:22:26","slug":"breaking-lions-gm-brad-holmes-delivers-powerful-speech-at-his-alma-mater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=22621","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Lions GM Brad Holmes delivers powerful speech at his alma mater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes delivered a powerful speech at his alma mater: North Carolina A&amp;T State.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/detroitsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-14-768x457.jpg\" alt=\"Brad Holmes Delivers Emotional Commencement Speech at Alma Mater - Detroit  Sports Nation\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"mwWzIG\">Over the weekend, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes went back to his roots. He traveled back to his alma mater North Carolina A&amp;T State University to deliver the commencement speech to the graduating class.<\/p>\n<p id=\"67dmqx\">You can see a short clip of it\u2014courtesy of the Greensboro News &amp; Record\u2014via YouTube or below.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Keynote speaker Brad Holmes\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/03klSpo_-PY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p id=\"r8sD3D\">The most striking moment from the 2.5 minute clip is when Holmes is talking about a piece of advice he derived from a poem called \u201cChoose Your Hard.\u201d Here\u2019s that portion of Holmes\u2019 speech:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p id=\"rLMlCz\">\u201cLife is hard, but you\u2019ve already heard. What I heard a few years ago was a poem title, \u2018Choose Your Hard.\u2019 It goes like this:<\/p>\n<p id=\"AabTrZ\">\u201cMarriage is hard and divorce is hard. Choose your hard. Obesity is hard, being fit is hard. Choose your hard. Being in debt is hard, being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard. Communicating is hard, not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.<\/p>\n<p id=\"gdHYnd\">\u201cWhen I heard that, it hit me like a ton of bricks. However you slice it, whichever path you choose, it\u2019s going to be hard. I tell our scouts that all the time. It\u2019s hard to be thorough and detailed and go the extra mile. It\u2019s also hard to not be thorough. Always remember, the shortcut may feel good in the short term, but life\u2019s going to catch up to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p id=\"9YB1ql\">The message is strong, clear, and not surprising coming from the Lions\u2019 culture of grit, perseverance, and not always taking the easy route. Holmes himself knew that building the Lions up from the ground floor was not necessarily the easy way. He knew it was going to result in some immediate hardships, as the Lions went 4-19-1 in their first 24 games under Holmes and Dan Campbell. But he chose the right hard, and now the Lions are benefitting from it. Since that turn, Detroit is 35-9, have won a pair of playoff games, and head into 2025 as one of the biggest favorites to win the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n<p id=\"qlbID3\">The full speech is available, as well. Holmes\u2019 speech begins at the 1:06:30 mark.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spring 2025 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony 1\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-v_A9E-P7OY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes delivered a powerful speech at his alma mater: North Carolina A&#038;T State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detroit-lions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - 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