What can I say here? I know what a lot of people probably think of when they think of Chris, and all I can say is, have you ever been the younger brother of someone who competed in EVERYTHING - even if he really wasn't that good at it?
I will always remember playing tennis with him - not because either of us was any good at it - but because the trash talk was constant! My friends would make comments about how you would think it was John McEnroe standing down there at the baseline. And if he was actually losing? It just got worse. It really didn't matter what was going on, he was confident it was going to turn around and there was never any doubt in his mind that he was going to come out the winner.
But it wasn't just talk either, he was a hard worker -from the day he started his first job working in a sandwich shop, where he would run around until he fell on the floor, get up and start running again (earning him the nickname Speedy Gonzales)- until today where everyone who has worked with him is saying exactly what he probably would hope to hear.
But the speech that made him "famous"? The "Innovator" speech. I remember standing in my kitchen one day when a friend of mine who did spot on imitations tried to imitate Chris - setting off a speech about how Chris was an innovator and he didn't need to imitate others. All of my friends just started referring to him as "The Innovator" ever since.
I am pretty sure he is up there somewhere, trying to get in touch with God, and convince them that the way things are set up is pretty stupid, and he could do it better. His way would be more INNOVATIVE.
But having an older brother like Chris had another side too. The first day riding the bus, when another kid wouldn't move over to let me sit in the seat i hoped to sit in, before i could move onto the next one, Chris jumped in and threw the kid on the floor so i could have my seat. Or when I got my first job that required a suit, Chris knew the best places to get a decent suit for the least amount of money. Or the first time I was upset about losing someone to death, and he knew exactly how to reposition it in my mind so that it wasn't quite as bad.
There won't ever be another quite like him, he would just call them all imitators anyway.