everything that's on my mind

A king and a kingdom

2006-04-13T12:29:00.000-05:00

I went over to my daughter's school this morning for chapel, as it was "Awards Day" and she was receiving an award. So, I went over the see her accept it. As I've noticed before when I attended her chapel, they always say the Pledge of Allegiance at some point during chapel. I'm still not sure how I feel about that. I'm not against teaching children to be patriotic, but I also don't want them to learn blind patriotism, either. It seems there are too many Christians today who believe that the Republican party is God's party, and George W. Bush and other Republicans can do no wrong. No matter what questionable actions these people take, some stand behind them regardless. The same is true of people on both sides, but it seems Christians are more often than not aligned with "the Right" (this is, at least, my perception, and may not be reality.)

In fact, the whole idea of "pledging allegiance" to the flag or this country doesn't quite sit well with me anyway. I love this country and am glad I was born into it. I am grateful for the freedoms we have, particularly our religious freedom. However, while I do believe that God wants us to be good citizens in our country and obey the laws while they do not conflict with His, I'm not so sure that He desires for us to pledge allegiance to anyone or anything except Himself. I'm reminded of Derek Webb's song, "A King and a Kingdom", from his newest disc Mockingbird:

my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it's to a king & a kingdom

Is it wrong, in a Christian worship setting, like chapel this morning, to mix patriotism and allegiance to an earthly kingdom in with our worship of God and our allegiance to His kingdom? I have no problem with teaching good citizenship or patriotism. However, I don't want to teach my children that America is "God's country" and is always right in it's actions. Sometimes, the government and the people being governed are just wrong and sinful, and as Christians we must recognize it and oppose that which is contrary to God's expectations of us as followers of Christ (regardless of whether or not whatever political party we might align ourselves with chooses to agree.)

Will the children at this Christian school, somewhere down the line, forget that their first allegiance is to be to God, not America? Probably not. But I'm still a little uncomfortable with things like American flags in church buildings, or singing songs about America in a worship setting (as sometimes happens with churches, particularly on the Sunday prior to July 4), or pledging allegiance to an earthly kingdom. God is my King, and his kingdom is where my citizenship lies first and foremost. Sometimes, because of how I see others defending the earthly kingdom of America, I have to wonder if they feel the same way.

I think about this type of thing a lot these days, and haven't completely thought it all through, so I'm sure it will come back up again. Perhaps in early July...

Other blogs

It's been a busy week and I haven't posted anything until today, plus I'm leaving town this evening and won't have a computer for the next few days. I was planning to try to write something Easter-related prior to the weekend, but I haven't had time and won't be able to now, so perhaps when I'm back home on Sunday I'll make some time. However, I thought I'd point to a few other good posts I've read in recent days from a few of the blogs I read regularly (not necessarily Easter-related, though).

Homosexuality : from Mike Cope. Be sure and check out the comments as well, as there is more discussion there.

Harry Potter and Easter : from Grant English. "Jesus takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary."

The Judas Monologue : from Keith Brenton. Interesting and creative. I've always wondered what was going through Judas' mind.

Jesus Excepted : from Scott Freeman. Do we qualify Jesus' words, especially the ones we don't like to hear?

I'm also planning to start reading The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren this weekend, so I may be posting some about that soon. I've seen a number of people (who received pre-release copies) posting reviews of the book on their blogs, and I'm looking forward to reading it as well.

The party's over

2006-04-08T18:51:00.000-05:00

Well, this will be my last post until late fall devoted strictly to college basketball. More specifically, it is the post I mentioned previously regarding a look back at the season for Duke and the careers of Shelden Williams and J.J. Redick. And, even though it's not December, I do have - in the spirit of Festivus - a few grievances to air as well. So, bear with me - it's my last one, and it's a long one. Here we go.

The season

First of all, Duke had a great season. That simply cannot be argued. Anyone who would argue it would likely have some type of strong bias against Duke (i.e. the "duke haters"). They had an outstanding year, and Redick and Williams specifically had a great year. They were 32-4 overall, and they were 11-3 against teams in the NCAA tournament. Their losses were to Georgetown, North Carolina and, in the tournament itself, LSU. Their wins against ranked teams in the tournament included Texas (a #2 seed), Memphis (a #1 seed), North Carolina (a #3 seed) and Boston College (a #4 seed) who they beat twice. Other tournament team wins included Seton Hall, Indiana, Penn, Bucknell, Davidson and NC State. They were the regular season champions of the ACC at 14-2, and also won the Preseason NIT and ACC tournaments.

There were some great moments as well. Dockery's 45-footer to beat Virginia Tech. Redick dropping 41 on Texas (and 40+ two other times as well) and also his 5 straight games of 30+ points. Redick's record breaking 30 points against Miami, passing Johnny Dawkins as Duke's all-time leading scorer (as well as the many other records he broke this season). Winning at Chapel Hill, always a great win, as well as both hard-fought wins against Boston College. The freshmen's play in the ACC tournament, as well as Redick's amazing shooting against Boston College in the final. And, of course, winning the two tournaments, especially the ACC, which was their ninth straight final, and their seventh win in the last eight. (It truly has become "The Duke Invitational.")

While the season did not end the way they wanted it to, it cannot take away from what an outstanding season they had. They finished the season - prior to the NCAA tournament - ranked #1 and only one team (George Washington) finished with fewer losses (3) and only three other teams (Connecticut, Memphis and Gonzaga) matched their finish with only 4 losses. While they weren't one of the greatest teams ever to play at Duke, they were a great team this season in college basketball.

Redick and Williams

After the loss to LSU, I was a little amused at some of the articles that almost seemed to be comparing Duke to a mid-major team and seeing some write about Redick as if he were the worst player ever to play college basketball. After all they had accomplished, one game suddenly made people believe they were horrible. The truth is, there is a certain kind of player that gives Redick more trouble than he can overcome. Few teams have that kind of player. Memphis did. Temple did. Michigan state did in last year. And LSU did. The taller, long-armed, significantly more athletic player can stay with him and keep him from doing what he wants to do. Plus, LSU's other defenders helped out a lot, and Duke's dependence on his scoring hurt them too much in that game. It didn't happen that often. But to suggest Redick is less than a great college basketball is the result of either stupidy or bias.

Others pointed to Redick's difficulty in sweet 16 games over his career. Again, Redick, while in great shape physically, is not a terribly athletic player, and he has faced great defense in 3 of those games (I honestly don't recall much about the Illinois game in 2004.) First, against Kansas, Heinrich played him very well. Let's also not forget, though, that Redick was a freshmen at that time, and a very one-dimensional player. Last year, as I've already mentioned, Michigan State threw several athletic players at him. Then, of course, Garrett Temple's defense for LSU this year. LSU was the reason he wasn't scoring, and the officials were letting the teams play, so he wasn't getting to the foul line, either. That's not a criticism of the officials, or in any way blaming the officials - it's just a fact. They called it the same both ways. And Duke was used to getting to the line more. Some, of course, are saying "without Duke officials, they couldn't get the calls." That, of course, is stupid. It was just a different style of officiating than they had played against most of the year, and it's not always easy to completely adjust to that, and Duke never did in that game.

As I said, certain types of players have given him trouble, and only certain teams have them. Should he have still played better in those games? Probably. But defense had a large role in his difficulties in those games. That cannot be ignored. However, many say, you're defined by what you do in March. Maybe so, but what did or didn't happen in March doesn't erase the rest of the year or his whole career. Just look at the record books. Redick had a great season and a very good career. Period.

The same is true for Shelden Williams. He had an outstanding career and, like Redick, improved every year. He was constantly in foul trouble his first 2 years, but continued to improve in all areas of his game and was one of the top players in the country this season along with Redick. It was unfortunate that he was sometimes in the shadow of Redick because his season and career were equally great, and he will be missed next season as much as Redick.

Also, for those who take such great joy in pointing out that Redick is not going to be a great player in the NBA, I'd just like to say this: congratulations for pointing out the obvious. There's no doubt media types and possibly even NBA folks have placed him higher than he should be, but even as a huge Redick fan it's obvious to me that he's not going to get great at the next level. He will likely play for a while - maybe even a long time - and be a guy who comes in for some offense here and there. But, he's not got the game to be great at the next level, and he never will. He's not the next Larry Bird. He's not even the next Danny Ainge. So, if you're going to dance around on draft day when Redick isn't a lottery pick and tell everyone "I told you so", you might want to consider that most intelligent basketball fans already knew it before you told them. You'll just look stupid.

Tournaments past

A word about tournament's past: many have begun to harp on Duke's difficulty in getting past the sweet 16 in recent years. I have a few reasons I think that is true. For one thing, they're a much bigger target than they used to be in the 80's and early 90's. As Duke became a great program again in the late 80's (don't forget they were great during the 60's under Vic Bubas), they were often not seeded #1 in the tournament. They were not often expected to make the final four. That made it a little easier on them, because they were not the target. They have become a benchmark - a great program, a great coach, and usually great players. So when you beat Duke now, it means something. That is evidenced by seeing Georgetown and Florida State fans storming the court like they'd just won the national championship after beating Duke this year. It's happened elsewhere over the last 8 or 9 years as well.

After the early 90's, Duke became a "dynasty" of sorts, a team that is most hated, but also most envied. While they did have a couple of down years in the mid-90's, they came back strong starting in 97 and their success since has fueled the hatred of other fans. There's no better example than Maryland fans, who seem to be among the most vile towards Duke players. While knocking off Duke hasn't meant knocking off the defending national champion for 4 years now, it still is pretty special for one of two reasons (or maybe both) - people love to beat a great program, or people love to beat the team they hate the most. Whatever the reason, people love beating Duke, and people are more and more motivated to do so. There's also the fact that Duke has often been a #1 seed during the last 9 years, so that also motivates teams in March to knock them off. You get a shot at Duke and at a #1 seed - two for the price of one. They are a huge target.

Back to the sweet 16: Duke has now lost 6 times under Krzyzewski in the sweet 16. All 6 times the team they lost to went on to win the regional and reach the final four. In 1987, Indiana won the title. In 2000, 2002, and 2003, they lost to Florida, Indiana and Kansas, respectively, all of which went on to the title game where they lost. And in 2005 and 2006, Michigan State and LSU went to the final four before losing.

In fact, in 17 of the last 21 years, they've reached the sweet 16. Three of those years (91,92,01), they won the championship. In 8 of those years, they lost to the eventual champion (86,87,88,90,94,98,99,04). So, in 11 of those 17 years, they've won it or lost to the champion. And in the other 6 years (89,00,02,03,05,06), they lost to a final four team. What does all of that mean? I don't know. But it's not like they've been losing to Bucknell or Bradley (see Kansas), or to UAB (see Kentucky), or to NC State (see Connecticut). When they've lost, they've usually lost to teams that play during the final weekend, and more often than not on Monday night.

Of the sweet 16 losses, I'd say only one of those losses was a bad loss which they should have won - and that was against Indiana in 2002. There was no excuse for that. In 2000, they were a team playing 3 freshmen, losing to another team with some freshmen and a bunch of sophmores - and those sophmores had lost the previous season at Duke by 30 points. Perhaps that contributed to their motivation. In 2003, they were seeded lower than Kansas, so that's can't really be a bad loss - they were expected to lose to a very experienced, senior-led Kansas team. In 2005, they were seeded higher, but they did finish only 3rd in the ACC and played a very talented (although lower seeded) Michigan State team that had begun to play really well at the end of the season. I think that can be argued either way. Then, of course, there was LSU this year, which I've already discussed more than once.

Coach K

Another thing I've seen some of was this - "you can't spell choke without K" - which I saw online after the LSU game in a couple of different places. In other words, there are those saying Coach K has begun to choke in March. Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams, how has Coach K and Duke done? Just a few stats:

Duke has been to 10 final fours. The closest, in 2nd place, is North Carolina, with 7 final fours during that time.

Duke has 3 titles. Only 3 other schools have more than 1 (Kentucky, Connecticut, and North Carolina - all with 2 each.)

Krzyzewski has 3 titles. Only 1 other coach has more than 1 - Connecticut's Jim Calhoun (2).

Since Duke won back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992, they have only one other title (2001). Only 3 schools have more - the same three mentioned above.

Krzyzewski is 3-4 in title games. By comaprison, Dean Smith was 2-3, and Bob Knight is 3-2. Rupp was either 4-1 or 4-2, I believe. Wooden, of course, is by far the best. (This is based on at least 5 appearances - I don't know if any other coaches have reached the title game 5 or more times. But they're going to be well under .500 if they did.)

Okay, more specifically, sweet 16, particularly in recent years.

They've been to 9 straight (98-06). Nobody else more than 2 straight. Don't know the stats on who's been there the most besides them in those 9 years. I also do not have stats on who has been in the most regional finals (Duke has 4, and Michigan State has 4, but I'm unsure about any others. I think Connecticut and Kentucky may have been to 4, also, but I'm not certain.)

During those 9 years, they've been to 3 final fours. Only Michigan State has been to more (4) and North Carolina (3) has matched them. As for titles, Duke has 1 in that stretch, and only 1 school (Connecticut with 2) has more than 1.

Duke has lost in the sweet 16 in 5 of the last 7 years. However, how many schools have advanced to the elite 8 (or further) more than twice during that time? Only four other schools - UConn (3), Kansas (3), Arizona (3) and MSU (4). I don't think I'm missing anyone there, but I could be.

Also, many will point to 86 and 99 as teams that should have won it all. As for 86, it was K's first final four, and despite having the best team, it's not often that a coach wins it the first time. Billy Donovan won it this year, but it was his second visit. Jim Boeheim went to 3 over 17 years, but only that third time did he win it. Jim Calhoun managed to do it, but he was much older and experienced by that time. Tubby Smith did it, however, he did it with Rick Pitino's players, but hasn't been back since.

As for 99, the media - more than once - referred to the tournament as the "Duke Invitational". Duke had appeared dominant throughout the season. However, the ACC was not nearly as strong as usual that year, and many forget that Connecticut also only had 2 losses that year. And, something I've never heard mentioned, but is in fact true, is that Connecticut was ranked #1 during the season for more weeks than Duke. All of that, coupled with the media hype of crowning Duke champion before the tournament started, made Connecticut a team on a mission - not just to win, but to beat Duke in doing so.

I recall some idiot reporter (sorry for the redundancy) in the post game press conference asking Calhoun if he felt like Villanova did when they beat Georgetown (and, by the way, if you look at the facts, that 85 title game was not as big of an upset as it has been made out to be. They played two close games in the regular season.) Calhoun was offended, and rightly so. He pointed out that they were a very good team, only had 2 losses, etc. Duke - not unlike UConn in 2006 - had the most talent. But I've never felt like they were necessarily the best team. I think UConn played better as a team in that championship game, and that's why they won. So, I don't personally put much stock in any "choke" talk regarding those 2 title games.

As for other title games, there was nobody on the planet going to beat UNLV in 1990. And, Arkansas clearly had the better team in 1994. Duke had overacheived by reaching the title game that year.

Let's also not forget one other stat: Coach K still has the NCAA tournament wins (68) of all time. I think he's doing alright so far.

A final word about Duke hating and officiating

There are websites devoted strictly to "Duke hating". I've found several, but am not going to link to them here. It pretty much proves my point about the envy and hatred out there. They pick out the most trivial things and make a big deal of them. My only response is that these poor people really need to get a life.

As for officiating, it was a hot topic this year. I've commented previously about the Boston College and Florida State games this year, where the complaining was the loudest. The Great Officiating Conspiracy (as I like to call it) began at the final four in 2001. This is where, at least in large part, the complaint that "Duke gets all the calls" either began, or at least was proclaimed the loudest and became national. I've read that even Gary Williams is convinced Duke was able to come back from a 22-point deficit about 13 minutes into the game (notice that - there was still 27 minutes of basketball left) because of the officials. Duke, after Maryland gained that lead, outscored Maryland by 33 the rest of the way. So it seems the theory is that for Duke to do that over the last 27 minutes of the game, it took help from the officials. Evidently, it did NOT take any help from the officials for Maryland to outscore Duke by 22 to get that lead in only 13 minutes! Am I suggesting Maryland benefited from the officials in the first 13 minutes? Actually, I have never seen the game a second time. I'd have to be able to watch it again. But, to suggest that Duke needed help and Maryland didn't is just absurd.

Shane Battier had another theory. In a television interview, Battier suggested that Duke won the game in Januray when they erased a 10-point lead in the final 54 seconds of a game in College Park, which Duke went on to win in overtime. (I'm sure they had help from the officials to do that, too. wink, wink.) Battier suggested that, as they started chipping away at the lead, he could see it in the Maryland's players eyes - they'd seen this before. Now, Battier may just be making a good story out of the situation, but again, to suggest that this was impossible without help from the officials is insane.

People love to point at Duke losing big second half leads against Kentucky in 1998 (18 points), or Indiana in 2002 (14 points, I believe) when they want to talk about "choking". Yet, when they start complaining about officiating in Duke games, they never seem to mention the officials having aided Kentucky or Indiana.

Evidently when a team comes back from a large deficit to win a game, they only get help from officials if their name is Duke.

The future

Well, there's still hope for next season. I don't anticipate many people picking Duke to win the title next year. They lose 5 seniors overall, 4 who played significant minutes. However, they have another talented freshmen class coming in, some of which - like McRoberts and Paulus this year - will be depended on from the start. Center Eric Boteng is transferring (there's no ill will, but he thinks he'll play more elsewhere). I hate to see a center leave when you already have a senior center graduating, but maybe it will be for the best. DeMarcus Nelson could emerge as a star next year. If he can stay healthy, he will likely have a great season. I expect Paulus to improve a great deal over the summer. I anticipate a great year from him as well, and expect he will improve his shooting over the summer and be an important scorer from outside with Redick gone, along with his point guard duties. Sophmore David McClure, who redshirted this year, will also be back. So, I think they'll have a good amount of talent, albeit young talent.

The key to the whole season, however, is Josh McRoberts. First, is he going to return? It's not yet known. He's projected as a lottery pick currently, and could end up leaving. That decision, evidently, has not been made yet. Assuming he does return, Duke could have a very good year. They are ranked in the top 15 in one preseason poll I've seen (yes, they're already releasing polls.) But that could drop significantly if McRoberts leaves. The promise he showed at the end of the season - particularly in the ACC tournament - will be important to Duke next year. He will be much more aggressive and score much more with Williams gone. Their dependence on him and Paulus together will be key, and if he doesn't return, it will hurt them all year long. So, hopefully he will make the decision to stay at least another year.

Conclusion

So, here's to a great season this year. It didn't end with a championship or even a final four trip. But it was great nonetheless. And if McRoberts returns next year, they should have a pretty good year as well, despite their youth.

Only 7 months until the season starts...

Dance : day ten - final

2006-04-04T07:34:00.000-05:00

After such a great first two weeks, the NCAA tournament really ended with a thud at the final four. After two boring blowouts on Saturday came yet another boring blowout last night, as Florida beat UCLA without much difficulty. I didn't even watch the second half. I was exhausted from a long weekend (actually, I guess it was a short weekend since we lost an hour) and with the game apparently decided already, I went to bed at halftime. I recorded the second half in case it turned into a game, but now see no reason to go back and watch it.

Random stuff:

Now we have to endure a couple of days of stupid headlines like "Noah doubt about it" (ESPN) and "Chomping Block" (SI). I'm sure there are many more.
Wasn't UCLA supposed to have the better defense?
It seemed evident early on that Donovan was going to be a very good coach someday, and it's not surprising that he's gotten to this point now. I still don't like him (Pitino begat Donovan, plus I can't forgive him for 2000), but he just moved from being considered a good coach to a very good coach. Some will see he's moved to great coach, but I still think it will take a second title for him to move to "great coach." Or, at least more time and more success, even if he never got the second title. But I believe that will eventually happen. If most of these guys are back next year, it could happen then.
Of course, his next title may not happen at Florida. I don't doubt he'll be back next year, but I must wonder, will he will stay at Florida for the long haul? Especially if a "basketball school" came calling? More specifically, if, say, Tubby Smith were to leave Kentucky in the near future and they gave Billy a call? If I were in charge at Kentucky, he'd be the first guy I'd call when Tubby leaves. Hey, if I were in charge, I'd probably be calling him today - Tubby leaving or not. If he stays, Florida could become one of the great programs of the next 10 or 20 years. If another "basketball school" calls, he might go, depending on the school, but I would think he would definitely consider leaving for Kentucky. And Kentucky would be insane not to at least ask.
There's also the Big East possibility. Anyone up there looking for a coach should be calling him, too. That's where he's from, that's where he played, and the Big East is a basketball league full of basketball schools. He would get to coach against coaching legends like Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun and his old mentor Rick Pitino, instead of names like Mark Gottfried, Rick Stansbury and Stan Heath. I say he would certainly consider a Big East job as well.
CBS has got to find some people better than Greg Gumble, Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis. Actually, I don't mind Davis that much, but the other two have to go. And when is ESPN going to unload Digger Phelps - who knows nothing - and Doug Gottlieb - who knows less than Digger? We need some quality people here, folks. And don't even get me started on Jim Nantz...
I heard a week or so ago that Noah had already said he was returning to school next year. I've already seen an article this morning with the headline something like "Noah in no hurry to decide future." Translation: He's leaving.
Noah was listed 14th on last week's update at NBAdraft.net, and I suspect he'll move up when it's updated (today, I believe.) He's not a guy who has to worry about money, but I suspect as a lottery pick, he'll move on.
Speaking of the mock draft, Tyrus Thomas of LSU shot up to #1 last week after the regional. I'll be interested to see if he falls (and how far) after not showing up at the final four. Glen Davis was around 19th, so his performance likely won't make a huge difference, but he's already stated that he's returning anyway.
Wally Hall is an idiot. Yes, everyone in Arkansas knows this, but I've read a few of his articles in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports section over the last couple of weeks, and felt compelled to say it again.

Well, that's all I've got. I still plan to reflect on Duke's season and the careers of Redick and Williams, probably later in the week. I still have some comments I've been meaning to post.

I suspect the women's game tonight will be much more interesting than was the men's. Obviously, I hope to see Duke win it, but it should be a tough game, and it won't be over at halftime, like all of the men's final four games were. Of course, the best part about the game will be that Ivory Latta and her teammates will have to watch it at home.

Dance : day nine - final four

2006-04-02T23:23:00.000-05:00

I did not get to sit and watch the final four games as I usually do. A family event took precedence, so I had set my DVR to record them and planned to watch them on Sunday. It turned out that I saw part of the Florida-GMU game, then managed to make it home in time to see the second half of the late game between LSU and UCLA, which was already pretty much over.

It seemed most everyone not from LSU, UCLA or Florida wanted to see GMU win it all. But Florida has been playing really well and they seemed to be shooting the 3 well, at least during the time I was watching. The game seemed to get away from them late in the first half, and after that I think maybe they never really could recover. It was, however, a great run, and I think it's not going to be a long time before we see something like that again. It may happen again very soon.

As for UCLA and LSU, I actually felt like UCLA would win this game, but I didn't think they'd blow LSU out like they did. What was up with Glen Davis? He looked like he'd run from Baton Rouge to Indianapolis before the game. He appeared to be winded from the opening tip. I could understand if they were playing in Salt Lake City, maybe, but why did he suddenly appear to be horribly out of shape? And did Thomas even play in this game? I don't even remember hearing his name. Anyway, UCLA embarrassed LSU, who looked more like the team that played Iona and Texas A&M than the one that played Duke and Texas. I think LSU was a good team who had 2 great games, but were not really a serious contender to win it all.

A lot of people are picking Florida, but I think UCLA may just have enough to do it one more time. Of course, if you saw my bracket, you'd know how little that means.

Female four

Speaking of LSU getting embarrassed in the final four, not only did it happen to their men, but also to their women. Duke's Lady Blue Devils hammered LSU's Lady Tigers by 19 points tonight for the chance at the championship on Tuesday night. Both teams were #1 seeds. LSU's Seimone Augustus was the nation's leading scorer this season, and in an ironic twist, Duke's defense held her scoreless for the first 22 minutes of the game, and to 14 points overall (although about 6 of them came in the late minutes of the game when it was already decided.) I say ironic because that's what LSU's men's team did to one of the top men's scorers, Duke's J.J. Redick (who continues to rack up player of the year awards, and rightfully so.) LSU appeared to depend far too much on Augustus (sounds familiar...) and Duke's balance won the game for them.

Duke's opponent was decided in the early game, when the other two ACC schools in the final four squared off. Maryland, who finished 3rd in the ACC, would play North Carolina, who finished 1st and was #1 coming into the game (Duke finished 2nd in the ACC). Maryland has had UNC's number of late, including having an early February win that was UNC's only loss of the season coming into the game. Now, Maryland has given them their other loss of the year as well, a nine-point win. UNC losing is good enough, but seeing coach Sylvia Hatchell and point guard Ivory Latta - perhaps the most annoying player ever to play college basketball - just made it that much better.

So, Duke and Maryland will play Tuesday night and Maryland has had UNC's number, Duke has had Maryland's, having won, I believe, more than 10 in a row agains Maryland prior to the ACC tournament, where Maryland finally beat them. It's certainly not a given, and both are great teams, but Duke is in it's fourth final four since 1999, and I think this time they get it done.

March 28, 1992

2006-03-28T12:38:00.000-06:00

I remember nearly 5 years ago, when I started my new job in Huntsville, a co-worker came by and saw a Sports Illustrated from 1992 sitting in my cube. It had Bobby Hurley on the cover, and the title read "Dynasty". He immediately said, "Is that the year Christian Laettner hit the shot to beat Kentucky?" I said, "Yes, it was." Then I found out why he brought it up - he was a UK graduate. Seems every time I meet a UK fan and they find out I'm a Duke fan, they bring it up first. From what I read online, it still hurts and it still fuels their hatred for Duke. But, I don't mind seeing it over and over every March.

I was in a Chili's restaurant in North Little Rock when Laettner hit the shot. I had scheduled a date - a first date, in fact - for that night, having been mistaken about the game time. I thought it was in the afternoon, and was horrified to find out it was that evening. Some priorities, huh? Anyway, I went on the date. We were going to eat and then to a movie. As we sat in Chili's, I continued to hear people in the bar area roaring occasionally when something would happen. Evidently, it was when Kentucky was making great plays, because being in SEC country (even though it had just become SEC country that very season), the people were pulling for them. Plus, Duke had started to become what they are now - a team people liked to dislike (which has now grown into hate.)

As we got up to leave, she first went to the restroom. As I waited, I walked over to the bar area to see what was happening with the game. I said to someone, "What's the score?" They gleefully replied, "Kentucky 103, Duke 102 - 2 seconds left!" I was crestfallen. How could this happen? How could they lose this game? They were supposed to repeat. They'd been #1 all season long, only lost 2 games by 2 and 4 points, and were clearly the best team in the country. Now it was going to end here, short of the final four, and even worse, at the hands of Kentucky??

What I didn't know was that in the huddle, Mike Krzyzewski was telling his players, "We're going to win this game." Evidently, despite the circumstances they faced at that moment - needing to go the length of the court in :02 and score - they believed him.

As the teams broke from the timeout, I stood there and watched a TV probably 30 feet away. I only saw one play in that game live. It was the best play of the game. I would later see it all on tape - which I'd set as soon as I realized my scheduling error. But I saw the pass from Grant Hill. I saw Laettner catch, dribble and shoot. I saw the ball hit the net. I saw the Duke bench explode onto the court. I saw Laettner running down the court. At this point, the crowd in the bar deflated, and as my date was returning from the bathroom, I was able to verify that indeed the shot had counted.

Duke 104, Kentucky 103.

Some argue that it was the greatest game ever. I'm sure Kentucky fans aren't as passionate about that as Duke fans. I recall something that former Kentucky player John Pelphrey - who was one of the four Kentucky seniors on that team, all of whom I believe are fondly remembered by UK fans for what they did for UK basketball (and rightfully so) - said on the ESPN Battlelines episode about this game. I don't recall the exact quote. It was something about how everyone has their high points and low points in life, but not everyone has their low points replayed on ESPN all the time. So, certainly, the game is probably not remembered as fondly by Kentucky fans and players. But certainly, basketball fans all over the spectrum - from Duke lovers and Duke haters - have to admit what a great game it was. There were more great plays in the game - by both teams - than I can list here. The last minute of the game alone was full of unbelievable plays. And while Laettner's final shot is what is most remembered, his "perfect game" is sometimes not. He went 10-10 from the field and 10-10 from the line in that game. If he hadn't, Kentucky would have won.

I realize I am, as a Duke fan, biased about the game, but I think there's not much question from unbiased sources that this very well may have been the greatest game in history. I know it's the greatest one I've ever seen. I still watch it at least a couple of times a year. And 14 years later, it never gets old.

Dance : day eight

2006-03-27T12:38:00.000-06:00

Can this tournament get much better (besides, obviously, if Duke had continued to win?)

Washington

Well, just watched UConn go down at the hands of George Mason. Connecticut took a 12 point lead late in the first half. It seemed at that point they expected Mason to just go away. Or maybe they were just hoping they would.

But Mason didn't. Not only did they make a run, they took the lead. And then inexplicably gave up a 4 point lead with 17 seconds left, and UConn appeared as though they might escape one more time - which is all they've done so far in this tournament.

It seems whenever an underdog loses a chance to upset a team and is forced into overtime, they fold up and lose without much of a fight in overtime. I was afraid that would happen to George Mason. But, man, they came out firing. They scored first and continued to score, keeping the pressure on Connecticut. Then, it looked like they might actually give UConn a third chance late in the game - missing their final 3 free throws - but held on as UConn could not score on the final possession, and Mason goes to the final four with a 2 point win.

I heard Mike Lupica babbling on this morning on ESPN about how Jim Calhoun would be in the ranks of Wooden and Rupp, having won 3 titles in 8 years. That was, of course, if they continued on. Lupica, who is a loud-mouth know-it-all who seems to enjoy hearing himself talk more than Dick Vitale and could not be more annoying, spoke too soon. It's almost as great to see Connecticut lose as it is to see Lupica proven wrong.

Mason becomes the first "mid-major" to reach the final four in the era of the 64 (or 65) team tournament. They did what others have come close to doing. And what everyone expected Gonzaga to do first - and most of them expected it this year. But instead, it was the team that everyone said shouldn't even be invited. Since then, they've beaten a final four team from last year and the last two national champions. They've crashed the party big time. And they may not be done yet.

Greg Doyel, in an article on CBS Sportsline, says the following:

Today, now that George Mason has beaten UConn to get into the Final Four, people are going to write about David and Goliath.

What if George Mason is Goliath?

I guess we'll see next weekend.

Minneapolis

I didn't watch a lot of this game, but Florida held off Villanova. Villanova couldn't match Florida inside, and couldn't hit anything from outside. Basically, Villanova was the last hope for both the Big East and the #1 seeds. Everyone said the Big East was the best conference, and I would have to agree with that. It was expected they'd definitely have one, and likely have two, teams in the final four. There was even a decent possibility they could end up doing what no conference had done since 1985 - have 3 teams in the final four. In 1985, the Big East did it. They had a chance to do it again. But it didn't happen.

Now, the best conference joins the second best conference (which many say was the Big Ten) in having NO teams in the final four. And, with Villanova's loss, there are also NO #1 seeds in the final four, for the first time since 1980.

Final thoughts

It's been a wild ride so far. If this continues for the last 3 games, this may have been one of the best episodes of March Madness to date.

Dance : day seven

2006-03-26T12:48:00.000-06:00

Well, we're down to 6 now.

Atlanta

I'm not really surprised LSU won. I mentioned the Duke factor yesterday. But I still thought Texas was on a mission and that they might pull it out. I don't like PJ Tucker, who I think is a punk, but I like Rick Barnes and wouldn't mind seeing him succeed. Of course, I went to college with a lot of people from Texas, and listened to them babble on and on about how great the state of Texas is, so I don't mind seeing Texas teams lose whenever possible. I will not be surprised to see LSU win it all. Also, with LSU winning, the SEC gets it's first team since 2000 (Florida) into the final four, and only the second in the last 8 years. They've had quite a drought, but it's over now, and actually could end up with 2 teams in if Florida wins tomorrow. (Kentucky, as I always like to point out, will miss it for the eighth year in a row now. You gotta love that.)

Minneapolis

This was one of the ugliest games I've ever seen. Memphis was throwing up brick after brick in the first half, and they just could not seem to gain much ground after UCLA took the lead. UCLA looked like they were playing to prove something - that not enough people took them seriously. Granted, I'd not seen them play all year long, but I originally picked them for the final four (as I mentioned before) because everyone said they were playing well. After watching them play against Alabama and Gonzaga, I wasn't that impressed. But I was glad - as always - to see Calipari and Memphis lose.

Final thoughts

I'll go ahead and pick the first final four game (although I reserve the right to change my mind before next weekend.) UCLA has continued to win, and they may very well be able to knock off LSU like they did Gonzaga and Memphis, but I am - at least for now - going to go with LSU in this game.

Dance : day six

2006-03-25T08:46:00.000-06:00

Minneapolis

Boston College was my only hope, as an ACC fan. I thought they had it done against Villanova, but were on the short end of a couple of really bad calls late in regulation. The first one has already left my mind, but the second was a traveling call on Dudley in which a Villnova player tied him up and Dudley lost his balance and took steps. There was no way this could be anything other than either a jump ball or a foul on the Villanova player (it looked like a pretty good tie-up to me, so it should have been a jump ball.) But the officials chose to make a bad call instead.

Now, this didn't cost BC the game. It hurt their chances of winning, but they missed way too many free throws. Had they made one of those missed, they would have won. Instead, they lost in overtime. But everyone always remembers the bad calls (or, as in my case, at least 1 of 2).

The second game I did not watch, so I haven't got much to comment on. I picked Georgetown, but wouldn't have been surprised either way. Since I believe Billy Donovan to be the anti-Christ, I hope Villanova advances to the final four.

Washington

Didn't see any of the George Mason-WSU game, either. Didn't really care. Not surprised either way in this one, too, but I expected GMU to maybe pull it out since they were playing near home. And they did.

Connecticut continues to play uninspired for much of the game and then pull out a win. Actually, I didn't see it, either, but I have to assume. I read about a goal-tending non-call in UConn's favor that may have cost Washington the game. But the only highlights I saw were of Washington fouling when up by four, giving UConn a three-point play, then giving up a three at the end to send it to overtime. They should have won it anyway. Nevertheless, Uconn moves on.

Final thoughts

I think the regional finals could all be very good games. Since a new round is starting, I figure I'll go ahead and pick again.

Atlanta Every team that has beaten Duke in the sweet 16 during the Krzyzewski era has advanced to the final four. That's 5 times prior to this year. LSU could make it a sixth, but I think Texas just may pull this out, so I'm going with them.

Oakland I picked UCLA to reach the final four in my original bracket, before switching it to Pitt, and I picked them the other day, so I'll stick with them. UCLA advances.

Minneapolis I realize there's a very good chance Florida will win this game, but I just can't pick them. Now that BC's gone, I'll have to go with Villanova.

Washington I can't think of a better story than George Mason, whose presence in the tournament was questioned by many, reaching Indianapolis. But I just don't know if they can do it one more time, even against a UConn time that will likely leave the door open for them much of the game. As much as it hurts to say this, I think Connecticut will keep going.

Dance : day five

2006-03-24T18:10:00.000-06:00

Three exciting games last night out of the four, which is what you want at this point.

Atlanta

Obviously, for a Duke fan, huge disappointment. LSU played great defense, particularly on Redick. I actually expected Shelden Williams to have a more difficult game than Redick. Williams was great, but he was pretty much the only one. It was not unlike the Temple game, except LSU is better than Temple. Normally, if their opponent scores only 62, Duke would win by double-digits. But their inability to score against LSU's defense was what killed them. Williams scored - 23 in fact - but Redick could not, and their lack of a consistent third scorer, which has been a problem all year, killed them again. The players not named Redick or Williams were 7 of 29 from the field. Overall, they shot horribly, but most of that was LSU, who had 9 blocks (according to the box score, but I'd say it was more than that), not to mention the altered shots. LSU was physical and the officials were letting both teams play, and Duke did not handle it well. Fouls that they normally get when driving to the basket were not being called as often, which lead to less free throws - also something they're used to doing a lot.

In the end, they still had a shot at winning late. With Duke fouling to put LSU on the line at the end, LSU managed to miss a couple of free throws. Unfortunately, both misses resulted in offensive rebounds for LSU, forcing Duke to foul again and LSU to shoot more free throws. One trip down the floor for LSU resulted in 3 trips to the line. In addition to that was a breakaway when an LSU player got behind the Duke pressure on an inbounds play at Duke's end of the court. You give up plays like that in the final minute, you don't really deserve to win.

I didn't watch a lot of the Texas - West Virginia game. I nearly went to bed during halftime of the late games because both were up 10+ at the time. But when I saw the local news reporting that Texas was only ahead by 3 in the second half, I returned to the game. It seemed West Virginia could not stop Aldridge, who seemed to be pulling rebounds and scoring at will. However, West Virginia did not give up. A few missed free throws by Texas late in the game kept them close. When Pittsnogle hit the 3 with :05 on the clock, I was expecting overtime. But, a great shot at the buzzer sends Texas to the final 8, where there should be a good game with LSU.

Oakland

Saw absolutely none of the Memphis - Bradley game, since Duke-LSU was on here, and I didn't watch during halftime or after Duke-LSU was over (I was watching post-game press conferences on ESPN News.) So, I hear Memphis looked impressive again. However, despite Bradley's upsets thus far, the "mid-major" teams never play as well the second weekend. Therefore, I still don't know what to think of Memphis. They look great, everyone says, but it's just like their conference - they still haven't played anyone. Their highest seed so far is #9 Bucknell. So, I'll see what they do against UCLA before I crown them national champions, as some seem to be ready to do at this point.

If the Texas-West Virginia finish wasn't good enough, how about the UCLA-Gonzaga game. I, again, almost left for bed after the Texas game was over, because Gonzaga was still up 9 with around 3 minutes left. I figured - since they'd led the whole game, and mostly by double-figures - that it was already over. But I stayed a few more plays, and suddenly it was a game again. Gonzaga fell apart in the closing minutes, allowing UCLA to score 11 straight and pull off the win. J.P. Batista fouled UCLA on the rebound of an Adam Morrison miss - Gonzaga was up 3 points - with 19 seconds remaining. UCLA hit two free throws, and then with the clock ticking down, UCLA stole the ball from Batista after the inbounds, and hit a wide-open layup to take the lead. After a Gonzaga miss and foul, UCLA hit another free throw for the final margin. It was an amazing finish for UCLA, and an equally amazing collapse for Gonzaga. Morrison buried his face in his jersey and laid face down on the floor for a couple of minutes after the game was over. Many believe this to be his last game at Gonzaga, expecting him to enter the NBA draft.

Final thoughts

Well, it seemed appropriate that Redick and Morrison, whose scoring and player of the year battles have lasted all season, would exit together. Both of these guys have had oustanding years and have been great college basketball players. It seems that at least 50% of the articles I've read today regarding the LSU game or Redick's career seem to questino Redick's true ability, suggesting or implying he's not as good as he's appeared all year. This, of course, is crap. It's pretty simple. Just look at the facts from the last four years. His improvement and his accomplishments speak for themselves. To suggest that he has become anything less than a great college basketball player (which, as I said, it seems people are lining up to say today) can only be the result of either stupidity or bias. He was a great player. One cannot suggest otherwise and expect to be taken seriously.

I look forward to tonight's games. My favorite team left in the tournament is "whoever is playing Connecticut." I really hope to see BC make it to the final four. Only a few times in the last 20 years has an ACC team not been there (87, 96, 03), so they're the only hope left. I like their players and Al Skinner, so I hope they can get it done.

Next week, I plan to have some final thoughts on Duke's season, the careers of Redick and Williams, and some thoughts on Duke's recent problems advancing past the sweet 16 (I have a theory - a couple of things that I believe contribute, at least in part, to this difficulty.)

And the madness resumes

2006-03-23T12:33:00.000-06:00

Just a few thoughts and observations before the madness starts again this evening...

No repeats this year in the final four. Louisville, of course, didn't even make the tournament. Michigan State lost in the first round, and Illinois and North Carolina lost in the second.

Duke is in the sweet 16 for the 9th straight year, which equals North Carolina's run from 1985-1993 (during the era of 64+ teams in the tournament.) UNC actually appeared in 13 in a row, but the first 4 were prior to the expansion and did not require winning 2 games to get there. I think the next longest current streak is 2 straight.

Traditional powers not in the sweet 16 - Kentucky, UNC, Kansas, Indiana. You expect these schools to be there most years. This year, none of them are there. The only schools there that you could call "traditional powers" would be Duke and UCLA. (Connecticut's success is more recent, and Georgetown was a power in the 80's, but I wouldn't personally call them traditional powers. At least not yet.)

Heard Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann, on The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio, talking about picking your bracket by which mascot could win a one-on-one battle. For example, the UCLA Bruin would beat the Gonzaga Bulldog. Part of the conversation went something like this:

Patrick: You've gotta think the bruin beats the bulldog.

Olbermann: Sure, a young bear beats a bulldog, but it may take a while since he's not yet been sufficiently trained.

Patrick: But wouldn't a devil beat just about anything??

Olbermann: Yes, but we're talking about a blue devil. This is a devil who apparently has some sort of circulatory problem, so who knows.

There was more and it was just cracking me up. Those guys are hilarious, and it's been great to hear them together again.

A word about CBS

Okay, so, just as I do every year, allow me to complaing about CBS' coverage of the tournament. Let's see... how can I describe it... it's horrible. Yeah, that sounds about right.

I hate the fact that you can only see one game at a time, and that it's a game that (supposedly) will be of most interest to your region of the country. Then, even if that occurs, they'll switch to another game at any given time. Sometimes, this is good, because you might want to see the last minute of a close game elsewhere. Other times, they just switch to show you what's going on with 16:34 left in the first half of the Nevada-Montana game - as if anyone outside of Nevada and Montana care. I won't even go into the sport personalities in the studio or calling the games. There's going to be just as much good and bad with any other network there.

Here's my solution: ABC needs to have this contract. ABC could then, on the network channel, broadcast a similar type of coverage that CBS currently does now. However, they could also farm out all of the games (this is particularly necessary in the first weekend) to other channels they own. There are a maximum of 4 games happening at once. The network could broadcast the regional game, but all 4 games could also be broadcast elsewhere - ESPN, EPSN2, ESPN Classic, ESPN News, ESPNU, or even ABC Family. Then, regardless of the regional coverage, you could switch to the game of your choice. This would be the ideal. If you have cable, you can see all of the games. If not, you can still see the normal coverage on ABC.

Picks

Well, since I picked most everything wrong in my pre-tournament bracket, I'll go ahead and pick the final four from what we have left. Here's my picks for regional final games, with the winners, with no commentary:

Atlanta: Duke beats West Virginia

Oakland: UCLA beats Memphis

Minneapolis: Boston College beats Georgetown

Washington: Washington beats George Mason

So, there you have it. Now you know to bet on everyone I picked to lose...

The search is over

2006-03-22T12:09:00.000-06:00

I have written a couple of times in the past 6 months or so (here and here) about our search for a new church. We moved back here to Little Rock in August and have visited several churches since then in an attempt to find our new home. After a lot of visiting, evaluating and prayer, we have decided that Fellowship Bible Church is where God has led us. We are excited about this decision, and looking forward to getting involved and becoming a part of this church family. Hopefully starting the first Sunday of April, we will begin attending FBC's Discovery II classes, which is called the "Pathway to Small Groups and Church Membership", where we will move through the membership process and become a part of a community group. I will probably write more about our new experiences at FBC over the next few months as we get plugged in.

I mentioned my son's birthday this weekend. My daughter also had a big event this weekend - she lost another tooth. It had been loose for a while, and then Sunday night, while eating some Teddy Grahams, she came running to tell us it had come out. Not quite a birthday, but still a big deal for her. She always gets very excited about this because, of course, it means that the Tooth Fairy will pay her a visit. This was number 5 or 6, I think. She was thrilled Monday morning to discover under her pillow a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear Workshop and was immediately asking to go to the mall that very night, since she still has another Build-A-Bear gift certificate she received at Christmas. However, we put off the trip for now. Next week is her spring break from school, so I'm sure we'll make our way there sometime during the break.

Dance : day four

2006-03-19T21:39:00.000-06:00

First of all, today is my son's birthday. He is 2 years old. We actually had his birthday party yesterday - the theme was Blue's Clue's. He doesn't really understand what's going on, but he liked his presents (especially his Blue's Clue's Talking Chair), and seemed to enjoy the cake. I'm always amazed at how much children learn in such a short period of time. It seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital, but now he's running around everywhere, shooting basketball, and knows more words now than I can count.

In fact, he's even learning about March Madness, which is only natural considering his birth date. I'm hoping being born during March Madness will be a good sign of things to come, like maybe someday he'll be playing in March Madness himself. (I can always dream.) He watched his first Duke game at the hospital the day after he was born, when Duke beat Seton Hall in the second round. He also watched a little bit of basketball with me this weekend, and says "Go Duke" when he sees a game on TV. He even recognizes Coach K now (although it comes out more like "Ouch K"). Clearly, an intelligent child. (Maybe I should make him some March Madness flashcards - you know, pictures of Coach K, John Wooden, Dick Vitale, Christian Laettner, Bob Knight & Keith Smart, Dean Smith & Michael Jordan, Jim Valvano & Lorenzo Charles, Larry & Magic, etc.)

It's fun to hear him say things like "Go Duke" and "Ouch K", but there's nothing I love hearing more than when I tell him, "I love you" and he says "I lub oo too."

The madness continues

I believe next year I am going to fill out what I'll call the "George Costanza" bracket. Remember the episode where George chooses to do the opposite of whatever his instincts tell him? Well, that's apparently what I need to do. If I'd picked the other team on every one of my picks, I think I'd be doing better than I am now.

Atlanta

Didn't see one second of the West Viginia - Northwestern State game, but I'm not surprised they won. I almost picked W Va over Iowa and then to beat Texas. Instead, I went with Iowa. Again, the Costanza method would've helped. Texas, in the end, hammered NC State after State had kept it close for a while. I was hoping State could pull it off for a third ACC team in the sweet 16, but they finished the season pretty weak, and the win over Cal was a huge surprise. I figured it'd be quite a feat to pull off the win against Texas in Dallas. Texas looked really good, but they were playing NC State, so it's hard to tell how well they're really playing.

Oakland

Memphis was all over Bucknell. If Arkansas had been slightly more agressive, they would've beaten Bucknell. But the theories that Arkansas would give Memphis trouble are pretty ridiculous. Memphis' defense looked to be in Bucknell's uniforms with them at times, and they seemed to steal the ball at will during several stretches of the game. Memphis looked really good, too, but again, they've played ORU and Bucknell, so who really knows?

Bradley scored a second upset, knocking off one of my final four teams, Pittsburgh. The funny thing in this game was the on-screen scoreboard. With the higher seed always on bottom, that meant that the scoreboard read Brad Pitt. Well, I thought it was humorous.

Minneapolis

Saw none of the Georgetown - Ohio State game, either. Although I picked Ohio State, I wasn't surprised Georgetown won. They've beaten a number of good teams this year. Arizona gave Villanova a pretty good game. I thought they might have a shot at the upset, and they played them to the end, but didn't quite have enough. As good as Villanova's guards are, I don't think they can win it all.

Washington

Speaking of not being able to win it all, UNC won't be repeating since they lost to George Mason today. I recall many saying George Mason shouldn't be in the tournament. Now they've beaten two of last year's Final Four teams, including the champion. "I guess the foot's on the other hand now." It appears - at least from the box score - that David Noel was the only one that did much of anything for UNC. Perhaps their youth was a factor after all. And did you check out Roy going Bob Knight on the sideline, picking up the chair and slamming it to the floor? You usually don't see ol' Roy that upset.

Kentucky gave UConn another scare. One of the criticisms of UConn is, of course, that they don't play for 40 minutes. They clearly didn't against Albany, and despite all of the talking heads declaring they'd beat Kentucky more easily, they didn't, and you have to wonder if they're still not willing to play 40 minutes. I was convinced before the thing started that they would not win it all, and they haven't done anything to change my mind. They still may very well do it - they certainly have the talent - but they're not going to if they don't play the whole game. That will end up biting them before it's over - maybe even against Washington in the next round. They'd better show up to play next weekend, or it will be their last weekend.

Final thoughts

Looking forward to the sweet 16. I will make official picks, most likely, by Thursday, but my initial thoughts are that, while many are picking LSU & Texas in the Atlanta final, I still say Duke wins and I think West Viriginia might just beat Texas this time - as you may recall, they lost to Texas in November. I also think Boston College still has what it takes to come out of Minneapolis. I expected neither Memphis nor Gonzaga to go past next weekend, but they both have a good shot at it, especially with Kansas and Pitt losing. And I think you'll have to consider the winner of UConn and Washington to be the most likely final four team from Washington, DC. So, I'll probably have more thoughts this week, and we'll see what happens this weekend.

Dance : day three

2006-03-18T22:23:00.001-06:00

My bracket gets worse each day. But, the tournament actually gets better.

Atlanta

Duke looked significantly better against George Washington than in their first game. They won with relative ease, and Greg Paulus and Josh McRoberts both played very well, as did Williams and Redick. I thought they started looking like the team that won the ACC tournament again. If they continue to play this well, they should make it to Indianapolis. Texas A&M should have been their opponent in the next round, but they gave up a 3-pointer with less than 4 seconds remaining and lost by one to LSU. LSU hasn't really looked that impressive in their first two games, but you never know what's going to happen in March.

Oakland

Gonzaga didn't have an easy time with Indiana, but managed to end the Mike Davis era and advance. I think Morrison had a horrible game and they still won, so they probably feel good about that. However, they won't go much further without him playing well. UCLA had their hands full with Alabama as well. I thought they would probably win more comfortably than they did, but Alabama took them to the end. I think the UCLA-Gonzaga matchup will be one of the better ones, but of course, nobody from the east will care.

Minneapolis

Boston College seemed to handle Montana without much problem. I didn't get to see much of that one here, but based on the score I was seeing updated in the top part of the screen, it looked like they were doing fine. Florida hammered Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I'm not sure what to think of Florida, still. They started the season with a long win streak, then lost a number of SEC games and didn't look that great, but in the last two weeks have looked pretty good. But, they really haven't played anyone in this tournament yet, so we'll see how they do next game.

Washington

Washington jumped all over Illinois at the beginning of the game and took something like a 14 point lead. Then, Illinois came back and had a lead and seemed to be in control. Then, Washington again regained the lead late and pulled out the win. I'll be anxious to see how far Washington can go. Wichita State, not surprisingly, beat overrated Tennessee, who should have lost in the first round. Tennessee really collapsed big-time at the end of the season, and I would have been surprised if they'd survived this game.

Final Thoughts

Well, not really any upsets here, although I guess, considering seeds, WSU over Tennessee was an upset. But I think after round one, everyone expected it, so I don't really count it. Tomorrow should provide some pretty good games.

Dance : day two

2006-03-17T23:58:00.000-06:00

My brackets condition has worsened. The doctors say it's not going to make it.

Atlanta

Only one real surprise here, and that is the last second 3 by Northwestern State that beat Iowa. I guess Indiana fans still want Alford to come home, but he's not really done anything significant in the tournament yet. And, of course, I picked Iowa in the elite this year. Thanks, Steve.

Seems I heard several people pick SIU over West Virginia, I guess since nobody would be surprised by WVa this year (and please, people, stop using Pittsnogle as a verb.) Mild upset with NC State beating Cal (who I, of course, had in the sweet 16), but I was glad to see the ACC team win. Texas struggled with Penn, but it seems nobody really blows out an Ivy League team very often.

Oakland

Memphis, who people have called (and rightfully so, in my opinion) the weakest #1 seed, actually had the largest margin of the 1 seeds, I believe. Some said ORU would give them trouble, and they did, but only for about the first 15 minutes. Bucknell pulls off the upset for the second straight year (although 9 over 8 is not really much of an upset). I thought Arkansas would not be surprised by them - since they'd upset Kansas last year - and would pull it out. But great 3-point shooting by Bucknell and horrible free throw shooting by Arkansas pretty much was the story there.

Pitt handled Kent State pretty easily (or so it seemed while watching the score change in the upper section of my TV screen.) And speaking of Bucknell, not only did they repeat their first round feat of last year, so did their opponent from last year - Kansas. Kansas loses to Bradley and for the second straight year has gone home after game one.

Minneapolis

Villanova, like the other #1's, played a relatively close game with Monmouth, while Arizona hammered Wisconsin. I haven't seen Arizona play this year so have no idea when they look like and whether or not they can play with Villanova. Georgetown and Ohio State won with relative ease. There's really not much to say here, because none of these games were really upsets (9 over 8 doesn't count).

Washington

The days of #1 seeds blowing out #16 seeds seems to be over. All four 1 seeds had relatively competitive games. Duke, Memphis and Villanova all kept theirs relatively comfortable - around 10 or more points - through most of the second half.

Connecticut, however, managed to find themselves behind by 12 points with 12 minutes to play in the game. And Albany held that lead until around 6 minutes or so, when Connecticut finally tied it, before winning by double digits. Connecticut has been criticized for uninspired play at times this year, and for "taking off" parts of games. They apparently did so in this game, and they came close to making history, as a #16 has never beaten a #1. If Connecticut continues to try to just "turn it on" when they need it, they'll be going home earlier than everyone has predicted, because everyone they play henceforth will not only be better than Albany, but will be better with each game. I still say they won't win it all.

Kentucky got a measure of revenge for losing as a #1 seed to UAB two years ago, by beating the Blazers in the 8-9 game. I picked UAB, but I really thought Kentucky would probably win. Yeah, I realize that doesn't make any sense. UNC also had a tough game with Murray State. I'll be interested to see how their freshmen do going forward. However, they'll get another low seeded team next, as George Mason took out Michigan State, a team that returned a lot of players from their final four team last year, but hasn't really played that well all season.

Final thoughts

It was an exciting first two days, and noticably missing so far are blowouts. They used to be more common. The upsets seem to be occuring at about the same rate, I suppose, but blowouts by higher seeded teams seem to be far less common, especially among the 1, 2 and 3 seeds, where they are most likely. Looking forward to Saturday and Sunday.

Dance : day one

2006-03-16T23:43:00.001-06:00

So if you check out my picks page, you'll notice that I'm placing green check marks beside the correct picks, and red X's beside the incorrect picks.

I don't know if you've seen the ending to Bonnie and Clyde, where the dudes unload their machine guns into Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. If you have, then you have an idea of how my picks bracket is starting to look.

Atlanta

Texas A&M was the popular pick to knock off Syracuse. Yes, I was concerned about them being out of gas after the Big East tournament, but thought they'd have enough to get out of the first round, especially after being upset there last year. There was no way, I contended, they would let themselves be upset a second straight year by a double-digit seed.

I stand corrected.

UNCW was killing GW - by 17 at one point, I believe - and then GW went on (at least) a 15-0 run to get back in it, then won it in OT. Duke managed to beat Southern - or should I say Williams and Redick did. Only three other players scored, and only a total of 13 points. Josh McRoberts is the only other player besides Redick and Williams with more than 2 points. All that great help they got offensively last week disappeared tonight. They'll need to play like they did last week if they want to continue playing at all.

Iona gave LSU a good game for about 30 minutes or so, but in the end LSU pulled away. I think the LSU - A&M game may be pretty good. I'll look forward to that one.

Oakland

I just finished watching Indiana beat San Diego State. IU, down by one, hit a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left and held off SDSU. They get Gonzaga next, who looked like they were going to be going home for most of their game with Xavier. I think they didn't take the lead until inside of 2 minutes. I still say if Indiana has a good game, they can beat Gonzaga.

I was surprised Alabama beat Marquette. Marquette had some big wins this year, including a blowout of Connecticut, and I thought they'd win this one. They got down and made a comeback late in the game, but it wasn't enough. UCLA blew out Belmont, so they'll get Alabama next.

Minneapolis

I knew practically nothing about Nevada and Montana, except that Nevada had a player that was supposed to be pretty good. So, being a 5 seed, I went with them. They are killing me. But not as bad as BC almost did. BC had to go to 2 overtimes to beat Pacific, who looked like they were going to pull it off in the first OT. But BC tied it with seconds left, then outscored Pacific something like 14-2 in the second OT. The first round is way too early to lose one of your final four picks.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee didn't surprise me at all. Especially since Oklahoma has looked fragile for some time. I don't know what possessed me to pick South Alabama to beat Florida. It was a blowout. You've got to pick some upsets, though, and I chose that one. As usual, it was the wrong choice.

Washington

Illinois beat Air Force without too much trouble. Everyone said Air FOrce didn't belong, so I guess everyone's happy now that they're going home. Seton Hall is absolutely killing me. I knew they'd been blown out - by 53 - at Duke in November, but I was thinking they'd improved a lot since then. However, I didn't know enough (obviously) about Wichita State, so I went with the Big East team. Another fine choice.

Winthrop almost proved me right. I picked them to knock off Tennessee who's really fallen off the map lately, and only an extremely tough shot prevented them from continuing that game in overtime. Chris Lofton scored with less than 1 second left to give Tennessee the win, meaning I got one more pick wrong. Just another reason on a very long list to hate Tennessee.

The other game is Washington and Utah State, which is still being played as I type. Washington is up 9 with about 5:00 to go, so I'll assume they'll win, as I picked them to, since I'm not going to stay up any longer to watch a game I could care less about.

Final thoughts

Well, my first day was a miserable 9-7, and I also lost three sweet 16 teams (Marquette, Seton Hall, and South Alabama - and no, I wasn't under the influence when I made those picks, no matter how much it may appear that I was) and one elite 8 team (Marquette). My bracket, littered with red X's, hopes to see more green tomorrow.

A touch of madness

2006-03-15T22:25:00.000-06:00

Well, it's just a few short hours away. The NCAA tournament. The big dance. March Madness. It is, by far, the greatest time of the year.

I have made my picks. I am not completely happy with them - I never am - and very possibly will change some of them before 11:00am or so tomorrow when the first games tip off. I've never been very good at it, usually failing miserably in any pools I join (although they're usually only for bragging rights. I don't recall ever joining a pool for money. I figure I can just flush it down the toilet myself.) The one year I did very well, and in fact won a pool, was two years ago. In 2004, I picked 3 final four teams (Connecticut, Georgia Tech, and Duke), and also picked the championship game correctly (Connecticut over Georgia Tech.) That was the one year I should've joined a money pool. This year, I suspect, will be the usual. We'll see.

My picks are linked in my left sidebar under March Madness.

So, what about this bracket? I've had some thoughts this week, and here's what I came up with.

Seeding Issues

There was a lot of seed talk on Sunday night. George Washington's seed was considered too low by some, and on target by others. I haven't seen them play, so I have no opinion. The biggest seed issue many had - including me - was Tennessee getting a #2 seed. After losing four of their last six, including in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament, they got a #2 seed, while tournament winner Florida got a #3, and regular season winner LSU got a #4. I've no idea how they deserved that. Also, they got to go to nearby Greensboro, while North Carolina (another #3 seed that's better than Tennessee, and finished much stronger), was shipped to Dayton. Syracuse went from being in the NIT to a #5 seed, which seems a little high for them. Many seem to think Gonzaga got screwed, but I'm not so sure. Yeah, they should've been a #2 before Tennessee, but I think I would have to give North Carolina and even Boston College (who I think deserved a #3 instead of a #4) the #2 seed before Gonzaga. Some continue to point out that Connecticut is the real #1 overall seed, because they're supposedly the best team. However, Duke got it because they did what Connecticut and Villanova didn't - they won their conference tournament, while the other two didn't even reach their final.

Atlanta

Duke should coast to the sweet 16. I can't see Southern, GW, or UNCW giving them any trouble, especially since they're playing in Greensboro, where they just won 3 games in the ACC tournament. I think there they should meet LSU in the sweet 16. I think LSU could struggle in the first couple of rounds, but I don't think Syracuse will have anything left after the Big East tournament. A popular pick has been Texas A&M over Syracuse, but I think after being upset by Vermont last year, Syracuse will win their first game, but that's it. I've seen a lot of people picking LSU over Duke, but I don't see that happening. Duke is hungry again. On the other side, I think Iowa will reach the final eight. They will beat West Viriginia in a good 2nd round game, while California will beat Texas on the other side, and then Iowa will beat Cal to face Duke. Duke beats Iowa to reach it's 15th final four and some unfinished business for the seniors.

Oakland

It seems most agree that Memphis is the weakest #1 seed, and the fact that they haven't played anyone in 2 months (i.e. weak conference) will hurt them. I actually saw someone this week - in a published article - pick ORU over Memphis in round one. I would love to see that, but I don't think that's going to happen. Bucknell will probably beat Arkansas, even though many in Arkansas continue to talk about a Memphis-Arkansas game, where there would be some bad blood. Pitt and Kansas will be a great 2nd round game as well, but I see Pitt reaching the final 8 by beating KU and Memphis. On the other side, I think Indiana is going to make one last run with Mike Davis, and take out Gonzaga in the 2nd round (Gonzaga has an even weaker conference than Memphis, so they're in the same boat.) I pick Marquette to upset UCLA in round two, then advance to play Pitt in the regional final. Pitt moves on to the final four.

Minneapolis

Villanova should advance easily enough - I think they'll beat Wisconsin in round two. Boston College will beat Nevada and then take out Villanova in the sweet 16. It seems more and more often that we end up with two double digit seeds pulling off upsets and playing in the 2nd round, and I'm picking those two teams to be UW-Milwaukee and South Alabama this year. John Pelphrey's SA team will beat Florida (where Pelphrey was an assistant under Donovan) in a big first-round upset, and then beat Milwaukee in round two. Ohio State will have a battle with Georgetown in round two, but will prevail to face SA in the sweet 16, where they will win and advance to face BC. A lot of people have jumped on the BC bandwagon, but I think they're legit (and so I guess that means I have, too.) Boston College will defeat OSU for a trip to the final four.

Washington

Some say this is the toughest bracket, and that could be true. Despite having beaten them in an #8 over #1 upset two years ago, I'm still picking UAB to beat Kentucky again. They will go no further as Connecticut will advance to the sweet 16. Illinois will beat Washington, then knock off the #1 seed Huskies. On the other side, Winthrop will shock a Tennessee team that's in a downward spiral, but will fail to advance past Seton Hall in round two. Michigan State will win a tough game against North Carolina - their experience will outlast the young UNC team. Michigan State will beat Seton Hall to face Illinois. The Illini will advance to their second straight final four.

Final Four

So, there's my four - Duke, Pitt, BC, and Illinois. Indianapolis will look like this. Duke beats Pitt, and Illinois will edge past Boston College. On Monday, the Duke seniors will get what they've been working toward for four years - and erase the memory of 2004. Duke's freshmen, who have begun to play great basketball the last part of the season, especially last week in Greensboro, will be just what the seniors need to reach their goal. Illinois falls to an ACC team for the second year in a row, and Duke wins it's fourth national championship.

So, is that really what will happen? Probably not. But that's my take on it anyway.

Let the madness begin...

God is just eight miles away

2006-03-14T12:37:00.000-06:00

Since March Madness is upon us, I've started reading Last Dance : Behind The Scenes At The Final Four by John Feinstein. I'm several chapters in now, and enjoying it quite a bit, as I expected. There's been a lot of great information so far, including a good amount that I've heard before, but it's still fun to read it again. If you love college basketball, this is a good read so far and I would already recommend it. (The introduction, written by Mike Krzyzewski, is currently featured here.)

In chapter 3, "Getting There", he talks about the difficulty in making it to the Final Four and winning it. He includes the following story, which I've also read before in other books, about Mike Krzyzewski's frustrations early in his career, having to live in the shadow of Dean Smith, and even Jim Valvano, after Carolina and State won national championships in 1982 and 1983, respectively, while Krzyzewski, in his first few seasons at Duke, was losing more than winning.

Krzyzewski and Smith were bitter rivals when they coached against each other. Smith was a godlike figure in North Carolina when Krzyzewski arrived at Duke in 1980. His shadow grew even longer when he won his first national championship in 1982 while Krzyzewski was struggling to a 10-17 record in his second season at Duke. A year later, when Jim Valvano won the national championship at North Carolina State while Duke was going 11-17, Krzyzewski appeared to be completely overwhelmed, surrounded on Tobacco Road by an icon and a rock star. Smith was only fifty-one and had the best program in the sport. Valvano was thirty-seven and was the most popular and in-demand person in the sport. Krzyzewski was 38-47 and had most Duke people screaming for his head.

To his credit, he never panicked and he never lost his sense of humor. During his second season at Duke, he made a recruiting visit to the home of a talented six-foot-ten kid from Oklahoma named Mark Acres. As he made his pitch to Acres and his parents, Krzyzewski quickly became convinced that he wasn't getting through, that what he was selling they weren't buying. Still, he had to go through with the ritual, make the best effort he could, especially since Acres would probably be the best player on his team the day he arrived on campus. Throughout the evening, Acres's mother never once opened her mouth, never asked a question, never made a comment. Finally, Krzyzewski turned to her and asked if there was anything she wanted to know about Duke or if she had any questions at all. Mrs. Acres shook her head and said, "No, I don't need to ask any questions because the only thing that matters is that Mark go to school someplace where he can be close to God."

Krzyzewski paused a moment and then, feeling pretty certain he wasn't getting the kid regardless of how he responded, said, "Well, you know, if Mark comes to Duke, God will be coaching eight miles down the road at Chapel Hill."

The Acres family didn't get the joke. It didn't really matter. Mark went Oral Roberts.

I still love that story. I know that many people consider Krzyzewski a Smith-like figure these days. Many people consider him the guy that gets all the talent, all the calls, and all the attention from media. And to some degree that's true. In the age of ESPN and the internet, Krzyzewski is everywhere. But North Carolina is a state school, and Smith will always be God in North Carolina. That's something Krzyzewski will never be. However, when it's all said and done, he may very well be considered - if only by a slight margin - the better coach (except, of course, for 99% of the state of North Carolina.) Only time will tell.

Duke awards watch

The awards are starting to pile up for Duke players, especially J.J. Redick, who now has two national Player of the Year awards, as voted by ESPN and The Sporting News. That thing I mentioned about Shelden Williams' work on the court often being overshadowed by Redick's oustanding year and Shelden often not getting the credit he deserves? TSN proved my point. There's no doubt Tyler Hansbrough has had a fantastic year, especially as a freshman. I personally think he's great. But, for him to make first team and Shelden Williams make second team is ridiculous. Look at the whole season, guys. Look at all Shelden does on the court - on both ends. There's no way he should be behind Hansbrough. Nevertheless, the Duke awards watch is found here.

Early picks

By the way, I'll go ahead and pick Monmouth over Hampton in tonight's play-in game. I won't go into how stupid I think the play-in game is - and how it shouldn't even exist. I'm not going to fill out my full bracket until tomorrow, but since it officially starts tonight, I figure I should go ahead and pick that game. Also, it will in no way affect my pick in the wniner's next game. The winner will lose it's next game to Villanova. Okay, so only 62 more games to pick, now.

ACC tournament

2006-03-13T12:55:00.000-06:00

Duke managed to win their seventh ACC tournament championship in the last eight years, by defeating Boston College yesterday 78-76. They have been to nine straight title games, losing the first to North Carolina in 1998, then winning 5 in a row. They've now won 2 in a row after a loss to Maryland in 2004. The win also places them at the top of the list for ACC tournament titles. They passed UNC (15) for their 16th tournament title.

A lot of people left Duke for dead last week after 2 losses. They were tired. Teams figured out how to beat them. They were overrated. And yet, after that brief hiccup, they continue to win. Not only that, freshmen Greg Paulus and Josh McRoberts played as well as they've played all season against Wake Forest and Boston College. While Redick was voted tournament MVP, I don't think they would've won - especially against BC - were it not for the play of Paulus and McRoberts. Shelden Williams played great (and still doesn't get the credit he deserves), Redick shot great, but the two freshmen may have been their most valuable asset in Greensboro.

First, a couple of no-shows. Florida State apparently thought the game was over long before the time ran out, and ended up going home on Thursday after a loss to last-place Wake Forest. FSU also said goodbye to the NCAA tournament when they lost that game. Their schedule was far to weak to get in without a couple of wins in the ACC tournament (and still they would've been a bubble team.) A loss on day one, however, solidified an NIT bid.

Maryland, while defeating Georgia Tech on day one, was embarrassed by BC on Friday. Like FSU, they said goodbye to the NCAA's as well. Then Gary Williams - perhaps in protest to not getting in - announces Maryland will not be playing in the NIT, only to backtrack shortly afterwards and say, yes, they will be playing. When you don't really beat anyone all season long, then you start your tournament quarterfinal down 22-4, I think you should just shut-up and start preparing for the NIT.

As for Duke, it was great to see J.J.'s shot return in the Miami game on Friday. He shot over 50% and ended up with 25 points, including a clutch shot late in the game to stretch Duke's lead from 1 to 3 and send Duke to the semifinals. He didn't shoot quite as well against Wake, but still managed 20 points.

Wake really caught fire and played more like the team most people expected to see earlier in the year, as opposed to the last place ACC team we'd seen for the last couple of months, in knocking off FSU and an N.C. State team that can't seem to stop the downward spiral they've been in of late. I like Wake's seniors, particularly Justin Gray, and would've liked to have seen them run the table, were it not for Duke, of course. In the end, they didn't have enough to stop Duke.

The other semifinal was a great game in which BC and UNC really went at each other, and in the end BC pulled out a huge win. After that second game, nearly everyone seemed to be saying that BC would knock Duke off in the finals. But, it was not to be. Duke continues to rule the ACC tournament (and were it not for an injury that hampered Chris Duhon in 2004, they would've just won their 8th in a row.)

Redick's shooting improvement in the first two games proved not to be a fluke, as he scored 26 in the title game including 7-11 from 3-point range. At one point in the 2nd half, he hit 3 straight from behind the arc to give Duke a 10 point lead. After BC came back and took the lead, he hit back to back 3's in the final two mintues to first tie the game, then give Duke the lead for good. It was this title game performance that likely won him the MVP.

It was great to see Duke playing well again. Besides Redick, Williams, McRoberts and Paulus, DeMarcus Nelson had a pretty good tournament as well and is pretty consistently scoring in double-figures now. If that continues, and Dockery and Melchionni can contribute a few buckets here and there, Duke will be hard to beat in the NCAA tournament. If Melchionni could consistently hit the 3 like he did last year, Duke would be even more dangerous on offense. For some reason, he just hasn't done that very often this year.

One incident in the title game involved Paulus and BC guard Louis Hinnant, in which Paulus made a steal and threw the ball off Hinnant and out of bounds. As he jumped up off of the floor - excited about the good defensive play - Paulus pumped his arms and accidentally hit Hinnant in the chest. Hinnant took offense and then shoved Paulus, causing players from both teams to congregate in front of the Duke bench (where the play occurred.) On the replay - which we saw at least 47 times - it was clear that Paulus was excited and not taking a swing at Hinnant. He wasn't even looking in Hinnant's direction when he threw his arm out, and didn't even realize it was Hinnant shoving him back for a couple of seconds (he likely thought it was a teammate congratulating him on a great play.) The teams were separated without further incident, and some technicals were called, but nothing that really altered the game. What was beyond me is why Dick Vitale and Mike Patrick, who were calling the game, couldn't see this. They went on and on about how maybe Paulus was tapping Hinnant for a good hustle and Hinnant didn't understand, etc. and a couple of other stupid theories. It was pretty obvious what happened, but these guys were blind to it.

I've seen a number of people now picking BC into the final four. I wouldn't be surprised at all. They've won 10 of their last 12, and they are a very good team. Despite Carolina's recent play (they've won 8 of 9, I believe), most expected BC to be the second best team behind Duke in the ACC this year, and I'd say they probably are at this point. They're both very good and BC is only considered 2nd to Duke because they lost twice to them. But, they lost by only 2 both times. I think BC is a legitimate Final Four contender. I'm not sure about UNC due primarily to their youth.

And, of course, I'm seeing a lot of people still picking Duke to lose early (usually to LSU) in the tournament. Despite beating a very good BC team and winning the ACC - and despite the obvious improvement in play of Redick and Williams' supporting cast - nobody believes they'll go far. I'll have more to say about the tournament later, but for now let me say this - I think they'll be in Indianapolis.

Chaney retires

Evidently Temple basketball coach John Chaney has retired as of this morning. A quote from the article:

PHILADELPHIA - John Chaney retired Monday after 24 seasons as Temple's basketball coach, ending a Hall of Fame career.

"I have said all along that I would know when it would be time to step down and now is that time," Chaney said in a statement. "I want to thank Temple University, its fans and community for allowing me to do what I love for so long. It has never been a job for me, but a passion. Now that I'm retiring, my passion will be to spend more time with my family, and, of course, kill John Calipari."

Best wishes to Coach Chaney in his future endeavors.

I'll be posting by Wednesday night regarding the NCAA tournament, including my take on the bracket, seedings, interesting matchups, etc., as well as my picks.

2006 ACC Champions

2006-03-12T16:47:00.000-06:00

I've been busy the last week or so, and haven't posted anything new. But Duke, having already won the ACC regualar season title, also won the ACC tournament championship today by the score of 78-76 over Boston College. More later (probably tomorrow) on the ACC tournament and Duke's title, and later in the week will be my take on the NCAA brackets, which will be announced in a few minutes. People questioned Duke's lock on a #1 seed after the last week of the regular season. Now there's nothing to question, and with UConn and Villanova losing, they could end up with the #1 overall seed. Nevertheless, the conference tournaments as a whole were pretty good this year, and that makes me even more excited about the next 3 weeks. Madness, baby!

Let's go Duke!

The ultimate healing

2006-03-03T22:05:00.002-06:00

I write with a heavy heart tonight. Over the last couple of weeks, I have talked with my mom several times as she was keeping my up to date on my Aunt Linda, her only sister. My aunt has battled with cancer for several years now. At times there has been good news, at times there has been bad news. My mom had first called me last week to let us know that Aunt Linda was in the hospital. She was then released later in the week, but returned on the weekend. Once again, it appeared, her health had taken a turn for the worse.

When my mom had called me on Monday during my lunch hour, I was driving in West Little Rock on my way to grab something to eat and return to work. Her first words were that Aunt Linda was dying. I found it difficult to understand some of what she was saying because she was crying as she described her condition. She then talked about how they had enjoyed a weekend together in Branson just a few weeks earlier, and how it didn't seem possible this was happening. The call was brief. She called only to inform me and solicit more prayers. After she said goodbye, I pulled into a parking lot, parked, and wept - for my aunt, my uncle, my cousins, and my mom.

Two days later, on Wednesday - again during my lunch hour - she called me at work to let me know that my Aunt Linda had died.

Whenever she would update me with news about my aunt's health, the thing that my mom always seemed to marvel at the most was how Aunt Linda was managing everything that was given her during her illness. She usually said aunt Linda was positive, in good spirits, and seemed willing to accept whatever might come her way, no matter what it was. At her funeral today, my brother described her as "joyful." Her joy was not in the things of this world, but in the One who would bring her into the next. A few passages from her journal were read, indicating just that. Her faith was not in her health, but in the Healer. He would take away the illness in time. How He would do it, she didn't know, but still she trusted Him.

I am reminded of one of my favorite songs by Wayne Watson, the title track of his 1990 disc Home Free. In the song, Watson says, "Good people underneath the sea of grief, some get up and walk away, some will find ultimate relief," and in the chorus, "Home Free, eventually, at the ultimate healing we will be Home Free." On Wednesday, my aunt was finally healed. We may have preferred a different kind of healing - one that would have kept her in our presence a little longer. Instead, her healing has now placed her in His presence. In her illness and death, she has reminded us all that our joy is not dependant on our circumstances here, but in He who will one day heal us all. While we lament the loss of her physical presence here, we are reminded of the home that she now has, and that we will have as well when that day comes.

Do I hear crickets?

2006-03-02T07:29:00.000-06:00

I did not yet see the Duke-FSU game last night in which FSU won 79-74, although I have it on my DVR and may try to watch this weekend when I have time. I was not really surprised by this loss for several reasons. For Duke, the regular season is over now, basically. They have the ACC title and a #1 seed in the ACC tournament, and most likely a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Of course, it's not like they were indifferent and didn't care. Yes, they wanted to win. However, FSU was playing for a bid, for their tournament lives, so to speak. They needed this game to even have a chance at the NCAA tournament. A loss would likely mean NIT for them. So, they had a lot more to play for, and on top of that was the "controversial" game from a few weeks ago for which they wanted "revenge." One other thing of note: FSU has beaten Duke now 3 of the last 5 times in Tallahassee, so they've had success in recent years against Duke in their own house.

When they lost in overtime at Duke, there was a multitude of talking heads, sportswriters and even FSU folks themselves crying about the officiating, the difference in fouls called and free throws taken, and one call in particular about with about 9:00 minutes to go. This apparenlty cost them the game - which, of course, was a stupid claim to begin with. In the end, Duke had 15 fouls to FSU's 28, and a 43-11 free throw advantage.

Last night, FSU had only 17 fouls to Duke's 30, and a 40-17 free throw advantage. Should I expect outrage from the league and from media-types? Am I to assume the officiating crew for this game will be suspended? Check out this quote from this article:

If you want to know where the difference in the game was, it was that FSU's Al Thornton and Alexander Johnson each had 14 foul shots. Thornton missed one; Johnson missed four. Florida State outscored Duke 32-11 from the line, and had 41 attempts to 17, which pretty much will win most games, provided you hit them.

Curiously, we have yet to hear from anyone who is suggesting the referees gave the game to Florida State by letting them outshoot Duke by such a drastic margin, or by giving FSU only 17 fouls to Duke's 30. As we have come to understand it, according to Al Skinner and other experts, that is an inherent sign of bias. Surely someone will call for the league office to investigate this.

The last part, of course, was in jest. I know there was no bias of any kind - just like there wasn't a few weeks ago - and I think FSU (from what I've read) came out prepared to get that one win they needed to improve their resume for the tournament.

But you won't hear a peep out of anyone who was screaming about the so-called Duke favoritism advantage a few weeks ago (including FSU coach Leonard Hamilton) and those who said (and are still saying today, by the way) that FSU was "robbed" at Duke. I guess it's only biased if it doesn't favor your team. Or, evidently, if it favors Duke. When it's Duke's opponent that gets the advantage, the world of college basketball is eerily silent.

Next up is the season finale at Cameron with UNC. The Tar Heels have been looking very good of late, and nothing would make them happier than to spoil Duke's senior day (especially Redick's). I think the Devils will be at least equally determined to finish the season and the seniors career at home with a win.

Together for the last time

2006-03-01T12:40:00.000-06:00

I first started listening to "contemporary Christian music" in the mid-80's when I bought Michael W Smith's album The Big Picture. I didn't listen to much of it over the next few years - a little Petra, DeGarmo & Key, Mylon LeFevre, etc. - but I began listening to much more about the time I graduated college in 1990. One of the early groups I hooked up with was 4 Him.

I think I went to a 4 Him concert before I even had any of their music. While living in Memphis right out of college, I made my way out to Central Church to a 4 Him concert and heard them for the first time. I don't recall what prompted me to go, but I used to go to a lot of concerts at that time - even when I wasn't familiar with the artists - mainly because so many of them were free (with the obligatory love offering) or at least very cheap. So, I'd go and check out whoever came to town. And after watching 4 Him that first time, I became a big fan of their music.

Over the next six years, I managed to see 4 Him in concert a total of either six or seven times. In other words, at least once a year. I've seen them more times than any other artist. They became one of my favorites. I'm convinced they are one of the reasons for the popularity of later groups like Point of Grace, Avalon and Phillips, Craig & Dean. I saw them so many times primarily because I could. They were coming regularly to Memphis and Little Rock, where I lived during that time. Other bands that I liked much better - like Petra, for example - never came to my towns. I always had to travel to see them (and only 4 times did I get that chance.) But 4 Him always came to my town.

However, somewhere along the way, probably around 1997 or so, I began to listen to less and less of the pop artists in CCM. Less of Steven Curtis Chapman, less of Bryan Duncan, and less of 4 Him as well. I haven't listened to them much in the last six or seven years, to be certain. I've gone back to the kind of stuff I listened to more in high school and college, i.e. stuff that rocks. You'll more likely find me listening to Chevelle, Evanescence, Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, King's X, MxPx, P.O.D., Switchfoot, Pillar, 12 Stones, Third Day, Project 86 - even Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden.

But when I heard the 4 Him was about to hang it up as a group (like Petra and Audio Adrenaline recently), and that their new disc Encore was a re-recording of some of their hits, I had to check it out. It contains 8 songs rerecorded in full, as well as a medley of 4 others. There is also one new song, and then the last 4 tracks are solo tracks by each of the members. It's better than your average greatest hits disc in that it actually gives new sound to older songs and makes them sound more current than the originals - especially the oldest ones. In fact, I'd say my favorite is the oldest on the disc, "Where There Is Faith" from their very first album.

Listening to it has made me remember why I was such a big 4 Him fan during the early and mid-90's. They are also, of course, advertising their final tour together and last night, as we were listening to the disc while making dinner, my wife said, "Did you ever find out if their coming here on this last tour?" I said, "No, I didn't, but I"m going to find out now." I went to their website immediately and checked out their tour schedule, and found that they indeed will be here in May at Park Hill Baptist Church over in North Little Rock. When I went to Park Hill's website, I found that I could order tickets online, which I did without hesitation.

I've missed 4 Him a lot during the last several years. I didn't really know I had until recently when I started listening to this new disc. But now I know, and before they go for good, I am very much looking forward to seeing 4 Him "together for the last time."

A few new books

2006-02-27T17:42:00.000-06:00

I'm way behind in my reading. I love to read, and would like to read at least 2 or 3 books a month, but have only finished a couple so far this year. One thing is true, however - I generally continue to buy books faster than I can read books. Therefore, it's not too surprising that I obtained a few new books over the last week, all of which I'm excited about reading in the near future (i.e. in the coming years).

First, I won a copy of To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever : A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry by Will Blythe on eBay. I didn't want to pay full price because I don't know enough about it yet, but managed a cheap copy on eBay (which was great for a newly released book.) From what I understand, Blythe is, like Art Chansky (author of Blue Blood), a UNC graduate, and therefore I'm a little cautious about reading another book on the Duke-UNC rivalry from a UNC grad. However, no matter what bias may (or may not) lie within the pages, I suspect it will be an enteraining book nevertheless. Plus, from the synopsis' I've seen, it is not (like Chansky's book) strictly a book about the Duke-UNC rivalry, but also to some degree about his family (especailly his father) and his love for college basketball (and more specifically, UNC basketball). I anticipate a good read here.

Next is the much-anticipated (by me, at least) Last Dance: Behind the Scenes at the Final Four by John Feinstein. I've loved the Feinstein books I've read, especially about basketball (including The Last Amateurs about Patriot League basketball, and A March To Madness about ACC basketball). It's unfortunate that the book was written during the 2005 Final Four when UNC won, instead of, say, 2001. Nevertheless, I'm excited and anxious to get started on this soon. The NCAA tournament is the greatest sporting event in the world as far as I'm concerned, and the Final Four is the culmination of the basketball season. Some would argue that the first weekend of the tournament - when the teams are whittled down from 65 to 16 - is more exciting, and, on the whole, that may very well be true. But the last weekend is indeed "the last dance" and when your team is there (like Duke has been every other year on average for the last 20), nothing is more exciting. Feinstein's take on the weekend and all involved will likely be as entertaining for college basketball fans as anything else he's written. I read A March To Madness during March a couple of years ago, so I may just have to start this one as I watch the March Madness action this year.

Finally, a new book by Don Miller. I loved reading Blue Like Jazz and Searching For God Knows What a couple of years ago, so I suspect his newest will also be an excellent read. This book is titled To Own a Dragon: Reflections On Growing Up Without A Father, and authored by Miller and John MacMurray (who Miller describes as the man who taught him the things his dad never did.) While I did not grow up without a father, I still look forward to the benefit of Miller's insights that will be important to me in developing my spiritual life as well as growing as a father myself. I will try to post some from this book as I begin reading through it.

A couple of interesting quotes about Miller's book:

Don writes with candid humor and unembarrassed honesty. He rips himself open. This book sings to those who have felt responsible for their father's demons. The truth is our real father is perfect in everyway, especially in his love for us. Thanks Don and John. This book spoke to a place deep inside of me.
- Jeff Foxworthy, comedian

Donald Miller is such a gifted writer. In the span of two paragraphs he can have you doubled over in laughter, and then on the brink of tears. His honesty in To Own a Dragon can be all at once brutal and refreshing if that's possible. If you couldn't get enough of Donald's style in Blue Like Jazz or Searching for God Knows What, wait until you see what he's done with John MacMurray in To Own a Dragon. They shoot from the hip and from the heart ... and don't miss.
- Ernie Johnson, studio host for NBA on TNT

I look forward to them all.

Barney

2006-02-26T21:36:00.000-06:00

In all of television, I would have to say the The Andy Griffith Show is probably #1 on my favorite shows list. I am a huge fan of Seinfeld, but even it ranks #2 behind Andy and Barney. And so I was saddened by the news this weekend that Don Knotts had passed. He was the "Kramer" of that show - the one that got the most laughs and the favorite character of most who watched the show.

Can you imagine if Kramer had left Seinfeld in the middle of the series? The show would have died pretty fast, I think. That's what happened to The Andy Griffith Show when Don left after 5 seasons. The show was never the same after he left. And comedy is never the same when one of it's best performers leaves us. Barney will be missed.

I've been hearing more of Don recently as I've been watching some videos created by Max Lucado recently with my kids. They're about a worm named Hermie and his pal, Wormie. Tim Conway is the actor behind Hermie's voice, and Knotts is the voice behind his friend Wormie. These short films are a lot of fun, too.

I'd also like to mention Joey Fann's website at BarneyFife.com. I met Joey a few years ago as I began attending Twickenham Church of Christ in Huntsville, Alabama, when we lived over there. Joey is a member there and had produced a series of Bible studies based on The Andy Griffith Show, and also this website. It's a great site and I highly recommend visiting and checking it out.

Also of note was the passing of Darren McGavin, star of the short-lived 70's television show Kolchak: The Night Stalker - which I remember watching as a kid and always liked - and also star of one of my favorite Christmas movies, A Christmas Story. I love that movie, and McGavin is a big reason, as he was just oustanding it it.

Friday potpourri

2006-02-24T20:23:00.000-06:00

I saw this story over at Radical Congruency, regarding a man named Cory Maye in Mississippi. Maye had no criminal record, but is now on death row for killing an intruder who broke down the door of his home. He lived in a duplex, and the police had a drug-related warrant for his neighbor, but also proceeded to storm into his side of the duplex as well. He was sleeping and awoke to the noise of someone breaking through the door to his home. He was unaware it was the police, and in order to protect his 18-month-old daughter, shot and killed the first person through the door. When the remaining officers announced themselves as police, he ceased firing. He was only doing what any of us would do - trying to protect his family. Unfortunately for him, the man he shot and killed was the son of the white police chief. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot - Maye is black

I find this hard to believe (although considering it's in Mississippi, maybe I shouldn't.) There's a lot written about it online, so Google and blog searches will turn up a number of stories. There are a few links in the post I've linked to above, and those with further links. I am going to try to follow this story more and see what happens, as I find it a pretty troubling story.

I heard about this story a couple of days ago, first by seeing the highlights on ESPN, then on Good Morning America. It's the story of Jason McElwain, who is a senior manager of his high school basketball team. He is also autistic. In the teams final home game, the coach had promised him he'd let him dress with the team. With the team well on it's way to winning the game, the coach inserted McElwain into the game.

Over the course of his 4 minutes on the floor, McElwain hit 6 of 10 shots from 3-point range and scored 20 points. At the final horn, the students emptied from the stands and poured onto the court, mobbing McElwain. He was then carried off the floor by his teammates.

Check out this post over at Pastor Jon's blog about needing more faith. I thought this was a pretty good response by the radio host.

It's always nice to share

2006-02-23T13:23:00.000-06:00

Unless, of course, you're talking about the ACC regular season championship. Duke clinched a share of the title on Sunday, and needed either one more win or an NC State loss to win the regular season outright.

Last night, they got both, as Duke beat Georgia Tech 73-66 and UNC hammered NC State 95-71. (By the way, UNC is starting to play really well, it seems. I'm also predicting Hansbrough will be playing for ca$h next year instead of in Chapel Hill.) Georgia Tech folded up in the last 10 minutes in much the same way that they did against UNC last week (which is the only other time I've seen Tech play this year.) After shooting near 70% in the first half, Duke's defense clamped down and when Redick finally started to score, Duke was on it's way to 14-0 and the ACC title. No sharing this year.

Shelden Williams had an outstanding game last night with 26 points and 11 rebounds. He is often overshadowed by the high-scoring and overall great play of J.J. Redick, particularly among sportscasters and other media types, but he showed last night why he's so important to this team. With Redick having an extremely rare 5-21 shooting night, Williams came up huge. I think he had at least 5 dunks in the game. He was just magnificent on both ends.

Shelden is now third in career rebounds for Duke, and will move into second place past Christian Laettner this weekend at Temple. He is one behind Laettner, and if they play the maximum post-season games, he could possibly catch Mike Gminski for number one, although I think it's unlikely.

Redick could not hit anything last night. Krzyzewski mentioned Tech's defense in the post game comments, but while they did a good job, J.J. missed several shots that he normally makes, including some open shots he normally knocks down. He even missed a wide open layup. I would consider that the pressure of the record he could have broken might have gotten to him, but there are two reasons I won't buy that. One, he hasn't let pressure get to him at all this year, and two, he just did the same thing in the last game, i.e. breaking a record. My feeling is that it really was just an off night. It could've been the arena - sometimes, when playing on the road, a shooter just can't get the right feel and get in a groove.

He did, however, come up big in the last 10 minutes, scoring 18 points to finish with 22 on the night. He hit a bucket to put Duke up by 2, and then followed it with his only 3-pointer, which gave Duke a 5-point lead and they never looked back. He now needs 10 more points to become the all-time leading scorer in ACC history, and that should happen at Temple this weekend. I also noticed he is 19th on the list of assist leaders at Duke. He should move into 16th place by season end, with an outside shot at passing Chris Carawell for 15th place.

Talk is now shifting to whether Duke can win it's last two ACC games and go undefeated. It's certainly within reach, but these could be their two toughest games in a few weeks. FSU played them well in Cameron. However, FSU has lost some home games this year, and while Virginia Tech played Duke close at Cameron, Duke won easily in Blacksburg. So, maybe they will repeat that in Tallahassee. UNC, on the other hand, is looking very good and, even though the game is at Cameron, there's never a guarantee in a Duke-UNC game. If Duke beats FSU, UNC would love nothing more than to spoil Duke's perfect season, as well as spoil Duke's Senior Day (especially for Redick), so this will be no easy task. If they do it, then great. But the goal is not going undefeated. It's winning the last game of the year. Anything else is nice, but not the primary target.

Just a side note for those keeping score in the player of the year race - Redick's 5-21 field goal shooting was his worst for the season. Adam Morrison's worst, while slightly better, was in a recent game when Morrison went 7-20 from the field.

On a humorous note, an interview with current ACC scoring record-holder Dickie Hemric (who played for Wake Forest) was aired during the game (which I did not see), and according to Duke Basketball Report, Hemric said of Redick breaking his record, "Better a Devil than a Tar Heel." Even after 50 years, he still hates the Tar Heels. You gotta love this guy.

As if there needed to be more articles about J.J. Redick, here's a very good one written by Pat Forde this week on espn.com.

Knight School

2006-02-22T12:24:00.000-06:00

It's no secret to those who know me that I hate "Reality TV". Primarily because it's far from reality and the participants are usually shallow, immature people. "Reality TV" has brought us such fine entertainment as "Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire?", "The Bachelor", "Survivor", "Joe Millionaire" and "Man vs Beast" - all shows that are so far from reality it's ridiculous. They're usually just game shows in disguise.

My wife has been watching some of this "Dancing With The Stars", which is not as bad as the aforementioned shows, but not something I care to watch. (Now I see we have "Skating with the Stars", too, which just seems to have major injury written all over it.) The only "reality" show I"ve watched with any regularity at all was "Extreme Home Makeover" which I liked just to see what kind of cool toys they put in the house, but grew tired of it after a year or so of watching.

So, I say all that to say that I watched a new "reality" show this week. Evidently, ESPN and Bob Knight have teamed up for Knight School. This is, like most reality TV, about winning a contest - in this case, to see who can win an opportunity to walk-on to the Texas Tech basketball team next fall. Under the direction of Coach Knight and his Texas Tech staff, 33 players are trying out for the spot. (This is at least the third reality show by ESPN, although there may have been more.)

Now, I love Bob Knight. Sure, he has his faults, which are well-publicized. However, I think he has been a great coach for many years, and I find him pretty entertaining. His post-game press conferences, especially in March (which have been fewer in recent years), are usually worth watching. He is, at times, hilarious. Therefore, I was pretty anxious to watch this show. Finally a reality show with something interesting to me - Bob Knight and basketball.

In the first show, which I viewed on Sunday night, the group was narrowed to either 16 or 12 players (I can't seem to recall now). Bob says in the article above that he did all of the basketball, but some of the other aspects of the show were done by others associated with the show (for example, the "boot camp" scenes in an upcoming episode - which also displays that this show, like the others, is not total reality, either). So, it's not all Bob and basketball - but I enjoyed watching the first show. I have to admit that some of the personal interviews with participants - you know, where they're sitting there alone in front of the camera talking about what the feel and how they don't like some other guy - annoys me, just like it does from other reality shows I've seen. But overall I enjoyed watching it and seeing Bob in action. I don't know if I'll stick with it until the end, but I'll probably be watching again this coming week.

So maybe I won't hate all reality shows. Just most of them.

More "Duke-haters"?

It's no secret that Kentucky sucks this year. Anyone who has watched them play can attest to that. They play in a conference in which the other 11 schools have basketball programs only to kill time between football season and spring football. And most fans of these schools don't even know they have basketball teams (trust me - I lived in Alabama for 4 years.)

Perhaps in order to make himself feel better about Kentucky failing to win in a football conference, and possibly missing the NCAA tournament (although I expect the Kentucky name will get them in regardless), some guy has written this article about the relative lack of success by former Duke assistants under Krzyzewski. Duke is having an outstanding year, so he can't belittle them for the current season. Instead, he goes after former assistants? I suppose in the absence of anything positive to write about Kentucky's season, and considering Tubby hasn't made it to the final four in 8 years now (yes, I'm including this year), and never with his own players, you have to attempt to disparage those you are most jealous of - which, not surprisingly, is Duke. I guess they still can't let go of 1992.

At least Kansas doesn't suck, but what was the point of this article posted yesterday? No, not 3 years ago, but yesterday. Again, Duke is having a great year, and Redick an unbelievable year, and so someone (I don't see a name attached to this article, but I don't blame him/her for not wanting to be associated with it) chooses to write about a game from Redick's freshman year when Kansas beat Duke. He's pretty proud of Heinrich's defense on Redick who, basically, was just a shooter then. I guess when you haven't won a national championship in nearly 20 years (Duke, by the way, has won 3 since Kansas' last one in 1988), you have to revel in the glory days of shutting down a one-dimensional freshman. Congratulations.

All of the Duke-haters out there really, really need to get a life.

Wilbon on white players

As for a good article by someone who actually knows a little bit about sports, here's one from a couple of days ago by Michael Wilbon about the lack of prominent white American players in the NBA, which also discusses the future of Duke's J.J. Redick, Gonzaga's Adam Morrison and UNC's Tyler Hansbrough and their potential impact.

Nobody really wants to talk about it - matters of race, especially something like pointing out the best two players in college basketball right now are white, sometimes make people nervous. Nevertheless, the fact that the two best players in college basketball (along with what may be it's best freshman player in Hansbrough) are white is pretty unique. There may be various reasons for that (see this article), but it's still true.

One quote from the article:

Chris Mullin ... studied the moves of black stars Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe while growing up watching the 1970s Knicks. But he wore John Havlicek's No. 17 and looked up to Larry Bird. Of the dwindling number of white American kids playing basketball, Mullin said: "It's not seen as realistic. Suddenly, people don't see someone whose skill set they can identify with, and they think playing at a high level is far-fetched. In Spain, kids now are saying, 'Look at Pau Gasol.'"

No matter how much we try to be colorblind, sometimes we identify with those most like us. For that reason, it seems that having more prominent white players in the game would be a good thing.

Johnny Mac is back

Some other time I'll talk about how much I loved watching John McEnroe play tennis during his prime (or any other time, for that matter). He was great and is by far my favorite tennis player. I also love him behind the mic as a tennis commentator, where he's been most of the time since his retirement. So, it was great news to hear he's actually playing on the ATP tour again, and this past week won a doubles title in San Jose. I've heard rumors he might be interested in playing singles as well, although I don't know if he'd be able to have much success there. But I hope to see him playing again soon.

2557

2006-02-19T21:58:00.000-06:00

A number of things happened tonight in the Duke-Miami game. First of all, Duke beat Miami 92-71. That was the most important thing of all. Miami is a dangerous team with some very good guards. They're capable of biting you if you're not ready to play them. They won earlier this year in Chapel Hill against a young, but very good, North Carolina team. They weren't going to be afraid of playing at Duke. But Duke won rather easily (despite a lot of silly turnovers in the first half), and should now be #1 again in the polls this week after UConn's loss this week.

Secondly, Duke won at least a share of the ACC regular season title (one more win, or an NC State loss, and it will be theirs alone.) This is their seventh regular season title in the last ten years (finishing below first in 2002, 2003, and 2005). They have also won the ACC tournament six times during that stretch - hoping to make it seven this year. At 13-0 in conference play, they're also looking to match the 1999 team's feat of a perfect record in conference play at 16-0 (and 19-0 including ACC tournament games). I believe it will be difficult for them to match that with their remaining schedule, and especially the tournament. They play at Georgia Tech and Florida State, before finishing at home against Carolina. (They also play out of conference at Temple this weekend - so they have three straight road games ahead of them.) So, we'll see.

And, the most celebrated thing that happened, of course, was J.J. Redick's 30 points, which meant he passed Johnny Dawkins' Duke record of 2556 career points and made him the all-time leading scorer in Duke history, with 2557 points. Redick set yet another record, just one game after breaking the NCAA record for 3-point baskets made. He needed 30 to pass Dawkins, and 30 he got. He started off the game with 11 points in the first four minutes, and it looked for a while like he might get the record by halftime. He ended the half with 22 (which put him on pace to match Adam Morrison's 44 points from Saturday), but Miami's defense slowed him down in the second half. He was often double-teamed when touching the ball and did not get very many shot opportunities. But he did make them count when he did. With a little over four minutes remaining in the game, Redick hit a 3-pointer from the corner to break the record. Cameron erupted. Associate head coach Johnny Dawkins stood briefly at Duke's bench, smiling and applauding Redick's accomplishment.

Redick's next record to set will come this week - either Wednesday at Georgia Tech, or this weekend at Temple. He is now 30 points away from becoming the all-time leading scorer in the ACC as well, and he shouldn't have trouble reaching that quickly. I'll be a little surprised if he doesn't drop 30 on Georgia Tech, but even if he doesn't, it should happen early in the Temple game. He's scored 30 or more in five straight games now, and seven of his last nine - including games of 40 and 41 in that stretch. It amazes me that he continues to put up these numbers in ACC games. Everyone knows he is the first man they need to stop, but nobody can stop him.

It's just been incredible to be able to watch him this year, and I will miss watching him play for Duke when this season is over. He's gone from being a good freshman, to a better sophomore, to a very good junior, to a great senior. I honestly thought he might not be able to get 30 on Miami's guards - whose defense was much better in the second half - but that just shows what kind of player he is. He knows how close he is, and everyone is asking him about it, but the pressure doesn't affect his play. He went out and did it anyway - not because he wanted the record, but because he wanted to win the game, and he played his game the way he always does, and the record came because he did.

One thing that has come up in recent commentary on this record, and came up in the post-game interviews tonight, is whether or not we'd be having this conversation if Johnny Dawkins had had the 3-point shot available to him when he played. When asked about it in a post-game interview, Dawkins sort of laughed and then didn't answer the question, instead saying that nothing should detract from J.J.'s accomplishment. It was a good answer, but considering the question, I would say that I'm not sure how much difference it makes.

If you wanted to compare them, you could take all of Redick's 3-pointers and count them as 2-pointers. As of now, he has around 420 for his career, so you could take away 420 points from Redick's total. He's still close. Then, you consider he still has games to play and points to score, and at his current average of 29 ppg, he could end up with another 300 or more by years end. You could also consider that, without the 3-point shot, Redick's shot selection would be different - probably fewer long-range shots - and he might actually have scored as much as he has, or more.

On the other hand, you give Dawkins a 3-point shot, his shot selection would've been different as well. He would've taken the three's and probably hit a lot as well, but being a lower percentage shot, he might not have any more points than he does now. Some of those 2-pointer's he made may have turned into missed 3-pointers. And, considering again that Redick might score 300 or more additional points in the coming weeks, they would still likely be neck and neck anyway. On top of all of that, you consider the game overall is quite a bit different than it was 20 years ago. So, in the end, it may or may not be a valid comparison, but the record is based strictly on points scored, not on how they were scored, and so we have what we have. Dawkins was proud of the record while he held it, and he's also proud of J.J. - having coached him for four years - and what he's done to set the new record.

In related news, freshman and Melbourne, Arkansas native Jordan Davidson (whose older brother Patrick is also on the team) scored his first Duke points, hitting a 3-pointer in the final minute. It was nice to see a fellow Arkansan get in the books for Duke.

I watched Arkansas beat Florida in overtime on Saturday. Arkansas was in desperate need of a good win if they have any chance of making the NCAA tournament (and Stan Heath was equally desperate if he has any chance of keeping his job.) It was a good, exciting game which was at times ugly, but it was still nice to see the Hogs win a big game again. It's been a really long time...

Evidently the NBA All-Star game was this weekend. I had no idea. Is there anything more irrelevant these days than All-Star games? I haven't watched an All-Star game of any kind in years. I remember in college the NBA All-Star weekend was always a big deal. We watched Dominique and Michael compete in the slam dunk contest. And watched Spud Webb win it one year. We watched Larry and everyone competing for 2nd place in the 3-point contest. It was great.

But those days are past. I have no idea who won the contests - assuming they still exist. And could care less who won the "game" - if you can call it that. From the few highlights I saw, it looked like any other NBA game, except with less defense (if that's possible.) Any time you have a guy throwing a pass off of the backboard so that a teammate can catch it and dunk it - with a defensive player standing in the lane watching it - there can't be much of a game going on.

Longing for home

2006-02-17T07:58:00.000-06:00

I heard this song on the radio as I was coming in to work this morning. Normally, I'm listening to one of the greatest inventions of mankind - sports talk radio. However, this morning, I turned on to a local "Christian" music station as I drove my daughter to school and myself to work.

I wrote last fall about Rich Mullins on the anniversary of his death, and I mentioned one my favorite lyrics, which was from this song. I especially like that last line about "longing for home." When Rich talked about heaven in his songs, he usually called it "home". He knew he was an alien in this world, that he belonged to another, and that someday he'd leave for home. He talked about it like we might talk about our own home when we're in another city, state, or country. I wish he was still here to write more songs about home, about God, about his love for us, because he was one of the best at it during his time here. But his goal was not to write more songs. His goal was not to live here as long as he could. His goal was to make it home. And he did.

It's hard to say if this is my favorite song of Rich's. "Sometimes By Step", "The Color Green", "My Deliverer" and "Hold Me Jesus" also stand out for me, but this is probably one of my top three. Since I'd heard it again this morning, for the first time in quite a while, it's on my mind again, so I thought I'd share it here.

If I Stand
Rich Mullins and Steve Cudworth

There's more that rises in the morning than the sun
And more that shines in the night than just the moon
It's more than just this fire here that keeps me warm
In a shelter that is larger than this room

And there's a loyalty that's deeper than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs that I can sing
The stuff of Earth competes for the allegiance
I owe only to the Giver of all good things

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

There's more that dances on the prairies than the wind
More that pulses in the ocean than the tide
There's a love that is fiercer than the love between friends
More gentle than a mother's when her baby's at her side

And there's a loyalty that's deeper than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs that I can sing
The stuff of Earth competes for the allegence
I owe only to the Giver of all good things

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

Caution: Falling records

2006-02-15T12:47:00.000-06:00

Duke had little trouble last night with a Wake Forest team that has completely gone south this year, winning 93-70 at Cameron. I'm still not sure what has happened to them. Granted, they lost Chris Paul, but with returning seniors Justin Gray, Eric Williams and Trent Strickland, a lot was still expected of them, and I'm more than a little surprised that they're last in the ACC right now with only 1 win. There have been those who suggest that Skip Prosser may be interested in the Cincinnati job, and I have to wonder if he's not completely committed to this team. If so, I feel bad for the seniors, because they should be having a better year than this.

One note for the conspiracy theorists: Duke had 18 fouls, Wake 17, at Cameron. Wake also shot 2 more free throws. Granted, a small difference, but with all of the talk the last 2 weeks, you'd have expected Duke - playing at home - to have only 2 or 3 fouls, and Wake to have 37. So much for that...

During the game, J.J. Redick passed Curtis Staples (Virginia) for the record of career 3-pointers made in the NCAA. Redick now has 416 made, passing Staples' previous record of 413 made. He scored 33 on the night, and he's now scored 30 or more points in 12 games this season, and this is the 4th in a row (a school record). He will pass Johnny Dawkins to take over first place on the Duke career scoring list either this weekend or next week, and will soon become the all-time scoring leader in the ACC as well (also, likely next week). And, as his college career approaches it's end, he is still the NCAA career free throw percentage leader as well.

Duke also moved to 12-0 in the ACC, with 4 games remaining, and Redick scored 30 or more for the 4th straight game, and 12 times this season. Duke plays Miami at home this weekend, before going on the road to Georgia Tech and Florida State, then finishing at home against North Carolina, all of which will be difficult games to win. Also, they play at Temple in the middle of those four games. A win against Miami this weekend would likely move them back to #1 in the polls, with Connecticut losing this week to Villanova.

Redick continues to amaze me. Equally amazing are the people who continue to claim he's not that good. Surely, no matter how much one hates Duke basketball, they will at some point return to reality and admit he is a great college basketball player having an unbelievable year. But then again, some people are just stupid.

Tony Kornheiser is pro-J.J. Here's a good article from a yesterday.

Olympic Update

I have successfully avoided watching any of the Winter Olympics thus far. I did watch about 5 or 10 minutes of the opening ceremonies, during the time when the teams from each country were walking in. However, when the Uzbekistan team came out with The Trammps "Disco Inferno" playing in the background, I was forced to turn it off.

A new pen...Sweet!

2006-02-11T20:19:00.000-06:00

My wife went out this afternoon to run some errands and do a little shopping, and came back with a gift for me. When she told me, she appeared as though she was trying to avoid laughing. With a big smile on her face, she told me to close my eyes, and so I complied. Then, I was told to open them, and this is what I saw in front of me - the Napoleon Dynamite Talking Pen.

I love this movie, so I was thrilled. It says the following 7 phrases from the movie:

Yesss!!

I caught you a delicious bass.

Sweet!

I told you, I spent it with my uncle in Alaska hunting wolverines!

Lucky!

Whatever I feel like I wanna do, gosh!

Freakin' idiot!

I have no idea how long this will last, but I figure I'll enjoy it while it does. Sweet!

Still "not our rivals"

I watched Duke beat Maryland for the second time this year earlier today in College Park. Duke never trailed in the game. Redick had 35 again, just like in the Carolina game a few days ago. He didn't score until nearly seven minutes into the game, and only had 11 at the half, I think. Then he took off in the second half. Shelden had a huge game, too, with 26 points and 13 rebounds.

The great news in today's game, however, is the help. Redick and Williams are going to get theirs most games, but when they have help, Duke is hard to beat. Today, Paulus had 16 points, including four 3-pointers, and Dockery had 15 points, with three 3-pointers. On top of that, Josh McRoberts also had 12 rebounds. Considering McRoberts big scoring against Carolina (17 points), and his rebounding today along with Paulus' and Dockery's play, I'd say Redick and Williams are starting to get more and more help. If Lee Melchionni can find his shot again, and Nelson continues to get back in the flow of things, Duke is going to be very hard to beat in March.

Winter Olympics

2006-02-09T12:50:00.000-06:00

Just found out last night that the Winter Olympics start tomorrow. I'd completely missed that, and now that I know, it changes my life in no way whatsoever. I will likely watch the same amount of Olympic coverage as I would have if they were not being televised.

I heard a local radio show co-host mention that the Winter Olympics would be much more interesting if they released some grizzly bears at the games. Now that would probably get them some ratings, and I'd definitely tune in for that.

Here's a story from The Onion about the upcoming games:

Americans Disappointed To Learn Olympics Will Be Televised

NEW YORK — Although American citizens are proud of the athletes representing their country at the Turin Olympics and wish their team the best of luck, their patriotism does not translate into a desire to actually watch the events, according to informal studies conducted by NBC, the network that will televise this year's Winter Games. "It's important to almost 100 percent of the viewers of NBC, MSNBC, and our partner networks that Team USA does well, especially in high-profile sports such as hockey, figure skating, and skiing," said NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, whose network will provide 416 hours of coverage to as many as five times that number of people. "However, almost all those we spoke to said that they would be perfectly satisfied to see highlights and scores during commercial breaks on Law & Order, Fear Factor, and Late Night With Conan O'Brien." Although Ebersol admitted that the estimated numbers were low compared to the legendary Winter Games of the 1980s, he said they were almost double those from the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.

It reminds me of a previous Onion headline:

Several Gearing Up For 2006 Winter Olympics

I think that about says it all.

Bilas on Duke and the officials

One last comment on the "controversy" regarding officiating at Duke games, this from Jay Bilas:

I listen respectfully to all reasonable people, and I do so with an open mind. However, I am growing weary of the illogical and unsupportable "Duke gets the calls" discussion.

The "no-calls" at the end of Duke's close games against Boston College and Florida State have spawned another specious debate about whether Mike Krzyzewski's team gets special treatment from officials. The last time I recall this discussion was when Duke won the 2001 National Championship over Arizona, and a play made by Jason Williams was reviewed about as closely as the Zapruder film.

It is perfectly reasonable to question whether a particular call was correct. I believe that the officials missed a foul when Tyrese Rice drove to the basket on Shelden Williams at the end of the Boston College game. But to suggest that the no-call was part of some loose plot to give Duke a leg up is absurd and insulting to fair-minded people.

I may actually end up saying more at some point, if this nonsense continues, but I thought that Jay's comments were a good way to end it for now.

Well, okay, maybe one more article.

I'm glad that's over

2006-02-07T22:55:00.000-06:00

A few thoughts...

I mentioned the McRoberts-Hansbrough comparison in my last post. Perhaps McRoberts has heard some of the same remarks about Hansbrough. Josh came to play and ended up with at least equal numbers, probably slightly better. He ended with 17 points, 7 rebounds (6-8 FG, including 1 three-pointer, and 4-4 FT) compared to Hansbrough's 14 points, 9 rebounds (4-11 FG, 6-9 FT). You can't read anything into that either, except that maybe McRoberts was trying to make a point.

Duke, despite shooting 49% from the field, went on a few stretches where they couldn't score, and also had a number of unforced turnovers. A more consistent game and they win easily. UNC also was inconsistent, but I thought Duke's defense bothered them a lot. I thought much of Duke's problems were shooting themselves in the foot.

So much for getting all the calls. Fouls: Duke 20, UNC 19. UNC shot 29 free throws to only 24 for Duke.

Lee Melchionni didn't score. That's not really good. And Nelson only had 2. The good news, McRoberts, as I mentioned, had 17.

Also good news, after failing to hit 20 in three years at the Smith center, Redick exploded for 35 tonight. He's now 1 point behind Christian Laettner, and 96 behind Dawkins. He should be the all-time Duke scorer in a couple of weeks.

Once again, as in the BC game, a big lead evaporated. I thought BC did more to initiate the comeback, but when Duke left the door open for UNC, they seemed to hit three's during those times. Also, as in the BC game (and FSU, too, I believe), they nearly gave it away in the closing minute. A couple of missed free throws, subsequent foul (what was Dockery doing???) and another bad turnover gave Carolina new life after Duke was up 7 with around :50 left. A more experienced team (than UNC) would've won this game. But, Duke knows how to win, and the young UNC team is still learning. Their day will come, though.

A win is a win. I'm too tired to try to think of anymore comments, so I'm going to bed...

Blue Tuesday

2006-02-07T12:58:00.000-06:00

Well, the time has come. I'd say the most anticipated game every year for both Duke and UNC fans is that first week of February when they get together for the first time. This year it's at Chapel Hill, and it should be another great game. Carolina was supposed to be down after losing Felton, May, McCants, J Williams and M Williams last year. That was quite a loss, but they have a solid freshman class and have played very well so far. I've only seen them play a couple of times, so I honestly don't fully know what to expect out of them, but all signs point to a good, albeit young, team.

Duke is coming off of a rough week, with two close wins against BC and Florida State, and is playing their third game in 7 days, so they could be slightly tired. However, I expect that won't factor in for this particular game - they should be ready to play against Carolina any day.

Bill Brill has written a good article about the game and the rivalry, including discounting some idiot who claims the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry is the best in college basketball. I don't even know how to respond to something so ludicrous. Anyway, it's worth reading.

So, will I make a prediction? No, because these games are often unpredictable. I will say that I think Duke is clearly the better team, and if they play their game, it will be difficult for UNC to win, even in Chapel Hill. Their defense, I believe, will be key. I think Redick and Williams will have good offenseive nights, most likely. If everyone else plays well, Duke should be in a position to come out with a win. Duke has recent history on their side, too, having won 15 of the last 18 games against Carolina.

But even so, this is still Duke-Carolina. Nothing is guaranteed, and just about anything can happen.

One other note: I saw something today - and I've heard this several times before now - about how Duke's freshman big man Josh McRoberts had more preseason hype, yet UNC's freshman big man Tyler Hansbrough has had the better year. It makes me laugh to see stuff like that, usually in the context that Hansbrough is a better player than McRoberts and that UNC got the better deal. He may very well be, but that simply cannot be judged based on this season. That will have to be determeined next year (if they both are still playing in college next year.) McRoberts is playing with senior All-American center Shelden Williams, and is simply not going to get the playing time or the attention on the court that Hansbrough gets at UNC, who lost their entire frontcourt from last year. If Sean May had stayed in school, I find it hard to believe Hansbrough would be getting the playing time (and, therefore, the hype) he's getting now. Who's better? Only time will tell.

Not so super

2006-02-06T18:42:00.000-06:00

Well, I watched the Super Bowl last night. For some reason, I was wanting the Steelers to win. Probably because of Jerome Bettis. I just wanted him to win one. And I like Cowher, too. So, I was happy about the outcome.

As for the game, it wasn't one of the better ones in recent years, and the officiating was called into question - as has been common during the playoffs - but it was worth watching. The commercials have been getting as much hype as the games in recent years, but usually falls well short of expectations. This year was no exception. There were a few I liked, the FedEx with the cavemen and the Bud Light with the bears chasing the campers being my favorites (at least of what I can recall at this time.) Also, the monkeys in the Careerbuilder commercial were good as they usually are. And as Tony Kornheiser noted on PTI today, "Monkeys are gold."

Duke and officials

The "Duke gets all the calls" controversy has been revived this past week. After close wins against Boston College and Florida State, officiating in both games was questioned due to supposedly bad calls. Whether or not these calls affected the outcome is unknown, but the Duke-haters will surely affirm that they did. They will, however, conveniently ignore bad calls in favor of BC or FSU.

Found this very good article detailing some of the so-called controversy (from a different point of view), starting back with Billy Packer's comments at the 2001 Final Four. Now, I've not yet commented on my dislike of Billy Packer on this blog (which I will no doubt do next month as we're forced to listen to this arrogant windbag throughout the NCAA Tournament), but allow me to simply say - I don't care for him. Anyway, the article is a bit long, but worth reading, and makes some very good points that you won't hear on ESPN from idiots like Doug Gottlieb and Digger Phelps. Brian Dilsheimer also has some good points regarding this in this post.

Speaking of Duke basketball, there's an excellent article in TSN about J.J. Redick.

And I'll have some comments on the first Duke-Carolina game of the year tomorrow. This is actually a big game for Duke. Besides just being the rivalary game that it is, it would be a big win because, including this visit to Chapel Hill, they still have 4 conference road games left, and may need to win most of them to stay in front of NC State in the ACC.

Brokeback To The Future

Mark Elrod posted this on his blog. This cracked me up and you have to see it.

Click here

Welcome to the ACC

2006-02-02T17:46:00.000-06:00

I watched the Duke - Boston College game last night. There were several games I recognized as potential losses for Duke when I first saw the schedule. One of those was the game at Boston College last night. BC was ranked #11 preseason and expected to finish second in the ACC behind Duke. So the expectation was that it would be hard to beat them at home.

There was some hope a few weeks ago when BC was playing it's way to 0-3 in the ACC, including a home loss to NC State by 18 points. However, they'd picked it up the last few weeks and started looking like the team they were supposed to be this year. So once again it began to look like a tough game to win for the Blue Devils.

Duke won 83-81. After being up by 18 with 12 and a half minutes to go, BC hit some threes and got a few turnovers and jumped back in it. In the closing seconds they cut it to one, but Duke shot free throws to go up three, and with under 10 seconds Shelden Williams managed his 7th blocked shot of the night to end the comeback.

Al Skinner complained about the difference in fouls called and free throws taken. Duke had 19 fouls, BC had 27. Duke shot 37 free throws, and BC shot 13. However, at least four, maybe six, of those fouls on BC were in the last minute and a half when they were sending Duke to the line during their attempted comeback. That's an additional 8 to 12 more free throws right there. So, I'm not sure you can count "intentional" fouls and free throws - which makes the difference a little smaller.

As for the rest of the difference, Duke was taking it to the rim more often than BC, and that creates more foul opportunities (and usually shooting fouls, too). You're going to shoot more free throws if you take it inside more. Shelden alone shot 16 free throws - he didn't do that by shooting three's. He got the ball a lot. So, I don't put much stock in his comments about fouls and free throws. Maybe if they'd prevented Shelden from getting the ball here and there, Duke would've shot less free throws, and Al would be a little happier right now.

Update: I watched the last 10 seconds again. There's been so much talk about Shelden's block being a foul, I wanted to look at it again - and I did about 8 or 9 times. Last night, I thought there was contact. Looking at it again, there was clearly a foul. However, that's looking at if from the camera shot behind the basket. If you watch the replay from the sideline, it's hard to see how much contact was really there. The referee under the basket didn't have a good angle on it, and the guy out on the side was nearly in front of the camera, so he basically saw the same thing, and it's hard to see much contact there was from that angle. Yes, it was a foul, but I'm not sure any of the officials had the right angle to make the call on a play like that. Yes, I'm probably biased, but that's the way it looks on the replay.

Here we go again...

I've seen this posted on at least a couple of blogs now. I guess Chad Allen is old news already. Next up - Will, Grace and Britney. I find it interesting that the AFA is so worked up about this. Apparently they've never been inside of a Christian bookstore. Testamints, anyone? I suppose it's okay for us Christians to commercialize Jesus all we want, but if someone dares to ridicule us for doing so, well...they'd better watch out for the AFA.

Acappella...well, it sounds good to me

2006-01-31T20:54:00.000-06:00

My church heritage is Churches of Christ - specifically, the acappella-singing Churches of Christ you find an abundance of here in the southern United States. I grew up singing in church with no instrumental backup. It was all us. Our voices - good or bad - were all that would be heard in our gatherings. It was in church that I learned to sing, and learned that there were different parts to be sung. I started at a Christian high school in 9th grade, where I was in the school choir for all four years, singing bass. I learned much more about music and singing from my choir director and favorite high school teacher, Craig Jones. In recent years, I have also participated most Sunday mornings as a part of the worship team (generally 8 or so people) at my two previous churches, first here in Little Rock, and then in Huntsville, Alabama.

I mentioned a few months ago about our church search since we've been back in Little Rock. We'd hoped to have planted ourselves before now - actually well before now - but it hasn't happpened yet. This is due in part to it being more difficult than we expected, and also due to sickness of various family members in November and December, which kept us from attending all together as often during that time. So, the process has been slowed down a little recently. In my previous post, one of the things I mentioned is that there would be things we would miss about our tradition if we, in the end, choose a church family that is outside of it. One of those things would be acappella music.

This weekend I went to a basketball game at my alma mater, Harding University. The "pep band" was there, playing fight songs and other songs to get the crowd excited as the tip-off drew near. However, when it came time to sing the national anthem, the band stood silent. A lone voice began singing "Oh say can you see..." and then was joined by everyone else in the building (or so it seemed). The gym was full, and, at a school affiliated with Churches of Christ, there were a lot of folks there like me - people who'd been singing acappella all of their lives, and people who knew how to do it, and do it well. I've heard the anthem many times in 38 years, but not many times was it better than Saturday night. You could hear all of the parts being sung. It was really cool. We also attended the College Church of Christ Sunday morning, where the singing is also always good. They don't sing many of the same songs I've grown accustomed to singing over the last 10 years, but they sing many of the songs I grew up with, songs I sang there in college, and they sing them well.

It's sort of a strange feeling, quite honestly, because I've always looked forward to a day where I would be a part of worship that included both voices and instruments. I love music of all types, and I wanted to experience that on Sunday morning, too. There were those rare occasions where I visited an instrumental gathering, or a worship event of some type, and I longed to experience more of that. But the following Sunday I'd be back at my home church singing acappella again. And so I would wait with anticipation for the next opportunity.

We've visited only one acappella church since we've been back in Little Rock, and we haven't been there since mid-October. So, after three months of praise bands on Sunday mornings (and usually singing the melody), I opened my mouth to sing bass notes again on Sunday. As I sang the first line of the first song, I realized at that very moment that it had been three months since I'd done that. And I realized for the first time that I missed it, and more so than I would have thought.

If I had my choice, I'd attend a church where both instrumental and acappella music were available weekly. Either in separate gatherings, so that I could experience either one on a given week, or, ideally, a mix of both in the same gathering. However, I'm not aware of such a place in this area. (And even if there were, it might not be the best place for us anyway. There's far more to consider than musical styles.)

Now, worship gatherings are not all about me. I realize that. They are not designed and executed to please me. Hopefully, they're designed and executed to encourage one another and give glory to God. But, we all have preferences, and I'm not exempt from that. It's unlikely that there exists a place for any given person where all of their preferences for worship gatherings (or anything else, for that matter) are found. So, I know that whatever family we choose in the end will not be "perfect", so to speak, in that way. And that's probably a good thing. There will be something that I could have found somewhere else that I would have preferred (at the expense, of course, of some other preference.) And in the end, I'm not concerned about that because if it's only that - a preference - then it's not really that important.

Wherever we land, the music will be what it is. There will be singing, and there may or may not be accompanying instruments. I know that I will enjoy it either way, and, at the same time, long for the other on some days. I know that, at least for this coming Sunday, there'll be a band where we attend, and I won't be singing bass. There could be another long wait until it happens again, I don't know. But I know now that I appreciate both accappella and accompanied music on Sunday morning, and that they are both blessings in their own way. Above all, though, I pray that my heart is truly "making music" to God, music that only he will hear, regardless of the musical style heard by our human ears. I feel certain that's his preference.

Redick and Morrison

2006-01-30T22:04:00.000-06:00

Sportscenter finished up the recap of the Duke-Virginia game - highlighting J.J. Redick's 40 points - by saying "anything you can do, I can do better." This provided the segue to the Gonazaga-Portland recap, where they highlighted Adam Morrison's 42 point game.

Now, I mentioned the race for player of the year in college basketball recently, and said I had an opinion but wouldn't comment until probably late February. However, Jay Bilas made a pretty good point this weekend, in my opinion, and I'm now inclined to echo his remarks. Commenting on the player of the year race, if you will, he said that he wouldn't choose either of these players - he'd choose them both. They're having great seasons and it's too hard - even ridiculous - to say one or the other is the player of the year. They both are.

I think he's right, at least at this point in the season. I decided to look at a few stats (and could probably add more if I had the time or desire to do so.) Here's what I found:

Against ranked teams, Morrison is averaging 32.6 points per game. Redick is averaging 28.7. (Morrison had 43 against Michigan State, but it was 3OT game, so his average is down slightly if you factor in those extra 15 minutes. Redick has played in no OT games.)

Against those teams, Gonzaga is 3-4. Duke is 8-0.

Against "good teams" - which I would define as those ranked teams along with a few others that are in the top 40 or 50 (most likely), as well as common opponents, Morrison is averaging 30.7 points, and Redick 31.6 points.

Against those common opponents (Memphis, Maryland and Virginia), Morrison is averaging 28.6, and Redick 27.3.

Season averages are 29 points per game for Morrison, and 28 for Redick.

As for other stats:

Rebounds per game: Morrison 5.9, Redick 1.9.

Assists per game: Morrison 1.7, Redick 2.4.

Turnovers per game: Morrison 2.4, Redick 2.2.

Steals per game: Morrison 1.1, Redick 1.2.

I could go on with other stats, but I think these say a lot about how close these guys are. Morrison is slightly ahead in most of the averages, but then again Redick has more wins, and more against top teams. One might argue in favor of Redick due to him playing in a tougher conference. While there's no question that this is true, during Gonzaga's pre-conference schedule, Morrison was getting it done against big-time opponents, too. In the end, he'll have fewer of those opponents on his resume then Redick will, but he's had enough already to prove his case.

So, who's the best? I don't know if it's possible to say. And it likely won't be at the end of the year, either. As I said before, I think Bilas has the right idea. They both will likely deserve it at the end of the year. And since there are multiple awards, they'll both likely get their share. I think it may make the most sense, however, to split them all between both of these guys. They're both too good to finish second.

I stand corrected

I tuned in to the women's final at the Australian Open Friday night expecting a good match. I expected three sets, and the third set to go down to the wire. However, it didn't start that way, and it ended even worse. Amelie Mauresmo came out and blew Justine Henin-Hardenne off the court in the first set, and then, early in the second, Henin-Hardenne asked for a trainer. After returning to the court for a few more points, she then walked to the umpire and informed her she could not continue. So, she retired from match due to some sort of stomach illness, and Mauresmo won the match and the title.

Now, it's pretty rare to see someone retire in the second week of a grand slam, and evenmore so in a final. But Mauresmo only had to complete four matches in the tournament. Three times - that's right, THREE times - her opponent retired, including in both the semifinal and final. Not that she wouldn't have won those matches. She probably would have. But it's unfortunate that she didn't get to. And it's also unfortunate that tennis fans didn't get to see a little more tennis out of two of the last three women's matches.

Oh, and surprise, surprise - Roger Federer won the men's title. That's his seventh grand slam. As they said on Sportscenter, "maybe when he wins his tenth Americans will be able to recognize him on the street."

In the land down under

2006-01-27T00:41:00.000-06:00

The average sports fan probably is unaware of this, but the 2006 Australian Open is almost over. Sure, some may have noticed it on ESPN2 late in the evenings as they scolled through the program guide. But for the most part, nobody in America really cares. The NFL playoffs are in progress, and the beginning of the conference season has begun in the college basketball world (not to mention the NBA and NHL - if anyone still cares), so there's plenty of other sporting events to watch besides tennis.

This is part of the reason I consider the Australian as "the grand slam that doesn't matter." Not that it doesn't matter to those participating, or to tennis fans (including myself), but to the everyday sports fan, it's not high on the list. Other grands slams come at more favorable times of the year. True, the French takes place during the NBA playoffs and it's usually a couple of South Americans or Spaniards playing in the men's final, which limits interest in America as well. But it still gets more attention than the Australian, probably because it's summer in the U.S. and people are playing more than they are in January. Nothing is really going on during Wimbledon except regular season baseball (zzz...) and golf (zzzzzzz...), plus it's got the whole tradition thing going for it. And the U.S. Open, while taking place early during football season, does happen here in America, and also plays at night, too, so it gets a lot of air time and press. Plus, the rowdy American crowd makes it more entertaining, too. But the Australian sometimes goes by without much notice.

American tennis fans often remember their top players success at other grand slams. People like Connors, McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi - you remember how many times they won Wimbledon or the U.S. Open. Usually you can remember how many times they won the French, too, but that's primarily because the number is usually zero or a number very close to zero (again, Europeans and South Americans tend to dominate there).

Even as a tennis fan, I didn't realize the Australian had started for a couple of days this year. Venus Williams was already out of the tournament, and Serena Williams and Andy Roddick would be gone shortly thereafter. I haven't watched that much of it, mainly because of being busy with various things the past two weeks and of course, college basketball.

I did see a little bit of a Martina Hingis match, I believe in the third or fourth round. It was nice to see her back. I always liked her and was glad to see her playing again, and doing quite well, also, reaching the quarterfinals. I watched some of Justine Henin-Hardenne and Maria Sharapova - the only match I've really watched more than a few games of so far.

I will likely watch the women's final tonight between Henin-Hardenne and Amelie Mauresmo. It should be a good match. The men's final I will likely not watch. Roger Federer - who may very well be the best player ever by the time he's done - is playing a guy I've never heard of. I'll probably keep an eye on it, and if it gets interesting, I'll stay with it. But I don't see that happening. I would expect Federer in no more than four sets.

College basketball this week

I said a couple weeks ago that I wasn't sure how good Florida really was since they hadn't played anybody. After rising to #2 in the polls, they've now lost two in a row. First, at Tennessee, who appears to be having a good year and isn't necessarily a bad loss. Then a couple of days ago at unranked South Carolina, who I know less about than I do Florida, but that didn't look like a good loss. So, I think Florida is not likely a top 5 team - maybe not a top 10 team - but I'm still guessing a little. I'll have to try and watch them soon. They play Kentucky in a week or two, and I'm sure that will be on ESPN prime time, so I'll probably check them out then.

Speaking of Kentucky, guard Patrick Sparks made Gregg Doyel's least improved players list. Actually, he didn't just make the list - he was #1 on the list.

One quote from Insomiac's Lounge worth repeating:

The Big East is easily the strongest conference in the country this year. Although that isn't quite as impressive of a feat when you have 50 teams in your conference.

I took my daughter to basketball practice last night during the Duke-Virginia Tech game, which Duke won rather easily 80-67. I had recorded it, and so I watched the first half starting at about 10pm last night, but fell asleep early in the second half, so I didn't see the whole game. I understand I missed Lee Melchionni being kicked in the face by a Tech player (who was susequently ejected.)

It appeared Duke rebounded pretty rather well from the Georgetown loss, especially Shelden Williams, who ended the game with 24 points (shooting 64%) and 15 rebounds. J.J. also added 24 points, and the game saw the second return of DeMarcus Nelson, this time coming back after a bone bruise. If Nelson can remain healthy this time, Duke should be a better team in March than they have been so far - and they've been pretty good so far.

Vinsanity

One of the things I love about America is the professional athletes we have to entertain us. No, no - not with their talents on the field or court. Rather, with their stupid comments. They're so ridiculous at times, it's impossible not to laugh at them.

Now, I've always thought Vince Carter was a moron. (After all, he played at UNC.) But this week he really reached another level with his comments about Kobe Bryant's 81-point game earlier in the week. Vince actually said:

"The only bad thing about it is that younger kids, whose minds are easily warped, are going to think, 'Ohhh! I am going to go out there and do it instead of (honoring) the team concept first. That is what is missing in the game, guys understanding how to play as a team."

Which I find ridiculous because:

Last season, Carter ranked just behind Bryant in shots attempted per game (Bryant took 20.1 shots per game, while Carter took 20.0). And Carter is still among the league leaders in that category this year at 19.0 shots per game, although he's well behind Bryant, who leads the NBA at 27.7 shots per contest.

Apparently Vince has become a team player when we weren't looking. Thanks for the laugh, Vince.

Beyond the gates

2006-01-26T21:37:00.000-06:00

I've never read Elizabeth Elliot's book Through Gates Of Splendor, even though I intended to several times in years past. However, after having the DVD sitting around for several months now, I finally got around to watching the Beyond The Gates documentary last night. Like the book, it tells the story of the five American missionaries who were murdered by the Waodani Indians in Ecuador in the mid-1950's. The tribe was brutal and killed at will. The missionaries had attempted to befriend them, and did so for a while. However, due to what appears to be some misinformation, the Indians eventually turned on the missionaries and killed them.

A couple of years later, Mrs. Elliot (widow of missionary Jim Elliot) and Rachel Saint (sister of missionary Nate Saint) went to live with the Waodani, and continue the mission begun by these men. They taught the tribe about God, how he wanted them to live, and in the end the tribe put down their spears, stopped killing others (and each other), and began following the paths of God. It is truly a miraculous story. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it, and you should see it soon.

End of the Spear

Also released by the same company last week was the film End of the Spear, which is the movie version of this same story. Now, let me first say I have not seen the movie yet, and probably won't until it hits DVD, so I can't really comment on the movie itself. I've read some reviews - positive, negative and all points in between.

Some of the negative reviews are concerned about a "watered-down gospel presentation" in the movie. But many of them are focused primarily on the fact that the lead role is played by actor Chad Allen.

I'm usually suspect of movies done by "Christian film companies" from the start. They have produced some of the worst films ever made. (I think we all remember the Left Behind movies.) But from what I've heard, these guys at Every Tribe Entertainment were out to make a quality film, not a film that will go straight to Christian bookstore shelves and never be heard from again. They wanted, among other things, quality acting, and they chose Allen as one of those actors.

Now, I don't recall having ever seen Allen in anything. And as I said, I haven't seen the film, so I don't know how he is in it, either. But the fact remains he's an established actor and the folks at ETE thought he was the right man for the job.

Oh, there's just one more thing: Chad Allen is also gay. Not only that, he's a gay activist. Which, evidently, makes him even worse. People are concerned about this guy's lifestyle and activism, and that people watching the movie won't be able to separate the actor from his life, and therefore he won't be convincing as the character he's portraying in the movie. Perhaps this is a valid concern, or perhaps not.

When I started looking at who was in the film several weeks ago, I was checking out some of the actors on IMDB to see if I recognized them from another film or television show. It didn't take long to find out that Chad Allen was gay, and not much longer to find out about his activism. I admit I thought it was an odd choice, and I won't argue with those who have said that, at the least, perhaps the filmmakers made a bad choice simply due to the controversey that has surrounded the film.

But here's the thing - I suspect that many people would have remained unaware of this, but now know because various Christian groups and "pro-family" organizations are making this into a huge story. Without this, many people would not even know who he was and, most likely, wouldn't care. But now I guess many will have a problem with it (just google search on it - you'll see lots of discussion, mostly negative. I actually saw self-righteous musician Steve Camp say "Jim Elliot would be ashamed." Not sure how Camp knows that.) They'll be pressured by friends to boycott it. They'll be pressured by "pro-family" groups to take a stand against homosexuality (how not seeing the film is taking a stand, I can't quite understand.) And some people will miss what might be a very good film because of it.

Grant posted about this same story earlier this week, and I thought this comment was on target:

I have a question concerning that reaction. Can we think of another reaction to things other than boycott? Is that as creative as we can get? How about...ummm, I don't know...dialogue, conversation, bridge building?

But unfortunately, it seems that the Christian community here in America doesn't have time for that. We're usually too tied up in criticizing lost people for being sinners. We need something to protest and complain about. The "Happy Holidays" are over, and "The Book of Daniel" has been canceled, so I guess this was next on the list. This will keep people occupied until they can start gearing up to be offended by The Da Vinci Code this spring and begin a new round of public complaints and general embarrassment of the rest of us.

End of the road

2006-01-24T19:34:00.000-06:00

I began listening to Audio Adrenaline when their first disc came out in the early 90's. I saw them in concert three times, I believe - once with Geoff Moore & the Distance, later with dc Talk, and finally with Steven Curtis Chapman. They always put on a good show. I met Mark Stuart and Will McGinness after the show with Geoff Moore in Hot Springs, AR, and I continued to listen to their music through the years (although I haven't heard their latest).

However, it appears that the end of the road is near. According to CMSpin, the band is soon calling it a day. Not surprisingly, Stuart's voice has had about all it can take, and that is at least part of the decision. I figure most bands have a small time frame for success, and then other bands move into the spotlight. I think Audio A's spotlight time has been over for a while anyway, and so it's not necessarily a bad thing to move on. But they put out some good stuff during their time and I'm glad they did. My favorite songs, I'd say, are probably "Memoir" (Bloom), "Some Kind of Zombie" (Some Kind of Zombie), and "My God" (Audio Adrenaline). They'll be putting out one final disc, Adios, later this year.

Duke women hammer Tennessee

I've made no secret about my dislike of Tennessee. Seeing their football team fail to make a bowl was the highlight of the college football season for me. I know that sounds harsh, but I think it started with a friend from Memphis in college who was a big time Vols fan. The Clint Stoerner incident in 98 didn't help.

It's also obvious of my love for Duke basketball. True, it's primarily the men's team, but I've become a big fan of Coach G and the women's team in recent years as well, as they have become a perennial top 10 team and been to several final fours.

So, I watched the much-hyped women's game last night between #1 Tennessee and #2 Duke on ESPN last night. The game was played at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and the short version is this - the Lady Devils embarrassed the Lady Vols. They led by 28 points at one point in the 2nd half, finishing with a 75-53 win. Duke outplayed Tennessee in pretty much every area of the game. Duke's women have had some good seasons over the last 7 years, but I think this might just be their year. Next up is a game at Clemson, and then a UNC team that beat them 3 times last year. Sunday, when they come to Cameron, I expect Duke to exact a little revenge for last season.

Speaking of the Vols...

After another failure to win a Super Bowl by former Vols quarterback Peyton Manning (or even get to a Super Bowl, for that matter), I heard it suggested last week - in jest, of course - that maybe the Colts should consider bringing in Tee Martin as quarterback. As you may recall, Martin was the Vols quarterback the year after Manning graduated. It was also that season that the Vols won the national championship. Bring in Tee Martin... that just cracks me up.

The two Jakes

2006-01-23T14:03:00.000-06:00

It wasn't a good weekend to have a quarterback named Jake. Both Denver's Jake Plummer and Carolina's Jake Delhomme were ineffective as they lost in the championship games.

I did not watch the NFC game as closely because I just didn't care. I guess I wanted Carolina to win - although I'm not sure why. But it appeared that Seattle had little problem with Carolina's offense on their way to a 34-14 win.

The AFC game was the one I cared about. There's not really a team in the NFL that I consider "my team", so I usually pick a team each year that I hope wins the Super Bowl. I've sort of latched onto the Patriots the last few years - mainly because I always wanted them to beat Indianapolis, who I don't care for due to my dislike of Peyton Manning. So, this year it was Pittsburgh who took at Indianapolis, so I'm pretty much with them the rest of the way. I thought if one of the road teams was going to win, it might be Carlolina - based primarily on the talking heads saying they are the "hot team." But instead, it was the Steelers, who, just like last week against the Colts, jumped all over the Broncos early and then just maintained the lead for the rest of the game. Jake Plummer helped a little, too, with 4 turnovers.

So, I'll be looking forward to Super Bowl and seeing if Pittsburgh can keep it going.

The unbeatens

It was also not a good weekend to be undefeated in college basketball. Pitt lost early Saturday, followed by Duke, then later Florida.

I wasn't surprised by any of them, but if I would've picked one to remain unbeaten, it would've been - of course - Duke. I didn't know much about Georgetown, having not seen them play or heard much about them so far this year. They were unranked, probably due to a weak schedule and no quality wins (which, of course, has now changed).

However, I looked at their schedule before the game on Saturday, and while they hadn't really beaten anyone of consequence, they did have three "good losses" (if there's such a thing.) After an early season loss to Vanderbilt, they'd had three other losses - all on the road, all less than 10 points, and all against ranked opponents. They'd lost to West Virginia, and to two teams who've been in the top 10 most of the season - Illinois and Connecticut. That, coupled with the facts that they were playing at home and that most people give Duke their best shot (especially when they're still undefeated), led me to believe Duke could easily lose the game.

What surprised me, though, was how they lost. Basically, nobody except J.J. Redick showed up. The defense was horrible. They simply could not stop Georgetown from scoring. The Hoyas shot 67% in the first half, and 62% for the game, in the 87-84 win. Of course, that's easy to do when 4 out of every 5 shots is a layup. Duke actually shot 52% for the game. It's not very often that they'll shoot 52% and lose. That's practically unheard of. Shelden Williams was non-existent on offense (4 points), and Paulus had a couple of late turnovers - including one on the last play with Duke down three. Redick played great as usual, putting up 41 points for the second time this season (previously against Texas). But he had no help, and Duke was down 14 at the half and couldn't recover. Coach K made the following comments:

All of a sudden we do J.J. watching, where we're watching J.J. play. We might as well get tickets and sit behind the bench. And no one else is doing anything out there.

We were not worthy of our jerseys, our Duke jerseys, in the first half.

With a little better defense, especially in the first half, they would be 18-0. Instead, now it's off to Virginia Tech, where they hope to avoid a second straight loss. And maybe now all of the idiot talking heads can stop talking about Duke or anyone else going undefeated. What did I say last week?

Duke holds off State

2006-01-19T00:07:00.000-06:00

The way N.C. State had been playing this year, I came to believe that if Duke was going to lose a game at home this year, it just might be last night's game with State. It was a huge game between what are probably the two best teams in the league (although Miami and Carolina might have something to say about who's #2). And it was particularly huge since, with the ACC expansion, Duke and State only play once a year.

Duke managed to pull away late and win what was a very close game throughout (despite the final score of 81-68). State went up 62-58 with about 6 minutes to go, then Duke finished the game on a 23-6 run to end it.

A key play (probably the key play) in the game was a "6-point play" late in the second half. With the score tied at 65, Sean Dockery made a 3-pointer and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but got his own rebound and kicked it out to Lee Melchionni, who dropped his own 3-pointer and suddenly Duke was up six, and never looked back.

State's big man Cedric Simmons had a great game, benefiting from Duke's defensive strategy of taking away the three-point shot. He scored 28 points, pulled 9 rebounds, and had 7 blocks. It reminded me of the Indiana game, where Duke also tried to take away the three-point shot and it helped Marco Killingsworth have a career game, too. However, Duke countered with the usual suspects - J.J. Redick (28 points, 6 assists) and Shelden Williams (21 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 5 steals).

I thought Duke took a lot of bad shots in the game, especially in the first half. Some of it may have been State's defense, but I thought they just rushed shots at times and took some long (and unnecessary) three's. I thought a little better shot selection would have helped maintain a lead, which they could never do for long. State also was shooting well - 53% in the first half, and 52% for the game (to Duke's 38% in the first half, and 45% for the game).

But a win is what matters, and now they're 17-0, tying the best start in school history (the 1992 team started 17-0 as well.) A win at Georgetown this weekend would give them the record. They won't remain undefeated - a difficult stretch of road games is on the horizon - but it would be nice to see them set the "best start" record.

Speaking of being undefeated, I've seen several articles this week where this possibility was discussed. The people saying it could happen have lost their minds. The age of a team finishing undefeated is over, in my opinion. It's just not going to happen anymore. Here's a quote from Coach K last night, speaking to that and to the Duke hype (which, as I've noted before, I don't like, either):

Some of the things that are being written are just overdone about our team, and that's the world they live in. Are they going to go undefeated? Are they going to do this? We're starting Lee Melchionni and Sean Dockery. You didn't even say that when we had Bobby Hurley, Christian Laettner and Grant Hill, so it's just extreme. It doesn't represent who we are, but we deal with it. You write whatever you want, but I think sometimes our kids play to that. They didn't have good looks on their faces. There's a lot of pressure on them, so that's why I told them, 'Just have fun and play. The outcome of this game will be determined on how well we have fun in the second half.' And we did.

Intimidation

Along the same lines, a note about Mike Patrick - who I love as a play-by-play guy. However, I kept getting a little annoyed about him going on and on about how State was "not intimidated in the least" playing against Duke. The thing is this - this is ACC play. It's not like Duke is going to intimidate anyone in conference play. Maybe they intimidated Seton Hall or Bucknell, but not in conference play against teams that see them every year. And definitely not against a good team like State.

So, enough already with expecting teams to be intimidated by Duke. They won't be, and if they're a good team, they shouldn't be. In fact, in most cases, I think teams not only are not intimidated, but have greater motivation to play well and attempt the "upset" (which is a relative term anyway). Duke gets everyone's best shot. You can't do that if you're intimidated, so these guys need to stop being so astonished that a team plays well against Duke.

Bearing the cross

2006-01-16T19:49:00.000-06:00

I've had a few books on my shelf that I've wanted to read over the last couple of years, but just haven't gotten to them. Actually, I've had shelves full of books I haven't gotten to yet. But these were the only books I had on a particular subject - the Civil Rights movement in America.

Two of the books were written by Taylor Branch. They are Parting The Waters : America in the King Years 1954-63 and Pillar of Fire : America in the King Years 1963-65, which are the first two of three books Branch has written on the Civil Rights movement. (The third, At Canaan's Edge : America in the King Years, 1965-68, was just published last week.) I actually started Parting the Waters once, but abandoned it for another book at the time and haven't gotten back to it. This is not uncommon, as I often start one book but switch instead to another.

Anyway, the third book on my shelf is the one that I've started reading today. I wanted to at least get to one of them this year, and it seemed appropriate to start today on the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. The book is Bearing the Cross : Martin Luther King, Jr., And The Southern Christian Leadership Conference by David Garrow. It's supposed to be the biography of King to read, so I am looking forward to it.

I will likely post here about it as I get into it, so I guess there will be more to come...

Weekend

2006-01-15T19:36:00.000-06:00

College Basketball

There are only 3 undefeated teams in college basketball, and they all remained so this weekend. Pitt just be Louisville, and yesterday Florida beat some worthless team from the SEC (it doesn't really matter - everyone's horrible except Florida - and they haven't really played anyone yet, so it's hard to tell how good they really are.)

Duke, the other undefeated team, beat Clemson on the road Saturday. Clemson managed to put on possibly the worst free throw shooting exhibition I've ever seen. They managed to make only 6 of 22 free throws in a 10-point loss. That's 27% from the line. At one point in the game, they were 3 of 14, I believe, when Mike Patrick said to Len Elmore, "I think you could drop-kick three in." It seemed to even rub off on J.J. Redick, who missed 4 free throws himself (12 of 16), and he usually goes a month or more without missing four. Four misses in one game is unheard of, and I believe a first for him at Duke.

How about this - on the same day (Saturday), Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky all lost at home. This has to be an extremely rare occurence - first of all that all three of these teams lose on the same day, but also all three at home, that's even more amazing. Granted that all three teams are not quite what they usually are this year, but still it's somewhat shocking. Kansas lost to Kansas State for like the first time in 12 years, I think. North Carolina, also a young team, lost to a dangerous Miami team. And Kentucky continues their slide, losing their third in a row, this time to Alabama, who's missing their best player for the rest of the year. They were not great when they had him, and so a loss by Kentucky at home to an even lesser Alabama team says even more about the shape Kentucky is in at this point in time. And it doesn't look like it's going to get much better - that was their 2nd in a row at home, so they still have to go on the road, too.

NFL

As usual, I could care less about the NFL until the playoffs start (and really don't care significantly more even then, but watch nonetheless.) It seemed everybody was talking up the Patriots again, who had gotten hot again at the end of the regular season. However, they promptly lost to Denver with 5 turnovers Saturday night. The team most people seemed to be picking, though, was Indianapolis and Peyton "can't win the big one" Manning. Well, the nickname still holds true as the Steelers knocked off the Colts this afternoon. I actually feel bad for Tony Dungy and hated to see him lose, although I didn't mind the rest of the Colts losing at all. He seems like a good guy and has had a rough month or so, and you'd like to see him have successs.

Manning, however, I don't feel bad for, especially after his post game comments. He made a statement that he was "trying to be a good teammate, but let's just say we had some protection problems." In other words, it was the fault of my offensive line that we lost. Very classy. I guess that's why they never could beat New England when it mattered. And perhaps the offensive lines at Tennessee from 94 to 97 were equally bad, since he never could win the big one against Florida. Why didn't he go ahead and blame it on the kicker, too? And the defense? And the coaches? If only the rest of the team was perfect like Manning. You'd think after so much experience losing big games, he might have learned to be a more gracious loser. Instead, I guess he'll just have to settle for being a loser.

Jared

So I'm watching the NFL Today postgame after the Steelers-Colts game, and Greg Gumbel introduces Jared the Subway guy in the studio there. He has Subway sandwiches for all the NFL Today guys. I think the show was sponsored by Subway or something.

Here's the thing - enough already with Jared. Okay, so he was real big, ate a bunch of Subway sandwiches and lost a bunch of weight, and now he's thin. But didn't that happen like 10 years ago? Do I have to hear about it for the rest of my life? Is he ever going to go away?

The Da Vinci Code movie

2006-01-13T07:20:00.000-06:00

All of the media coverage and controversey that surrounded Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code will be resurrected before long when Ron Howard's movie based on the book is released in May. I thought the book was okay - though it seemed more like Dan Brown just wrote some lectures about what he believes and then created some characters to say what he wrote. Anyway, I will likely see the movie after it hits DVD, mainly because so many others will be seeing it and talking about it, and I'd like to be a part of the discussion.

On his blog a few days ago, John Alan Turner writes about the book, the movie and his own book being released this spring, which is a response to the theories espoused by Brown and others. In his post (which you can read here) he basically says that Christians get all jacked up about movies like Passion and Narnia, but what will we do about movies like The Da Vinci Code? Will we be as ready to have meaningful conversations with unbelievers about a movie like this as we were with the others?

I personally hope it's not one of these situations where people are boycotting the movie, picketing theaters, making stupid comments in the press, etc. In other words, I hope people will try to have something relevant to say instead of a bunch of finger-pointing and condemnation. (Think The Last Temptation of Christ.)

I think Christians often miss chances to encourage others to see important movies that have themes that could (and should) be discussed from a Christian worldview. Movies like Hotel Rwanda and Crash in recent years come to mind. Hopefully, we will not miss the opportunity to contribute something important to the Da Vinci Code discussion that will be reignited by this movie's release.

Duke Hating

College basketball fans everywhere love to hate Duke. As a Duke fan, this doesn't really bother me. I agree with many that certain media types (especially those named Vitale) spend too much time praising and hyping the Duke program. I wish they'd shutup, too.

So, it also doesn't bother me to see things like these. Actually, I think they're funny, too.

There was Maryland Nearly Kills Me, after the Duke-Maryland game Wednesday. I liked this one a lot. My favorite line:

9:43 - Vitale gets his excited voice on and screams, "That's why they're uno number one, baby!" three times in a row. I begin to contemplate suicide.

And I saw the article More reason to hate Duke the other day. A few of the comments I thought were humorous:

"Krzyzewski was channeling John Wooden now, and the conduit for his new self was Shane Battier, the consummate student-athlete, everybody's All-American, the anti-Laettner."

"They won a national title in 2001. Krzyzewski wrote books on leadership. It was enough to make everyone sick. A national Duke love-in nearly ensued. But hotter heads prevailed, and hate ruled the day."

"Then along came Redick, this 6-foot-4 shooter from Roanoke with an undying love for all things Duke. He's all heart and guts and clutch shots. He's like Chris Collins, only with talent."

In other Duke news, it appears DeMarcus Nelson has a bone bruise in his right ankle. So, it's not the same injury as before - which has healed - but he is listed as doubtful for this weekend's game with Clemson. How long he'll be out, I have not seen yet, but sounds like he might be back soon if he's "doubtful" for the weekend.

I am Maximus

2006-01-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

I've seen numerous people posting their results from this quiz on their own blogs, so I figured it was time for me to take the test as well. I had an idea of how it would turn out, and I was correct. Although it did take a tiebreaker question (as you'll notice the top two scored the same).

You scored as Maximus. After his family was murdered by the evil emperor Commodus, the great Roman general Maximus went into hiding to avoid Commodus's assassins. He became a gladiator, hoping to dominate the colosseum in order to one day get the chance of killing Commodus. Maximus is valiant, courageous, and dedicated. He wants nothing more than the chance to avenge his family, but his temper often gets the better of him.

Maximus

67%

Batman, the Dark Knight

67%

Captain Jack Sparrow

58%

The Terminator

58%

James Bond, Agent 007

54%

Indiana Jones

50%

The Amazing Spider-Man

50%

Neo, the "One"

46%

William Wallace

38%

Lara Croft

29%

El Zorro

25%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

Duke - Maryland

Well, if there were any fears that Maryland might win 4 in a row over Duke, those fears were proven to be unfounded even before the game started. Coach K had each of the players and coaches sign the midcourt logo prior to the game as a statement that "this is our court and we will protect it." And protect it they did.

With the chants of "not our rival" still ringing in their ears, the Maryland Terrapins were overwhelmed early and often as Duke forced 18 first half turnovers on their way to a 45-22 halftime lead. Maryland ended the game shooting 30%, and their first player to hit double figures came with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the game. Duke played sloppy in the first 10 or 12 minutes of the 2nd half, or they may have won by 40 or more.

And speaking of action heroes, Shelden Williams had a monster game, ending with a triple double (19 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 blocks - yes, 10 blocks). He was practically unstoppable inside. J.J. Redick also had his usual game with 27 points, and even had a 2-hand dunk - the first dunk of his career at Duke, according to Patrick and Vitale. Greg Paulus and Josh McRoberts continue to improve. The only down note of the game was DeMarcus Nelson leaving in the first half and returning with a boot on his foot again. Whether it was a precaution or he has reinjured his ankle is still unknown.

Overall, great game (for Duke fans). I expected them to come to play and win easily. I only predicted 17, and it ended up 24, but I was being a little conservative in my pick, so I wasn't surprised. But I did think Maryland might put up a little more of a fight. As I said, it could've been much worse.

One other thing I noticed: Magic Johnson was there, and during one of the 37 times they showed him sitting in the crowd on the ESPN telecast, I noticed a girl sitting in front of him with a Kentucky hat on. Have things gotten so bad in Lexington that Kentucky fans are now having to go to Duke games to see good basketball?

God and country

2006-01-11T05:39:00.000-06:00

I wanted to point to a few posts on rev-ed's blog. I don't know him, but came across these posts from somewhere else, and thought they were worth reading and sharing. It seems the subject of God/Christianity and America has come up a lot in recent years, and I'm not sure I care for a lot of it. Many of his comments reflect the way I've thought of this in the recent past as well. It doesn't really seem appropriate for American flags to be displayed prominately in church sanctuary's, and it seems even less appropriate to sing "patriotic songs" from the hymnbook. I also don't care to hear about an upcoming election on Sunday morning, even if it's just a reminder to vote, because it always seems there's something behind that - in other words, be sure and vote for the "approved" candidate.

Anyway, here's the links to three of his posts which I thought were worth reading (in chronological order):

The Star-Spangled Idol

Is American Culture Compatible With Christianity?

Separating God and Country

And the first post there also points to another blogger who writes about The One True Christian Nation, also worth reading.

TV Tonight

I'm excited about new episodes of Lost starting up again tonight. The last new episode was in November, I believe, so I'm anxious to get back to the island.

Also, Maryland at Duke is on EPSN at 8 PM (CST). My prediction: Duke 81, Maryland 65

Glory Road

I'm looking forward to seeing Glory Road, which is the story of the 1966 Texas Western basketball team and their national championship. I read Frank Fitzpatrick's book And The Walls Came Tumbling Down : Kentucky, Texas Western, And The Game That Changed American Sports a couple of years ago and definitely recommend it. I hope the movie is as good. Of course, I'll probably not see it until it hits DVD. I rarely go the theater to see a movie anyway, and I still haven't seen two others (Walk The Line and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) that I want to see, either.

Speaking of Kentucky, they continued driving further off the "glory road" last night, losing at home to Vanderbilt, 57-52. They only had 20 points at halftime. Maybe Morris isn't going to help after all.

Counting the cost

2006-01-10T07:36:00.000-06:00

One of my goals for 2006 is to get our finances in order. We started visiting The Church at Rock Creek this past Sunday and Mark Evans was just starting a series on Financial Freedom, which was good timing. One of the things I've become disgusted about is my desire for "stuff". I've spent up too much money on things I want but don't need. I realize the good I could be doing with that money instead of spending it on myself and I have to feel Jesus is probably even more disgusted. I think it's hard in this country to avoid the temptation to buy more "stuff" but just because the tempatation is there doesn't mean I must give in to it. Maybe it's time to watch Madame Blueberry again.

A few years ago we went through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. One of the things Dave recommends is paying cash for everything, even cars and homes. I was reminded of his advice when I read a story the other night. I'm reading Rob Bell's book Velvet Elvis : Repainting the Christian Faith right now, and he tells the following story.

I was traveling in Turkey awhile back and kept noticing that a large number of the homes there seemed unfinished. Piles of wood and brick beside the house, half a foundation built construction equipment everywhere. It looked like a lot of homes had been started and then the workers went to lunch . . . for a year. I asked my friend, who has spent a lot of time in Turkey, about it. He said the reason is that the Muslim culture doesn't allow for financial debt, so people only build with cash. They work for a while, run out of money, save up, keep working, and eventually get the house done, which they own, debt-free. I was struck with how different Western culture would be if we had a similar aversion to debt. How many people do we know who are crippled with financial debt? Having less debt is a better way to live.

I'm not sure leaving a house half-completed is a good idea - Jesus words in Luke 14 come to mind:

Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it? (The Message)

However, the idea of avoiding debt and only buying things you can pay for is obviously the ideal plan. It seems that sometimes those of other faiths do a better job living out some of the principals we find in scripture than Christians do. Sounds to me like this is one case where at least some Muslims may be doing a better job of financial management than most American Christians are.

More on College Basketball

Found this quote here and thought it was pretty funny.

Duke went to Wake Forest and routed the #23 Deacons. JJ Redick had 32 points for the Blue Devils, who are now one of only three remaining unbeaten teams. I'd like to hate on Duke, but I just can't since I have reassurances from Coach K and American Express that he's not just teaching the Dukies how to be better basketball players, but better people as well.

UConn got back on the winning track last night, after having a rough week last week. I thought having the point guard back was supposed to make them better, but last week they went 1-1, and were one shot away from 0-2. Both against unranked teams, by the way. However, sometimes getting a player back after an absence disrupts for a few games before everyone gets used to it. Although Duke seemed to have no problem with DeMarcus Nelson back in their blowout of (ranked) Wake Forest Sunday night.

Kentucky dropped out of the polls this week after the embarrassing loss to Kansas Saturday. Kentucky had been ranked for 88 consecutive weeks - the second longest streak behind Duke's 176 weeks - but now that's over. If they don't pick it up soon, they may be working on a streak of weeks unranked. I suspect Morris coming back will help. I don't think he can make them look worse than they did Saturday.

Duke and Maryland renew their rivalry tomorrow night in Cameron. Duke should be ashamed that they've lost 3 in a row to Maryland. They lost in the ACC tournament in 2004, then lost both regular season games last year. They should be ashamed because they were the better team both years - and by quite a bit. I suspect Maryland's streak will end tomorrow night and I expect Duke to win easily. I also believe they'll go to College Park next month and do it again.

Speaking of Duke, there's an article here on J.J. Redick and Gonzaga's Adam Morrison in regards to who will be the player of the year in college basketball. I have an opinion at this point, but there's more basketball to be played, so I'll wait and comment later in the year - maybe late February.

Bumper Sticker

A friend of mine was telling me about a bumper sticker he saw recently. He said he drove up behind a car and saw this:

Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?

Classic.

I love this game

2006-01-08T21:50:00.000-06:00

College basketball has started conference play this past week, and it's not really a surprise that there were a lot of ranked teams losing. However, it was a slight surprise to me that so many top 10 teams lost this first week. Only three top 10 teams - #8 Gonzaga, #5 Florida and #1 Duke - survived the week without a loss. Two of those - Florida and Duke - remain unbeaten.

The jury is still out for me on Florida, mainly because I haven't seen them play. They haven't really played much of a schedule yet, with perhaps their best win being over Wake Forest. But people seem to like them, and it appears that if they're half of what people think, they should run away with the SEC. They were actually unranked to start the season, with Kentucky, who was overrated as usual, and Alabama, who fell off the map long ago, the only ranked SEC teams. Speaking of Kentucky, they were blown away yesterday by an unranked Kansas team. They look to be getting worse. I'd say they'll make their exit from the top 25 this week. Arkanas had some expectations this year, but I'm not sure they'll make a great deal of noise, either. I say Florida runs away with the SEC.

Duke won a big one tonight, with the Duke seniors getting their first win in Winston-Salem over Wake Forest after having lost three in a row there. Despite foul trouble inside - with Josh McRoberts and Shelden Williams in foul trouble practically the whole game - Duke managed to win easily by 18 points. Redick was his usual self, scoring 32 on the Deacons. With the big men in foul trouble, Duke did it from long range, hitting 14 three's in the game (compared to Wake's 2 for 13). I expected this to be a much more difficult game - especially after Duke fell into early foul trouble - so it was great to see them still manage a win. Duke did slow the game late in the first half, and a number of times in the second to try to shorten the game, and it seemed to work.

A turning point seemed to be Trent Strickland's missed dunk early in the 2nd. Duke's lead would've been cut to three, but instead they rebounded the miss and Redick hit a 3, pushing the lead back to eight points. Wake didn't get it into Eric Williams as much as they needed to, especially with Williams and McRoberts in foul troulbe. Either they didn't look for him or Duke's defense didn't let them. Justin Gray, outside of a few shots late in the first half, didn't seem to have his typical game, either. We also saw the return of DeMarcus Nelson (who was one of several guarding Gray.) Duke will be even better after he gets a few more games under his belt. But the ACC will remain tough regardless.

As for the rest of the top 10, here's what happened:

#2 Connecticut was blown out by Marquette. (They also had a one-point home win vs unranked LSU on Saturday, in which LSU missed a shot as time expired that would have given the Huskies their 2nd loss in a week).

#3 Villanova lost a lead and the game to West Virginia

#4 Memphis lost to Texas (not a bad loss, considering Texas was #2 a few weeks ago)

#6 Illinois lost at Iowa (Illinois has looked pretty good so far - I thought they lost a lot from last year, but looks like they're doing okay)

#7 Michigan State lost twice - although both on the road at Illinois and at Wisconsin

#9 Louisville lost to Villanova (also not a bad loss since Villanova was #3, but I question if Louisville belongs in the top 10 to begin with - after all, they lost to Kentucky).

And #10 Washington lost at home to Washington State, which I have to think is a bad loss (even though I know little about the Pac 10 - and care even less).

So, the conference season starts and immediately things are shaken up quite a bit. I expect this will happen as often as it doesn't, though. Just another week in college basketball.

How can you not love this time of year??

As a Duke fan, I'm also a huge J.J. Redick fan. Here's a good article about him from SI.

Mockingbird, part 2

2006-01-07T19:23:00.000-06:00

Last month I posted about the upcoming Derek Webb album Mockingbird. It was released on December 26 and I have listened to it several times now. I promised more comments once I'd heard it, so here's what I think about it.

One thing Webb has done on his first two solo albums is write lyrics that are sometimes controversial, but certainly make you think. It's not the typical cheerleader-for-Jesus songwriting that you hear from a lot of Christian music. He continues to do so on this his third solo disc, writing about issues of real life and, often, issues that other Christian artists seem unwilling (or unable) to discuss - issues like politics, war, poverty and the lifestyle of American Christians.

I read the following elsewhere (and now I've forgotten the source) where Webb discusses the album title:

"There's only one bird that doesn't have its' own song. That's the mockingbird. I don't want to have my own song. I want to mimic the songs of Christ. I want to speak only where He speaks and be silent where He is silent."

The first song that stands out is "A New Law." From the point of view of someone who doesn't want to put forth the effort to think for themselves, instead following others without questioning them, Webb sings:

don't teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for
don't teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music

i don't wanna know if the answers aren't easy
so just bring it down from the mountain to me
i want a new law

He also touches on the theme of our attitudes towards so-called enemies, which comes up in later songs as well, with the line "don't teach me about loving my enemies". There are some things, he suggests, that Christians don't want to talk or hear about - in other words, we want to remain comfortable without being challenged. Webb, however, is talking about those very things.

In "A King and a Kingdom" he writes that confronts the blind patriotism that often seems prevalent among American Christians, or at least those who tend to vote Republican. America is not "God's country" or even a "Christian nation" as many often think. Webb declares his allegiance lies elsewhere first:

There are two great lies that i've heard:
"the day you eat of the fruit of that tree you will not surely die"
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him

my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it's to a king & a kingdom

And later, he suggests maybe our enemies are not who we think:

but nothing unifies like a common enemy
and we've got one, sure as hell
but he may be living in your house
he may be raising up your kids
he may be sleeping with your wife
oh no, he may not look like you think

"Rich Young Ruler" is a hard one to listen to, as he sings about our own wealth, the poverty of others, and our response, pointing out that instead of responding like Jesus' would, we've instead removed ourselves from where the problem exists:

poverty is so hard to see
when it's only on your tv
and twenty miles across town
where we're all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus' neighborhood
where he's hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash

He suggests our version of following Jesus is more about rule-keeping, saying "we speak the language and keep all the rules, even a few we made up...i don't sleep around and i don't steal." Jesus, on the other hand, asks much more of us, yet seems to expect the same response from us that he got from the man in Mark 10:

come on and follow me
but sell your house, sell your SUV
sell your stocks, sell your security
and give it to the poor
... i want the things you just can't give me

In "My Enemies Are Men Like Me" he takes on war and capital punishment:

peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
it's like telling someone murder is wrong
and then showing them by way of execution

how can i kill the ones i'm supposed to love
my enemies are men like me

And continues these themes in "Love Is Not Against The Law", and wondering if we'll be willing to love our enemies:

are we defending life
when we just pick and choose
lives acceptable to lose
and which ones to defend

'cause you cannot choose your friends
but you choose your enemies
and what if they were one
one and the same
could you find a way
to love them both the same
to give them your name

Apparently unconcerned about what people might think of him, Webb continues to write pointed and controversial songs. Even if you don't agree with everything he says, they will likely make you think about issues that are largely absent in most lyrics that come from the Christian music industry - issues that need to be discussed by Christians, particularly American Christians, and not only from the standard, "white middle-class Republican" point of view.

One way I would sum up his lyrics - on this album and his earlier works - is that they are asking questions about what it means to follow Jesus today, and attempting to prompt dialogue among those of us who claim to follow Christ. I highly recommend this album, along with his two previous ones as well.

Texas

2006-01-04T23:57:00.000-06:00

The hype started before the season did. Everyone was expecting USC and Texas to be playing in the Rose Bowl tonight, and that's what we got. Most seemed to think it would be a great, hard-fought, high-scoring (but close) game. They were right.

My prediction was USC by 9. I thought Texas - despite the talk of their defense - would not be able to stop USC enough times to win. I thought it would be high-scoring (and it was) and that USC would score a little more. When they went up by 12 in the 4th, I thought it was pretty much over, because Texas' defense had not stopped them yet in the 4th quarter. They'd scored 4 straight touchdowns since halftime, and didn't seem to be slowing down. But the much talked about Texas defense finally came through on the 5th USC possession in the second half, and stopped USC on 4th and 1 to set up a game-winning drive in which Vince Young - who was outstanding - ran for the winning score.

So, time to retire all of the "Mack Brown can't win the big one" comments and jokes. Mack finally did it. Well, maybe it's more likely that Vince did it, and Mack was just along for the ride. But Mack will still get some credit, too.

One of the things that stood out to me in the game was that there were several bonehead plays. The first was Mack Brown's decision to go for it on 4th and 1 in the first quarter around mid-field. What was he thinking? USC had just capitalized on a Texas fumble near mid-field to take a 7-0 lead, and now you risk giving it back to them around mid-field again? They were fortunate - after not making it - that USC stalled on their own 4th and 1 a few plays later around the Texas 20.

The last couple of bonehead plays belonged to USC. First was the decision again to go for it on 4th and 1 at the Texas 45, with 2:00+ remaining. I think I would've had to punt and make Texas go the length of the field if it was going to win the game, instead of only 55 yards. Sure, if they'd made it, they likely would've kept moving the ball and won the game (either by eventually running out the clock or scoring again.) But why risk it? The other bonehead play was using their last timeout prior to Texas' 2-point conversion - a timeout they could've used with only 19 seconds on the clock. Not sure what happened there, but that could've cost them an extra play at the end.

However, the bonehead play that wins the prize belongs to Reggie Bush in the first half when he tried to lateral the ball to a teammate after a long run. He was inside the Texas 20 and, in the midst of being tackled, he chose to lateral?? That play probably cost them a touchdown, or at least a field goal. And perhaps the game. I still can't figure out what he was thinking. I was reminded of George's comment in a Seinfeld episode: "I am Costanza - Lord of the Idiots." That was just a horrible, idiotic decision.

One thing I heard after the game: during Matt Leinart's on-field interview after the game, he made a comment something like "I still believe that we're the better team, but we just didn't make the plays." After watching the game, I'd say both teams could make the claim they're the better team, no matter who won. But that was a stupid comment. It makes you look like an ungracious loser. Be proud of what you've done, but accept the loss and give Texas some credit. Who does he think he is - Al Gore?

So, despite some questionable judgment by coaches and players, this was one of the best championship games I've ever seen. Lots of scoring and exciting to the end. I was hoping USC could pull off a miracle and get in field goal range and send it into overtime. I wanted it to keep going. Plus, I wanted USC to win, so there was that motivation, too. I'm not sure why - I don't care about either team - but maybe it was the 3-peat / history thing.

But regardless of which team won, I think there's no doubt that the game lived up to the hype. After 5 or 6 months of hype, the game was going to have to be something special. And I thought was.

Now, we can put all of this football nonsense behind us and focus on something that really matters - the Final Four. Let's go Duke!!

Purpose-driven field

2006-01-03T07:05:00.000-06:00

I like Lark News - there's usually something every month that makes me laugh. This month, though, I found one that is one of my favorites. Check it out:

Warren to buy Saints, build Purpose-Driven Field

NEW ORLEANS - Pastor and author Rick Warren has signed a deal to purchase the New Orleans Saints football franchise for $320 million from current owner Tom Benson, and has pledged to pour his time and energy into helping the city and team rebuild.

"This is the start of the Saints' turnaround," a Warren spokesman said. "America is going to see what a purpose-driven team can accomplish."

more...

Here are a few of my other favorite stories:

VeggieTales Exclusive: Where are they now?

Friends not friends forever, even if the Lord's the Lord of them, former pals say

Trend: Youth groups forget meaning of names

Rapture Safety cards prepare parishioners, airline-style

Jack Chick buys popular comic strips

When he prophesies, it's in pirate

Unusual-looking man in choir sparks concern

Family's boycott extends to everything

Ten Commandments battle shifts to Ala. girl's bedroom

The Year In Books & Music 2005

2005-12-31T20:13:00.000-06:00

Well, it's that time again. Here's my 2005 list of my favorite things I read and listened to this past year. I only read one fiction book this year, but I have several fiction books I hope to read in the coming year. I also didn't read as much this year. With back surgery, then moving back to Little Rock from Alabama, and various other reasons, I just didn't read as much as I wanted. I actually have several partially read books that I don't anticipate finishing before year end. So, with that said, here's my list for this year.

Book of the Year
Seizing Your Divine Moment : Dare to Live a Life of Adventure - Erwin McManus

Runners-up

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families : Stories from Rwanda - Philip Gourevitch

God's Politics : Why the right gets it wrong and the left doesn't get it - Jim Wallis

The Barbarian Way : Unleash the Untamed Faith Within - Erwin McManus

Blue Blood : Duke-Carolina : Inside the Most Storied Rivalry in College Hoops - Art Chansky

Obsessed - Ted Dekker

Honorable Mention

Making Sense of Church: Eavesdropping on Emerging Conversations about God, Community, and Culture - Spencer Burke

The Gutter : Where Life's Meant To Be Lived - Craig Gross

The Church of Irresistible Influence : Bridge-Building Stories To Help Reach Your Community - Robert Lewis

A Fragile Stone : The Emotional Life of Simon Peter - Michael Card

Other stuff I read

It Takes A Village Idiot : Complicating the Simple Life - Jim Mullen

flashbang : How I Got Over Myself - Mark Steele

EPIC - John Eldredge

I'm Back For More Cash - Tony Kornheiser

Home Court Advantage : Preparing Your Children to be Winners in Life - Kevin Leman

Eyes Wide Open : Looking for God in Popular Culture - William Romanowski

Album of the Year

I See Things Upside Down - Derek Webb

Runners-up

Reflection Of Something - Todd Agnew

Nothing Is Sound - Switchfoot

A Collision - David Crowder Band

Ogre Tones - King's X

X&Y - Coldplay

All To You - Lincoln Brewster

Eternity With You - Clay Crosse

Honorable Mention

Brave - Nichole Nordeman

...And The Rest Will Follow - Project 86

Panic - MxPx

The Art of Breaking - Thousand Foot Krutch

Wherever You Are - Third Day

Restored - Jeremy Camp

Atom Bomb - Blind Boys of Alabama

Worship In The City - Grace Church Worship Band

Redemption Songs - Jars of Clay

Farewell - Petra

Other stuff I listened to

Death on the Road - Iron Maiden

Look To You - Hillsong United

Strong Tower - Kutless

For All You've Done - Hillsong

The Great Depression - Blindside

All The Right Reasons - Nickelback

Better Days - Robbie Seay Band

Passion 05 : How Great Is Our God - Passion Worship Band

mmhmm - Relient K

Day of Fire - Day of Fire

Dirty Diamonds - Alice Cooper

In Christ Alone - ZOE Group

Other available lists: 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000

Meaningless, meaningless

2005-12-30T23:02:00.000-06:00

I think it was Solomon who said "Everything is meaningless." That pretty much describes the college bowl season for the most part. Since they created 243 bowl games at the end of the season and created the BCS, they're all meaningless. There's no watching multiple games to see who will win and lose, and who will end up ranked #1. There's only one game now that matters at all, and that is the championship game - which I'm looking forward to this year because I think it might actually be a game instead of another blowout.

However, this year there was one other game that I was interested in, because I thought it, too, would be a good game to watch. And if you're an LSU fan, it was. That game was the Peach Bowl tonight - LSU vs Miami. Two good teams, you expect a good game. Unfortunately, it was a 40-3 blowout by LSU. Miami drove all the way down the field on their first drive, and then didn't show up for the rest of the game. They didn't have a first down the last 40 minutes of the game. That's just sad. Plus, they couldn't stop LSU. LSU was scoring at will.

So, I was wanting LSU to win, so that was good, but I still was looking forward to a better game. Once again, though, just another meaningless game.

The Year In Sports 2005

2005-12-27T07:27:00.000-06:00

This post is not the sports year in review according to me. Duke did not win the national championship in basketball in 2005, so there's really nothing to review. However, much funnier than anything I would write is the sports year in review according to The Onion. So here are some highlights, links and other Onion sports headlines.

First is The Onion's 2005 Year In Review - Individual Sports. It wasn't as humorous to me, since I'm not into individual sports except for tennis, but there was one highlight:

Dec. 13 - Power forward Ron Artest, formerly of the Indiana Pacers, announces his intention to play basketball all by himself for the rest of his career.

And the highlights from the 2005 Year In Review - Team Sports:

Apr. 5 - The Baylor women's basketball team defeats Michigan State to win the NCAA women's championship, showing the nation and their own university what a Baylor team can do when it works hard, plays as a team, and does not conspire to murder one another.

Aug. 1 - Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice makes a preseason promise that the character and behavior of the players on this years' team will soon make the fans forget the shameful off-field antics of Randy Moss. (my personal favorite)

Oct. 17 - NBA Commissioner David Stern announces that he is implementing an especially strict dress code for himself, including tailored Italian suits, handmade silk ties, custom-crafted leather shoes, and wafer-thin gold or platinum Patek Philippe watches. Financial aid is made available to allow less-affluent commissioners to conform to the new rules, violation of which is punishable by three weeks off with pay.

Nov. 27 - Punter Jeff Feagles becomes football's "Iron Man," having played every fourth down of 283 consecutive NFL games. When asked to comment on the difficulty of such a streak, former Oriole Cal Ripken Jr. asked reporters who Jeff Feagles was, snorting derisively, shaking his head, and sauntering aimlessly away upon finding out Feagles is a punter.

Dec. 8 - Anxiety for the 2006 World Cup begins early for the United States, who cross their fingers before the seeding and pray they are not matched up against a soccer-mad powerhouse European, South American, Asian, or African team in the first round. Feelings are mixed but generally gloomy when their first opponent turns out to be the Czech Republic.

Dec. 11 - The Houston Texans, searching desperately for a way to improve and threatened by the potential for awfulness displayed by the Green Bay Packers, voluntarily forfeit the remainder of the 2005 season in order to draft Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush of USC.

Dec. 12 - USC Trojans running back Reggie Bush announces that he has done much soul-searching and has decided to stay in school in order to complete his college degree, lead the Trojans to another national championship, and avoid playing for the Houston Texans.

Now, some other stories and headlines I found hilarious:

Threat Of Catching Olympic Fever At An All-Time Low

Terrell Owens Pre-Emptively Disparages Next Contract

Quarterback Has Normal, Healthy Son

NBA Playoffs Interrupted By NBA Preseason (my personal favorite)

Pony-Wanting Ron Artest To Be On Best Behavior Till Christmas

Joe Namath Guarnatees He'll Lose Battle With Alcoholism

And a few headlines from the sports ticker:

Several Gearing Up For 2006 Winter Olympics

NFL To Fine First Team To Beat Colts

Pacifist Linebacker Dodges NFL Draft

Jerry Rice's 8-year-old Son: 'Playing Catch With My Dad Is The Most Stressful Part Of My Day'

Scottie Pippen's Retired Jersey Number Hung Directly Behind Michael Jordan's (my personal favorite)

Eagles Fans Long For Days When Inevitable Playoff Elimination Happened During Playoffs

So, there you have it. Hopefully, this time next year I'll be writing an entire "year in review" post on the 4th national championship won by the Duke Blue Devils.

And Joseph said, "Why me?"

2005-12-24T08:30:00.000-06:00

Joseph, son of Jacob, soon-to-be husband of Mary, first appears in the first chapter of Matthew, when, after finding out that Mary was pregnant, is considering what to do next.

The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn't know that.) Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.

While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus - "God saves' - because he will save his people from their sins." This would bring the prophet's embryonic sermon to full term:

Watch for this - a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son; They will name him Emmanuel (Hebrew for "God is with us").

Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.

Matthew 1:18-25 (The Message)

We are given no words from Joseph's mouth in scripture. We are only given a little information about him at all, and nothing after a few events related to Jesus' birth, his first year or two, and then once when he was twelve. I've sometimes wondered what he really thought about all of this. Most of the time we see him in Matthew and Luke, he's being spoken to by an angel. "It's okay - marry her." "Go to Egypt." "Okay, you can come back now." But nothing is recorded to tell us what Joseph said in response, or what he might have been thinking in response. All we know is that he obeyed.

I guess it's natural that, being male, I wonder more about Joseph than Mary. I think of my own reaction. Or at least I try. The incarnation is impossible for me to fully understand, so trying to fathom being chosen to be the father of God while he's living on earth as one of us is also mind-blowing. Two modern Christmas songs give a voice to Joseph, expressing what could have been some of his thoughts during this time.

Michael Card's "Joseph's Song" has Joseph wondering "how can it be" that I'm holding the Son of God in my arms. "How can I, just a man, be excected to raise a King, the very Son of God?? Even so, while he's not my biological child, I pray that I will love him like my own." Michael Card is one of my favorite songwriter's, and this is one of my favorites of his. Joseph was, I suspect, no different than any other man. If he were to ask questions, I suspect they would be something like these, the very ones we would think to ask, too.

The group 4 Him also recorded a song which ponders Joseph's response to the incarnation itself. In "A Strange Way To Save The World", the writers have Joseph (as the title would suggest) questioning why God chose to come in such an unusual way. "If he had come in a way more appropriate for the King of Kings, the Lord of the universe, then there would've been no need for an inn or a manger. Shepherds wouldn't have been notified first. And there wouldn't even have been a need for common folks like Mary and myself. But who am I to question God's methods?" Again, more things that I probably would've wondered about as well.

It probably didn't make sense to Joseph. It doesn't make sense to me - God leaving heaven to come to earth, and especially in the manner he chose to do so. It doesn't make sense for a man to be father to the one who's Father is God. But it happened, and as strange as it was, we are saved because He came. God was with us.

These songs are among my very favorite songs related to the birth of Christ.

Joseph's Song
words & music by Michael Card

How could it be this baby in my arms
Sleeping now, so peacefully
The Son of God, the angel said
How could it be

Lord I know He's not my own
Not of my flesh, not of my bone
Still Father let this baby be
The son of my love

Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours
How can a man be father to the Son of God
Lord for all my life I've been a simple carpenter
How can I raise a king, How can I raise a king

He looks so small, His face and hands so fair
And when He cries the sun just seems to disappear
But when He laughs it shines again
How could it be

A Strange Way To Save The World
words & music by Dave Clark, Mark Harris & Don Koch

I'm sure he must have been surprised
At where this road had taken him
'Cause never in a million lives
Would he have dreamed of Bethlehem.

And standing at the manger
He saw with his own eyes
The message from the angel come to life.
And Joseph said...

Why me, I'm just a simple man of trade?
Why Him with all the rulers in the world?
Why here inside this stable filled with hay?
Why her, she's just an ordinary girl?
Now, I'm not one to second guess
What angel's have to say.
But this is such a strange way to save the world.

To think of how it could have been
If Jesus had come as He deserved.
There would have been no Bethlehem
No lowly shepherds at His birth.

But Joseph knew the reason the love
Had to reach so far
And as he held the Savior in his arms
He must have thought...

Why me, I'm just a simple man of trade?
Why Him with all the rulers in the world?
Why here inside this stable filled with hay?
Why her, she's just an ordinary girl?
Now, I'm not one to second guess
What angel's have to say.
But this is such a strange way to save the world.

Now, I'm not one to second guess
What angel's have to say.
But this is such a strange way to save the world.

This is such a strange way,
Such a strange way,
Such a strange way
To save the world.

Jesus at Wal-Mart

2005-12-22T12:24:00.000-06:00

Okay, here's the deal: I'm really tired of all of the nonsense about "Happy Holidays" vs "Merry Christmas." Why? Because it's stupid.

It seems to get worse every year. I mentioned in a recent post some news stories regarding certain retail stores choosing "Happy Holidays" over "Merry Christmas", others choosing to not allow the Salvation Army outside of their stores, and the President sending out cards using "holiday" instead of "Christmas". And of course, Christians all over the country are bent out of shape about these things, including boycotting certain stores. It seems that some people feel that it is our right - as Christians, or as Americans, or maybe both - to have "Merry Christmas" and reminders of Jesus' birth visible everywhere we go. The idea seems to be that people should be forced to recognize Christmas (as a religious holiday) whether they want to or not.

Now, I'll admit - I don't get it from the other side, either. I don't know why people are so intent on removing Merry Christmas. The fact is, Christmas is as much a secular holiday as a religious one, perhaps more so. The average person, at the mention of Christmas, probably thinks of Santa Claus, decorated trees and gift-giving before the birth of Jesus comes to mind. So I personally don't understand why people would be so offended by it to begin with. If I walked into Best Buy and saw a "Happy Hannakuh" sign, I simply wouldn't care.

Also, I realize it's a cultural thing, too. Whether religious or secular, most middle-aged and older folks in this country grew up with Christmas all around them in December. Christmas trees, decorations, Santa and reindeer - it was all there. And if some of that is taken away, or toned down to some degree, it just doesn't seem right. Christmas has changed. But that's not really what the boycotters are objecting to - they say that Christ is being taken out of Christmas. It's a religious issue.

My question is this, though: from a Christian perspective, what do these things really mean? How is the church's mission impacted by them? Nobody is telling churches to stop celebrating Jesus' birth. If Wal-Mart fails to display "Merry Christmas" banners, if the Salvation Army isn't ringing their (exceptionally annoying) bells outside of Target, and if their employees, as well as the President, don't wish us a merry Christmas, are we destined for failure? Are large numbers of people coming into a relationship with Christ at local discount retailers every December that I'm unaware of? What is the message of Christmas, anyway - "God with us" or "Merry Christmas from Wal-Mart"? Whose job is it to recognize and celebrate Jesus' birth and share His story with others - Target or the church?

I suspect most people going shopping in December aren't looking for Jesus. They're looking for stuff to buy, and on occasion they're fighting one another to do so. Again, as I said in the earlier post, don't we have better things to do than complain and boycott? More important things to do? Is it any wonder we so often have a bad image among unbelievers?

Instead of spending so much time and energy making our objections over holiday policies known to retailers, maybe we should be spending that time and energy making Jesus known to the world, and doing so without embarrassing him.

Ted Dekker's books

2005-12-19T18:27:00.000-06:00

I don't really read a whole lot of fiction. I usually get in a "fiction zone" and read several books in a short time, but then don't read any for a long time after that. And only once have I read a book by an author that caused me to anticipate everything he or she released. That was about 15 years ago, when someone recommended I read This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. Since then, I've anticipated all of his books and have read everything he has released (except his most recent, Monster, which is still on my "to read" shelf.) No other fiction author have I been as interested in reading as I was him, until just recently.

About two years ago, someone recommended to me the novel THR3E by a guy I'd never heard of, Ted Dekker. I looked it up, read a review or two, and it sounded good, so I gave it a shot. I loved it. I was immediately a Ted Dekker fan.

I next read his previous novel, Blink, and then, in 2004, he released The Circle Trilogy (Black, Red, White), which told a story via three books released over the course of the year. The Circle Trilogy was excellent. Just today, while at home sick, I've started reading Obsessed, which was released earlier this year, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I'm a few chapters in and already finding it difficult to put down. He also released his first non-fiction book this year titled The Slumber of Christianity, which I've also not yet read, but have waiting on my shelf.

So, today I went to Ted's website for the first time in months and realized he has two new books due out in the coming months. In January, he's releasing Showdown. It is, like his other books, a story about good vs evil and I'll likely be reading it soon.

However, what I'm really excited about is coming in April. It's the book titled House, and he has co-authored it with none other than Frank Peretti. It's billed as a "supernatural thriller" and I can't imagine it not being excellent with these two guys behind it. You can check out the video trailer here.

If you haven't read any of Ted Dekker's books, but like good, suspenseful fiction, I highly recommdend them.

Also found a link on Dekker's website to an article called "Why do heathens make the best Christian films?" by Thom Parham, which discusses why most of the films which successfully incorporate Christian themes are made by non-Christians. Very interesting.

P.S. Just found out here that THR3E is being made into a movie.

Dropping like a rock

2005-12-17T16:03:00.000-06:00

I just finished watching the Texas - Tennessee game. No, not football. That would normally be a good game, although this year would've likely been a Texas blowout. That's pretty much what I expected on the basketball court today, too. The basketball Horns were #2 just a week ago before being blown out by #1 Duke on national television. So, I expected them to come back against an unranked Tennesee team today and run them out of Austin. Instead, they were blown out again. Not quite as bad - only 17. But they were down as many as 25, and 20+ during most of the 2nd half. Texas ranking will drop like a rock this week. They need to get it together fast - they have to go to Memphis to play a very good Tiger team on January 2nd. They can't afford to lose all of their big games this preseason. Is Rick Barnes coaching them, or Mack Brown??

Long Journey Home

There's a good article on U2 by Paul Mitchel worth reading here at Charles Colson's BreakPoint site.

Top 7 Christmas movies

2005-12-15T08:29:00.000-06:00

After watching It's A Wonderful Life and Miracle On 34th Street this week, I was thinking about my favorite movies that always show up this time of year. So, I decided to list my favorite holiday movies - well, I'm not limiting this strictly to movies, but am also including the Christmas specials you see on television every year as well. (By the way, I chose 7 because that's my favorite number.) These are the shows everyone should watch every year, in my opinion. I've seen all except one so far this year.

7. How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
The Grinch was (and still is) a little creepy, but this was always fun to watch. He's angry, mean, maybe evil, and he does everything he can to stop the Who's from enjoying Christmas. But he realizes, as they arise and sing on Christmas morning, that Christmas isn't about all of the gifts or food or decorations, and he is transformed. And for some reason I've always loved the song that the Who's sing at the end on Christmas morning.

6. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
I loved this one as a child, even though the Abominable Snowman always frightened me when I was very young. I remember how great I always thought it was to see the reindeer and sleigh take off at the end with Rudolph leading the way. He was different, and an outcast, but they all found out that he had something to offer after all. I love watching my kids watch it now.

5. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
You can't help but feel sympathy for Charlie Brown. But as he struggles with the meaning of Christmas and it's commercialism, Linus comes through with a fantastic scene where he recites the Christmas story from scripture. One of my favorite Christmas program moments.

4. Miracle on 34th street (1947)
Crazy old man thinks he's Santa Claus. A woman and her little girl don't believe in Santa Claus. A good story about believing, having faith - even when it goes against common sense.

3. A Christmas Story (1983)
Darren McGavin and Peter Billingsley are both just fantastic in this movie. I remember a few years back it seemed It's A Wonderful Life played every day during December, and they finally cut it back. Now it's this movie that seems to be on constantly. And I'll sit and watch at least part of it every time I find it on.

2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
My favorite Chevy Chase movie will always be Fletch. But this is certainly one of his very best, and better than the other Vacation movies as well. There's nothing quite like Christmas with the Griswald's.

1. It's A Wonderful life (1946)
You just can't get any better than this. I've actually not seen many Jimmy Stewart movies, but I can't imagine him being any better than he was in this one. He thought he was poor, with the money having disappeared, but realizes he's rich in the things that really matter. Even more so than he imagined. My favorite line is still at the end: "To my brother George, the richest man in town."

I watched the documentary on the DVD this year and learned that this didn't really become a classic until the early 70's (it was largely forgotten about after it left theaters in the late-40's). When the copyright ran out, stations could show it all they wanted without paying royalty's, so it started getting a lot of airtime, and now we can't imagine Christmas without it.

Getting ready for 2006

Check out Greg Taylor's post regarding some tools to use in 2006. All 3 of his suggestions look like very good resources.

Answering the question

2005-12-14T18:07:00.000-06:00

One of the things I've learned in the last six-and-a-half years is that your children can ask really hard questions. Sometimes that's because they are questions you don't know the answer to. Sometimes it's because it's difficult to explain the answer to them in a way that they will understand. Then there are questions like the one I was asked last night.

It was one of those times where you have to answer a question that you just don't want to answer. I was sitting there merrily watching Miracle On 34th Street and my 6-year-old daughter was busy with her crayons and a coloring book. She was only halfway paying attention to the movie, but it was just enough to ask the question I didn't want to hear. As best as I can recall, she'd never asked this question before, at least not to me.

The movie, of course, is about a man who presents himself as the one-and-only Santa Claus and those around him trying to determine what they believe about him. My daughter asked a few questions from time to time: "Is that Santa Claus?", "Is he really Santa?", "Why isn't he wearing his [Santa] clothes?" and things of that nature. I guess I should've seen it coming, and maybe I did, but was hoping that it wouldn't.

There are several occasions where the characters are discussing the existence of Santa Claus and whether this man calling himself Kris Kringle is actually him. During one of those scenes, may daughter finally did it, looking over at me and dropping this baby on me:

"Daddy, is there really a Santa Claus?"

Have you seen those commercials where people do something stupid and the voice-over says, "Ever want to just get away?" or something like that? Well, I hadn't done anything stupid, but I did want to get away. I was hoping for a reprieve - the phone would ring, the electricity would go out, Jesus would come back - something, anything, to avoid answering the question.

Technically, there is (or was) a Saint Nicolas. So if I answered yes, I would sort of be telling the truth. The man from which the Santa Claus legend grew was, in fact, real. However, the Santa Claus legend we know today is just that - a legend. There's not really a man flying all over the world in a sleigh led by reindeer who leaves presents at everyone's home. So to answer the question she was asking, the answer had to be no.

So, I paused briefly, and then I reluctantly nodded my head. "There is??" she asked excitedly, trying to hold back a smile until I confirmed it again. I nodded again. She then went back to coloring, grinning from ear to ear. I went back to watching the movie but not feeling very good about telling her something that wasn't true.

I grew up believing in Santa Claus. And the Easter Bunny. And the Tooth Fairy (who, incidentally, had just paid a visit to our house two nights earlier.) My parents let me believe. Perhaps I asked them the same question at some point, and maybe they answered the same way I did. However, Christmas with Santa Claus was a lot of fun - anxiously waiting for the day to arrive, finding it impossible to sleep on Christmas Eve, and then discovering the gifts under (or at least near) the tree the next morning. I finally discovered the truth one year when, because I suspected I knew the truth already, I crept out of my bedroom, down the hallway, and into the kitchen - just enough so that I could see into our living room - where I saw my mother stuffing our stockings. Aaaa-haaaa!!

It was not really a big disappointment by that time. I didn't flee the house, running out into the winter's night lamenting the fact that there was no Santa Claus, or jump out and angrily expose my parent's deception, or think less of them for "lying" to me all of those years. I just went back to bed, now knowing for certain the truth about Santa. I think it was actually a bigger disappointment for my oldest sister, who tried to convince me otherwise. I am the youngest of four, so I was the last one to stop believing. When I stopped, the Santa charade was over at our house (until we started having our own kids.) She still enjoyed it, I suppose, and wanted it to continue. But I would have none of it.

In the end, I guess I look at it this way: I grew up believing these things, and I turned out pretty normal (or at least that's my opinion - others may dispute that.) I'm intelligent enough to realize this was a fun part of being a child and I don't have any "emotional scars" because of it. I trust that my children will be smart enough to understand this as well, and someday will be up late on Christmas Eve arranging presents around the tree for their own children, eating the cookies and milk along the way.

The thing that I'm trying to do for my kids, which I did not hear about as often while growing up, is to share more about the real Christmas story, the one we find in Matthew and Luke. There are some things we must outgrow - Santa being one of them. Jesus, on the other hand, will always be a part of Christmas.

Texas-sized blowout

2005-12-10T19:16:00.000-06:00

They say things are bigger in Texas. So I guess it was fitting that when #2 Texas lost to #1 Duke today, it was a BIG loss - to the tune of 97-66. I was just hoping for a Duke win. I've admitted they haven't looked great in their last couple of games. But I thought they would definitely come to play today, and had a good chance to win. However, a 31-point win was not in my wildest dreams.

A lot of people seemed to start doubting Duke a couple of weeks ago when they had a close game with unranked Drexel in the NIT semifinals. However, I thought Drexel showed they were a pretty good team in that game and in nearly beating a ranked UCLA team in the consolation game. The questions continued after Indiana's Marco Killingsworth had a monster game against Duke (although he failed to score in last 7:30 of the game). Duke still won the game in a hostile environment. Then came Virginia Tech this past Sunday. Unranked, they basically beat Duke, but Sean Dockery's miracle at the buzzer saved the day. And then a less-than-stellar offensive performance against Penn on Wednesday had nearly everyone outside the Duke camp expecting a Texas win this afternoon.

Including John Frascella. In his article "Duke No. 1? Not For Long", written for the UConn Daily Campus, he attempts to break down Duke and implies they're not worthy of being at the top right now (hmm... I wonder who he'd vote #1?). In his comments on the Indiana game, he points out that Shelden Williams was outplayed by Killingsworth and fouled out late in the game, but neglected to mention Williams' big plays down the stretch that helped win that game. He closes his article with the following:

"Duke will need other players to step up offensively to take the pressure off Redick and Williams. Duke plays No. 2 Texas this weekend - expect a changing of the guard at the top of the college basketball rankings."

Let's see... Redick had 41 today, and Williams added 23. That's 64 points. Texas scored 66. I guess they only needed the rest of the team to step up with 3 today (but they ended up with 33 instead). I do see his point, though, and would agree they need the other guys to step up, but they are and will continue to do more so as the year goes on. Plus, they've been without DeMarcus Nelson - they're #3 scorer - since the first half of the Drexel game. In time, they'll be okay.

I was thinking this morning about how this Duke team is quite a bit different than the Duke teams of years past. How they aren't going to be the type of team that blows everyone away like teams in years past, especially the teams from 1998-2001, who regularly ended games by halftime. And I think that's still true, despite the fact that they DID hammer a very good team today.

A lot of people have doubted them. A lot of people questioned their #1 ranking. And they will lose games - the ACC will be as tough as usual, and they still have a few non-conference games with some good teams as well. But I think they came out today to make a statement, that despite the doubt and the questions, they are a good team worthy of being ranked where they are.

And by the way, do not expect a changing of the guard at the top of the college basketball rankings just yet.

What we look like

2005-12-09T07:11:00.000-06:00

I just finished reading Robert Lewis' book The Church of Irresistible Influence, which is a book about how the church can build bridges to the community around them. He uses his own church, Fellowship Bible Church here in Little Rock, as an example, basically, and in some ways is telling the story of how FBC came from it's beginning in the late-70's to where it is today. I had a particular interest in this book since we've been visiting FBC recently.

In the final chapter, which I would describe as a "what next" chapter, he comments on where the church is today, and how we've lost what we once had in engaging the community. He quotes John Stott, who explains that in 18th and 19th centuries, churches were more connected to their communities than most churches are today. Then, Stott says, something changed. Basically, after World War I, churches for the most part turned inward - seeking to serve each other and "defend the faith" instead of serving the community in which they existed, and that this is, for the most part, where we still are today. Stott also offers several reasons why he believes this happened, which I won't go into. However, following this, Lewis states:

Whether one agrees with any or all of Stott's analysis, the point remains: the evangelical church at the beginning of this century finds itself postured much differently than it was a hundred years ago. Our rich heritage of influencing society through humble acts of charity, strategic community concern, and sacrificial works of service has been largely forsaken and has been replaced by a one sided gospel of proclamation. As one evangelical pastor recently confessed to me, "This good works stuff in the community is new to me. I'm just not comfortable with it."

We have focused on the Word to the exclusion of the greater and more powerful reality of "making the Word flesh." In this posture, the evangelical church finds itself, not surprisingly, disconnected from the real world. We are isolated, self-absorbed, and socially uninvolved. ... As people who pride themselves in their loyalty to Scripture, how can we ignore the call to good works in the community that the Bible so emphatically exhorts us to?

I think this accurately describes many, probably most, churches today. We are to live in the world, but not of the world. But, it seems we're most often doing neither. We've separated ourselves too much from the world, to the point of having little impact on it. Some point to the Christian subculture - sometimes called the "Christian ghetto" - that has been created for us as proof. Christian music, Christian TV, Christian bookstores, Christian record and publishing companies, and on and on. We are losing touch with the rest of the world. Lewis later says the following:

My fear is that most evangelicals will consider the call [to build bridges] as simply too high, the work too great, the climb too steep, the change required too drastic. But if we do go on as we are, soothing our consciences with a contemporary face-lift, we can and must expect a further disintegration, not only in our influence but in two things essential to our future: our name and our perspective. The Bible says, "A good name is more desirable than great riches" (Proverbs 22: 1). Names are summaries. They come to embody all that is or isn't about a. person or group, true or false, real or imagined. They also carry in them the powerful weight o£ emotion that ignites when a name is mentioned. That's why the Bible, as well as any good marketer, holds up the high value of a name.

He says that we may call ourselves by different names - Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, etc. - but that the most important one is "the one by which we are called." What do people outside of the church call us? He submits the primary name people think of is "the Religious Right." It is a name which brings to mind "non-loving confrontations, judgmental pronouncements, and self-righteous invitations to be more like us" and he compares us to the Pharisees of the first century - "Smug. Right. Rigid. Vocal. Demanding. Uninvolved." He continues:

These are increasingly the feelings our name evokes in American society. Say "evangelical," and words like condescending, dogmatic, scary, demanding, and controlling scroll across the mind. Images boil to the surface of preachy moral pronouncements, boycotts, picketing, and political pressure to conform state to church, to make people behave, to make them act more like us, for we are always right.

Is it any great wonder that we find ourselves the object of ridicule or fear? This is a far cry from Matthew 5:16, where Jesus imagined a church of good works that would cause the world to give glory to God.

Instead of engaging the community in a positive way, serving them instead of only ourselves, we make it worse. I cringe every time I see one of the popular news/talk programs on television - Hardball, O'Reilly Factor, etc. - and they bring on guys like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson or William Donahue to speak from a Christian perspective. Of all of the people in the world I'd want to have speak for me as a Christian, these guys, especially Falwell, are on the bottom of the list. It drives me crazy. But, they embody the things that come to many people's mind when they think of Christians.

Just last night I saw a report about various conservative Christians getting all worked up because the Christmas cards the White House sent out didn't say "Merry Christmas." I'm hearing of boycotts of various retailers who are using "Happy Holidays" instead. And there's the whole Target-Salvation Army thing that continues from last year. When I see this stuff, I can't help but think, don't these people have anything better to do? Instead of complaining about what they see as an injustice, perhaps they could be out doing something about real injustices.

So, the question: why does the world see the church the way it does? One final quote from Lewis:

George Barna states it succinctly: "The stumbling block for the church is not its theology, but its failure to apply what it believes in a compelling way. Christians have been their own worst enemies when it comes to showing the world what authentic, biblical Christianity looks like."

Answer: because they can only see what we show them. In other words, we've done a poor job of showing the world what Jesus looks like. And let me be the first to say, "I resemeble that remark." Instead of seeing Jesus, they see the Religious Right, they see Jerry Falwell, they see people picketing Matthew Shepard's funeral with signs reading "God Hates Fags" and boycotting Wal-Mart over holiday decorations. The do not see our good works and give glory to God. Instead, they see nothing, or at best very little, to draw them to Christ. I believe it was Ghandi who said "I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ."

In the last part of the chapter, Lewis offers three tips on what we must change, which I will comment on later, but I think this is one of the most important things the church of today must reflect on and, indeed, must change. We must show the world again what it means to follow Jesus, who was our great example in being a servant to those around him. If we can't show them, then why would we expect them to listen to anything we say?

Mockingbird, part 1

2005-12-07T12:55:00.000-06:00

Saw this article on Derek Webb's website. I've become a big Webb fan this year, and as you'll soon see, his I see things upside down disc will be at or near the top of my year end list. It was full of thought-provoking songs, most of which will make one feel a little uncomfortable. Looks like his new album will be more of the same, which I think we all could use. Check it out:

Derek Webb sure to raise eyebrows

Nashville, TN - November 7, 2005 - Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Derek Webb is ready to raise eyebrows and get people talking with his new CD, Mockingbird, his most controversial project to date. This is his third recording with INO Records and releases on December 26th, following his 2003 release She Must And Shall Go Free and 2004's I See Things Upside Down.

Mockingbird is sure to get people talking and even make some people uncomfortable, which is exactly what Webb wants. Writing and singing about concerns of social justice, poverty, war and politics, Mockingbird will immediately impact the listener with its raw and profound lyrics and get tongues wagging on both sides of the fence. Sung in the folk stylings for which Webb is well known, these new songs are easy on the ears yet pull at the heart and mind with introspective, yet provocative, lyrics.

Webb hopes people will be open to what he shares on the highly anticipated project. For those who aren't sure how their views line up with his own, all he's asking is that they give him a chance. "I'm not trying to push buttons or make people upset. I'm just trying to be as honest as I can. Even if people don't agree, I hope they'll listen. I just want to get the dialogue started."

"I think Derek has delivered his best record to date," states Jeff Moseley, President, INO Records. "I am a huge fan of the way he challenges our suppositions and makes us take a new look at the cultural trappings of Christianity. Mockingbird is a watershed recording that will raise eyebrows and evoke passionate conversation. I am proud to work with an artist that does not shy away from examining the 'sacred cows' through the lens of Jesus' teachings."

Taking very seriously his role as an artist and social advocate, Webb comments, "I need to tune my ears to hear what is going on in the world. I need to involve myself in what's happening in the world, just as a human being, even if it's hard or time consuming."

Webb is also quick to point out, "We have a history of not loving people well. We live in a country that was founded on genocide against Native Americans. We haven't loved well and a lot of people don't like Americans. We need to own up to some responsibility there, we need to look at why, and we need to let that inform how we're making decisions for the future."

Concerning the political aspect of Mockingbird, he exclaims, "If you look, Jesus doesn't go straight down one party line. We try to fit Him in our western politics, but He wouldn't land on either side." Living in the middle is something Webb sees Jesus model and to let go of our idea that "Christian" and "Republican" go hand in hand. "We, too, have to be willing to move in and out of political systems and parties if we're going to follow Him."

These revealing thoughts are found in "A New Law" where Webb gets right to the heart of the matter: Don't teach me about politics and government, just tell me who to vote for / Don't teach me about truth and beauty, just label my music / Don't teach me about moderation and liberty, I prefer a shot of grape juice / Don't teach me how to live like a free man, just give me a new law / I don't wanna know if the answers aren't easy, so just bring it down from the mountain to me / I want a new law

About being the one to start these conversations in Christian circles, Webb remarks honestly, "I'm not sure I'm the best one to do it, but it's not like people are lining up for this particular job. And we need to start this dialogue yesterday about how to love people better. Let's stop arguing and name calling, let's find something to commend about one another and then start from that place of unity."

People are bound to start dialoguing upon hearing his lyrics. A song that demonstrates this is "A King & A Kingdom," in which Webb explains spiritual allegiance trumps any sort of nationalism: There are two great lies that I've heard: the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die / and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican, and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him.

Including a monologue from a Martin Luther King speech in the song "My Enemies Are Men Like Me," Webb shares: Peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication / It's like telling someone murder is wrong and then showing them by way of execution.

The mockingbird's unique ability to learn and mimic songs from other birds is why this particular title was chosen for Webb's third solo project. Webb shares, "I hope to be the same way, imitating the songs of Jesus and others about how to love not only our neighbors, but also our enemies."

Musically, the creation of Mockingbird came from deep study of The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour and is woven throughout the entire project. Webb explains, "The last record was more experimental and meant to dismantle future expectations. On Mockingbird we felt completely free artistically. This should be a fascinating record for headphones."

Playing over 150 shows a year, Webb is currently on the road with wife and fellow artist Sandra McCracken and friend John Davis (formerly of Superdrag) and already sharing a few of his new songs with the audience, already receiving much acclaim from concertgoers.

As of October 11th, fans are now able to take home the Derek Webb "live" experience with the release of his first-ever live DVD, How To Kill And Be Killed. The DVD features live concert footage and unique and extensive behind-the-scenes interviews.

For the most updated information and tour dates, please visit www.derekwebb.com and www.inorecords.com.

Mockingbird song listing: *
Mockingbird
A New Law
A King & A Kingdom
Zeros & Ones
I Hate Everything (But You)
Rich Young Ruler
A Consistent Ethic Of Human Life
My Enemies Are Men Like Me
In God We Trust
Please, Before I Go
Love Is Not Against The Law
*Not final song order

I can't wait. I will probably post more about it, perhaps in some type of review, in early January.

What kind of a name is Poon?

I remember seeing this when it first appeared on theonion.com. For some reason, I was reminded of it today and searched the archives. It still cracks me up. Reminds me of some friends of mine ... and myself as well.

The ghost of Laettner past

2005-12-05T07:15:00.000-06:00

It seems that every year I forget about a Duke game that's televised, and either miss it entirely or remember before it's over and see the end. Last night was such a night. I'd remembered all week, even reminding myself on Saturday, that Duke-Virginia Tech was on Fox Sports Sunday night at 7:00pm. But for some reason it completely slipped my mind yesterday.

I realized it late in the game and tuned in with just over 3 minutes left. Duke was up 74-63, and it looked like they had the game at this point. Then, Virigina Tech proceeded to score the next 12 points. Duke simply could not score. After a tip-in gave the Hokies a 75-74 lead with 1.6 seconds left, it appeared they'd won the game. Here's the lesson they learned: don't leave time on the clock.

Duke and Kentucky played what was arguably the greatest college basketball game in history on March 28, 1992, in the East Regional final. Kentucky's Sean Woods hit a ridiculous driving bank shot with 2.6 seconds left in overtime to put Kentucky ahead 103-102. So much was on the line. Kentucky, with their "unforgettables" who stayed through their dark years in the late-80's/early 90's, and a program on the way back with coach Rick Pitino. Duke, defending champions, trying to repeat, and trying to go to their 5th final four in a row and 6th in 7 years. And now, it looked like the king was dead, and Kentucky would make an improbable trip to the final four. Unfortunately for them, they left time on the clock, and Christian Laettner, receiving a long pass from Grant Hill, hit a turn-around jumper at the buzzer to keep the Duke dynasty alive.

Last night, Duke had 1 less second to work with when Josh McRoberts launched a pass from underneath the Virginia Tech basket with 1.6 seconds left. Sean Dockery received the pass at half court, took one dribble, and then launched a 40-footer that rattled in. Cameron erupted. The Virgina Tech players were crushed - they had the game and it was taken away. Duke wins 77-75 and remains undefeated and #1.

As I said, I didn't see the whole game, but according the articles, it appears Duke had an "off night", at least according to some sportswriters. Coach K summed it up this way:

"I feel very badly for Virginia Tech," Krzyzewski said. "They gave a winning effort. They never quit and they were certainly deserving to win. I'm not sure we were."

They need to get it together for Penn Wednesday night, and definitely for Texas this weekend.

UNC makes a statement

Looks like Carolina isn't dead yet. They have officially served notice that they're still a team to be reckoned with. Not much was expected of the Heels after losing their top 7 scorers from last seasons championship team, but the unranked Carolina team went to Rupp Arena Saturday and upset a Kentucky team that is ranked in the top 10. Of course, as usual, Kentucky is probably overrated, as they are every year.

Here's the thing about Kentucky: yes, they've had some great teams - that can't be argued - but they go on and on about how many wins they have over the years. They're almost always picked to win the SEC and therefore ranked high. But pretty much any decent basketball school could do that - they are the only basketball school in a FOOTBALL conference. I lived in Alabama for 4 years. Alabama's basketball team reached the top 5 in the rankings two different years while I was there, and people barely noticed. They were more concerned about what was going to happen the following fall when football season started again.

So, while Kentucky has racked up wins against basketball powerhouses like Tennessee, Auburn and Ole Miss over the years, Duke and Carolina have been winning just as many against each other, Wake Forest, NC State, Maryland, and the rest of the ACC. That's just a little more impressive to me.

The barbarian way

2005-12-01T12:48:00.000-06:00

Just finished reading The Barbarian Way : Unleash the Untamed Faith Within by Erwin McManus. Here's a section worth reading:

I wonder how many of us have actually had this conversation with God? "Abba, Father, Dad, would You purposefully put me in danger?" I think a lot of us haven't asked God that question because we went ahead and answered it for Him. Of course He wouldn't do that. We're his children. We're family. He wouldn't purposefully endanger us, not even to accomplish a higher or nobler purpose. Or would He? Maybe you should stop and ask Him. His answer might surprise you.

There is a barbarian revolt taking place, and its command center is the kingdom of God. Everywhere the kingdom of God advances, there is a violent engagement against the dark kingdom. To be born of God is to be made a citizen of the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is at war. Do not confuse the kingdom of God with Paradise. Salvation is not reentry into a Paradise Lost; it is enlistment in the mission of God.

Jesus is telling us in no uncertain terms that there is a battle raging. This is perhaps the most important reason why we must choose the barbarian way and resist any temptation to become civilized. Domesticated Christians are far too willing to abdicate the battle for the soul of the world. Civility focuses our energy on all the wrong places. We spend our lives emphasizing our personal development and spiritual well-being. We build churches that become nothing more than hiding places for the faithful while pretending our actions are for the good of the world. Or we choose political and secular vehicles to try to advance our cultural values, strangely attempting to make unbelieving people act like civilized believers.

In contrast Jesus calls us to a different way. He tells us this is a battle of kingdoms. He insists that if we are His followers, we must not live in a world defined only by the material. We cannot limit our sights to what is flesh and blood. We should know better than that. To see from a kingdom perspective is to know that there is a conflict of invisible kingdoms and that people's lives are forever changed by what happens in the unseen. We are called to be warriors of light in dark places. We are mystical warriors who use weapons not of this world.

Duke-Indiana

Duke continues to dominate the ACC-Big 10 challenge with a 75-67 win last night over Indiana in Bloomington, which is always a difficult place to win and a good test for the Blue Devils. This is the seventh year of the challenge, and Duke is now 7-0, and the only team from either conference who is still undefeated in challenge play. The Big 10, however, did make the challenge closer this year, with the ACC winning 6-5. In years past, they've played 9 games and the ACC usually wins something like 7-2 or maybe 6-3. This year, with the ACC expanded to 12 teams, they played 11 games but the ACC still topped the Big 10 again. Three of the games were close and could've also gone in the ACC's favor, with Carolina and Ga Tech, both having lost a number of players since last year, losing two of those games.

Hopefully, the win in Bloomington won't come back to haunt them like their ACC-Big 10 win last year did. They beat Michigan State last year, and then lost to the Spartans in the Sweet 16. Up next are Va Tech and Penn at home, following by the Dec 10 game with current #2 Texas in the Meadowlands in NJ, where Duke has only lost once. That should be the best preseason game this year, and also one of the best games of the regular season this year. We'll see.

Saw this today... I guess it was just a matter of time.

The changing of Jiggy Nye

2005-11-30T22:05:00.000-06:00

Last night was a night my daughter has been waiting anxiously for - the new American Girl movie, Felicity : An American Girl Adventure. She loves all things American Girl. She saved up last year and bought her first American Girl doll. And so we settled in last night after dinner to watch the movie on WB.

Felicity Merriman is an adventurous young girl living in the late 18th century, prior to the Revolutionary War, and part of the storyline involves Felicity's love of a particular wild horse that she wants to tame, whose owner is an angry and quite mean old tanner named Jiggy Nye. He treats the horse horribly, as well as other people, including Felicity and her friend. Later, when her father asks to buy the horse from the man (after Felicity was found riding him without permission), the old man tells him no and to keep his daughter away from his horse, or he will kill the horse. He was aware of her love for the horse, so he clearly said this in order to cause her great pain - and, of course, was successful.

Later on in the movie, while going with her father to visit a friend's father in prison, Felicity notices that Jiggy Nye is the man's cell mate. On their way home, she has the following discussion with her father:

Felicity: Father, the man in the cell with Mr. Cole... it was Jiggy Nye.

Mr. Merriman: So that's what became of him. I can't say that I'm surprised.

Felicity: He looks so helpless and old, like no one in the whole world cares for him. Isn't that sad?

Mr. Merriman: You feel pity for Jiggy Nye? I would think that you would hate that man. I was there when he screamed unspeakable things at you and threatened to kill your beloved [horse] Penny.

Felicity: But if I am filled with hate because of him, then I am no better than he is, am I?

Shortly after this, we see Felicity returning to the prison and requesting to see Mr. Nye. She enters his cell, places a basket of food and a blanket next to him, telling him she's brought him something to eat and something to keep him warm. She turns and leaves as the bewildered man sits in his cell, speechless, probably wondering why she would do something so kind for someone who'd treated her with such unkindness.

When I watched that scene, two passages came to mind:

You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48 (NIV)

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Matthew 25:37-40 (NIV)

Movies, regardless of the subject matter, often seem to provide opportunities to reflect on spiritual matters. Since this scene ended with a commercial break, I took those few minutes to talk to my daughter about it, and how Jesus talked about this very thing, with these verses in mind. I also had a chance to reflect on it myself and consider how I could do a better job not just talking to my daughter about it during movies, but showing it to her in my own life, and providing opportunities for her to do the same.

You have to expect a happy ending in a movie like this, and in the end, Jiggy Nye, now out of prison, comes to Felicity's aid and helps deliver the baby of the horse (which is now hers) around Christmas time. Her father comes along shortly thereafter and is surprised to see him there, inquiring what brought him there. Jiggy Nye then tells her father how his daughter has taught him a great lesson in kindness. Because of his daughter's actions towards him, he was a changed man.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16 (NIV)

The Christmas Prophet

Check out this post on Wade Hodges' blog. Definitely worth reading as Christmas in America rapidly approaches. What is foremost in your mind this season?

Time to read them again

2005-11-26T19:01:00.000-06:00

As you may have guessed, I love to read. I wish I had more time to read. If only sleep and/or work were not necessary, I could probably read a lot more. But since they are, then I do what I can.

Next year, I am planning to do something I've said I was going to do at various times in the past, and that is this: take some time to re-read some of my favorite books. Every time I read a book I really like, I often think "I'd like to read that again and take my time, trying to get everything out of it I can." Well, next year I hope to do just that. For some of them, I wanted to do this a long time ago, so I figure it's time to finally read them again.

Generally, every year, I make out a long list of books I want to read for the year (usually many more books than I'll actually have time to read). Then, as the year moves on, I add other books to that, often new books released during the year, or others that I've just discovered. In 2006, I'm probably going to do the same thing, but make two lists instead of one. I'll list out unread books that I hope to read, as usual. Then, I'll also create a list of maybe 8 or 10 books I hope to re-read this year and really spend some time in. Here are the books that I am currently considering (one of which I just read this year), and will likely trim down by a few books:

Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom

Your God is Too Safe - Mark Buchanan

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire - Jim Cymbala

Celebration of Discipline - Richard Foster

The Work of his Hands - Ken Gire

Windows of the Soul - Ken Gire

In The Grip of Grace - Max Lucado

The Ragamuffin Gospel - Brennan Manning

Seizing Your Divine Moment - Erwin McManus

Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller

Rich Mullins : An arrow pointing to heaven - James Bryan Smith

Sacred Parenting - Gary Thomas

The Jesus I Never Knew - Philip Yancey

What's So Amazing About Grace? - Philip Yancey

Along that note, I added my "year end" lists for books & music out here the other day. You can see the links in the right sidebar now under The Year In Books & Music. I started this in 1997, I think, sending it out by email each December, but long ago lost my lists for 1997-1999. So, what I still have is now available here.

Looking around on the Clinton library site I noticed his favorite books listed in his bio. I checked it to see if we had anything in common. I did notice two books on the list which I own, but have not yet read, so I guess there's a little similarity, but not much. By the way, the two books were:

The Imitation of Christ - Thomas à Kempis

Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 - Taylor Branch

I've had Imitation... for years, but never have gotten around to it, and probably still won't for a while. I do want to read Branch's book soon, so it may go on my first list next year.

Duke wins the NIT

2005-11-25T21:32:00.000-06:00

Duke managed to knock off Memphis in a close game for the NIT title tonight. I still worry a little about their offense, which seems to be out of sync at times. However, with such a mix of old and young players, it's going to take them a while. Paulus looked great playing the point tonight, and Shelden had a monster game. It didn't help to have DeMarcus Nelson, their most athletic player, out of the game with an injury against a very athletic Memphis team. Hopefully, Nelson won't be out too long. With games against Indiana, Penn, Texas and Bucknell coming up (not to mention the ACC schedule), they'll need all of their starters. Overall, I'm pleased with the way they played and the way the freshmen appear to be coming along. But I must ask - has anyone seen Lee Melchionni's shot lately?

Arkansas-LSU

Arkansas managed to come through with a big game against LSU today. Even though they lost by 2, most expected a blowout in Baton Rouge. They nearly sent Auburn to the SEC championship game, which is what would have happened had LSU lost. Instead, LSU goes and Auburn stays home. So, I guess something good came out of the loss.

Farewell

2005-11-23T21:33:00.000-06:00

In 1986, I bought a cassette tape that would, in a way, change my life. Maybe that's an overstatement, but it at least changed my music library, which is a big part of my life. I went to The Bible House bookstore in Searcy, Arkansas, during my sophomore year in college, and purchased the tape Back To The Street by a band called Petra.

I was new to the "Contemporary Christian Music" scene, this being only my second purchase (my first being The Big Picture by Michael W. Smith). Of course, "CCM" was nothing like it is today, or even like it would become in just a few more years. It has grown by leaps and bounds in both quality and popularity. But if you look at popular rock bands of the present day who've started (or still remain) in the CCM world - Audio Adrenaline, Third Day, Switchfoot, Kutless, Pillar, and many others - Petra is the one considered by most as having "started it all." They were the pioneers who made bands like these possible.

I wore out my copy of Back To The Street, then wore out a copy of Captured In Time and Space, a live album recorded prior to ...Street. The following year, This Means War! was released and I was officially a die-hard Petra fan. In the years to come, I would get the opportunity to see them live 4 times, starting in March of 1990 and the final time in August of 1992.

The classic Petra lineup for me - and the one I saw live 4 times - was the one of the late 80's and early 90's. John Schiltt (vocals), Bob Hartman (guitar), Ronnie Cates (bass), John Lawry (keyboards) and Louie Weaver (drums). That group of guys will always be Petra to me, even though I also have always loved Greg X. Volz's voice as well on the early stuff.

Since the early 90's, their music's popularity has faded, as newer (and much younger) bands have come along and taken over as the most popular CCM rock bands for periods of time. And they've not had any newer discs that reached the popularity of Beyond Belief (1990) or Unseen Power (1991). But they have continued to have a few gems here and there, including some pretty good praise music. And the recent Jekyll and Hyde disc a couple of years ago was their best since 1991.

Earlier this year, it was announced by founder Bob Hartman that the band would officially retire. They would be recording a live album (and DVD) to be released in late 2005 (early 2006 for the DVD). It would be titled Farewell and would contain performances not only by the current lineup, but include past members as well (which included John Lawry and Greg X. Volz).

It was released yesterday and it is really outstanding. Not necessarily in quality, but to get the opportunity to hear them live again brings back a lot of great memories. I still remember "He Came, He Saw, He Conquered" and "Mine Field" from a concert in Jackson, MS, and the the Beyond Belief tour in Nashville, TN, with "I Am On The Rock" opening up one of the best concerts I've ever seen. And I'll always remember "It Is Finished" in Hot Springs, AR, the last time I saw them.

As is always the case when a favorite band or artist retires and ceases to make new music, it makes me a little sad. But at the same time, there comes a time when you have to leave the stage, and Petra's time has come. They will stop doing what they've done for 33 years, but I'm certainly glad they did it for that long and that I could be a part of it.

Here's the track list:

All About Who You Know
Dance
Amazing Grace
Test Of Time
Creed
Right Place
Rock Medley: Sight Unseen/It Is Finished/Think Twice/I Am On The Rock/Midnight Oil/Mine Field/This Means War/It Is Finished (reprise)

Jekyll & Hyde
Acoustic Set: Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows/Road To Zion/More Power To Ya/For Annie/No Doubt/The Coloring Song/Love (featuring Greg X Volz)
Grave Robber
Keyboard Solo (featuring John Lawry)
Beyond Belief
Guitar Solo (featuring Bob Hartman)
He Came, He Saw, He Conquered

The Clinton library

2005-11-21T18:08:00.000-06:00

Just days after the 1-year anniversary of it's opening, I made my first visit to the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library today. It was not under the ideal of circumstances - namely, with the kids. My wife's family was in town and wanted to go. So everyone loaded up and went over to the east side (like the Jefferson's). We didn't spend as much time there as one should, because children quickly become bored in such a place. But we just wanted to get an idea of what it was like. We hope to go back soon "child-free".

It's a pretty fascinating place. I've never been to a presidential library before, but I enjoyed the hour and and a half I spent there, and look forward to returning. There was so much to look at, but several things stood out and drew my interest in my relatively quick walk-through.

Letters
There were many personal letters to and from President Clinton on display. Some a little more formal, some a little less. It was interesting reading through some of those.

Daily Schedules
It was fascinating to look at the daily schedules of the President. You could do so on touch-screens for any day of his presidency. It's really amazing what they do every day.

State Gifts
These were pretty neat. Various gifts given by foreign leaders and other people. Some cool looking swords and daggers, which were my favorites.

Oval Office
The "exact replica" of the Oval Office was neat, but I've got to say it seemed smaller than I would have imagined. It always looks bigger in TV shows and movies. Martin Sheen seems to have a lot more space than President Clinton did.

Childhood items
Various things from his childhood, including badges from cub scouts, school report cards and yearbooks, other photographs and at least one picture he'd drawn as a child.

Information!
So much information. So much to watch and read. That's why I want to go back - to look at and absorb more of these type of things.

So, it was a relatively quick visit (and at times distracting with children who were far less interested), but I look forward to returning.

Michigan State

In basketball news, so much for Michigan State. While they won this afternoon, The Sporting News' preseason #1 lost by 22 to Hawaii. Yes, Hawaii. Hopefully it had something to do with the long trip. That's pretty bad.

Vertigo

2005-11-20T22:06:00.000-06:00

I watched the new live DVD from U2, Vertigo 2005: Live from Chicago. It is great. I've not seen the other live DVD's they've released in recent years (or ever seen them live in person) so I don't know how it compares, but I thought it was great. They included most of the songs I'd have wanted to hear, although there were a few I might have added to the list. These guys are just the best, though. Great music, great show, great DVD. Check it out asap. Here's the track list:

1. City of Blinding Lights
2. Vertigo
3. Elevation
4. Cry/Electric Co.
5. An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart
6. Beautiful Day
7. New Year's Day
8. Miracle Drug
9. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
10. Love and Peace or Else
11. Sunday Bloody Sunday
12. Bullet The Blue Sky

13. Running To Standstill
14. Pride In The Name Of Love
15. Where The Streets Have No Name
16. One
17. Zoo Station
18. The Fly
19. Mysterious Ways
20. All Because Of You
21. Original Of The Species
22. Yahweh
23. 40

Vols

Normally, it would be great to see Tennessee lose. Even greater to see them lose to Vanderbilt. Or, say, lose and not be bowl eligible. But to have all of these things happen at once is just beyond what I could have hoped for. No matter what else happened, it was a great weekend of college football.

Jesus in my neighborhood

2005-11-17T18:35:00.000-06:00

There are times from our past that make us feel ashamed. Everyone has those things that they wish the could undo. In the long list of screw-ups that I'd like to erase from my past, this one is probably not exactly at the top, relatively speaking. But, it's one that, for some reason, has been on my mind recently. I don't even remember why I started thinking about it, what jogged my memory and caused me to remember this. But it's been there nevertheless.

There was a boy in my neighborhood when I was growing up who I never exactly treated the best I could have. I wasn't mean to him all of the time. In fact, most of the time we played together quite well, I suppose. But there were times when I treated him unkindly. I didn't even think I was at the time, but I was. He was younger than I was, and a little different than the rest of us. His family was a little different, having moved there from another part of the country. These differences were obvious to myself and other children in our neighborhood, and, being children, we often made him the object of our ridicule or the butt of our jokes. We all poked fun at each other, I suppose, but the glaring differences seemed to make it easier to direct such things towards him, and looking back, it was probably a little harsher when directed his way. Children do mean things sometimes - even good kids - but I know that behaving in such a way - if not immediately, then maybe thirty or so years later when you recall it - makes you feel remorse and regret. It just makes me sad. Sad that I behaved that way. Even more sad that he had to endure my unkindness and stupid behavior.

Now, having kids of my own, the thoughts of my shameful actions are even more painful. How do I feel when I see my daughter's hurt feelings over something another child has done or said to her at school or at play? How would I feel if some child acted like I did thirty years ago towards my own child? Here's how I'd feel: first, I'd feel compassion for my child. Even though I may have acted badly at times, I've also been on the receiving end, too. So I know both sides of the story. But, secondly, I'd be extremely angry. I would wonder why this evil child had dared to treat my beautiful daughter or son that way. What could this kid be thinking? Was he/she raised by wolves? I'd probably also question the intelligence and ability of his/her parents.

But I wasn't raised by wolves, and my parents are great parents who tried to teach me what was right and what was wrong, and how to treat people the right way. But hearing is the easy part. Doing is harder, and I didn't always do what I knew to be right. And when I didn't, someone's child suffered because of me.

Considering my own feelings as a parent in such a situation also made me think about Mary. What did Mary do that day in Jerusalem when they arrested her son, beat him, mocked him, spat on him, tortured him, and eventually, killed him? How did she contain herself? Did she react the way I would - with anger, trying to put a stop to what was happening, perhaps cursing those responsible? I doubt it. But I'm sure her pain was beyond my comprehension. There's the pain over seeing your child distressed over a schoolyard incident, and then there's the pain of seeing your child on a cross.

I mentioned Stuart Townend's song "How Deep The Father's Love" the other day. These lyrics came to mind today as I thought about this post:

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

Had Mary been reacting to "the scoffers" that day, she would have been reacting to people like me. This is what makes it more painful. Jesus said that the way we treat others is the way we're treating him. If I'm not treating others like I would treat Jesus, then I'm not really treating Jesus like Jesus, either, am I?

Maybe this is why that memory has been brought back to the front from some remote part of my mind. Maybe I'm supposed to remember this story so that I will not forget to teach my own children the importance of treating others like Jesus. Maybe it's because I'm failing to see Jesus in everyone I encounter today, thirty years later, and acting accordingly. What good is saying I follow Jesus if I don't act like it?

But it's not really about doing anyway. I said earlier hearing is the easy part, and doing is harder. But doing can be done without the heart being involved. There's another thing even harder than doing, and ultimately more important, and that's being. That comes from the heart. If I am going to treat others like I would treat Jesus, then it's going to involve being - being like Jesus. In being, the doing will follow.

He may not have been Jesus, but I should have treated him like he was.

In Christ Alone

2005-11-15T12:58:00.000-06:00

I mentioned Tim Lundy's message from Sunday morning. Also, along with that theme, we sang Stuart Townend's song "In Christ Alone." He has written a couple of my favorite songs in recent years - this one and "How Deep The Father's Love." I really love both of these songs. Here is an article about this song, and here are the lyrics:

In Christ Alone
Stuart Townend and Keith Getty

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

ABC's

2005-11-14T12:41:00.000-06:00

Yesterday at Fellowship Bible Church, where we are visiting, Tim Lundy was speaking and talked about Jesus being the Alpha and the Omega. He mentioned the "ABC song" - you know, the one you sung as a child to help you learn the English alphabet. "A, B, C, D, E, F, G...H, I, J, K, LMNOP...." and so on. He started singing without the A, instead starting with B. It just didn't flow and clearly sounded wrong. He also sang it by inserting A later in the song, and after you got to the A, everything started syncing up again like you expect.

The point was that Jesus (i.e. the Alpha, the "A") should be first in our lives. Nothing should come before him. And when he's not there, everything is out of sync. It's a simple lesson, that Jesus belongs at the top of our list of life priorities. It's easy to understand, and yet much more difficult to live.

Duke's season begins

Duke begins it's season tonight with their first game against Boston U in Cameron Indoor. I'm very anxious to see the new freshmen, particularly McRoberts and Paulus. It's on ESPN2 at 6:30pm (CST) tonight.

Also noticed this weekend that Bob Knight is only 26 wins, I believe, away from passing Dean Smith for most coaching wins. Bob should easily pass him by mid-season next year, at the latest. This is, of course, assuming he avoids getting fired before then, but I think he'll do it. This will be great for a couple of reason - one, I like Knight and would like to see him at the top (at least until Coach K can pass him several more years down the road); and two, because Dean Smith will no longer be first. That's something to look forward to.