Archive for 2008

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Obligatory Super Bowl Blog Entry

Feb

7

2008

As a blogger, I am required to post an entry about the recent Super Bowl. I was disappointed that the New England Patriots lost. I was rooting for them because Tom Brady went to the University of Michigan. Plus Eli Manning is Peyton’s brother, so he automatically ranks high on the annoying list. The game was too close for my comfort – I would rather the Patriots kept a decent lead instead of letting the lead change sides so much. I couldn’t watch the last few plays.

After the game, I heard Mitch Albom ask this question: “Would a neutral third-party be more likely to cheer for the underdog or for the perfect season?”

A lot of people like to go for the underdogs, which were the New York Giants in this case. Even though I am not a neutral party, I chose to answer the question for myself. I would choose to cheer for the perfect season, 19-0, for the reason that there will always be underdogs, always be a team that shouldn’t win, but there will rarely be a perfect team.

I opine that the Patriots lost because they were arrogant and the Giants won because they were confident. The difference between arrogance and confidence is, in this case, that confidence thinks it can win the game but arrogance thinks it has already won the game. The Giants knew they were capable of winning the game and so they played extra hard in order to do so. The Patriots knew they were favored to win the game and so they played with their standard effort.

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
– Luke 14:11

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Traverse City Zoo Rules

Jan

31

2008

A couple of summers ago, we went to the Traverse City Zoo.

Here is a picture, which makes clear how you are not to treat the animals.

Zoo Sign

It says, “Please do not aggravate, agitate, annoy, badger, besiege, bother, discombobulate , disturb, distract, disrupt, feed, grate, heckle, harass, harry, irk, molest, persecute, perturb, pester, plague, ruffle, tease, torment, touch, unsettle, upset, vex or worry the animals”

“For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine.”
– Psalm 50:10-11

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These Are the Days

Jan

30

2008

We have just gone through the saddest day of the year, the third Monday of January.
The theory is based on a number of factors, but one that I did not see in there was that January 21 was the day after the last football playoff game and people have realized that there is only one game of football left.

I don’t know what combination of factors affected me, but I did notice a downswing in my mood this last week. It started when I was watching The Jungle Book with my son. At the end of the movie is the song “My Own Home” sung by the girl from the village. As she was singing about how she is fetching the water and some day she’ll have a daughter who will fetch the water, I was remembering how I watched the movie when I was a child.

Now I have a child and he’s watching the movie, and some day he will have a child and that child will watch the same movie. That got me feeling old. Then the next day I heard most of “Summer of ’69” (Bryan Adams) on the radio, and a little while later I caught the end of “Glory Days” (Bruce Springsteen). Those two songs will get you feeling very sentimental, and they just added to the this-life-is-short feeling. I wasn’t feeling sad or depressed, just nostalgic.

The one song that is supposed to make you feel old is “Time” by Pink Floyd. It has the right words and does cause me to think about how time is flying, but it doesn’t have the same emotional quality as “Summer of ’69” or “Glory Days”. So although I didn’t hear “Time” last week, I think it wouldn’t have affected me much.

“Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.”
– Ecclesiastes 7:10

Posted in Life | 1 Comment »

Football Preferences

Jan

29

2008

The only sport I pay much attention is football. For my international readers, I mean American football. I mainly watch college football, although I will watch the NFL during the playoffs and Super Bowl. But during the regular season, I don’t watch much NFL. Match-ups and rivalries are more interesting in the college realm. Here is my list of teams against which I cheer:

Teams I Want to Lose

  1. Ohio State University – reason: I am a Michigan fan
  2. Nebraska – their sham 1997 season, with voters ranking them #1 in one poll as a retirement gift for Tom Osborne, detracted somewhat from Michigan’s national championship (Michigan did get that crystal football trophy).
  3. Florida State – they have bad sportsmanship, their band’s songs are annoying, and Bobby Bowden needs to stop winning so that Joe Paterno can have first place for number of wins.
  4. Tennessee – they tried to expand their stadium to make it the biggest in the country and take that distinction away from Michigan. Michigan has stayed ahead of them, but Tennessee’s impertinence has not gone unnoticed. Plus Tennessee is where Peyton Manning played, so it automatically ranks high on the annoyance list.

As a Michigan fan, I think I am supposed to root against Notre Dame and Michigan State. Of course, when they are playing Michigan, I will root against them. But when they are not playing Michigan, I usually cheer for them, because they need all the help they can get.

It has been annoying these last two years to see OSU get into the championship game, but it has been satisfying to see them lose and lose big in those games. I hope that the lesson will not be lost on the voters over the next few years that OSU should not be in the championship game. Let some other deserving team in the game. Yes, OSU can win the Big Ten conference, but what happens when they play a ranked non-conference opponent?

“Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb.”
– Psalm 37:1-2

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Peace Bears

Jan

28

2008

Last week, I read my copy of the Inspire (the alumni magazine for Cedarville College). I know that Cedarville likes to call itself Cedarville University these days, but to me it will always be Cedarville College.

One item that stood out to me was an article about Peace Bears. It is a sad but worthwhile story about an organization that gives teddy bears in memory of stillborn children. That way the parents have a memento and an outlet for their grief. And, as the website says, it allows them to take something home rather than leave with empty arms.
I think the reason I noticed the article was because of the photographer we had take our family picture last summer. She was involved in Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, an organization that provides infant bereavement photography. It was one of those things that I had never even considered before – what to do when your child dies.

“and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
– Revelation 21:4

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Cedar Point was Right

Jan

27

2008

My wife had called me from the grocery store after this incident this past summer, and I am relaying it to you now.

My wife was grocery shopping with our two sons who were 1 and 3 at the time. They were having a hard time behaving and they were touching everything they could and were grabbing things off the shelves. My wife kept telling them to sit still and to keep their hands inside the cart.

After one such admonition, a man came around the end of the aisle and looked right at the boys. “Listen to your mother,” he said. “Look at me – I didn’t keep my hands inside the cart.” And he was missing one arm! Remember this was in summer and he was wearing a T-shirt, so it was obvious to even a toddler that something bad had happened to this man’s arm.

The man went on his way and they never saw him again. My wife continued her shopping, and the boys did not move for the next five minutes.

“My son, observe the commandment of your father And do not forsake the teaching of your mother”
– Proverbs 6:20

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Creatively-Titled First Post

Jan

26

2008

I have entered the blogosphere. Better late than never. I just never had a reason to start a blog before. I don’t know that I really have a reason now. I still have not visited MySpace, and that’s an accomplishment I plan on keeping intact. Just like I refuse to learn how to play Euchre.

All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell {it.} The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing.

Ecclesiastes 1:8 NASB

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