Archive for the 'sports' Category

Monday, March 20

Published
by
Mike
on March 20, 2006
in General and sports
. 9 Comments

We finally made it home last night. American Eagle cancelled our flight from DFW to Abilene, but then they told us the good news: they could guarantee us seats on the next available flight–which would be Tuesday. Apparently everything else on Sunday and Monday was sold out. So we rented a car and drove back.

Chris and I are keeping the brackets, and we count ten upsets (defined as a team beating someone at least five rankings higher) so far:

A&M (12) over Syracuse (5)
Northwestern State (14) over Iowa (3)
Bradley (13) over Kansas (4)
George Mason (11) over Michigan State (6)
Montana (12) over Nevada (5)
UW-Mil (11) over Oklahoma (6)
Georgetown (7) over Ohio State (2)
Bradley (13) over Pittsburgh (5)
George Mason (11) over UNC (3)
Wichita State (7) over Tennessee (2)

So we’re down to 16 teams with two 7s (Wichita State and Georgetown), an 11 (George Mason), and a 13 (Bradley). Love it.

Tulsa workshop this weekend. Lots of preparation left to do!

Final Four Picks

Published
by
Mike
on March 16, 2006
in General and sports
. 59 Comments

No money. (wink, wink)

But leave your picks here. Put the team you think will win first, the team you think they’ll play in the final game second, and the other two final four teams after that.

Like this (my picks): DUKE, UConn, UCLA, Ohio State

Running

Published
by
Mike
on February 17, 2006
in sports
. 34 Comments

I’ve always been a runner.

I’ve enjoyed both jogging with friends (thousands of miles with Leon in the Searcy days) and training alone in early morning hours. I’ve had fun with 5Ks, 10Ks, and marathons. All right, “fun” is a bit too strong a word for the marathons. But the overall experiences were fun. (Who wouldn’t like running 26 miles through all five boroughs of NYC?)

One year I set these goals: to run under a 19-minute 5K, under a 39-minute 10K, and under a 3:15 marathon to quality for Boston–all goals which I barely met (18:58, 38:18, and 3:14:53).

But for now my calves are goofed up a bit. I think that’s the official medical designation. So I climb stairs at the health club, play hoops with Chris, hike when I’m around mountains, and ride my bike. In other words, for the time being I’m not a runner.

But that’s hard to say. Because I’ve always been a runner.

Does that happen a lot as you age? Are there things that get left behind that were part of your self-identity?

Maybe that’s why our most central identity needs to be connected with being a Christ-follower. Age can’t take that away. In fact, in many ways age enhances it.

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This Sunday I’ve come to a text that still shocks me: Matthew 5:43-48. I so want to domesticate this text, to soften its blow, to make it fit our world better. It’s too outrageous. (By the way, Chris and I just went to see “End of the Spear,” where the text is lived out.)

Can’t wait to have Zoe join us Sunday morning as I paddle in water over my head with these words of Jesus.

Saturday, January 21

Published
by
Mike
on January 21, 2006
in General and sports
. 8 Comments

What a treat to be at the Fresno Zoe Conference — especially since I had to cancel at the last minute last year because we were at Cook’s Children’s hospital following the wreck. These are incredible folks here at College Church who host the conference each January.

When I agreed to come, I didn’t know this would be the weekend of the 7th grade “A” team tournament. Apparently last night I missed seeing Chris, our point guard, make a 3-point shot just before the buzzer to send us into OT against Clack. We won in double OT and play at noon today (presumably against Mann Middle School) for the championship. I can’t believe I wasn’t there for that moment. I haven’t missed many big sports moments with the boys, but this was one.

Nevertheless, no one in my family resents my being here. We love the Zoe ministry, and I’m glad to be in Fresno.

Just wish ESPN 2 would carry that 7th grade championship game at noon!

Hook Em Horns!

Published
by
Mike
on January 5, 2006
in memories and sports
. 24 Comments

I was a campus baby while my parents attended the University of Texas. Whoever didn’t have a class was my babysitter. And apparently one of my first phrases to speak was HOOK EM HORNS.

I was introduced to the biblical concept of “alien and stranger” by being a UT fan while growing up just an hour from the University of Arkansas campus. Every fourth year when the UT/UA game was played in Fayetteville (the Arkansas home games alternated between Fayetteville and Little Rock), our family dressed up in orange and attended, finding our place in the sea of red. We were there for the game of the century in 1969–despite the fact that President Nixon took our tickets.

(The full story is that when the President decided to attend, they had to take some tickets from around the stadium for security and ours were chosen. Hmmmm. Did they know we’d be wearing orange? But my dad snagged some last-minute tickets from another source.)

So . . . this was a big night. The first national title for the Longhorns since 1970. And does anyone doubt what I’ve been writing about Vince Young? He was 30-for-40 in passing for over 250 yards. That’s a good night for a QB. But what sets him apart is that he rushed for 200 yards. That was the difference.

Hook em horns!!

Monday Night Football

Published
by
Mike
on December 27, 2005
in General and sports
. 4 Comments

It’s not so much that I actually stayed up and WATCHED all those ABC Monday Night Football games. But I did watch the first hour or so of a bunch of them. Then the voices of Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, Al Michaels, and Frank Gifford lulled me to sleep. Nothing like sleeping on the floor with a good game in the background.

It was a good three-and-a-half-decade run.

Now it’s on ESPN, probably an inevitable transition in the age of five zillion cable stations.

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Yesterday I got to whisk three little nieces (ages 5, 6 [the one from Vietnam], and 12) and my youngest female first cousin (age 14) around in a golf cart. What a blast! Missouri reunions don’t come often enough.

Religious (?) Bookstores

Published
by
Mike
on November 8, 2005
in justice, missional and sports
. 40 Comments

There’s a wonderful piece by Tom Smith in Relevantmagazine.com. It begins . . .

I love experiments. A few years ago I wore my Jabez T-shirt in Colorado Springs. It said, “I prayed the prayer of Jabez for thirty days and the only thing I got was this lousy shirt.” The reactions I got were truly amazing. Some people were furious while others thanked me.

A few weeks ago I embarked on another one of my ventures. The laboratory I chose was the local Christian bookstores in Johannesburg, South Africa. The experiment was really simple; I would browse the store in search of books on helping the poor and fighting AIDS. After I saw a million, ‘Here’s how to use Jesus to make you more successful’ titles, I would then ask the sales clerk or manager if they stock books about helping the hurting and helpless.

The first store’s clerk looked confused when I asked the question, and the manager intervened and said, “If you find a book on the subject you should immediately buy it.”

Two days later I took my science to a bookstore in another mall. I walked in with one of my seventeen year old friends, who happened to be someone who was on the receiving end of apartheid. I asked the clerk if they had books on poverty or AIDS. Nothing could have prepared me for the answer she gave me.

“No sir, this is a religious bookstore. I think you should try the secular bookstore around the corner.”

In utter shock I asked her if she didn’t think that helping the poor or sick had anything to do with religion. I only got a blank stare. Now it’s easy to harp on this poor girl but to tell you the truth, if you asked me the same question a few years ago, I probably would have had the same confused look, and I’m a pastor! I often wonder why I never made the link between my relationship with Christ and my responsibility towards people who suffer and are poor.

To read more, you can find the full article here.

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“The one principle of Hell is — ‘I am my own.’” - George MacDonald

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Yes, that’s right. I said it in this morning’s post: Joe Montana is the greatest QB ever to play the game. A few years from now, I expect that to be edited to Peyton Manning (who stars in some of my favorite commercials on TV).

Astros Battle for Win?

Published
by
Mike
on October 26, 2005
in Baseball, General and sports
. 20 Comments

ASTROS BATTLE FOR SERIES WIN. So reads the big, bold headlines at the top of the Abilene Reporter-News sports page today. Great headline. How we wish it were true!

The first World Series game ever in Texas was, of course, BIG. There were 482 — yes, 482! — pitches in the game from 17 pitchers. The game was nearly six hours long. Geoff Blum, the guy who hit the game-winner homer in the 14th for the White Sox, hadn’t had an at-bat in 21 days and hadn’t driven in a single run in 56 days.

After three of my four favorite teams made it into the Championship Series (Cards, Angels, Astros), the ‘Stros are now down, 3-0.

Having said all that, I’ll take your average little league game–with $2 burgers, outfielders stomping ants rather than watching the batter, and a free snow cone to anyone who chases down a foul ball–any day.

Monday, October 24

Published
by
Mike
on October 24, 2005
in General and sports
. 15 Comments

I walked into the Clyde Church of Christ Friday to do a funeral for Jack Farmer with a sense of deja vu. It looked almost exactly like the church building my grandpa had built in Missouri. Same colors, same pews, same classrooms down the side, same baptistry, same track rack in the foyer.

Since I didn’t know Jack well, I had no idea how many people would come. But it was amazing. Probably 500 people crammed into that auditorium. They knew for whom the bell tolled.

Jack and Betty had spent all 57 years of their married life in Eula, Texas on one piece of land. They moved once: ten feet. But for 57 years they raised their kids, nurtured their grandkids, loved and served their community.

When you study church history, get read about people who preached sermons, wrote books, and had broad influence.

But this is real church history, isn’t it? One man (and woman) being the salt of the earth and the light of the world through quiet, faith-filled lives.

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There must be some marketing genius at ACU. The students get one day — ONE DAY! — off, and it’s called “fall break.” But by listening to students, you’d think that they had a whole week off. “I’m tired, but I’m just trying to make it to fall break.” Are you kidding me? It’s one day off! But, hey, if it works . . . .

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Come on, Astros. And congrats to the Cowboys on beating the Seahawks for 3.99 quarters. It’s that .01 that’ll get you, though.

(Don’t) Walk Pujols

Published
by
Mike
on October 18, 2005
in politics and sports
. 31 Comments

Early in the game, the Fox cameras zoomed in on a sign from an Astros fan that said simply: WALK PUJOLS.

Had they listened, the Astros would be resting up for the Series. Now they’re headed back to St. Louis, staving off the demolition of Busch Stadium a bit longer. Baseball’s greatest hitter popped a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning for a 5-4 win.

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Someone told me this week that he’d read an article about how men, while often conversationally challenged, often have an advantage in starting conversations. Since most guys like sports (though certainly not all), men can walk into a room full of strangers and count on a default conversation about sports. Even if it’s about a sport you don’t get (NASCAR), you understand the passion. Women, on the other hand, have to search for a topic that works. Is that right? (And if it’s right, why do you often see women so deeply engaged in conversations while guys are checking their watches?)

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Did others read the stuff that George Will has written about Harriet Miers? It was brutal. I would think after a few blasts from the left and lots of blasts from the right she’d be thinking, “It can’t be worth this.”