Power 12: The Halloween Edition

1.) Ohio State -- Kicking butt & taking names.

2.) Michigan -- Could get bumped if West Virginia looks impressive enough against Louisville.

3.) West Virginia -- It's all or nothing for the Mountaineers this Thursday.

4.) Texas -- Had a scare Saturday. Forgot to show up in the 1st quarter, putting themselves in a 3-touchdown hole. Came back & took care of business.

5.) Auburn -- They are here by default. None of the one-loss teams are really impressive right now. There is a huge drop off from 3 to 4.

6.) Florida -- Put on their disappearing act again, this time against hapless Georgia. They were lucky to win.

7.) Notre Dame -- Would be disappointed if they don't win out.

8.) Tennessee -- Rocky Top rolled through Carolina. Now the Bengal Tigers come to town.

9.) Southern Cal -- Can I say it? I TOLD YOU SO! Trojans stink. I'm keeping them where I've been rating them the last several weeks.

10.) LSU -- Another big game this Saturday. Will they once again come up small?

11.) Wisconsin -- Survived against the fighting Zook's.

12.) Boston College -- Owns victories over both coaching Bowden's this season.

Dropped Out: Clemson -- Horrible showing on ESPN Thursday. Classic let-down game after beating Georgia Tech at home with ESPN Gameday in the house, they go on the road to Blacksburg, VA & lay an egg. High octane offense, but not yet a mature team.

Chasing Rabbits

My friend Matthew asked with a recent blog of his, "What rabbits have you chased lately?" There are subtle threads woven throughout the fabric of scripture that are fun to follow if you are deliberate about following them. So, faithful blog readers, for your obscure Bible passage(s) of the week: rabbit chasing.

One came up tonight in Bible Study. In the adult class on Wednesday nights at the Lynn Haven Church of Christ, we are studying Acts. Tonight ... end of Acts 4 & beginning of Acts 5. Barnabas & Ananias and Sapphira. I love how "the folks" tiptoed around giving -- "well of course this means we aren't supposed to give EVERYTHING away." Fun stuff.

Anyway, Ananias & Sapphira can be a disturbing story that is difficult to understand. But something clicked with me tonight as I read it. One of the themes that Luke develops in Acts is that of Giving God Glory. Luke very carefully shows that one of the greatest sins is that of failing to give God his due.

This is why Herod was killed in Acts 12. Herod spoke, and the people cried out, "The voice of a god and not of a man! ²³And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died." Herod should have deflected and not accepted such praise. How interesting that God killed this man for a sin of omission.

And then, soon after this, we have the story of Paul & Barnabas in Lystra in Acts 14. Paul heals a man. So we pick up in verse 12. "¹²And they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. [...] ¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the Heaven and the Earth and the sea and all that is in them." Their response was the proper one. They gave glory to God. And so the worms were held at bay.

So what does Ananias & Sapphira have to due with giving God glory? Well, you know how we have figures of speech in language? It clicked with me & I remembered that Jews had a figure of speech about giving God glory. Dr. Ken Neller taught it to me in my 3rd semester Greek Readings class at Harding. It occurs twice in Scripture:

John 9:24. The man who was born blind was healed by Jesus & being brought before a council of Pharisees. '²⁴ So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give glory to God; we know that this man (Jesus) is a sinner."' What they are saying is this: "Come clean. Tell us the truth. What really happened to you?" But the figure of speech isn't "Come Clean," it is "Give Glory to God."

Joshua 7:19. Achan has sinned, and Joshua is trying to discover the truth. ¹⁹ Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I implore you, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me." Joshua isn't saying, "Go sing some songs to God, and then come tell me the truth." With there being so much repetition in this text, it's like Joshua is channeling Tom Cruise: "I WANT THE TRUTH!"

So, back to Ananias & Sapphira. What was their sin? It isn't that they didn't give all they earned from the selling of their land. It was lying about it. And by lying, they were not giving God his due glory. I have little doubt that this figure of speech was in Luke's mind when he wrote this down, and that "Theophilus" was able to pick up on it while reading this story.

So there you go. Give glory to God and you'll avoid being food for worms.

I pity the poor soul whose wife reads this blog. "Honey, give glory to God: does this make me look fat?"

Something Frivolous, brought to you by YouTube

YouTube is becoming one of my favorite web sites. Anyways, you might have already seen this music video. But if you haven't, this is fun! :)

I especially enjoy watching the "big-boned" fellow with the pink shirt, buttoned-up sweater vest, white shoes, black-rimmed glasses, bald head, and obscenely big sideburns. He seems to be having the most fun of all four of those guys.

Enjoy!

Power 12: The Birthday Edition

1. Ohio State -- blah blah blah. They are the best.

2. Michigan -- Slept a little through their game against Iowa, but made it look quasi-impressive on the scoreboard in the end. On a collision course with the Buckeyes.

3. West Virginia -- Rich Rodriguez, the man who used to make Tommy Bowden look like a genious, continues to put the best offense in college football on the field.

4. Texas -- Gutted one out on the road against a surprisingly tough Nebraska team.

5. Clemson -- This is a GOOD football team. They could beat Auburn. Big test this week -- they have a short week to prepare for a Thursday game against Virginia Tech.

6. Auburn -- Best of the SEC right now.

7. Florida -- Could wipe the floor with Georgia this Saturday in Jax.

8. Notre Dame -- Continues to struggle with bad teams. They won't earn points in the Power 12 for that.

9. Southern Cal -- Like the Irish, they've struggled with BAD football teams.

10. Tennessee -- Alabama proved that Erik Ainge can be rattled & that the Tennessee offense can be significantly slowed down. Defense is average, which apparently is plenty good enough to shut down 'Bama. Sad state of affairs for my Tide ...

11. LSU -- They've played six opponents at home and outscored them 274-36.

12. Wisconsin -- Earn their way into the Power 12 by playing well week in & week out. Their one loss was to #2 Michigan.

Dropped out: Louisville -- Not a good football team the last two weeks. Victory over Miami looks less impressive week after week.

October Magic

By a large margin, my favorite month of the calendar year is October. There are a variety of reasons why. For firsts, it is when humidity disappears and the air turns cooler. It gives you an instant natural high just to step outside & take a breath of air. Also, in October, it is my birthday, meaning I usually get free stuff. For you, my precious blog readers, there is still time. My birthday is Monday the 23rd. So get crackin'! And, as well, October is one of the greatest months of college football. You have border-war matchups like Oklahoma-Texas, Florida-Georgia, and Alabama-Tennessee. The season is in full swing, teams are playing at their best, and it is this month that separates the contenders from the pretenders.

And as singularly great as each one of those are, my favorite thing about this month is October baseball. There is nothing more edge-of-your-seat, pump-your-fist, yell-out-loud exciting than a playoff baseball game. There are are rivals, to be sure: back-nine of the Masters, college football rivalry games, March Madness. But for my money, it's October baseball.

Some may say that better athletes play football & basketball; I say that there is no more difficult task in all of sports than hitting a baseball off of a major league pitcher. Some may say that the games are slow; I say that it's just that the drama is building. And some may say that other sports are just more exciting; I say that no other sport produces the kind of "magic" that baseball produces.

Come on! I couldn't talk baseball and not mention this guy!

October makes great players, like Kirby Puckett and Joe Carter, into legends. Beyond heroes. Legends. It was one October a couple years ago that David Ortiz became more than that big oaf who hit homeruns -- he became "Big Papi." It was in the Fall Classic that Reggie Jackson became even more than "Reggie" -- he became "Mr. October."

It's in October that old pitchers can sometimes dig way down deep & recapture that old greatness, like Jack Morris in his 10 shutout innings in Game 7 of the '91 Series. It's also in October that young flamethrowers emerge, like when Josh Beckett silenced Yankee bats in Yankee Stadium in the 2003 World Series.

October is when Kirk Gibson limped into history. Off of one of the greatest closers of all-time, no less: Dennis Eckersley. It's when Curt Schilling pulled off a real-life Roy Hobbs-like performance -- blood seaping through the uniform and all. Only Schilling's performance lasted batter after batter after excruciating batter. And not just once, but TWICE: against the Yankees AND against the Cardinals.

You can't write these scripts. The Red Sox coming back from an 0-3 deficit in a 7 game Series ... after losing game three 19-8 ... forcing not just one, but TWO Mariano Rivera blown saves. Give me a break. Right? The wrinkled old washed-out, burned-out manager returning to coach a group of underachievers, "has-been's," & "never-will-be's" with a franchise that lost a league-record 119 games just a few seasons ago. THEY put the pieces together for a World Series run? You can't make this stuff up.

It's a month that makes life-long memories with unfamiliar names. Names like Bill Mazeroski, Francisco Cabrera, Luis Gonzalez, and Aaron-Bleeping-Boone. It's a month that makes goats out of Mitch Williams & Bill Buckner. The Fall Classic has intimately intersected with some of our nation's tragedies. The Giants and Athletics played in the midst of a devastating Bay Area earthquake in '89. The Yankees brought life to a city that had felt lifeless after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Yankee Killer Luis Gonzalez

And if there is an unpredictable sport out there, Major League Baseball is it. This October we will crown the seventh different franchise "World Series Champion" in the last seven years. And of all the teams to make the Series ... the Tigers & the Cardinals? If you had put money on this Series pairing three weeks ago, you could have made a bunch of money. Detroit, who led the AL Central ALL season, limped down the stretch, sacrificing their pennant and earning a playoff spot only by sake of the wildcard. And the Cardinals lost 7 games in a row in one stretch in the last 2 weeks of the season. They very nearly missed the playoffs entirely! And now they find themselves on the greatest stage in sports.

We have already seen a little playoff magic already. Kenny Rogers has rejuvenated his reputation entirely. After 2005, you could have stuck a fork in this guy. Who would want HIM? He is notoriously undependable. He always fades down the stretch, when you need a pitcher most in a pennant race. And he has always flopped in the playoffs, never more famously than in this moment in the 1999 NLCS. Not only that, but he seemed to prove himself nothing more than a hot-head jerk when he assaulted a hometown cameraman in 2005 with Texas. But NOW, Kenny Rogers is capturing the imagination of the baseball world. With every nail-biting pitch against New York & Oakland, you were hoping for just one more strikout. One more chance to see Kenny pump his fist and slap his glove. Will Kenny find more magic this coming week?

And what about Jeff Weaver? Talk about a come-back story! The journey-man head-case, errr, pitcher. The Los Angeles Angels basically dropped him from their roster this season. And now he is one of the Cardinals' most dependable starting pitchers headed into the World Series? It's gotta be that October Magic ...

We've seen Magglio Ordonez live the dream of every young baseball player. "Two outs. Bottom of the 9th inning. He connects ... ... long fly ball ... deep left field ... and ... it's ... OUTTA HERE! Three run homerun, and the Tigers are going to the World Series!" Ordonez is so happy when he sees his first-base coach it's almost as if he momentarily forgot that he had to round the bases. The guy on second, Placido Polanco, doesn't just trot home; he SKIPS home, like an exuberant little kid.

And that's really the point. October baseball can make you feel like a little kid again. "It's as if you've dipped yourself in magic waters," and you believe that the impossible CAN really, actually happen. When the world beats you down, the humidity wears you down, & you feel like you're just about to turn completely cynical, October baseball arrives and lets you believe in magic again.

Will Jim Edmonds recapture the Magic?

Can the Detroit Tigers consummate their magical run? Or will Scott Rolen, or Jim Edmonds, or any other of the wounded Cardinals capture lightning in a bottle & become the next Kirk Gibson? Will Albert Pujols become a legend? Or will the next Francisco Cabrera step into the up to the plate and shock the world? Will Kenny Rogers continue channelling Jack Morris? Will Justin Verlander become the next Josh Beckett? Or will it be young Cardinal Anthony Reyes who shocks the world with his young arm? Will Tony La Russa shrug off the image of being just a great regular season manager and finally add another World Series title to his resume? Or will Jim Leyland complete his redemption story? Who knows! But I can't wait to find out what that October Magic has in store for us this week.

Spread It Out Before the Lord

In Isaiah 36, we come to learn that Jerusalem is in trouble. Assyria has already invaded & conquered the Northern Kingdom. And now they have Jerusalem in their cross-hairs. Sennacherib, King of Assyria, has commissioned one of his Generals to go and deliver Jerusalem to him.

The Assyrians threaten the Israelites with their strength and make seemingly-logical arguments for why they should surrender. Finally, entering chapter 37, they send a letter to Judah's King, Hezekiah, insulting his God & threatening his future. And then, this:

¹⁴Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. ¹⁵Hezekiah prayed to the LORD [...]

I really don't have a sermon to preach tonight. Just admiration of Hezekiah's act. I love that image: the connection of the physical letter & the spiritual God. I love that example: without hesitation, he took his needs to his God.

And I love the ending. You should check it out. I'm not going to spoil it for you. Start in Chapter 36, and see what happens when you take your troubles & spread them out before the Lord.

THIS is Alabama Football: The Running Diary

Bill Simmons, ESPN's "The Sports Guy," often keeps running diaries of significant sports events & posts them on ESPN.com. And since apparently none of my blog ideas are original (because I "copied" Bob, who invented the incredibly fresh idea of ranking college football teams!), I decided to give all of you a peak into what a Saturday afternoon is like as an Alabama football fan. I warn you. It's not pretty.

So, without further ado, my running diary of this past Saturday's Alabama-Ole Miss game.

2:30 PM (Central Time) -- OK! And welcome to the diary. Alabama is favored by 15 today, which of course means we will play down to the level of our opponent, make a slew of mistakes, and win by a field goal. Let's get it on!

2:33 -- CBS just finished a nice montage highlighting the football history and tradition of Alabama and Ole Miss. The actual subliminal message of desperation was this: "Sure, these teams suck this year. But they used to be good! Please don't change the channel!!!"

Also, besides the Archie & Eli Manning, does anyone know anything about Ole Miss football tradition? Tradition of what? Losing?

2:36 -- I always sort of thought the funniest multiple-name in sports was that of Phoenix Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni (three first names ... Mike. Dan. Tony.). However, he may have been eclipsed by Ole Miss Rebels' running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Two first names. Two last names. Were his parents unable to settle on a name & decided to just compromise?

2:38 -- 3 and out Ole Miss. Lately, freshman linebacker Prince Hall has been out of position & chasing running backs from behind. Here on third down, he stuffed a running play on 3rd & short. Good sign.

2:40 -- DJ Hall catches a short curl out, turns it back toward the middle, heads up-field untouched, and ... TOUCHDOWN ALABAMA. 39 yards. This might be an easier day than I first thought.

2:46 -- Ole Miss QB Brent Schaeffer just scrambled for a first down (after a couple missed tackles), and Alabama safety Rashad Johnson slung him to the ground about two yards out of bounds resulting in an additional 15 yards for Ole Miss. Just when it appears that we're about to put our foot on any opponents' throat this season, this team has an uncanny knack for letting them right back in the game.

No wonder I chew my fingernails.

2:52 -- Touchdown Ole Miss. This is an offense averaging 118 yards per game, and they just drove all the way down the field on us for a score. There are no words ...

2:54 -- Not sure I care for this new wave of Vonage commercials. Just thought you'd like to know ...

2:59 -- Alabama drives to midfield, stalls, and is forced to punt. I should say fortunate to punt. Alabama QB John Parker Wilson nearly threw two interceptions on successive plays. You know, sometimes this kid looks like Tom Brady, and other times he looks like an underclassman first-year college starter.

3:05 -- CBS just showed former Alabama quarterback Scott Hunter describe the 1969 Alabama-Ole Miss game. He and Archie Manning combined for over 700 yards passing as Alabama squeaked out a victory in a shootout. Here is Hunter:

"After the game was over with, I was looking for Archie and I found him. And he had tears in his eyes. I didn't even know what to say. I reached out, shook his hand, and he looked me in the eye and I looked him in the eye. We didn't have to say a thing to each other. We just knew what we'd had ... together ... that night."

My sister Katie: "That sounded sort of homo."

3:09 -- An update from College Station. Missouri 7, Texas A&M 3. Hold the rope, Aggies!

3:10 -- 3rd & 15. John Parker scrambles and finds Will Oakley for a first down. There's Tom Brady.

3:14 -- Katie: "Ole Miss' coach has man-boobs."

3:20 -- The announcers just let us know that Alabama has only 9 touchdowns in a conference-leading 28 trips to the redzone. Thanks CBS.

3:21 -- Alabama is forced to settle for three points. Really, CBS. Thanks for that.

The View at Alabama is Spectacular.

3:24 -- Ahhhhhhhh ... The Houndstooth Twins. Thanks for THAT, CBS. Really! Thank you.

3:32 -- Fran and A&M are still losing. Despite the fact that Ole Miss seems to be running at will on our defense right now, Alabama fans everywhere are high-fiving.

3:41 -- Brent Shaeffer's numbers for the season entering today: 55 completions. 122 attempts. 8 interceptions.

Today: 7 completions. 10 attempts. 0 interceptions.

The lesson, as always: We suck.

3:43 -- For those of you who don't know, Alabama has a field goal kicker, Jamie Christensen, whose nickname is "Money." He hit three game-winning field goals last season. He has plenty of leg strength.

So, of course, when faced with 4th down & longer than a yard at the 27 yard-line, Shula decides to go for it. Mr. Hyde, errr, John Parker Wilson overthrows the tight end.

File that one away for later. Score is 10-10.

3:44 -- Awkward exchange:

Katie: "Wow, that Ole Miss guy just got hammered by a white guy!"

Me: "He's black."

Katie: "Number 20?"

Me: "Marcus Carter. He's like a light brown, but he's black."

3:55 -- For the second straight week, Alabama goes to halftime trailing one of the worst teams in the nation. Rebels kick a FG. 13-10, Ole Miss. I'm gonna go bang my head on the wall for 20 minutes.

3:59 -- The BEST commercial on TV these days is the Yellow Wood commercial with Gene Stallings. I'm surprised it hasn't shown up on YouTube yet. When it does, I'll let you know.

4:13 -- Back from halftime. CBS does another "Tradition" montage.

"Please-Please-Please don't change the channel! Why didn't we get the Auburn-Florida game?"

4:17 -- Ruby Tuesday is about to change your perception of what a burger can be.

Nope. Pretty much what I expected.

4:25 -- I'll be honest. I'm bored. I look forward all year to Alabama football, and this game is boring. Both of these teams just aren't good. We suck. They suck. And it is boring the snot out of me.

4:30 -- How bad is Alabama playing today? 3rd & 25.

4:31 -- And there's Dr. Jekyll. John Parker Wilson completes a pass to DJ Hall for 36 yards. First Down Alabama.

4:37 -- Another Alabama trip to the redzone. Another field goal. For anyone keeping track, that's 30 trips to the redzone on the season & only 9 touchdowns. At least we're not losing to Ole Miss anymore.

4:40 -- OK, Alabama is +8 in turnovers for the season. Ole Miss is -3. No turnovers for either team yet in this game. As bad as Schaeffer has been this season, something's gotta happen here soon!

(Editor's Note: And the game ended with 0 turnovers for either side. Turns out I don't have ESP.)

4:46 -- Missouri just scored a safety against Texas A&M. Missouri now winning by 2. Alabama fans everywhere smile in glee.

4:47 -- Alabama running back Kenneth Darby just broke off a 35-yard run. Alabama's longest run from scrimmage this season is no longer held by a quarterback. Nice of #34 to finally show up this season.

4:53 -- Still bored. To the bulletin boards! Here's a post from BamaOnLine:

"This game is like two girls fighting in the back yard."

4:58 -- TOUCHDOWN 'Bama. 10:32 left in the game. That's the equivalent of a deep four-finger scratch down the other girl's back, right? Not a knockout punch, but pretty hard to recover from that.

Would you want to meet this guy in a dark alley?

5:03 -- Katie: "Jamie Christensen has freaky looking eyes."

She's right! Something about him almost looks thuggish.

5:07 -- Three and Out! Defense holds. Nice of you to show up, defense.

5:08 -- FAKE! Ole Miss lines up in punt formation, the punter throws out to a guy in the flat, and he barely gets the first down. Ballsy call by the guy with man boobs. I feel sick.

5:09 -- Touchdown Ole Miss. Long touchdown pass by Brent Schaeffer. And the other girl scratches back. It's times like this that I question why I invest so much passion into such a fivolous, meaningless hobby.

5:11 -- I may be in the minority here, but I enjoy the Sonic commercials with the people sitting in the car. Good stuff.

5:14 -- Ole Miss almost picked off Mr. Hyde. Phew!! [wipes sweat from brow]

5:16 -- 3rd & 5. Dr. Jekyll scrambles 10 yards for a first down. I love that guy. He could win a National Championship if we could build a good defense in the next couple years.

5:18 -- OK, this is where Alabama goes into their conservative shell. We're gonna run the ball, move the chains, milk the clock, put one through the uprights, and go home.

(Editor's Note: I still don't have ESP.)

5:22 -- 4th & 2 ... From inside the 30 yard-line ... AND WE GO FOR IT AGAIN! It must be that "Money" Christensen isn't 100% healthy, right?

RIGHT?!?

5:36 -- After holding my breath for a world-record 14 minutes, we are headed to overtime.

CBS tells us that Ole Miss is 6-3 all-time in OT games. Alabama's record is 2-6. I feel great.

5:43 -- Ole Miss gets the first posession in OT. Alabama holds them on 3 plays, and the Rebels kick the field goal. You mean you don't have to go for it on 4th down?

5:46 -- Darby - 25 rushes for 162 yards. Nice to have him back in the offense. Probably the MVP today.

5:51 -- TOUCHDOWN ALABAMA!!! John Parker Wilson to Le'Ron McClain. 26-23, 'Bama.

And just as I predicted, Alabama edges the Rebels by 3. Turns out I might have ESP after all.