John Piper on the Economic Downturn

I know that there are a couple of preachers that frequent this space. I would imagine that you've been taking advantage of orienting your church families to God's truth about money in this economic climate. In case you haven't, and you feel like you could use a primer on speaking to your congregation with a transcendent word in these times, check out this video from John Piper:



I like John Piper. I found his preaching podcast last year in iTunes, and I enjoy listening to him. He speaks with both deep reflection & deep passion, and I find that engaging. Also, John Piper has a blog, although not all of the entries are authored by himself. That is where I stumbled across this video.

How Good was Hank Aaron?

I now get the MLB Network on Cable. You better believe my productivity is about to go down. Seriously, if they ever come out with an SEC Network, I may never have a reason to watch ESPN again except for live sports programming.

Anyway, I got caught up in this documentary about (as Joe Morgan simply calls him) "The Hammer." To answer the title in the subject line, he was better than we recognize. On his radio show, Dan Patrick often calls him the must under-rated player in baseball history. Nobody really celebrates Henry Aaron except when it's a conversation about Civil Rights. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and even others come up in conversations about the greatest of all time before Aaron does.

Just go look at his stats. Number one all-time in RBI's. Number three all-time in hits. Even if you take away all of his homeruns, he STILL had 3,000 hits. And I won't bring up the whole debate about steroids, but there's no question that he earned every one of the 755 he hit.

He was good. Maybe the best ever.

Best Seinfeld Stories: Kramer's Golf Story

I'm convinced that one of the most captivating mediums is the simplicity of one person telling another person a story. In a day & age where drama and PowerPoint and all sorts of other mediums are being introduced in worship services, there's still nothing that quite captures me as much as a good preacher telling a good story.

It occurs to me that Jerry Seinfeld recognized this. In putting together what is widely considered the greatest sitcom of all time, he spiced story-telling into his hilarious sitcom.

I'm going to make a series out of this: Best Seinfeld Stories. Here's the first one...

'Ahh, they GOT me...'

I just love this commercial...

The Best of Sports Writing This Week

Good writing offers perspective: a chance to see a subject from another vantage point. That's why, hopefully, I use this blog to not merely echo majority sentiment. The last thing we need in the world is our news broadcast to us at a slightly higher volume. But I hope I'm providing an alternative perspective -- a chance to see subjects from another vantage point.

These three pieces did that for me this week. And if you find some time on Sunday afternoon, they would be worthy choices for reading that I think you might find enlightening and enjoyable...


• Meyer, Stoops Go for the Jugular by ESPN.com's Pat Forde

In a college football world littered with would-be National Champions, why was it that Oklahoma & Florida were the only two left standing? Well, part of the explanation lies with the system of major conference conglomeration (known as the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS) which ensures that the lion's share of bowl revenue will be reserved for the college football elite.

The other part of the explanation, however, involves the sportsmanship (or lack thereof) of coaches Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops. And it left me wondering whether one of the last vestiges of gentlemanly behavior -- whether your particular school calls it sportsmanship, class, or whatever -- is simply a relic of an older time in college sports: an unnecessary & cumbersome luxury in today's climate and under our current circumstances.

I think I've already figured out what it says about the BCS: yet another reason to pile on & beat the dead horse. But it also left me wondering, "What does that say about college football?" And, more broadly, "about our culture?"

Here's an excerpt:

There are so many things to debate here in the run-up to the FedEx BCS National Championship Game.

But one thing about this game is indisputable: Running up the score pays off. Sooners and Gators alike can agree on that after watching their teams pile on the style points late in games to influence poll voters.

In today's college football, sportsmanship is hazardous to your BCS health. Greed is good.

• The Courage of Detroit by Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom is one of the nation's best writers, period. And he just happens to write about sports for a living.

This one was a warm exercise in homerism. It'll leave you feeling like you know Detroit.

Thanks to Bob for passing this great little piece along.

And we are modest. In truth, we battle an inferiority complex. We gave the world the automobile. Now the world wants to scold us for it. We gave the world Motown music. Motown moved its offices to L.A. When I arrived 24 years ago, to be a sports columnist at the Detroit Free Press, I discovered several letters waiting for me at the office. Mind you, I had not written a word. My hiring had been announced, that's all. But there were already letters. Handwritten. And they all said, in effect, "Welcome to Detroit. We know you won't stay long, because nobody good stays for long, but we hope you like it while you're here."

• Coffee quietly went about his business at UA by Cecil Hurt

Cecil Hurt is hands down the best sports writer that you've never heard of. He should be the Sports Editor of a newspaper with a much larger readership, like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Instead he's at home covering University of Alabama athletics for the Tuscaloosa News.

I enjoyed how he broke down the sensationalism of Tim Tebow & his faith, as compared with the humble nature of how Alabama running back Glen Coffee worked out his faith. As wonderful as Tim Tebow probably is, the vast amount of media affection for him is perhaps ultimately counter-productive for what he wants it to be: the sharing & spreading of his faith.

I respect Tim Tebow as I respect Glen Coffee. Both are warriors on the field and, as far as I can judge, sincere off the field.

I was never convinced Tebow’s decision to sign with Florida instead of Alabama was quite the inner struggle that it was purported to be on the ESPN special chronicling his recruitment. But he says it was tough and I will give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s been on my past two Heisman Trophy ballots and if, unlike Glen Coffee, he decides to return for another season in college, he’ll probably make my list for 2009 as well.

I refrain from calling him “Superman,” as television commentators do repeatedly, not because he isn’t a great player and a fine young man, but because ultimately, the over-the-top hyperbole doesn’t do Tebow any good, either.

The Florida quarterback seems to have turned just about every person with a microphone into a blathering fan. In the end, one fears, it will end up having the same result as Dick Vitale’s endless paeans to the Duke basketball program. You’ll start to resent the subject because the messenger — or, in Tebow’s case, the legions of messengers — finally push you to a point where you say “enough is enough.”

I ended up watching the BCS championship and wondering if Tebow had any teammates. That’s not Tebow’s fault, but it was the impression you were left with by the Fox broadcast. It’s great to say that Tebow was “willing his team to victory,” but there must have been at least 21 other Gators who were doing a little something.

That’s why, sometimes, it is easier to like someone who goes about things in a more quiet world, not free from media attention but not transformed by it. Someone like Glen Coffee. One always knew Glen Coffee was part of a larger team.

Power 12: The Final Edition

1.) Florida
2.) USC
3.) Texas
4.) Oklahoma
5.) Utah
6.) Alabama
7.) Georgia
8.) TCU
9.) Oregon
10.) Ole Miss
11.) Ohio State
12.) LSU

The real football is played in the SEC, folks

Cheering

I think it was ever since I learned about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test that I've begun to see people with a whole new set of eyes. I've come up with other categories in ways that I sort people out.

For example, I've got this theory that people are either "laughers" or "joke-tellers." I'm a laugher -- I enjoy laughing, and when I try to tell a joke I have to really work hard to hold back from laughing at my own joke. I'm just a laugher. Bob is a joke-teller -- no doubt about it. I think I was Bob's best friend for a spell at Harding, because it seemed like he would seek me out to test his new material. He knew he could always get a laugh out of me.

I figured out a new one a few weeks ago. My favorite kids in the world right now are Daniel's kids, Corban and Anna. Corban is like me: he is a "watcher." He & I like to watch movies together. But I've noticed that Anna doesn't like watching movies. Anna likes to dance & be the center of attention herself. Anna wants to be "the one being watched." It occurs to me that people gravitate toward one pole or the other.

Another way I think about that last one is in terms of sports: there are "players," and there are "fans." I had a buddy at UF named Joe who hated watching sports. Joe was a body-builder, and he always liked to say, "I guess I'd rather be playing a sport than watching someone else do it." I'm the opposite -- I'm definitely a fan. I like to root people on; I like to cheer.

Cheering is a natural high for me. Few things get my juices flowing like watching a really great sports event: like, Monday night's Fiesta Bowl, last month's SEC Championship Game, or the 2008 U.S. Open. I get a real thrill out of rooting on my favorite player(s) in those events. I'm known for getting kind of loud, too. Whenever I'm watching a baseball game in particular, I love watching a homerun happen live so much that at the crack of the bat I'll yell, "GET OUTTA HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!" In my living room I do this. I just love cheering.

Sometimes I think that the four letters "INFJ" just don't seem to fully encapsulate all the ways to describe me.