Yikes!

I may have nightmares about this tonight. Can you imagine how awful it would be. Ugh. How do you not notice anything before you buy that house?

Monday Night Football in New Orleans

I got sucked up into the hype and the emotion of the return of football to New Orleans. It happened as I was watching the pregame show waiting to see U2 play. U2 was not that great but the footage of the hurricane and the stories got me into the game. I almost came off the couch when the Saints blocked the punt and returned it for a TD. It was great to see the fans and listen to them cheer. This is one of the games I would've gone to if I was wealthy. I also think the Music Rising fund started by Edge of U2 is one of the neatest charities I've heard of. They are giving instruments back to musicians, schools, and churches that lost instruments in the hurricane. Imagine a church without music. It just doesn't seem right.

Saturday Night Football in Lansing

I still am not sure how Notre Dame won Saturday. I almost turned the game off and went to sleep. When they were down 16 points at the beginning of the 4th quarter it was bad. When the wind switched and the hurricane switched directions it was worse. How do you score 19 points in the 4th to win when the weather is that awful?

A story that helps you understand how John L. Smith, the MSU coach, just doesn't get it. Last year when MSU beat ND in overtime in South Bend, the Spartan players planted a MSU flag at midfield. That was an attempt at an incredible insult to Notre Dame. After Notre Dame won Saturday John L. sent 3 of his biggest players to midfield to protect against revenge. That says a couple of things to me. 1. John L. already had a plan in place to do when they lost. He was already prepared to lose. 2. He doesn't understand Charlie Weis. MSU's biggest 3 players are nothing for an Irish player to fear compared to what Coach Weis would've done to them. In a game where John L. Smith looked bad from a coaching point of view his actions afterwards just make him look dumb.

Hamstring update

Yesterday I went for a walk. I took the camera so I could take the pictures I promised you. At the first mile mark I pulled the camera out to take a picture and...the batteries were dead. So dead I couldn't even close the lens back up but had to continue walking with it open and out. I walked 5 miles. I was going to take pictures of my mile markers: the hay barn, Anna Moore, Paul's Place are some of them. I'll still do it. I tried to jog after I finished the 4th mile but I just couldn't do it. My flexibility is getting better but I'm just not there yet. Hopefully it will be soon. I would like to do well at the race.

Good quote

I'm a sucker for a good speach. I recently read the inaugural address of John Jenkins, the new Notre Dame President. I read it because I saw a quote on a Notre Dame commercial during a football game. The quote is "If we are afraid to be different from the world, how can we make a difference in the world?". I've used this quote some in youth group lately.


Here's another quote I like from the speech, "Our faith inspires our use of reason, and reason sharpens our understanding of faith. Together, they both serve our search for truth. " There are some quotes I don't like as well, but I don't need to bring those up.

Physical Therapy

I started physical therapy today. She started by seeing just how hurt I was. She stretched and pushed and all that stuff. Then she massaged the muscle. I love massage so I was looking forward to that. They lied. It wasn't a massage. It was a "push my fingers way deep into the spot where it hurts the most". After that she used some thing that shoots ultrasound and electricity into my leg. Then she put icy hot type stuff on it and sent me home with orders to stretch and come see her again the next morning at 7. I hurt.

Ouch

Saturday was a bad day. Notre Dame got killed (I hope you got to go to that game Burrill). I didn't get to see the game though. I was playing flag football. It was big fun until... We started the game up 9-2. Playing by ones to 12. I was having a blast. I threw for some tds, caught some tds, returned an INT for a td. I was having a great game until I lunged for a flag to make a defensive stop. I felt it pop. I pulled my hamstring. I injured myself a month before the race I've been training for since January. Ugh. I see the physical therapist Wednesday morning. The one good sign I've had was when I left the doctor she said "Good luck at the race".

Interesting verse

I came across Deuteronomy 12:4 today. It's only interesting when you think of trying to redeem other religious practices. It says, "You must not worship the Lord your God in their way". It isn't just that the gods were incorrect, some of the ways are wrong as well.

The reason I bring this up is because of the book "A New Kind of Christian", by Brian McLaren. In the book he talks of Christian Indians and their desire to dance the old dances but to God. I must have loaned the book out. I don't see it here anywhere.

In Deuteronomy here they weren't even to use the same places.

Sorry I've been lax

Wow the Colts have won. Notre Dame has won twice. Laura has started kindergarten. Some old friends have stopped by the blog. I didn't know jelly was still around and Burril I checked out the blog. I'm going to go out and take some pictures of some of the odd things I've seen while running. I'll post them soon. I promise.

The FIRST college football game of the year

This is hard for me to write about this today because I'm still very frustrated. Yesterday Dan, brother-in-law, and I went to the first college football game of the year. Kickoff was at 6 just so they could say that. Boston College at Central Michigan. I had a great time. At the same time it was incredibly frustrating. Did you know that the CMU box office doesn't take credit cards? Well actually one of the ticket windows does and they do that over the university web site. They don't have a single credit card swiper thingy. Burger King now takes credit cards but CMU doesn't? So I wait for 45 minutes in line, after the window opens 30 minutes late, only to be told to go wait in another line that is trying to figure out how to do the website thing.

But the frustration is only starting. I hate Boston College. I will root against them anytime. I pretty much feel that way for all Boston teams. How great as a sports fan is it to cheer against an entire city? So I really wanted Central to win. I never imagined they would have a chance. But wait, what happens? They should have won. That's right, when Central had the ball at the end with a chance to tie, they should have been playing for the win. They dropped passes and while that was frustrating, it was nowhere close to the frustration that came from the coaching. I know the great job that Brian Kelly did at GVSU, so quit reminding me. Last night he was awful. The qb substitution thing drove me crazy. He insisted on putting Brooks in at QB when Lefevour was playing great. One instance had Lefevour bringing the team down the field to a first and goal situation and Kelly put Brooks in. CMU had to settle for a field goal. Another time that Brooks was in he fumbled. Coach Kelly also frustrated me by running a trick play at the end when CMU was moving the ball down the field with a chance to tie. The play took 5 players and froze them in 3 point stances for the entire play. Lefevour threw an INT. Why would you cut your team in half for a trick play when you really need to score? Here's Kelly's quote, "We thought we'd get a shot at them either calling a time-out or us cutting someone loose," CMU coach Brian Kelly said afterward. "Dan tried to make too much happen." Maybe coach you tried to make too much happen. Great idea by the way. Down by 7, moving the ball, maybe we can force the other team into calling a time-out. I could go on forever. But I'll leave you with this quote from the Detroit Free Press.

"After the game, Kelly lectured the Chippewas for close to 40 minutes. "It's no consolation to play Boston College close and not beat them," he said. "I didn't want anyone walking out of that locker room, saying, 'Boy, we played hard.' Playing hard is not good enough. If they gave you wins and losses by playing hard, then that'll be fine, but they don't."

Man, I'd love to lecture him right now. He's right but he deserves a good bit of the blame as well. Oh and CMU had a running back carry the ball 7 times the entire game. Zero when the had the ball at the one yard line. In fact, they didn't even have one in the backfield.

St. Ives

Yesterday I played St. Ives again. It really is a beautiful course. It normally costs $85 during the week and $99 on the weekend. I played for free.

Last Thursday

Last Thursday, Tobin, Kara, Zeke, and Ollie invited us to join them for part of their vacation. They were staying in a house that sits on the East Bay in Traverse City. It was very relaxing and came at the perfect time. Here are some pictures.

The gracious hosts.

The view from the hammock.

Any idea why this thing isn't riding in the water right?