The Cross

This is why. Have a Great Christmas!

Can You Hear Me Now?

The other day I was sitting at home waiting for my wife to return from work. When I am alone, I have lots of time to ponder and think about random things that pop into my mind. On this occasion I was thinking about the telephone. Specifically the cell phone. In just a few years time, the cell phone has become a central part of the American landscape. Everyone seems to have one of these things attached to their body somewhere. They have become so ubiquitous that they are even wiping out another icon of Americana, the wristwatch. Trends are showing that wristwatch sales are indeed slumping since people with cell phones see no need to buy a watch when their phone also tells time. But I was wondering about something else that may be endangered. Conversation. Think about it for a few moments. It was only a few years back when, if you needed to talk to a family member and you were in the car, you had to find a phone booth, another disappearing landmark, get out your dime, and make the call. Today, you just open the flip, or say “call home” and you are connected. It is all so simple. And call we do. From the office. From the road. From the soccer game. From the stadium. Americans seem to be addicted to talking to each other… on the phone! Is it any wonder it is quiet around the house? What more could you possibly say that you have not already said in the course of your sixteen phone calls during the day? Remember when the family might have gathered around the table for dinner and shared all of the day’s activities? Now we don’t need to. Because as they were going on, you made the call. And I believe that is slowly robbing us of the magic of real conversation. It isn’t that I don’t want to talk to my wife, or husband, or child. It’s that I have already said it. Thank you Sprint, or Verizon, or T-Mobile! Is it quiet around the house at the end of the day? Do you feel disconnected to the significant people in your lives? Have all of the important issues of your day already been shared? Do you have to recharge your cell every day because of extensive usage? If you are like me, you’ll answer yes to one or two of those questions, at least some of the time. Maybe it’s time we were a little less connected, so we can better connect. Think about it. technorati tags: cell phones, conversation, connections

The Mission Top Ten, Final Edition

Here it is. Our final Top Ten of the 2006/2007 College Football Season. As I have told you before, my son Joseph provides us with our rankings, through his sports blog, Shadow Sports. As a credentialed college football journalist, he is a former member of the Football Writers of America and has in fact voted in the past few years for some of the biggest college football awards, including the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and The Outland Trophy, provided to the top defensive college football players in America. As a proud parent, if you remember the moment after LSU defeated Oklahoma in the 2004 Sugar Bowl for the BCS Championship, ABC announcer Lynn Swann was trying to get LSU quarterback for a postgame interview, but it never happened. The reason was because my son was already interviewing him. A pretty good scoop for a "young kid." Anyways, this next Friday, December 15th, I will in Auburn, Alabama to watch him graduate from college. Joseph, I am incredibly proud of you, love you, and pray that God's blessing will be upon you in whatever you choose to do now that you are graduating. Ohio St. (12-0) – The coronation of Troy Smith is Saturday night when he wins the Heisman Trophy. Hopefully he does better than many recent Heisman winners (all the non-USC guys) in his bowl game. Also, the Buckeyes need to win or they will look very overrated considering the weakness of the Big Ten this season. Bowl Game: National Championship Game vs. Florida. Michigan (11-1) – While I believe Florida should get a chance at Ohio St. in the title game, Michigan is the better team. Michigan had its chance though, and they couldn’t do it. The game against USC in the Rose Bowl will determine next season’s preseason number 1 in the major polls. Bowl Game: Rose Bowl vs. USC. Florida (12-1) - Beat Arkansas 38-28 – The Gators somehow managed to look bad in a game in which they scored 38 points, the most of the season against an opponent with a pulse (Central Florida and Western Carolina don’t count). Their penchant for taking penalties is insane and it may cost them against Ohio St. Bowl Game: National Championship Game vs. Ohio St. Louisville (11-1) - Beat Connecticut 48-17 – Louisville has its second 11 win season in three years, and in both years, the loss should have been a win. In 2004, the Cardinals dropped a sure game-sealing interception at Miami and Rutgers got a mulligan on the game-winning field goal because of an offside penalty in this season’s loss. Bowl Game: Orange Bowl vs. Wake Forest. LSU (10-2) – Some Tiger fans are upset that USC lost and kept them out of the Rose Bowl, but Sugar Bowl officials are certainly happy. LSU-Notre Dame is a cash cow of a game, and it eliminates the potential lack of hotels problem that still exists in post Katrina New Orleans. Bowl Game: Sugar Bowl vs. Notre Dame. USC (10-2) – While the USC season was ruined by UCLA, USC still achieved its primary goal: get to the Rose Bowl. Also, the winning streak was due to end at some point, even if the Trojans had more talent. Bowl Game: Rose Bowl vs. Michigan. Wisconsin (11-1) – This team has beaten nobody, and they could be very overrated. A team ranked here should beat Arkansas, but, having not seen a major test all season except the loss, who knows how this team will react under pressure. Bowl Game: Citrus Bowl (I refuse to call it the Capital One Bowl) vs. Arkansas. Oklahoma (10-2) - Beat Nebraska 21-7 – Oklahoma fans want to say they would have been in the national title race had the Oregon call gone correctly, but it’s just not true. The computers that hated the Big 12 all season would have made sure of that. Also, the voters wouldn’t have forgotten that Texas beat this team by 18 points. Bowl Game: Fiesta Bowl vs. Boise St. Boise St. (12-0) – Boise finally gets another chance on the big stage. The last time an opportunity like this came up for them, they were destroyed at Georgia to open the 2005 season. Even if they lose, the Fiesta Bowl will not end like that game did. Bowl Game: Fiesta Bowl vs. Oklahoma. Arkansas (10-3) - Lost to Florida 38-28 – The Razorbacks threw everything but the kitchen sink at Florida, literally, but it wasn’t enough because of some mind-numbing mental errors like a dropped punt at the three yard line, and Darren McFadden’s interception on a ball that never should have been thrown. Bowl Game: Citrus Bowl vs. Wisconsin. On the cusp: Tennessee (9-3), Auburn (10-2), West Virginia (10-2), Rutgers (10-2), and Notre Dame (10-2). technorati tags: BCS, Bronko Nagurski, Outland Trophy

The Good Old Days

A good friend, Anita, sent this along. I thought you'd enjoy it. The Good Old Days My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning. My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e-coli. Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake or a river instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring). The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system. We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now. Flunking gym was not an option...even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.Speaking of school, we all sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations. Oh yeah... where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed! We played “king of the hill” on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $149 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat. We didn't act up at the neighbor's house because if we did, we got our butt spanked and then we got butt spanked again when we got home. I recall Donny, or Bill, or Susie from next door coming over and doing their tricks on the front stoop, just before they fell off. Little did their Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked them up and they were swatted for being such goofs. It was a neighborhood run amuck. To top all this off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family or that we needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes. We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?

BCS Bowl Selections

After a long college football season, we finally have our Bowl Selections. As long as I have followed college football, I have always been captivated by the Bowls. I know others could care less, perhaps even hoping for a playoff, but let’s face it; the upcoming games are what you play for. That said, I offer a little reaction to the selections and my picks for the biggest of the big games. Rose Bowl ~ 3. Michigan vs. 5. USC ~ Let’s face it, SC is not happy to be here and when that happens, a team usually loses. Remember when Cal was snubbed by the Rose Bowl and went to Holiday Bowl, they got killed. I pick Michigan to beat USC in what should be a classic Rose Bowl, complete with a return to the Big 10/Pac 10 Rivalry. Fiesta Bowl ~ 8. Boise State vs. 10. Oklahoma ~ I hope Boise State, the first non-BCS participant can hang with Oklahoma, but I doubt it. Oklahoma wins big. Orange Bowl ~ 6. Louisville vs. 14. Wake Forest ~ Does anyone outside of these areas care about this game? I know I don’t. Louisville should win in the lowest rated BCS Game of the year. Sugar Bowl ~ 4. LSU vs. 11. Notre Dame ~ Notre Dame better bring the pads for this one. LSU is a classic, punishing SEC team. This will be the best defense the Golden Domers have seen all season and they have already been killed by Michigan and USC. Notre Dame will lose again in embarrassing fashion. BCS Championship ~ 1. Ohio State vs. 2. Florida ~ Ohio State wins big against an overmatched Florida in this one. Ohio State is simply the best team in college football this year. Sorry Gator fans. technorati tags: BCS Championship, Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl