Mike Lightfoot and the Post on the Floor

I tweeted with the #TweetOnCourt because it seemed to be an interesting idea: take tweets from volleyball fans and put them on the court at the NCAA finals in Columbus, OH.  Could have said, "Go Boilers", but they were eliminated the first weekend.  Could have come up with something artificial, but that wouldn't do.  I've still gotta be real.

I eventually blended a quote from an movie based on a Dan Jenkins books with the heart of a coach, which I had done for years.  The result:

The movie was an HBO movie based on Dan Jenkins' book Dead Solid Perfect.  In the story, Kenny Lee (Puckett) was tied for the lead at the National Open and called his estranged wife, Beverly, the night before the final round.  He confided that he was afraid of proving everyone right: he had been on and off the tour more than a bad grip.  He expected to screw everything up.  Beverly responded with the first sentence.  Humorous side note-Kenny Lee was played by Randy Quaid.  Insert your own punchline here.

Time and working in the medical field has mellowed my perspective on competing at the highest level.  It seemed so important when I was playing: it paled against being in the room when people spend their last moment of life before your eyes.  I save the deepest emotion for the deepest things.  Should I ever compete at that level again, not likely, but that level of intensity will reappear.  It is a decision away.

Within the last week, one of my coaching mentors, Mike Lightfoot, announced his retirement.  Mike has coached at Bethel College (Indiana) since 1987.  That's the first Bush Administration, if you're counting.

That's also 778 wins and counting.  Seven national championships between the NAIA and the National Christian College Athletic Association.  Five National Coach of the Year Honors.  Eighteen Conference Championships.  I expect his name will be worked into a building name on campus at some point.  Had he done it at Duke, Kentucky, or UCLA, his name would be mentioned up there with names like Krzyzewski, Rupp, or Wooden.  Success brings recognition.

More importantly, the number of coaches going forth from his program is impressive.  They continue to teach values that breed success: hard work, doing thing right, team before individual, and correct the mistake without killing the person.  These values mean his work will echo through history.  I tried to take them to my teams.  I was a little more laid back.

Any discussion of Mike's success in incomplete without his bride, Jacci.  She has been a second mother to many of the young men that played in his program.  She took the brunt of raising their sons, Robbie and Ryne, who were toddlers when this started.  Robbie is still in the athletic department at Bethel, and Ryne will take over for his father at the end of the season.

Their sons are key to this story, too.  During the press conference announcing his retirement, Mike was most emotional about how his sons, who also played for him, got to cut down nets with those championship teams.

You see, all this almost never happened.

After three solid years, Mike had an opportunity to move to another field of work, likely with the opportunity of more money.  He had pretty much made of his mind to do so, but had to present it to his boys, who were enjoying what Dad did for a living.  Mike asked, "How would you feel if Dad weren't the coach anymore?"  The boys were unanimous in their decision.  Mike kept coaching, and his team won the NCCAA National Championship, their first, in 1992.  Fifteen years later, both boys got to cut down the nets with their NCCAA National Championship in 2007, this time playing.

This weekend, Mike returns to the site of his first two games as Bethel coach, Mount Vernon Nazarene.  Unfortunately, Mike remains the only coach to start his career at Bethel 0-2.  If I remember right, we lost to the host school and West Virginia Wesleyan.  He always said, "Everyone is behind you, win or tie."

How does all this tie in to my tweet on the court?  Without knowing it, I may have been directing the second sentence to Coach Lightfoot.  Enjoy the experience.  I know it's been our pleasure to watch from the stands and my pleasure to watch in practice and from afar.  I'm pretty sure he has.

Thanks, Coach!

The Calendar Changes

"That sun came up in the East again, didn't it?"

I know coaches have used this line, or some variation of it, as consolation for a player who made a crucial mistake.  It is an age old story about the rhythm of life.  No matter what happens, tragic or insignificant, life goes on.

The year that just ended caused a lot of people to step back and look at themselves.  The source, whether it be the death of a beloved celebrity, the outcome of an election, or the changes that accompany life, are in a rhythm and timing that defies understanding.  The full effects of what happened may be immediate, or not defined for generations.

We might elate or despair in events.  They are events, things that happen.  They do not define us.  We define ourselves in our reaction to the events.  It is the one area we have been given freewill and control.  Your beliefs provide the root of your actions and the sum total is character.

On the whole, I saw much good in American Character in 2016.  We generally went about our business, took care of our lives and families, and continued to do the things that built a great lifestyle, the most affluent in the world.  I see great promise in completing our responsibilities.  Whether it was the military defending our honor at the possible cost of life, to voting, to running our businesses and working our jobs, we kept moving forward.  Great things are done while moving.

I saw much to despair in American Character in 2016.  The fact that we had no reasonable choices for new leadership of our country defined a country deeply divided in it's beliefs, and the actions came out regrettable regardless of the outcome.  The point for most despair is the lack of courage to accept an event and plan a new strategy to succeed.  It seemed half of America, stunned in disbelief, shut down briefly.

In the words of Neal Peart of Rush, "He knows changes aren't permanent, but change is."

The rhythm will continue.  We will, too.

Mulling Some Changes

I haven't written since the end of July.  No shortage of things to write about, I just haven't had the time or the inclination to write.

My heart hasn't been in anything lately.  It might be a sign of age, maybe a sign of being jaded.  My heart just isn't in it.

Athletically, nobody really cares about the officials.  I thought it might be an interesting topic to blog around, but nobody really cares.  I might have to explain what we actually are expected to do.  It would be like stereo instructions: nobody really cares as long as it works.

This blog will change again.  I just have to decide what needs to be done.  Please comment and let me know what you would like me to write about.

-Every athlete owes Arnold Palmer a huge thank you for the money they make now.  Arnold was one of the first to use an agent, and one of the best with the fans.  With Mark McCormick's guidance, he took endorsements to a new level.  Every professional athlete, regardless the sport, owes Arnold a debt of gratitude.

Personally, Arnie was the foil to one of my heroes, Jack Nicklaus.  But I had an Arnie's Army moment.  It was 1993 at the TPC of Michigan.  Arnie was well past his best days, even in the no-cut paradise of the Senior Tour.  Arnie was miles out of the lead, but still playing and hitting some good shots.  On the eighteenth hole, Arnie had hit a good drive, and with a mid iron in his hands took aim at the green.  The smooth move of the club, the blacksmith-like forearms slashing through the ball like Thor's, almost making the earth move.  The ball settled fifteen feed from the hole, a good shot.

As he walked to the green, he had to cross a bridge, which brought him next to the gallery ropes.  He looked in the crowd, nodding and smiling.  I had that moment where it looked like he looked right at me and gave a smile and a wave.  He had no idea who I was.  It crossed my mind that way, and I heard the person next to me, a total stranger, say it, "HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME AND WAVED."

Truthfully, he didn't.  He had charisma and sure made it feel like he singled you out of the crowd.  I suddenly understood, and gained an even greater respect for Arnold Daniel Palmer.  I wish we had more people like him right now.

-The Chicago Cubs broke their 108 year streak just over a month ago.  If you look back to my post "They Won't Miss My Money", you will find I switched my allegiance to the team of my young childhood, the Cincinnati Reds.

I don't regret the decision.  I am happy for the lifelong Cub fans that were finally satisfied.  I have a Father-in-Law that used to make the trip to Wrigley with his older brothers in the early 50's.  I think of my wife's Grandfather, who passed away in 2003, two months short of his 100th birthday.  He never missed a game from the day he retired.  Look at those dates: he was born the year the Wright Brothers made the first flight.

Feel bad for Cleveland Browns fans: making them a winner, especially with that organization, is going to take a long, long, LONG time.

You Might Be...

I'm going to apologize up front.  I'm going to plagiarize the format, but some of the content has a kernel of truth, or the product of an active imagination.

-If dropping your pants in a parking lot before a ballgame seems totally natural, you might be an umpire.  Or an overserved tailgaiter.

-If you have tossed three generations of the same family out of the same game, and they were all on the field, you might be an umpire.

-If you tossed a father and a daughter out the same game and neither one was on the field, you might be an umpire.

-If the explanation for a particular call begins with, "I'm not sure what the thought process was, but hear me out.", you might be an umpire.

-When you get hit on all five pieces of equipment by foul balls in the same game, you might be an umpire.

-When you carry an I.D. on the field so they can identify the corpse if things go badly, you might be an umpire.

-When you identify bruises by the pitcher that threw the ball, you might be an umpire.  Might also be a catcher.

-Your reason for officiating is money for your kids and it ends up being a way to pay your alimony, you might be an umpire.

-You begin arguments with your wife with words, "On page 47 of the rule book...", you might be an umpire.

-When you call more strikes on your throws to the pitcher than on the pitcher's throws to the plate, you might be an umpire.

-When your dogs barks at you when you come home from work at a regular time instead of four hours later, you might be an umpire.

-When you brand new lawnmower is still new in July, you might be an umpire.

-When you've argued ball and strikes on Christmas morning, you might be an umpire.

-If a coach has ever asked you if his pitcher still has anything on his fastball, you might be an umpire.

-If you love the thought of being part of the game years after you should have left the field, you might be an umpire.

It takes a special person to do the job of calling balls and strikes, fair and foul, safe and out.  I have been privileged to be a part of it.  I look forward to a few more years before I have to walk away.

A Tale of Two Millionaires

It is not unusual for millionaires to square off on an athletic field these days,  Happens daily in Major League Baseball.  It just doesn't happen on a high school field very often.  It happened in our area recently.

The scene was Penn High School during the Sectional Championship Game.  The host school, Penn, was facing Elkhart Memorial High School.  In a scoreless game, Memorial had loaded the bases against Penn's ace pitcher, Skyler Szynski.  Memorial Senior Jon Bailey came to the plate.  It was a battle of millionaires.

Wait...what?

Penn's Skyler Szynski is well known in our area,  As a junior, he was the winning pitcher in last year's State Championship Game.  He throws in the low to mid 90's and has been dominant.  He signed with Indiana University as a Junior, but was being pursued by Major League Baseball teams.  Within two weeks of this showdown, he was drafted by the Oakland A's in the fourth round.  A couple of days later, he signed, receiving a seven figure bonus.

The question in your mind is, "How is Jon Bailey a millionaire?"

He is a millionaire, his bank account doesn't know it yet.

I first became aware of Jon when he was 11, playing Little League.  Always a team player, he took the occasional demotion to the bench, handed out by his father well.  He played hard and worked even harder.  Kids love to hit: Jon loved to take ground balls.  He became fundamentally sound as well as being a good athlete.

By the time high school started, he was into three sports.  He played tennis, something he hadn't done before, made varsity in basketball as a freshman, and continued his baseball career.  By the time he graduated, he earned 11 varsity letters, ironically only earning three in baseball.

One story from his part time job at a local supermarket magnifies his character.  He was given $20 for his lunch and to buy a couple of other necessities during his lunch break.  During the first part of his shift, an elderly lady came through his line with the bare necessities, and was $20 short of meeting her bill.  Jon was aware, and without even worrying about it, paid the rest of the bill out of his pocket.  He called home to see if he could get a little more cash, the only way his mom, and the rest of us found out.

He has been a good teammate, a leader on the field, and a good student.  He worked hard and will be rewarded at the next level by Grace College, which pains me as a Bethel graduate.  The day will come.  He will be a millionaire, even if his bank account never finds out.

What happened in the showdown?  Szynski missed once, blew one by Bailey, and then watched as Jon hit one over the fence to give Memorial a 4-0 lead.  It was his first high school home run.  Penn won the war, scratching out a 5-4 victory.

Will they ever meet again on a baseball field?  It is possible, but doubtful.  They don't play in the same league now.  Hopefully, they play in the same classification where real life happens.

Hundredth Running Surprise

The Indianapolis 500 completed it's hundredth run with something unexpected.  A rookie winner crowned by an age old strategy: milk the gas tank for all it is worth.  Alexander Rossi was the beneficiary of Bryan Herta's strategy to get his face on the Borg Warner Trophy.

The Indianapolis 500 brought out an overlooked part of racing that casual watchers miss.  The number of people who have to perform to win a race is phenomenal.  We talk about the drivers and the cars, but the people that prepare them, the strategists that make the decisions, the people that put together the financial deals to get the cars on the track all had to perform.  One mistake in any area can be enough to end the dream of winning.

An interview with the three drivers who have won four Indy 500's underscored this point.  A.J. Foyt said all the preparation and execution is just as important as having everything go right on a given day.  Rick Mears said any of them could have won 10 and reminisced about his first win when a car left the pit lane and lost it's right rear tire.  It missed his car by inches.

All three drivers named at least one other time they should have won and didn't.  Another thing they all agreed on was there were more drivers who should have won one 500 and didn't than had actually won the race.  It took every bit of preparation, execution, strategy and luck.  One part of the team that failed to perform is enough to make the difference.

Maybe it is overemphasizing winning when there is one winner and, in the words of Dale Earnhardt, "Second place is just the first loser."  Only one face goes on the trophy, and it's not for finishing second.

Wow, What a Change!

It has been a huge change in my life lately.  I can't believe how much it has changed in the last three months.

In February, I was completing the vast majority of sixteen years supporting the Radiology Department with no end in sight.  I was satisfied, but not happy with my work, but I did it very well.  I had learned to be content doing my job.  It was okay.

I had an opportunity to change employers, but chose not to, primarily because of pension considerations.  However, I was presented with the opportunity to change departments and use my business degree.  After all, I have been using my psychology degree every day, i.e.-"What the heck were they thinking?"

Now, I am a department lead in another hospital in the same system.  It is a little daunting, but I am looking forward to the opportunity.  Now that I am over my brief illness, thanks to something I ate.  Just hope I am up to the challenge.

Even so, I am oddly dissatisfied.  I believe it is with my own desires.  I want so much more, but live with the uncertainty that I can complete the task.  Not sure why.  I have the ability.  Maybe my heart is somewhere else.

-James Hinchcliffe has authored a wonderful story, going from the edge of death to the pole position in a year's time.  He was brought into Andretti Motorsports as Danica Patrick's replacement.  The expectations were high, and he didn't produce.  He is a good driver, just hasn't been the driver expected.  After all, he couldn't just wow people by pulling off his helmet like his predecessor.

I think Hinch's perspective has changed.  He was almost on the wrong side of the grass, and that can make a man introspective when he has time to think about it.  Most of the time, they back off and cling to life.  The great ones decide, in the words of Cole Trickle, "They're more afraid of being nothing than they are of being hurt."

Johnny Rutherford lost an entire season to injury in the summer of 1966, lost a year recuperating, and eventually won three Indianapolis 500 mile races.  Nikki Lauda had already won a World Driving Championship when he had his horrific crash at Nurburgring, but won two more after recovery.

Hinch may be on the edge of something great, just like the expectations were when he broke into IndyCar.  Maybe the gentle reminder that you have an expiration date has focused his effort.

-As for officiating and umpiring, my school year activities are winding down.  I will have a few games to work during the summer, thanks to Harris Little League, Fairfield14U, and the Elkhart Titans.  I have a couple of observations at the end of a full year of education based officiating.

First, the games have indeed become faster.  The kids are more skilled and game savvy than they were in my day.  However, they also more likely to give up when behind.  Both are the product of extended seasons because of travel or club sports.  The more they practice and play the higher the skill level, even though they are less fundamentally sound because they make a higher level play without relying on fundamentals.  It makes the play more erratic.  Also born from this is the attitude, it's just a game: I've got another one tomorrow.  If I'm behind, it doesn't matter if I pull it out or try harder.  Another game is around the corner.

Second, parental expectation is off the charts.  Spending a fair amount of money on travel ball, the expectation is that scholarships are in the offing.  Hate to say it, but he freakishly talented with get the opportunity before the hard worker.  Anyone can work hard and get better, but if they can do physically do something without working hard, the next level can be taught and achieved more quickly.

That said, I still say work hard.  The coaches with appreciate the effort and the athlete will be better prepared for real life.  After all, the point of the games is to prepare kids for the game that starts at age 18.

Augusta Delivers

When Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts bought a nursery in Augusta, Georgia in the late 30's,  they knew something.  Alastair Mackenzie worked with Jones to put together a golf course on that piece of land, they knew something.  Wish I knew what they knew.

Eighty years later, the golf course they put together, Augusta National Golf Club, still beguiles and designates a worthy champion every year.  Even though the course has been altered in recent years to "Tigerproof" the layout, the greens had to be divinely inspired.  Their placement and design appoint a champion who navigates them the best on a given year.  It took more than human design to make that happen.

As I settled down on Thursday to watch openring round coverage, the name Danny Willett came up.  He was noted to be twelfth in the World Golf Ranking.  I asked the question. "Who is Danny Willett?"

We know who he is now.  He is the 2016 Master's Champion.  He navigated Augusta National the best on the final day and wound up with the Green Jacket.

Jordan Spieth looked like a repeat champion most of the day, but, based on the way he was swinging, it looked like he would have needed the jacket glued to his body.  He navigated Amen Corner poorly and that made all the difference.

Dustin Johnson played well, but navigated poorly.  It made all the difference.

Lee Westwood has been close in several majors, and he was just short one more time.  Navigated poorly early in the week.

Smylie Kauffman, Bernhard Langer, and Hideki Matsuyama navigated one day poorly.  Enough to not earn a Green Jacket this week.

The golf course found a way to designate the Champion.  It does it a different way every year.  It seems to find the best players and make them Champions.  I believe they have found a good one.  Danny Willet has the guts and nerve of a good one.  We have seen the beginning of another great champion, maybe a new parade of European Champions.

Augusta National will do it again next year.

What Now?

I haven't written in about a month.  I haven't felt like writing.

The new position is challenging me more than expected, but I am learning.  I fall down the steps every day, but at least I am still going forward.  It is more physical than my previous job, making for a lot of tired evenings.

Evenings where I am starting to get baseball field commitments.  I have nineteen dates lined up to umpire.  Surprisingly, all are baseball: not a single softball date among them.  Maybe I don't have the right decoder ring.

Most of our schools are on Spring Break right now, making for a week off.  That's not a bad thing either.  I can keep jogging and exercising.  It makes up for my lousy diet right now.

My birthday came at a lousy time.  Lots of sugar, large meals and junk food means no progress on a body that has lost ten pounds from the start of the year.  I am right about where I was before the holiday season jumped the scales.

I am absolutely magic when I am going nowhere, doing nothing.  It makes me absolutely bear like.  Don't make me angry.  You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.  (Probably had to grow up in the 70's to get that one.)

Yes.  I am in a lousy mood.  It will pass.  I will become my normal, charming self again.  Maybe.

-Personal stuff aside, I didn't even watch the Final Four games last night.   Might be a sign there is something else wrong.  However, like always, I have a couple of thoughts.

Villanova set a record for margin in a National Semifinal against Oklahoma. North Carolina was commanding against an overmatched Syracuse.  My thought, even without seeing the games, is that each team may have played their best game, leading to an anticlimactic Final.  The kind of game with an absolute no name hero and an over/under of 30 on turnovers.

Like always I hope for the best, expect the worst, and be happy with what I get.  Might be a good mindset to watch the Championship game.

I'd mention the Women's Final Four, but you only need one word: Connecticut

-Major League Baseball is back.  I keep hearing Astros and Cubs in the World Series.  It's getting a little nauseating, but there are valid points for both sides.  Houston has young stars which will need to prove they can produce for another season.  For anybody who remembers, I can say Joe Charbonneau and you can follow what I mean.

Who's Joe Charbonneau?  American League Rookie of the Year, 1980.  Batted .289, 23 homers 87 rbi for a last place Indians team.  By 1982, he was out of baseball.  He was last seen as an uncredited extra in The Natural, unless you watch collegiate wooden bat summer baseball. He's managing there. Biggest distinction?  Only 201 major league games in his career and more hair colors than Dennis Rodman, who came along a decade later.

In other words, watch the usual suspects:  Yankees, Red Sox and the Royals once again.  My Angels will have the player to watch in Mike Trout, but will start slow and finish just out of the picture.  It's been a patter the last few years.

In the National League, I see a little Maddon Magic leading the Cubs within a game of the World Series, only to be outdone in Game 6 of the NLCS by a two out, top of the ninth home run by someone who started the season in AA ball.  They proceed to get no hit in Game 7 by a pitcher acquired at the trade deadline.  Likely suspects?  The Mets, Nationals, or, most surprisingly, the Pirates top my list.  It would be fun to say Marlins, just because those were the last team to victimize the Cubs.  Wait 'till next year, indeed.

I'm glad baseball is back.  At least until Indianapolis gets here.

Winds of Change

It only took sixteen years.

Friday was my final day in the radiology department.  Tomorrow morning, I begin work in the Distribution Department.

I'm in the same hospital, pulling on the same rope, just in a different direction.  I will eventually use that degree I worked hard to get.  I will use some of my strongest talents and best abilities.  I will finally show what I can do best for the good of our patients.

I've spent most of the last 16 years in a job that had little to do with my training.  I've done it as well as I could, and tried to serve everyone to the best of my ability.  I believe I have become the best support person a radiology department could hope to have.

I am humbled to have the opportunity to work on the business side.  I have run my own business.  I have hired and fired.  I have developed systems for use that could be followed and taught.  And I finally get to do it for the benefit of our patients.  I look forward to giving top drawer service to our floors to make our patient care even better.

I leave behind a department of people that I have been grateful to serve.  They deliver top drawer service to our patients and are underrated as techs.  Above and beyond is nothing new to our entire department.  I thank them for the ride.

I will miss the people, but still see them.  I will miss working side by side, but know we will still work toward the same goal.  I will miss the stories and the direct effect on diagnosing, then treating disease and illness.

My role as the radiation liaison for Cancer Forums was a specialty.  The number of patients we have helped well outnumber the ones that never made it to Forum.  I pray for continued success.

Some people may think I have taken a step backward.  I have finally taken a step toward using my best skills and abilities for better patient care.  I look forward to being part of another great team.

Back Again

It has been a few weeks.  I've been busy.  Doesn't mean I don't have opinions.

Mostly, disappointments.  Especially the two biggest events of the early year.

-First, the Super Bowl was one of the worst played Championship Games I have ever seen.  Denver won the game with their defense, which was the best part of the game.  Until the Broncos took the lead, I felt Braden Colquitt, the punter, was the MVP.  About the game's execution, I was in favor of it.

One thing I couldn't help but think about was how many titles Peyton Manning would have been part of in Indianapolis if they had half the defense the Broncos had this season.  Manning's brilliance would have rivaled Montana with a better defense.  (I still choke when I think Brady might be in that league). The numbers and the class which Manning operated are in a league of their own.  Pending investigation, of course.

-Today's Daytona 500 did something I didn't expect: made the Super Bowl look scintillating.  Only the inside line worked, and single groove racing is boring racing.  Ask anybody who has been to the Brickyard 400.  It was the Brickyard with a better climate.

The finish was worthy of a major event.  Denny Hamlin had the best car, the only car capable of pulling the outside line close enough to make a winning pass.  Chase Elliot's emergence will inject some new life into NASCAR.  He sounds good when interviewing, drives the wheels off the car, and, as long as he behaves off the track, will be a sponsor's dream.

-Leaving the world of sports, I would like to discuss something of real world importance.  In America, many people have an aversion to jury duty.  I have even joked about needing to follow the law because you don't want your future determined by twelve people that couldn't get out of jury duty.

Having recently served on my second criminal jury, I can tell you the process is better than expected. If the bailiff knows their job, they will make you comfortable, and treat you with dignity and respect. If the judge and lawyers know their job, they will do their best to spare you embarrassment.  You can concentrate on the job of the deciding the outcome of the trial.  

The best part of the trial experience comes after the verdict: in our jurisdiction you meet with the attorneys and the judge where any question is open.  You see all of the for what they are: real people, generally with a sense of humor, doing difficult jobs.  Being professionals, they do their jobs well.  The facts of the case will decide it for you.

I might make it sound trivial, but you do decide the fate of other people, but you are not alone.  I have served with 22 people, who were generally intelligent, fair minded, and down to earth people.  I couldn't have had better people to serve alongside.

Don't lie to get out of it.  Don't make up a plausible story to excuse yourself if it is questionably true.  Don't let your boss threaten to fire you if you are selected.  The law is not on your employer's side for that one.  Besides, the judge is a lawyer and will likely come to your aid.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" is a statement attributed to Edmund Burke, a member of the British Parliament.  If you can do the good, do it.  Don't expect someone else to do what you can.

Quite A Weekend

I've watched a lot of playoff football over the years.  I saw Frank Reich lead his team from down 35-3 to a win.  I saw the Dolphins go undefeated.  I saw the best running back in the league turned down for a slant pattern at the goal line.

I've never seen a playoff weekend like this before.

Let's start with Kansas City blowing out the Houston Texans.  It ended very early.  It was not pretty.  Maybe the dead giveaway was J.J. Watt playing quarterback.  I honestly believe there was a lack of belief in the Texans locker room.  You don't play J.J. Watt at quarterback if you believe you can win the game.

Steelers/Bengals game was the worst of what football could be and the best of what football could be.  Some of the plays were the best of football, summed by a Willis Reed-like performance starring Ben Roethlisberger.  We also saw the dark side of the best football, summed by awful actions from Vonteaz Burfict, Ryan Shazier, and the Cincinnati Bengal fans.  The NFL is filled with too many thugs, but the fans acting out against an opponent as they did is inexcusable.

As a Seahawk fan from day one, I was pleased to see a win, especially since they hadn't done much in the first three quarters.  I was not pleased to see the defense allow the Vikings inside the ten yard line in the final minute of the game.  It took a reincarnation of Ray Finkel to secure a Seahawk victory.  It just wasn't the Super Bowl.  The bottom line: The weather won the football game, not Seattle.

One normal game in the mix and it was the Packers/Redskins game.  Aaron Rodgers played like he hasn't in several weeks, and the Redskin defense can make a lot of offenses well.  Especially when the Packer defense solved Kirk Cousins.  You like that?

What I like is next week's match-ups.  All four match ups are intriguing. I like Kansas City and Denver in the AFC.  The Chiefs are hot, the Patriots have been faltering down the stretch.  The Chiefs' defense is an overlooked gem.  I know.  They made me a strong competitor in my fantasy football league.  Even with Ben Roethlisberger making a Willis Reed like start in Denver, the Broncos have turned to Peyton Manning to try to advance.  He knows how to do that, and I'll bet he's starving to play one more time.  Hopefully, a last run.  I hate seeing people talk about Peyton Manning the way they have talked about him this season.

In the NFC, I favor Arizona and Carolina.  However, Green Bay may not have shown all their cards two weeks ago when the Cardinals ran the table against the Pack in Arizona.  Arizona's defense is not the Redskins' defense and watch for a big game from Carson Palmer.  Seattle are still the champs, and if anything was proved today, sometimes you just have to find a way to win.  Russell Wilson is a lot younger than Tom Brady, which is why I use this argument here instead of  earlier.  Carolina has a defense which can take over a game.  Look for the Carolina defense to win this game: Cam Newton will have to win the rest to bring a title to Carolina.

So...am I off base?

Playoff Football

What I am about to say is gonna sound downright sacrilegious for an American male.  I finally sat down and watched my first NFL games of the season.  As a Seahawks fan, I watched Seattle at Arizona until they took that away against my wishes.  Finished watching the Chargers and Broncos.

When the weather was good, I umpired fall baseball.  I had work to do on the exterior of the house, followed by a set of pug puppies.  My calendar has been full.  Football fell to the bottom of the list.  A few people might say my priorities are out of order;  I say I'm living in  my world, not someone else's.

What I saw was simple: The NFL plays a boring brand of football.  The Seahawks played dynamic football on both sides of the ball, very inspired and look like a real threat come the playoffs.  Arizona looked like they mailed it in, but they have a lot of talent.  I believe Carolina is the class of the NFC, Arizona is great if the mood strikes them.  Watch out for the Seahawks.  They know how to win a championship.

Denver earned the AFC #1 seed, but it sure looks wide open.  New England has been uninspired the last couple of weeks, very much so today to love to a team that fired it's head coach.  Kansas City and Pittsburgh look the most dangerous to me.  Pittsburgh can score from anywhere on the field, and Antonio Brown is the best receiver in football.  Andy Reid has Kansas City playing inspired football, and he knows how to get to a Conference Championship game. Anything beyond that is a mystery.  I still favor the defending champions, New England.  They're the champs until someone beats them.

I love football, but I really love college football.  Even my Saturday calendar has been full of officiating, umpiring, announcing, and working on the house.  I watched Purdue's opening game at Marshall, then the two playoff games this past Thursday night.  Quite a disappointment that was.

The college playoff games were predictable, leaving a good matchup between Clemson and Alabama.   I hope the game lives up to the hype: it actually has the potential.  Alabama's experience is very attractive to me.  Clemson has a lot of offensive weapons and enough defense to make it very interesting.

Side note: I played in a Fantasy football league for the first time.  The draft process at a restaurant, While the outcome is still pending, I have a chance to tie for the best record in the league, losing the title on a tiebreaker.  I haven't watched a game.  How does this happen?

The NFL has gone to a clinical, by the numbers game.  If you know the numbers, you don't have to see them play.  Follow the numbers, watch the matchups, watch your opponent and what they have on their roster.  I can't be that smart.

A New Year, A New Plan

A week from today, the year 2016 begins.  Many people make resolutions to make changes in their life with the change in calendars.  How many people make the changes stick?

I've done it before.  I need to do it again.

Five years ago, I was a mess physically.  I weighed 270 pounds, rarely exercised, and felt awful more days than I felt good.  It was difficult get through the day without taking some sort of stomach medication, especially Alka Seltzer.  I could only imagine what my blood pressure was regularly.

I found my blood pressure in the 180/110 range.  That's a stroke waiting to happen.

By September, 2011, my weight was at 200 pounds, my blood pressure under control and the omeprazole (read Prilosec) was working on my stomach.  I actually felt good, but still wasn't exercising regularly.  I reached 180 pounds by June of 2012, with low level walking.

Well, I have slid back into some habits that have returned my weight to 220 pounds.  While my blood pressure is under control, and I excercise with an average level of exertion three times a week.  I can actually referee basketball at an elementary and middle school level.  In the gym, I work out on an elliptical for 45 minutes, and do a little ab work.

I need the weight to come off again.  I need to be more careful about what I eat, especially my portion control.  I must be more careful.  I want the 180 pounds again, and with exercise, it should be even better with improved physical condition.

I can do it.  If I can do it, anyone can.  Please make the change.  You don't want to die too early.  Someone loves you.  Don't ask me why.

I Believe in Santa Claus

As we are all adults here, I will speak directly.  I am fifty years old, and I believe in Santa Claus.

The fat man in the red suit at the North Pole?  That Santa Claus?

Yes, I do.  In theory.

In my own time as a kid, we always opened our presents on Christmas Eve, before the Big Man made his trip.  It made me wonder, but I took it on faith.

I eventually taught my own children that I believe in Santa Claus.  Santa is the embodiment of the best things we do as people.  Where kindness is shown, Santa is there.  Where a hand reaches out to help, Santa is there.  Where love is shown to those hard to love, Santa is there.  Even where someone stands up for another who is unwilling or able to stand up for themselves, Santa is there.

I have some examples of Santa in action:

A young man I coached a few years ago happens to be an exceptional athlete.  When his high school career ends this spring, he should end up with 11 varsity letters.  However, he works part time at a grocery store.  He has $20 in his pocket to buy lunch and a couple of other things on a Sunday.  Enter an elderly lady buying necessities and is $20 short at the register.  Enter an athlete, willing to give everything he had to help someone meet their needs.  He is not just an exceptional athlete, he is Santa.  Santa is real.

A man I have become acquainted with spent his life as Santa.  A firefighter by trade, he served his city for many years before retiring.  When other people ran out of burning buildings, he ran in.  Sometimes, the gift is the gift of life.  Santa is real.

By the way, Santa tends to run in families: this firefighter's son completed his basic training in the United States Marine Corps.  The hand reaches to help those you work with, too.  If they get better, stronger, and believe in themselves, that gift may never be repaid.  Santa is real.

I have a couple of friends in law enforcement.  One, recently promoted to Sergeant, is always ready to help someone in need, and has been in the conversation for Officer of the Year annually.  Another spends his free time coaching High School Basketball and Softball.  He coaches for the game that starts at age 18, too.  They and their brethren have had a rough year in public opinion, but every one of them is ready to give everything they have to keep their communities safe.  Santa is real.

Working in the medical field, I see a lot of gifts given: Gift of Life, Gift of Hope, Gift of Health.  The radiology department at our hospital annuals adopts a family and provides presents, food, and personal items.  We also donate food to our clinic designed for people without health insurance.  Santa is real.

We hear about horrible things happening in San Bernardino and Paris.  We hear about war and rumors of war.  We hear about about athletic thugs committing crimes and continuing to play their game because winning is more important.  I say there is more out there to be optimistic about.  For every bad incident, thousands more instances of people giving a gift to someone else goes unnoticed.  Every time those gifts are given, it is support for the existence of the red suit.

Santa is real.

Giving Thanks

The United States was the first country to celebrate a holiday specifically for giving thanks.  Instituted during the Lincoln Administration, Thanksgiving has been lost in the shuffle, buried under commercialism, gluttony, and football.

The mindset of modern America seems to equate thankfulness with weakness.  If you are thankful, you are dependent on something or someone else.  You didn't do it by yourself, you had some help.  You had to have someone pave the way.  You were weak.

I do not agree.

A person wrapped up by themselves make a really small package.  If you do it all by yourself, you will only get what your effort can provide.  It flies in the face of our love affair with sports.  In football, try moving the ball without someone else blocking.  In baseball, the individual vs. nine game, the best are successful only 30% of the time.  In basketball, five team players usually beat five individual players.

As a high school golfer, I hated the notion of team golf.  Might have more to do with being rather unlikeable at the time, but I hated the idea of playing well but losing.  I wanted it in my lap, regardless of how my talent level wasn't what I believed it to be.  I was the weak link, and I am thankful for those guys who were my teammates now.  They helped me discover what I could do if I worked at it.

As a coach, I taught team ahead of individual.  We worked on individual skills early in practice and brought everybody together to make a team at the end.  I'm thankful I had kids that listened, and parents that bought in with what I was teaching.

I am thankful for living the United States.  It is a place where I have to the opportunity to find a team to achieve more than I could on my own.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to succed or fail at what I have been called to do.  It's not about me, but I have the opportunity.  All I want is the opportunity.

I am thankful for the people that served, fought, and died to make this country free. Without their sacrifice, no one gets the opportunity to succed or fail.

I am thankful for family, friends and co-workers who support each other as we try to succed and bounce back from failure.

I encourage you to reflect on what makes you give thanks.

What I Saw This Week

I am generally a pretty observant individual.  It is a trait that makes me a candidate for officiating whatever sport may be at hand.  I pick up nuances and details a lot of people miss.  With proper schooling, I could have been a doctor.  As a doctor, I don't have to call it immediately.  I just need to be accurate.

So, what did I see this week?

-I saw sixty degree weather turn into six inches of snow.  Doesn't happen in Florida, but Northern Indiana is good for that.  Might have something to do with that large body of water called Lake Michigan.  In fact, the wind chill factor this morning is around zero degrees.  As a softball coach, if your under 12, I'm cancelling practice.  If you're over 12, focus.

-I saw a sixth grade boys basketball coach get tossed from a game.  I didn't do it: my officiating partner did.  As a long time coach, I will never understand how coaches of kids who aren't even teenagers yet want perfection out of the officials and the players.  You, as a coach, aren't perfect and you don't control what the officials call or don't call.  Get over it and focus on what you can do to help your players get better.  Leave working officials for the guys who get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to coach.  When you get there, you will have earned the right.

-I saw an observation solidified: the better the players, the better the officials calling the game.  It's a simple matter of percentages: the more things the players do right, the more obvious the errors and fouls.  When the younger kids do something right, the more beautiful it is to watch when it happens.  Otherwise, just keep encouraging them.  The freakish level of athleticism required to earn professional contracts are just not available to everyone.

-I saw a puppy buried.  We adopted a pug at the end of September with knowledge she might be pregnant.  She delivered four beautiful pup on November 3.  We watched one, temporarily named River, stop eating, be hand fed, and decline.  She passed Thursday evening.  I saw my kids and wife bounce back.  I look forward to seeing the three remaining pups get bigger and stronger.  Right now, these pugs look like little teddy bears.

Take the time to really see things you don't normally see this week.

Keep Them In Your Prayers

I seldom write about local events, but one this week has hit closer to home.   While I'm not in that circle, it has brought to mind a wave of memories and how grateful we should be for transparency.

The event was a murder in Indianapolis of a pastor's wife, a one year-old at home and another on the way.  It appeared to be a home invasion that led to the shooting, two lives cut too short and many people shaking their collective heads in disbelief.

Most people are shaking their head in academic disbelief: How can this happen?  Why did this happen?  It is so terrible.  They are right.

The young wife and mother was Amanda Blackburn.  Her parents are Phil and Robin Byars.  He is a pastor, too.  For the best part of fourteen years, he was one of my pastors.  For the best part of a decade, he taught the Master's Class, which my wife and I attended.

Phil Byars is one of the finest teachers I have had in any classroom.  Having two B.A. degrees in Social Sciences and Business, I have had a few teachers.  Phil blew them all away.

He used an inductive teaching style.  He would pose the situation, and then listen.  He would take the answer and probe, challenge, guide, direct to the understanding of the subject.  It takes great knowledge and love for both the subject and the student.  Phil knew the Bible and loved the people in the Master's Class.  You didn't have to ask him: you just listened.

It is no surprise he was made the Lead Pastor of First Baptist Church.  The down side is he can't preach with the inductive teaching style.  He can still teach.  And it is still done with great love.

One thing about Phil's teaching was that he abhorred the academic answer: an answer that sounds good but has no practical application.  If you dared to give an academic answer in his class, be prepared to tell what that looks like in real life.  If you couldn't make it practical, it wasn't of use.

Robin matched Phil with her support, her knowledge, and her love.  She knew the Bible as well as anyone, and brought an answer in support of Phil's teaching.  I remember a number classes opening with Phil's word, "After class last week, Robin pointed out..."

We watched Amanda grow through her middle school and high school years, not up close, but knowing she was being taught and shepherded the way we were each week.  She had a great model of teaching in her father and a great model for a pastor's wife in her mother.  I can't help but believe something incredible was going to happen with her life.  She was working with her husband, planting churches.

As I write this, the celebration of Amanda Blackburn's life is beginning in Indianapolis.  We ache for the Amanda's husband and son, for Phil and Robin and her siblings, James and Amber.  It would be academic to bring a cliche'.  It takes knowledge and love.  These attributes are not in short supply.

Postseason Blues and Officials Stripes

I know it has been a while since I have written.  My only excuse is a lack of interest and too much to do.

I found the baseball playoffs less than interesting.  Maybe the biggest reason is a lack of available games on television.  The American League seemed to always be on FoxSports1, while TBS and TNT seemed to be the general outlet for most of the games.  The World Series finally made it to the big stage on Fox, but by then, casual fans are more interested in football.  Tends to happen in early November.

I am not sure why Major League Baseball is so set on destroying it's fan base.  Let's take the biggest stage in baseball and hide the majority of the games, especially the Toronto Blue Jays.  The winner of the division with both the Yankees and the Red Sox are still a mystery to most baseball fans because their games were afternoon starts on the obscure FoxSports1.  Also, let's start playoff games so late that future fans can't see heroes being made because they're in bed instead of watching the game.

I remember the split concentration at school, wondering how the playoff games were going.  I ran home from the bus to find out what was going on.  Kids don't see it that way today, noses in their smart phones and wrapped in the world of texting their friends, FaceTime or Skype.  A number of the best player who will spend time in the Major Leagues someday have probably asked the question, "Who's in the World Series?"

Hey, MLB, get this stuff right.  A great game will go down the tubes because you sacrificed future fans for current money.

-I was going to skip the noise around Greg Hardy and the domestic violence charges that were expunged.  In light of the pictures that came forward, it brought to mind the subject of character and sports.

Sports reveals character.  The large number of appearances of NFL players on police blotters shows that we are a society of settling for the look of a winner and not actually being one.  We look like a winner in high school, and it's okay he slapped his girlfriend around.  In college, he split her lip, but he could play ball and we needed it to bring in those alumni dollars from a great football program.  Now he's in the NFL and it's big news that he engages in domestic violence.

Women, girls and children being sacrificed on the altar of football.

-My volleyball season as an official was good enough that I have a number of games lined up for next fall.  I passed the basketball official's exam and have a number of games scheduled, starting this Thursday.  Primarily elementary basketball schedule at the moment, but will possibly see some middle school and maybe even freshman games before the end of the season.

However, I have discovered there are almost 3,500 basketball officials in the stat eof Indiana.  Seems like too many to me.

Questions? No Answers Here

A few questions running through my mind while my wife watched Downton Abbey while the Seahawks are getting ready to kick off.  Compromises, Compromises.

-Did Joe Maddon and Kris Bryant really make that much difference for the Cubs?  They would lead any other division in baseball, after being an average or less team for several years.

-The Seahawks are 0-1 before tonight's game, but it's not time to push the panic button.  The Champion always gets everyone's best shot.  The Seahawks are still the NFC Champions, a couple of yards and one completion away from back-to-back Super Bowls.  Or one Marshawn Lynch run.  At least I'm not bitter about it.

-Are the Blue Jays really a juggernaut?  Their trade deadline moves have been solid, and the team has played very well.  Look out for them in the playoffs.

-Interesting how the Big Ten has the first two spots in the weekly poll.  So much for it being an SEC world and we're living in it.   Maybe Brett Bielema should have stayed in Wisconsin.  Gotta wonder how this will play out.  Love College Football.

-The United States found a way to win the Solheim Cup today.  Controversy showed the way.  Match play, for the uninitiated, means that sometime putts are "given" or "conceded".  A nice way of saying you're going ot make it, so it's good.  Suzanne Pettersen refused to concede a put and the U.S. rode the momentum to the win.  Moral of the story:-Just do the right thing.

-If you read this blog consistenly, you know that I have gone from coach to official.  This week found some last minute work including my first Varsity Volleyball match.  It went without incident, but the truth is, the match was over before it started.  One team was overmatched, both by talent and experience.  It was hard to watch.

-Had my one round of golf for the year, too.  I shot 86, with two balls in the water.  I spent a day to treasure with my oldest brother.  Just the two of us, playing golf together on the course our dad played, the one I grew up playing.  He shot a career best.  Glad I could see it.

-So, am I off base?