Some Baseball Trivia

"It's the only Major League Baseball team name whose first 4 letters match the first 4 letters of its city."

This was a Final Jeopardy question, so you may place a wager and the response should be in the form of a question. Also, to be fair, you should only give yourself about 30 seconds to answer.

FAT Tuesday

Many of you may be asking yourself, "Just what is this 'Mardi Gras' I've been hearing so much about?" Many more of you may not be asking yourself that at all. But regardless I am going to tell you. The words Mardi Gras literally translate as "Fat Tuesday". It is the Tuesday immediately preceding Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent, a time of fasting in the Christian faith. Since Christians around the world will begin various fastings and purging, the day before is typically a time to enjoy those indulgences one last time before giving them up. Fat Tuesday celebrations may include anything from loading up on an abundance of pancakes, to a drunken sex romp through the streets of as major city. My personal Fat Tuesday fun will fall somewhere between.

Lent, in virtually all regards, is the opposite of Fat Tuesday. Lent is a period in the Christian Faith that is traditionally marked by three central observances. That being prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lent is a time of preparation for the coming Resurrection and should be view as an opportunity for self reflection, with the ultimate goal of bettering ones self. The modern tradition of Lent is to give up something that is typically a vice. Many choose to give up sweets, others soft drinks, and some may vow to live without fried food. But edible vices aren't the only ones that can be removed from ones daily diet. Some may opt to give up cursing, while others may make an effort to exercise more, choosing laziness as the vice they will do without. All are valid and noble, and can be accomplished with perseverance and prayer.

Prayer is a fundamental part of Lent. Prayer is a tool that can help keep us away from our much missed and desired vices. But prayer is also a tool which can help us grow closer to God through our fasting. I am thankful for the message that The Judge gave this past Sunday at Awaken about prayer, as well as the prayer journals he passed out. My plan for my journal is to write anytime I feel like I really need to give in and break my fast.

But I think almsgiving is one component of Lent that is often overlooked. One traditional idea is that the money saved by, not drinking sodas for example, could be collected and given to a charity. Unless you switch to more expensive juice during Lent, in which case you would not profit monetarily by not drinking Dr. Pepper. But the spirit of almsgiving, in some fashion should also be present during Lent. If not in monetary form, then perhaps giving time to volunteer can be a great substitute.

This all leads to what I will be giving up for Lent. I've decided to give up more than one thing this year. I have a whole list of vices that I could surely live without and I'm going to choose a few of them to do so this Lenten season. On the one hand, giving up more gives me a better chance of succeeding on at least one, but ideally I can be a healthier person in both mind and body at the end of my 40 days. After much contemplation, here goes the list:

Fried foods
Soft drinks (but only caramel colored ones, so 7-up, Sprite, and Squirt are still okay)
Beer & liquor
and cursing

I decided to put something on the list that comes out of my mouth rather than just going in. I'm not sure yet how difficult it will be to give up cursing, but I plan to use this as my tool for almsgiving. I am going to keep a "swear jar", and anytime I say an illegal word or phrase then I will put a quarter into the jar. Whatever I have collect by Easter will go to a charity to be determined later. My basic rule on deciding what count on cursing and what doesn't is: If I would be uncomfortable saying it in front of the old ladies at church, then it counts. So words that are borderline, such as: sucks, crap, butt, hell or poop - these words are okay. But other words like: fuck, shit, ass, bitch, cock, or damn - these words will cost me a quarter. But I also think, to be fair, I should include certain offensive phrases as illegal. For example, the word "ball" and the word "sucker" are perfectly innocent, but when put together, they'll cost me a quarter. The words anus, and rape aren't all that bad, but the phrase, "rape his anus" is not something I would want the old ladies at church hearing.

I'll need some help in order to actually purge myself of all the vices I've chose this Lent. I plan to pray, but I'll also call on my friends to help me as well. It's possible, even likely, that I will cuss from time to time and not realize I did it. I'm hopeful my friend will call this to my attention and help keep me in line.

And there is another question of what to do on Sundays. Traditionally, Sunday's is a day where it is okay to break the fast. I've contemplated whether or not I want to allow myself to break my fast on these chosen vices. I think that beer will be the easiest for me to give up and I feel like it is the least detrimental, therefore I can allow myself to break my fast on Sunday. But other than that, I plan to do without everything else for the duration of Lent, which I believe is actually 46 days. Today is my last day, before giving up these vices for six weeks and I plan to take advantage in typical Mardi Gras style - do a lot of all of them all at once. I'm drinking a Coke right now, and later I plan to eat some fried chicken, drink some beer, and cuss like an angry sailor.

Happy Fat Tuesday bitches!

Upward Basketball

Its been a major frustration of mine that ever since Meadowbrook UMC built their Community Life Center (CLC) that the building has gone virtually unused. I know there have been a handful of events, such as the Halloween Carnival and the Church Garage Sale, but these are events that were done before the CLC and could be done without it. There hasn't been much in the way of NEW things being planned for the CLC... but finally, changes have come.

I loved the feeling I got when I walked into the CLC Saturday morning. There was an electricity in the air. The room was full of people, cheering on two simultaneous games kindergartners attempting to play basketball. The kids had no concept of dribbling, or passing, or out of bounds. They only new to take the ball and try and put it in a basket (hopefully their own, but we'll congratulate none the less). I thoroughly enjoyed seeing that many people, from outside of the church, coming in to take advantage of this outreach. It was also really cool to see so many volunteers, who are not affiliated with the church, to be taking part as coaches and referees.

The excitement for me built more and more as it neared time for my game. I'm coaching the oldest age division, 5th &6th graders, and our game was the last of the day. In just two practices I've really come to like the players I have, especially Daylon. We sat in the locker room just before game time. Daylon was sitting in the chair next to me and his face looked stern and focused. It could have been chiseled out of stone for the lack of expression. I tried to crack a couple of jokes and give a few last minute pointers, but nothing would break Daylon's concentration. He had gone "game face", like that of a gladiator and he was ready to face the lions.

Daylon is unique. He is probably the best player in the league and I'm pretty sure he knows it. But he might also be the nicest player in the league as well. He understands the concept of fair play and want everyone on the team to get a chance to contribute. He'll gladly pass to the worst player even if he knows a turnover is inevitable. And he never wants to be labeled as a "ball hog" or "showboat" or anything else like that. So through the first quarter he tried his best to distribute scoring opportunities. But when the first quarter concluded he was less than satisfied with the fact that we were losing. Fair play or not, Daylon doesn't like losing.

The second quarter was very different, Daylon went Kobe all over that game. He turned it on, so to speak. He became ultra aggressive on defense, stealing any time he could, and he flew through the air to secure every rebound. But it was his offense that turned the tide. He showed no hesitation in flying past his defender and made every basket look easy. The third quarter he became even more vicious. It seemed that nothing their team did could possibly stop him. By the end of the third period we had coasted to a comfortable 33-15 lead. I took Daylon aside and told him that the game was already won and to take it easy the rest of the way. It is after all a Christian league and I didn't want to run up the score. I told Daylon to not make anymore easy baskets and to try and pass to his teammates more. He understood and was fine with holding back a little. But Daylon's frustration quickly grew. His teammates were not playing up to par and he had to restrain himself several times to keep from scoring easy, break away baskets. With about 3 minutes left in the game, I could see him getting more and more angry. He turned to me after, yet another turnover and said, "Can I please play normal now?" I laughed and said, "Sure, go for it." He turned it on again and managed to score a couple of more baskets before the game ended.

We won comfortably and everyone had a good time. But I don't think I'll be asking Daylon to "turn it off" again. As coach I need to try and bring his teammates up to speed and allow Daylon to play his game naturally. I'm really optimistic about how our season looks. I know that every child is a winner with Upward, but I still want my team to be win the most.