Cooperstown bound

It came to my attention earlier this afternoon that today is the 40th birthday of Omar Vizquel, probably the most underrated shortstop in his baseball era. Omar is now playing SS for the San Francisco Giants and if it wasn't for one of his teammates being Barry Bonds I would consider rooting for the Giants. Rooting only for Vizquel will have to suffice. Omar, though he doesn't hit homeruns like the A Rod's, or the Miguel Tejada's of today's game, has got to be a lock for Cooperstown. Listen to these stats: over 2,500 hits and has only committed 12 errors in the last 318 games, not to mention the 12 Gold Gloves that he has received. He is best known for his long stint in Cleveland manning the middle of the infield for those Indians that won the World Series.

Anyway.........

I now totally consider it amazing that my high school teammates nicknamed me "Omar" when I was playing SS for the Dakota Indians.

#42

Yesterday around the world of Major League Baseball was Jackie Robinson Day. April 15 marks the Opening Day of the 1947 season which saw Jack Roosevelt Robinson break the color barrier and become the first black Major League Baseball player. Yesterday, thanks to Ken Griffey Jr, certain MLB players wore #42 in commemoration ofJackie Robinson. Of course, the whole Dodgers team wore #42 as well as some other teams. I hold to the view that next year every player in MLB should wear #42 to commemorate this great athlete and man. If I were Bud Selig I would jump at that fact considering that he didn't even come up with the idea to were #42 this year. I give great credit to Ken Griffey Jr. of the Cincinnati Reds. This is definitely a testament to his great career. He plays the game so different than Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds, and all those other steroid using homerun hitters. Griffey Jr is professional and classy with a sweet swing. Too bad that he has had the injury bug the past couple years because it would be great to see him break Hank's record, not Mr. Steroids, I mean Barry Bonds.

Words will never hurt me....

The more and more I work with students, I have come to learn that the age old phrase "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" cannot be further from the truth. It seems that this was a ploy used back in the day to basically say, man up and don't let what people say bother you. But in all honesty, words are the things that I believe, cut the deepest to any person. I had one of those rude awakening moments today about just how important words are, especially to young students/children. In the Kindergarten PE class there is a little boy who is considerably smaller than the other children in his class. Because he is so small he's one of those boys that you just fall in love with and love seeing him laugh and smile. Today he came to PE with a huge pink ring around his eye. He came up to me towards the end of the class and swiped his hands across his face and then preceeded to grab my hand to sort of hang on me. In my reaction, I mentioned to say "ah, don't touch me with that hand". To his utter surprise he didn't know what else to do but run away sobbing. Immediately I caught up to him and apologized for my remarks and tried to do my best to encourage this little boy. But man o man, I praise God for those moments because it is in those times that I am slammed by my own faults and my desperate need for God's grace.

During the past couple of days I have been really keenly interested in the Don Imus controversy about his remarks regarding the Rutgers girls basketball team. I totally agree that his remarks were way out of line and very uncalled for but I am simply struck by the double standard in the media in how they report it and who they choose to speak on the issue. People like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson make a living on issues like this and they always seem to cause way more trouble and division than is good for America. No wonder there is so much division amongst black and white perspectives and ideologies. If you get a chance check out the Hannity & Colmes video piece from April 10 on foxnews.com about the Imus controversy. They have some really good points from some guests on their show. I'll let you check it out though.

Of course, it's always okay and nobody makes fuss over 50 cent, and Snoop Dogg calling black women the same thing in their lyrics. It just doesn't make sense and it never will because this world is a fallen place and we are in desperate need of transformation into the image of Jesus. Funny, because we are called to that (Ephesians 5:1-2).

beginning of the final push

Today is the first day back to school after a 10 day spring break and boy was it nice (the break I mean). I almost forgot just how crazy each day is here at school. Rachel and I were in Florida for our break and on our long drive home we were hit with the news that the weather in Chicago was a beautiful 34 degrees. Man o man, I can only imagine what it is like living in the south during the winter months. I'm normally one who enjoys the winter weather but when it lasts from November to April it is just too much.

Getting back to Chicago yesterday afternoon it took Rachel and I a trip to Caribou Coffee to get back into the perspective of school work and facing the attitudes of these students. It is the beginning of April and we have about a month and a half left of school. Everyone, students and teachers alike, are in the mode of "just get through this day and I'll be fine".

If you feel led to Rachel and I ask that you pray for us as we finish up this school year and then wait and see where God is going to lead us next. We are excited about the possibilities!

HE is Risen.....

HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Praise the LORD. HALLELUJAH!

NCAA woes

The very thing that I absolutely despised the first time I looked at the NCAA tournament brackets is only a day away from coming to fruition, that being the Championship game consisting of the Gators of Florida and the Buckeyes of Ohio St. Not only is it lame that it's a rematch of the BCS (or as a friend of mine puts it, BCBS) title game but these two teams already played early in the year with Florida stomping Ohio St. by 30 or so. It looks as though I will be able to spend the evening with my wife because I won't be watching the game or even caring to see who won. I guess I'm just a bitter KU fan who only wants to see, sometime soon, the "One Shining Moment" song played with highlights of my team cutting down the nets. One day it will happen.

On a more positive note, an analyst on sportsradio made the prediction that the Dodgers would win the World Series and just a couple months ago Rachel and I decided together that we were going to become Dodgers fans and raise are kids as such. Things are on the up and up. But again, in my world I'm sure that this is going to be the year that the curse of the billy goat is lifted and the Cubs will win the World Series, actually on second thought, I think I'm safe on that one.

Alright alright, enough sports talk. Rachel and I are enjoying our week off for Spring Break in sunny Florida visiting with my grandparents and of course, Mickey and Donald, and the burning rays of the sun which is going to scorch my skin.