KU has a football team?!!!!?

Well the World Series stunk. I guess in a way it was a good thing because I just can't stay up that late to watch the whole game when it doesn't get over until 12:30 a.m. It's a lot easier to turn the game off when it is 13-1 or 10-5. Another World Series sweep. I can't even remember the last time there were more than 4 games in the World Series. Let me see, 2007 Red Sox

(4-0), 2006 Cardinals (4-0), 2005 White Sox (4-0), 2004 Red Sox (4-0), I guess it was 2003 and I can't even remember who it was. I also loved the fact that with about 6 outs to go before Boston clinchd the title, Joe Buck makes a special announcement that Alex Rodriguez was opting out of his contract with the Yankees. Wow, I guess the Yanks really do run the show that even in the World Series, which they aren't even participating, they make headlines. Silly.

On to the NBA. Opening games are tonight and I could care less...The fact that we don't have cable doesn't really help either with the excitement because I can never watch a game. I was surprised to see in the Philadelphia Inquirer that 3 of their sports guys picked the Bulls to win the East. Da Bulls, over the Pistons or the revamped Celtics??????? I agree that they have talent and could make some noise but unless they get Kobe somehow and MJ decides to return again, I just don't see it.

College football is crazy this year. This is the first time that I am remotely excited about Kansas football. 7-0 baby, #8 !!! and a big game against the Huskers this week. Although now that I gave them props they are probably going to let down big time. But anyway, it's only fueling my excitement for the Jayhawks on the hardwood. I just can't get over how many teams are losing. Sure the Buckeyes beat up on Penn State last week but I'm still not convince that they are a runaway favorite with the BCS title. I thought that last year and they got their butts handed to them by Florida. I'm usually a Big Ten guy and would say that Ohio St. can match up but I think that if they faced an LSU, USC, Oregon, Oklahoma, or even Florida, you would see the same result as last year: butt whoopin'. Which is exactly what I want see the Badgers do to the Buckeyes this week. Let's give every Top 10 team a loss just to make it crazy come the final week of the season. Ahh, gotta love the BCS. At least this year there is no way that they can put Notre Dame in a BCS game.

ROCKtober

A good friend of mine sent me an email earlier today that described his thoughts on the ALCS Champion, Boston Red Sox. I could not agree more with his analysis and passion. If there is one thing that would keep me from watching the World Series this year it would be the fact that the Red Sox are representing the AL. When my team isn't in the Series, which hasn't happened in my lifetime (Cubs fan) I always default for rooting for the National League representative. This year it is the Colorado Rockies and I am jumping on their band wagon as they face the new evil empire of the Major League Baseball.

Enjoy the rant.........thanks E-Mil.........

After last night’s game of the Sox beating the Indians in game 7 of the ALCS, my passionate hatred for the Bosox has nearly grow to that of the Yankees (nearly). Sure the Tribe committed way too many errors last night. And yes, the Indians are younger and inexperienced, but still I give you...

My Top 10 Reasons to Hate the Red Sox:

10. Jacoby Ellsbury - Have you seen this kid? Sure he’s a good rookie, but the Red Sox should be sued for breaking Child Labor Laws. He doesn't look a day past 16!

9. Josh Beckett. Hot head. No, he is not the next Roger Clemens.

8. Curse Shmurse. - The curse died in 2004 when they won the World Series, so Bosox fans, stop trying to put yourself in the same league of suffering as the Indians and the Cubs. You’re no longer in the suffering club, which I get the weird feeling you still want to be.

7. Celebrity Bosox Fans. - Why does it seem like ever since they won the Series in ‘04 celebrities (exluding Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) now root for the Bosox? When was the last time you saw Brad Pitt wearing an Indians cap? I think not. It’s not hip to root for the talented no-names on the Tribe. When the Tribe wins the World Series J. Lo will stillnot sport a Tribe’s cap...which is yet another reason why you gotta love the Indians!

6. Bosox Fans - They are quite possibly just as annoying as Yankee fans. Seriously, you’re chanting “Let’s Go Red Sox”? Is that the best chant you’ve got? And you’re shocked when a pitch from one of your aces isn’t called a strike. As if every pitch should be. Why does it feel like when I’m watching a playoff game that’s at Fenway it feels like Yankee Stadium? Answer:B/c within the last three years Bosox fans have now morphed into Yankee-like fans....which brings me to #5.

5. They’re the New New York Yankees - As Mark Kriegel for FoxSports.com says:“(The Red Sox) just win. They are to the rest of baseball what the Yankees were once to them. The $51 million rights fee Boston paid the Seibu Lions for the rights to Matsuzaka is almost as much as the entire payroll of their World Series opponent. The Colorado Rockies weigh in at $54 million. But hey, these aren't your father's Red Sox. All that good luck is expensive.” Therefore, stop pretending you’re the down-and-out Bosox of yesteryear.

4. Manny Ramirez - He has yet to actually run. The guy barely jogs. If any little league player would apply Ramirez’s laziness they’d be sent home without a sno-cone.

3. - Fox Commentators Tim McGarver & Joe Buck - Thank you, God, for creating the “mute”button! These guys might as well paint their faces grey and red. If I hear them gush over Ramirez’s hitting one more time I’m going to paint their faces black and blue! I think I’ll look up the stats on how many errors Joe Buck had when he played in the Majors. Oh yeah, he never played at all! His daddy was a famous announcer back in the day. Seriously Fox, hire commentators who a least pretend to not have a bias. Apparently it must be cool for celebrities to like the Bosox (see #7). Sadly, I will not be watching the World Series b/c of these shmoes (or I’ll be watching the Series on mute).

2. They’re Good. - Dang it! They’re not my team and they’re good, therefore, I hate them. Plain and simple.

1. The Green Monster - Yes, it’s a sports icon that I wouldn’t mind seeing in person one day, but, seriously, that things jinormous! There’s a sport inwhich the playing field’s differentiate so dramatically that the athletes have to adjust their game...it’s called golf!

13 Letters

Mainstream Christian music is, to say the least, very discouraging to listen to on the radio. Aside from the fact that the radio stations promote their station as "family friendly" and "positive hits" and say nothing about their desire to play music that glorifies Jesus, the fact that most of the songs they play are very fluffy and feel good about yourself songs doesn't particularly make me want to turn the dial to 'K Love'...so i settle for gangsta rap instead (just kidding). I don't want to bash all of Christian music because there are some great bands but for the most part, it is not to my liking at least.

Where are the groups that sing about substance? Or better yet, where is the Christian radio station that plays songs that are of substance?

One of my good friends turned my attention to the new album put out by the 116 Clique. If you are not familiar with the 116 Clique you need to check out their website (http://www.reachrecords.com/). This album is by far one of the best Christian albums that I have listened to in a long time. The focus of this album was to dissect the 13 letters of the Apostle Paul in hip-hop form. These guys (Lecrae, Trip Lee, Tedashii, Flame, Shai Linne, JSon,....) have brought the meat to music lyrics that will have a huge impact on peoples lives because "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ". I am just waiting for a Christian radio station to just play one of these songs and I will forever have a different view of Christian radio. But I am not too confident that I will find that anytime soon, much to my dismay.

In the meantime, I will continue to 'ride with my top down, listen to Jesus music' and pump the Word of Christ as loud as I can from my hatchback.

Theology defined

Last week in my Missional Theology class, the discussion was about defining theology. What is theology? and from that definition, how does it affect our lives? Here are a couple definitions of theology from various scholars:

"Theology is a disciplined reflection upon the truth of Christian revelation" -Jaroslav Pelikan

"Systematic theology is a study that answers the question "what does the whole Bible teach us today?" about any given topic." -Wayne Grudem

"Theology is the discipline which strives to give a coherent statement of the doctrines of Christian faith, based primarily on Scripture, placed in context of culture in general, worded in contemporary idiom, and related to issues of life." -Millard Erikson

"Theology is a confession of Biblical truths, intellectual reflection on them, and assimilation of them by the people of God in the form of distinctively Christian wisdom." -David Wells

"Theology is an imperfect attempt to develop increasingly more accurate approximations of God's perfect truth, by exegeting, systematizing, defining, and explaining the facts and meanings of God's revelation of His nature, works, and purpose for all created beings." -Robert Dunzweiler

The definition of theology that we are using as our format for our class discussions is:

"Christian theology is an ongoing, second-order, contextual discipline that engages in the task of critical and constructive reflection on the beliefs and practices of the Christian church, for the purpose of assisting the community of Christ's followers in their missional vocation to live as the people of God in the particluar social, historical context in which they are situated."

Though this is a handful of language and idioms that I won't go into here, it has been real interesting as I have been wrestling and reflecting on these new concepts of approaching theology. One of the areas that I resonate with in my dialogue in class is the fact of how much humility plays a role in studying theology. We, as humans, are finite and fallen, and cannot come up with a perfect system of studying God or His attributes. I think the thing that helps me the most in studying theology is the fact of reminding myself that God is God and that I cannot comprehend to the fullest extent how He works or acts. He has given us the Bible as revelation and it is our mission to accurately (to the best of our ability, empowered by the Spirit), interpret the Scripture and the culture in order to relay His message of redeeming love to an ever-changing world.

The BEST logo in Baseball

Old School Baseball Caps and Stuff

I would say (or at least would like to think) that I am an avid baseball fan. For the sheer purity of the game that is. Maybe that is why I am drawn to teams like the Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies, and Cleveland Indians of this year. These three teams have gone about their year in very similar ways. Neither team has gone out in the offseason to bring in the superstar to help them get to the playoffs. Maybe the Brewers needed to down the stretch but their issue was pitching that led to their downfall in the NL Central. Teams like this attract me because they are just guys who go out there each day and play their hearts out. Guys who came up through the farm system and our now in the big leagues. Good stories and good for baseball. I mean, the Rockies were all but dead two weeks ago in the playoff race but peeling off an 11 game win streak to close the season is pretty impresive. They are rewarded with a 1 game playoff tonight against the Padres for the NL wild card. In a very twisted way, because my Dad is a Met fan, I was glad to see the Mets choke away their lead to the fightin' Phils (as people call them here in the Philly). The Mets were 7.5 games up in the NL East on September 12. September 30 rolls around and the Mets aren't even in the playoffs. Crazy. Just crazy. But the Mets are one of those teams who (like their city counterpart) go out and buy their superstars. Maybe that's what you need to do to win the World Series, I don't know, but it would sure be nice to see the Indians, Phillies, and Rockies (if they make it in) play well in October.

I enjoy learning and reading about the history of baseball. I also like representing old school baseball. I have three baseball caps that are of three old school baseball teams. One being a Brooklyn Dodgers hat, the other a New York Giants, and the other an old school Brewers logo. The 2 most famous players for the Dodgers and Giants (Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays) are great examples of how the game is supposed to be played day in and day out. It's a trip to me when people always jump to the conclusion that I'm a Red Sox fan or a Mets fan. Granted, the hats do look very similar to the Bo Sox and Mets but the color scheme is very different. I wore my NY Giants (baseball giants that is) hat around Philly this passed week. I must've been ridiculed and spoken to each day that I wore it. "Mets suck" I would hear as I walked the street of Center city..or "Phillies are going to take the East" would also ring out. Instead of firing back at their ignorance and lack of baseball knowledge I simply would smile and keep walking. It just made me laugh because people just don't know a true baseball fan when they see one !!!

This brings me to my awkward, yet encouraging encounter with my Missional Theology professor. The first day of class I wore my Giants cap. He walked in and during roll call he says "wow, NY Giants, I like that hat". I was shocked because this theology professor knew his stuff and his baseball history. Last week I came in about a half hour late to class due to an accident on the NE extenstion and was wearing my Brooklyn Dodgers cap. As I searched for an open seat he stopped his lecture and proceeds to tell me that he really likes my taste in ball caps. He then proceeds to ask me if I'm now a Dodgers fan or a Giants fan. I say neither, I just like baseball. He then proceeds to ask me if I've read a book called "the Echoing Green" and that if I haven't I should definitely read it because it's all about the rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers in the 40's and 50's. I'm a little hesitant to approach him with questions about baseball because I can only imagine that he would talk my ear off for. But then again, I must overcome the fear of the beast because he may have a signed baseball of murderer's row to give me. (Sandlot for those of you who don't know) . The only downside to my MT prof is that he is an Ohio St. Buckeye fan. My next purchase needs to be a Bucky hat. Any ideas Christian?