In His Words: Part 3

I've been thinking a lot over the past several weeks about what I continue to work with youth. I wasn't questioning my reasons because I am looking for a reason to stop, I just wanted a good reason. Having not found a reason that sounded reverent enough for my liking, I soon found my reasons in the words of an unlikely source, Allen Iverson:

[He] was talking about people acknowledging me for things I do; I don’t need people to praise me for that. I don’t need people to praise me for that. You know, God know what I do and the person that I do it for, they know, and that’s the only thing that matters. I ain’t trying to win no popularity contest. When you somebody popular, you gotta have tough skin cause you never gonna be perfect to everybody. You never gonna be able to satisfy everybody. All you supposed to concentrate on is the people that love you and care about you. I think it brings joy out of people to knock people down. Don’t nobody care about what AI does for the community. The story is when AI does something that they think is wrong. That’s the big story. That’s the story everybody want to read. And as bad as it is, that’s the way it is. It’s an evil world. I just want kids, and adults, to just learn from my experience and know that it don’t matter what you do, how good you do, how many peoples lives you touch, how many good things you do, you know, people still gonna still throw shots at you. And it’s something you gotta take. You gotta learn how to have thick skin and I’d be lying if I said those things didn’t hurt, cause they still hurt. I’m 34 years old. People been throwing shots at me since the first time I went to jail and it never stopped. I never got used to it, but I’m just better now. It don’t hurt as much, but it still hurt. But those guys being up there and knowing that I had an impact on their life and they can say that I had an impact on their life: that’s everything to me. And not just one person that I touched, it was two. And hopefully I can continue to touch more lives.

Amen.

Video of this moving speech can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYmObmEY6cY

Tear me apart

A friend of mine posted a note on Facebook today that she actually wrote. It wasn't a quiz or a forwarded survey, it was a handful of thoughtful, caring paragraphs. It also happened to be about baseball and her love for the game. It was very well written and a breath of fresh air amongst the filler that has become Facebook.

I'm recovering from a sinus infection that has put me down for better than a week now. I went to Youth Fellowship last night and tossed the frisbee around with some of the kids. I had no idea how tired I still was until I got out there. Other than one trip to the grocery and two days at work, it was the first thing I'd done besides lay on the couch since last Friday. I'll be glad when my lingering cough goes away.

Nitro Circus is my new "favorite" tv show. It's kind of America's Funniest Home Videos meets Thrills & Spills meets Jackass, only better. It's hard to comprehend the talent in the group on that show with their actions, but it's there. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. And thankfully Comcast as it OnDemand free (in HD no less) so I can avoid the ignorant MTV commercials. Thankfully now that Making the Band 4 has come to an end, my MTV intake will be minute.

Let's make a note that the Moles' family had an original America's Funniest Home Videos towel featuring cartoon characters of some of the funniest original clips. Our grandpa got it for us and I'd guess it caused a fight or three around the house.

My sister returns home in two months from her almost-year-long stint in East Asia. Jeff and I both got a couple days off work after the weekend she gets back, which also happens to be Father's Day weekend, and we're both very excited to see her and also spend time with the entire family for a few days. The five of us haven't been together since a couple weeks before she left in September. It will be nice to have everyone in the same room again during those short three or four days. As you get older, you depend less on your family in many ways, but depend on them even more in ways you never knew you would while growing up.

Before I moved to Nashville, I worked 10ish-5ish five days a week and could take off almost whenever I wanted. Leaving at 3 a few afternoons a week was normal during our slow season. Being on hourly pay, this was not conducive to my bank account, but to my lazy-self it was the best thing ever. Having now put in a year working too many hours a week in retail and now almost six months at a desk job, I continually work for the weekend. I am so grateful to have a position that allows me to work 37 hours a week and get time off when I need it. Finding this job during the midst of an economical crisis is probably more of a blessing than I realize.

I am completely sucked into the NBA playoffs. I have watched at least part of almost every game that has been on cable thus far, partly because I was sick and did nothing but watch tv for a week and partly because the game is so great right now. I don't know if this kind of stat has ever been looked at, but without any knowledge of previous years playoffs point guard classes, I'd make the argument that this year's class is the best of all time. Chauncey Billups, Tony Parker, Aaron Brooks, Steve Blake, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Mo Williams, Rajon Rondo, Rafer Alston (should be Jameer Nelson), Mike Bibby, Mario Chalmers, Derrick Rose, Andre Miller, Derek Fisher, and Rodney Stuckey would have to be the most complete point guard lineup ever to grace the NBA playoffs. And keep in mind Steve Nash, who's great but overrated, didn't make the playoffs.

Besides the point guards, you've still got Kobe, LeBron, D-Wade, Superman, Jesus Shuttlesworth, Paul Pierce, Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan, Yao, Brandon Roy, David West, Dirk, Ben Gordon, Joe Johnson, Andre Iguodala, and Rip Hamilton gracing the court.

You're not impressed that I could name every starting playoff point guard, but I am. I've said it many times and I'll say it again, the NBA is the best it's been since Jordan, Bird, and Magic. Take advantage of the opportunity before you to watch these guys. Kobe, LeBron, Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan, Chris Paul, and D-Wade will go down as some of the greatest players to ever play the game. And of those seven, Duncan is the old man of the group at 33 years old (Howard and Paul are only 23, LeBron is only 24).

One last NBA note: Jeff asked yesterday when the playoffs end because he's already sick of watching. Hopefully the middle of June isn't too far away for him. I guess he'll just have to countdown to Sarah getting home while I countdown to a championship.

I should get back to work now. I think I'm going to the Sounds (AAA Brewers affiliate) game tonight with some friends. My Iowa Cubs are in town. I'll feel kinda bad rooting against the home team until I see my boys in blue take the field.

Tear me apart?

Tear me apart 'cause this is the start of a new beginning

Open my eyes and cut through the lies that I tell myself

-Jon Hainstock "Tear Me Apart"

Today, I'm just a little bit cooler than you.

I'm 26 today.  That sounds old as crap to me.  Not because it is, but because I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20.  30 sounds light years away yet it will be here before I realize it.

I turn 26 with a great love for the life I live and for the people I am so fortunate to share it with.  I turn 26 with a heavy heart; a heart that aches for the family of a 22 year old I have never met, nor did I know his name until Wednesday night.  I turn 26 with a sense of pride in the way I have been taught and have chosen to lead my life.  I turn 26 knowing that I will have hundreds, if not thousands, of Facebook notifications when I check tomorrow morning.

That'd be the best present ever.  A little red flag at the bottom of my Facebook home page with tiny white numbers reading, "724."

I hope all of you who read this are doing well.  I hope you are all in good spirits and good health.  I am truly blessed and I thank you for sharing your lives with me; it means the world to me.  Thank you and good night.

Happy Birthday to me,

B

Say it ain't so...

It's tragically ironic that Nick Adenhart played for the Angels.  As someone who is very attached to the greatest game ever played, I feel pain for those who mourn and grieve the loss of a son, a friend, and a teammate.  There are very few days when baseball is not fun; today is one of those days.

Here are longtime Dodgers radio announcer Vin Scully's words.  I don't think it could be put any better:

If I may speak for every member of the Dodger organization, our heartfelt and deepest sympathies to the mother and family of Nick Adenhart, and to every member in the Angels organization, for the untimely accident and death of young Nick last night at the tender age of twenty-two. Nick, from Maryland, had pitched six scoreless innings and was in a car with three friends, and a driver apparently went through a red light and T-boned the car, killing three of the four, including Nick, and one other member is in critical condition. And if there is one thing I’ve learned in all my years — and I haven’t learned much — but the one thing I’ve learned: Don’t even waste your time trying to figure out life.

Ground ball through for Andre Ethier, and life continues for those who still have it. And with a leadoff single, Russell Martin will be coming up.

But I would say, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a moment and say a prayer in memory for Nick, especially for his parents. What a shock to lose a twenty-two-year-old.

Andre Ethier at first base, Russell Martin the batter, James Loney on deck, and the Dodgers try to strike in the second inning against Kevin Correia...

I'd like to think I'm capable of doing things bigger than me

Tonight at our youth group meeting, we watched a film titled Peace One Day. It is about a man who took it upon himself to run with the idea of a worldwide cease-fire for one day each year. He met with numerous world leaders to discuss his idea and film their thoughts, to be used for promotion of the day of peace and also to show other world leaders. After meeting with the leaders and getting their blessings, Kofi Annan, then UN Secretary General, was set to announce, on behalf of the UN, a day of world peace. The announcement was set to take place outside the UN building in New York City on September 11, 2001.



Literally while a children's orchestra was playing before Annan was to make the announcement, the two planes struck the two towers of the World Trade Center. The film suddenly took a turn from a sense of accomplishment and excitement to fear and befuddlement. Watching the film at this point reminded me of a quote from John Mayer (surprise surprise) in the article he wrote to publicly declare his support for Barack Obama during last Fall's election.


Mayer writes, "I was 23 years old when the nation was attacked on September 11, 2001. I can remember hearing pundits say "this changes everything" and "things will never be the same." Obviously it was a tragic and traumatic event, but that sentiment has carried on through the better part of my twenties. If you were 43 years old on that day, I would imagine it was a difficult concept to get your head around as well, but if you were a young adult just entering his or her individual life, there was an added twist; how can you process the idea of everything changing and things never being the same when you have no point of reference for what "everything" and "the same" is? I was just beginning to put my hands on the world around me, to interact and engage with it, and to actualize the dream of being an adult in a free society. To wait in line for 23 years only to have the "sorry, future canceled" sign flipped in my face was depressing, to say the least."


This quote has to be almost exactly what Jeremy, the man who's dream was and is Peace One Day, was thinking on that morning of September 11th that we all recall so fondly. To have the dream of world peace, if only for one day, almost within reach only to have it snatched seemingly further away than ever must have been devastating. Obviously, our future wasn't cancelled literally, but the future we hoped for was certainly gone.


Jeremy continued with his efforts and September 21st of each year is now officially a worldwide Day of Peace, designated by the UN.


I am not anti-war and obviously not pro-war, as I realize it is sometimes a necessary evil, but the thought of mankind growing within itself to the point of being willing to lay down our weapons for one day is astounding. Keep in mind, no true cease-fires have taken place on this day, but it's the symbolism of it that fascinates me and hopefully several others. In 2003 alone, over 240,000,000 people worldwide celebrated this Day of Peace. I'd like to hope that come September 21st of this year that number will have grown dramatically.

A few things, mostly random, but certainly not 25

My favorite movies (in no order):
Remember the Titans
Braveheart
Super Troopers
Transformers
Saving Private Ryan
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Love Actually
Field of Dreams
Dumb & Dumber
Saving Silverman
Garden State
You've Got Mail
The Shawshank Redemption

Movies I feel like I should have seen but haven't:
The Dark Knight
Good Will Hunting
The Godfather (any of them)
Caddyshack
Rudy
Raging Bull
Pulp Fiction
Scarface
The Karate Kid

Movies I don't understand peoples fascinations with:
Harry Potter (though I've only seen one and didn't really pay attention)
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Princess Bride (funny, but not that funny)

Movies I used to watch one after another when I was sick:
Toy Story

Babe
________________________

The two signs that are most apparent to me that the economy sucks: 1. Halls is using one generic wrapper on all of their cough/sore throat/vitamin C drops. They used to have different wrappers for all of their products but now they're all in the gross yellow Halls wrapper that usually signals "gross cherry menthol flavor." 2. MLB free agents deserving of a roster spot on almost any team are not being signed. I took some time to put together a 25 man roster of free agents and compared them to the arguable worst team in the league, the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Here's what I came up with:

Free Agent Pittsburgh Pirates Advantage:
C Paul Lo Duca Ryan Doumit Pirates
1B Doug Mientkiewicz Adam LaRoche Pirates
2B Orlando Hudson Freddy Sanchez Free Agents
3B Joe Crede Andy LaRoche Push
SS Orlando Cabrera Jack Wilson Push
RF Ken Griffey Jr. Brandon Moss Push
CF Jim Edmonds Nate McLouth Pirates
LF Manny Ramirez Nyjer Morgan Free Agents
SP Ben Sheets Paul Maholm Free Agents
SP Livan Hernandez Zack Duke Push
SP Tom Glavine Ian Snell Push
SP Chuck James Jeff Karstens Free Agents
SP Mark Mulder Tom Gozelanny Pirates
RP Will Ohman John Grabow Pirates
RP Juan Cruz Tyler Yates Free Agents
RP Joe Beimel Craig Hansen Free Agents
RP Anbriorix Burgos Sean Burnett Free Agents
RP Dennys Reyes Jesse Chavez Free Agents
RP Julian Tavarez Matt Capps Pirates
B Garret Anderson Brian Bixler Free Agents
B Ivan Rodriguez Robinzon Diaz Free Agents
B Mark Grudzielanek Luis Cruz Free Agents
B Luis Gonzalez Steve Pearce Free Agents
B Jay Payton Ramon Vasquez Free Agents
B Miguel Cairo Eric Hinske Pirates

13 advantages for the Free Agent team, eight for the Pirates, and four ties. Keep in mind, this is my quick evaluation and I didn't match up players exactly how they would be on a depth chart, but it's pretty close. Also, the Pirates roster is filled with young, less-than-three-years service time players that make well under $1 million per year and the Free Agent team is full of veterans that all demand/require a salary of well over $3 million, so total payroll for these two teams would be remarkably different. But I think it's still very interesting to look at. Also, some of the veteran pitchers would need to be healthy, which most of them aren't right now, in order to actually be better than their younger, Pirate counterparts.

One more baseball thing: Everyone is wigging out lately over steroids in baseball. I agree, MLB is too far behind other sports concerning drug testing and penalties for positive tests. A-Rod coming out as a user surprised me as much as anyone, but he's still one of greatest players of all time. A lot of people who don't know the game will say he isn't because of the steroids. There's an easy way to prove those people wrong.

Any fairly fit, reasonably athletic person could do the following things if put in the situation: score a basket in an NBA game, score a touchdown in an NFL game or even catch or throw a completion in an NFL game. Any fairly fit, reasonably athletic person could not touch a Major League pitcher. I'll give you 100 pitches and you would not foul a pitch off. Unless you played college baseball, or the game at a higher level, you're not going to touch any current MLB pitcher unless they throw you a melon.

Hitting a Major League pitch is the hardest thing to do in sports. Some might argue hitting a hole-in-one in golf, but often times that's because of the chances of doing so are so small and has little to do with talent or ability. There are many other things that are very, very difficult, but hitting pitching in Major League Baseball consistently is the hardest of them all.

Now, go take steroids for a year and then try to do all of those things I mentioned earlier. You'd have an easier time playing a physical game like football and would be stronger on the basketball court, but they're still not going to help you but the bat on the ball.

I agree, taking steroids or other performance enhancing drugs is illegal and shouldn't go unpunished, but we should not take away anything that has been done in the past because of baseball, as an organizations, ignorance to their own problem. All of the statistics should count int he record books just as they do now; an asterisk is already next to those numbers in almost every one's head anyway, so what does a literal asterisk do to help the problem? I know I'll tell my children about baseball when I was growing up just like my father told me, so this era will not go forgotten.

Enjoy the opportunity to watch the players we have in the game today. Manny Ramirez is one of the top five pure hitters of all-time; Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens (as much as I hate him), Mariano Rivera, and Trevor Hoffman are four of the greatest pitchers of all-time; and Alex Rodriguez is the second best offensive player the game has ever seen (behind Babe Ruth).

Love the sporting world we live in if you enjoy sports. The NBA is the best it's been in 20+ years (I'm addicted suddenly), the NFL is as entertaining as ever, the NHL is...well, the NHL (Canada loves you), NASCAR, though it ruined its championship system, is filled with young and talented drivers, and if you aren't watching tennis, you should be. Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer are two of the best players ever; their rivalry, friendly as it is and should be, is something I wish will go on for years (and Federer wins every match in 5). Oh, two more words: Tiger Woods.

Pitchers and catchers report today!
B

We are one.

My America,

your America,

our America

is beautiful.