You May Have Seen This One

I am sure you have all seen the talking E*Trade baby and all of his weird antics. And I'm sure you have seen the new golf episode. I have a blog I read every day called Prayers for Blowouts. The tag line Bryan (the creater) uses for the sight is as follows: "Examines the frequent collisions of sports, faith, and funny since David upset Goliath."

One of the contributors to the site is a guy named Chad Gibbs. Not really sure exactly what he does for a living. Anyway, he has a weekly golf post that he runs during the PGA season about the weeks tournament. He never had a name for it, all he would put is "Chad's Untitled Weekly Golf Post." That was of course until the video. Now the post is called "The Great Shankopotamus." If you don't get it, here is the video, you might get it then. Enjoy.

Soccer Anyone?

It's that time of year again. I know that most people in this country don't care too much for the game of Soccer. That's okay, it just means more for me. The English Premier League is in full swing, training is starting for the MLS, and now the ladies have a professional league... sweet!

I have decided to start another blog. This one is for soccer only called From The Pitch. I just started it a few weeks ago. I am just posting news and my own opinions about happenings from around the soccer world. Nothing mind blowing or ground breaking. I just want to share my passion for the beautiful game with everyone. You don't have to go and read it if you don't want. Like I said before, there aren't too many people that like the game anyway.

Also, Becky, Christy, and myself, started playing in an adult league that AYSO started here in town. It sure was fun. We had our first game last night. Christy has never played before. She did great. We are all a bit out of shape so it was a hard night. We will keep you posted and maybe post a few pictures here soon. See ya later.

Can You Say AWESOME!!!!

We have had a lot of snow in the mountains around Bakersfield. So much in fact that a lot the ski resorts are calling it an epic opening weekend. I have started to get the itch to run out and hit the slopes, yes even after what happened last year. I have also been watching a lot of snowboard dvds as well. Check these guys out!!

Oh No... It's T.O.!!!!

I am sure you have heard me talk about Burnside Writers Collective in the past. It's a great weekly online magazine that has a wide range in topics about Christianity and sports too. One of the main contributers in the sports catagory is a man named Jonathan Adams. This guy is a Canadian, so big hockey fan. On top of that, he is a sports writer and has great insight on a lot of different sports. He posted an artical this past week, "An Open Letter To Terrell Owens". I just wanted to let everyone that is intrested read this letter. I don't think I could have put it any better myself. Click here to read the letter and enjoy.

Something To Pass The Time

Well, it all started last months during the Winter X Games.  I wrote a bit about it in this link here.  Anyway, after enjoying a lot of great competition, I notice something about a lot of the athletes.  They were thanking God before any of their sponsors.  I decided to do a bit of research to find out about the questions I had.  Here is an article that I found.

So, that day, January 26th or 27th, I decided to start a ministry geared toward helping to spread the Good News of Jesus.  There is one or two groups that do the same thing.  One is a group on Colorado, Snowboard For Christ Ministries.

The mission of Shred 4 Christ is for Christians with a specific specialized calling of taking the Message of Christ to the extreme sports community.  The reason I am trying to create this ministry is to provide the teens and young adult an alternative to the local bar scene and party scene.  

I guess we'll see how things turn out.  I still have a lot to do.  I have the start of a logo as you can see up top there.  The little endeavor of mine will be keeping me busy while I am on the mend.  

A Lot Going On

Here is a little story about what has been going on this past month.

It all started the morning of February 5th.  I got up at 5:00 in the morning, drove to my buddy Gary's house, picked him up at about 5:30.  Started a 2 and half hour drive out of town to a place known as Mountain High.  We're on our way to a day of snowboarding fun.  We arrived at 8:30, just as the lifts were opening.  We suited up, bought our lift tickets, and headed to the lift.  We had a small discussion on where to start.  I had not been on a board in about 6 years and for Gary it had been longer.  We made the choice to start on a green slope instead of heading to the summit.  A smart idea if you ask me.  Well, it is now 9:00, we are snapped in, standing at the top of the slope.  9:01, we're off.  9:02, I'm done.

I had been heading down the slope, I carved in to go around a guy and started to carve out.  I ride goofy foot, so when I am carving out, it is on my back side.  Anyway, as I am doing this, my tail edge hits a patch of hard pack and gives on me.  I caught it just in time, but then it went again.  This time, I lost it.  I went down on my back side and jammed my left hand into the snow.  As I did this my collar bone broke.  The picture you see at the top left is my x ray.  After my x rays, the doctor said that I shattered my collar bone.  It broke in four places, two were main breaks and one was the split of the little piece in between the two mains. 

Needless to say, they couldn't just set it and let it heal.  I ended up having surgery to fix it.  Now I have a large piece of titanium with screws holding everything together until it heals.  The surgery went off without a hitch.  It took about 50 stitches to close 

me up.

After the surgery.

Incision.

A closer look, pretty isn't it.

Christians And Extreme Sports ?

It’s now February, and that can only mean one thing. The Winter X Games have come and gone. I watched all the pros ridn’ their sticks and sleds, goin’ big and throwin’ it down. Sorry, sure is surprising how watching three straight days of extreme sports can change your lingo just a bit. Anyway, there was a lot of great competition, a few upsets, some up and coming no names, and some of the old names dominating their events.

I noticed a few things this year that I didn’t pay to much attention to the few years I watch the games. There is an overwhelming amount of camaraderie and sportsmanship between the competitors. No matter what happened or how it happened, you always saw the competitors giving their respect to big tricks and big scores. You don’t see that in many of the professional sports now days.


Something else I noticed this year, not seeing in past years, was the amount of competitors thanking God and or Jesus after their run. In most cases, they would thank one or the other, or both, even before their sponsors. I think that is amazing. I give those competitors more respect now than I ever did before.

Those were just a few things I noticed this year while my eyes were glued to the tube.

Sorry Guys

I know, I am a slacker. It sure has been a while. I posted three new videos, that should help give you your Bradley fix. He is sure growing up fast. Can you believe it, eight months old in just three more days. Mickey is going to be seven years old on the 14th this month.

I start Biology today. Yes, Biology and no I am not too happy about it. I don't like Biology, not in the least. I figured I would get it out of the way in the beginning. We will see how I do. I am hopping for the best.

I was asked to coach the church soccer team for a few tournaments coming up the first part of the year. I said yes, of course. You would be expecting a different answer from me, I don't think so. Because the last time I used my soccer cleats they gave me a huge blood blister on my foot, I opted to buy a new pair. These things are cool. Adidas Predators they call them. The most comfortable soccer cleat I have ever put on my foot.

Mickey's Basketball Game

Here is Mickey playing basketball. I am sorry for the view in the film. Christy had a hard time getting good shots because of all the people helping out with the players. I tell you what, these kids really have fun out there. Enjoy everyone.

Mickey Plays T-Ball

A local physical therapy group in town put together a League of Dreams. Giving local kids with disabilities a chance to play sports they normally would not be able to play. Mickey had the chance to play t-ball this past summer. The video I took of the game is not that great. I didn't think I was going to have this blog at the time. But I did get him going around the bases and crossing home plate. Right now Mickey is getting the chance to play basketball. I forgot the video camera for his first game, but I will take some video at next Sundays game and post it too.

It's About Time

The unexpected has happened. My Rockies have finally won the National League Championship. They did it by winning their last twenty of twenty-one games.

I did a bit of researching on a few things. One of which was the payroll of a few of the teams in the majors. Take the Yankees (evil empire number one) with their 189.9 million dollar payroll and the Red Sox (evil empire number two) close behind with a 145.1 million dollar payroll. The Yankees were thrown out in the first round and the Sox are falling behind as of today. Then I looked at the Rockies and Indians purse. The Rockies are twenty-first in the league with 60.6 million dollars and the Tribe is sitting two spots atop the Rockies at number nineteen with 67.8 million. Now I am not saying that the Rockies or Indians will win the series, no one knows the future. However I will say this, it just goes to show that you can't buy the pennant. Just because you pay a player whatever they want doesn't mean you can go out and expect to win it all.

Something else I found to be interesting. Looking at the extended roster of the Rockies, they have forty-five players. Of course, they don't take all of them through to the post season. However, out of that pool of players, thirty-three of those players have five years or less experience in the majors. Of that thirty-three, nine of them are rookies. I took that a bit further and looked at the active roster for the playoffs. They take twenty-five players into the playoffs and out of those, nineteen have five years or less and of those nineteen, sixteen have three years or less in the majors.

All I am saying is this:
One, I am ecstatic that the Rockies made the World Series.
Two, they did it with a very young team.
Three, you don't have to have deep pockets to win the pennant.

And last but not least....

IT'S ROCKTOBER BABY!!!!!!

The Bonds Home Run... Sorry, I Had To

There it is, the asterisk. The one think standing in the way of anyone wanting to set a new record in sports. I know, I'm a little late to be jumping on this bandwagon. I am going into this post completely aware of that. I know everyone has been talking about this from the day McGuire hit his big home run.

The other day I was reading through one of my favorite blogs, Burnside Writers Blog. I found a post written by Aaron Donley called The Shrinking of Our Heroes. Here is a little something he wrote.

"frankly, I can’t tell you how incredibly disappointed I am with the whole situation. You see, as a youngster I’m thankful I had the opportunity to have positive role models. Legends you could watch and look up too with admiration, hoping someday to mimic if even a bit of their greatness in your own life. True greats you would watch over and over again in slow motion replays of their glory days with glossy eyed admiration for their personal determination and fortitude. Yet today, I’m afraid my own son will not have the same opportunity I had to view such untainted greatness."

It really got me thinking about this whole asterisk business. After reading Aarons blog, two phrases stand out to me; positive role models and untainted greatness. Let us take the first one for a minute and elaborate. Positive role model means just that, positive. Why would any parent, in there right mind, want to let their kids watch people like Bonds on TV. You are basically sending the message that you think it is okay for people to use steroids to enhance their personal performance. I go out of my way to change the channel when Bonds is on. I don't care if it is a highlight clip, a game, or a commercial. He doesn't get airtime in my house.

I don't care if Bonds said he didn't use enhancement drugs. He did or still does and that is all there is to it. I'm sorry, you don't go from hitting 49 home runs in one season to 72 in the next without a bit of help. Sure, he hasn't hit more that 46 in seasons following 2001. However, if you remember, promptly after his 72 home runs he went under investigation for enhancement drug use. I will just leave it at that.

Which leads me to the other point, untainted greatness. There will never be anyone greater in the history of sports than the Babe Ruths and Hank Aarons'. They achieved their records with what God gave them, not with performance enhancement vitamins, shakes and drugs. No matter how much effort is put into it, greatness will never follow tainted.

So I say, yes, hats off to you Barry Bonds. I am sure you worked very hard for your achievements. But, you will never be the heroic legend of the great Hank Aaron.

You Never Hear Anything About It

I waited and waited, and then waited some more. In the end, there was nothing. I know, that is what happens when you expect the unexpected. But, I must say, these are the Nation's best men to ever run the pitch. (soccer field for those who didn't know) I am talking about the US Men's National soccer team.

There was a tournament last month that most of the US never knew about. Let me tell you, it was obvious no one knew. There was very little news, if any, in the papers or on TV. This tournament I speak of was the CONCACAF Gold Cup. For those who don't know what that stands for, here it is. Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football.

Our boys defended their cup title by winning again this year for their fourth cup victory. They played great, not loosing a game in the contest. They didn't even give up a goal until the quarter-final game against Panama in a 2-1 victory. Playing Canada in the semi-final game, came out on top 2-1. In the Championship game, they played Mexico and won with yet another 2-1 victory. Our boys only gave away three goals in the entire six game competition. Also in those six game, they scored thirteen times. That is the most goals scored out of the twelve team pool.

I would have to say that the worst part about the news coverage for this tournament is the fact that every game played, took place in the US. That's right, every last game, all twenty five of them. To make matters worse, all of the games were played in big venues. I am not talking about a big stadium somewhere off the beaten path. I am talking about high traffic stadiums like, the Orange Bowl, Home Depot Center, (home of the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA) Meadowland, (home of the New York Giants) Solder Field, (home of the Chicago Bear) and Reliant Stadium. (home of the Houston Texans) These are major venues we are talking about. The only TV coverage in the US was Fox Soccer Channel. Even if you have cable, you still didn't get to see the action. To get FSC, you have to have the most expensive cable or satellite packages.

Now, I know it isn't the World Cup, but come on. This our National team we are talking about. You would think big broadcast companies in the US would want to so something. Soccer (futbol) is the largest and most popular sport in the world. The US is becoming much more aware of the presents it is making. But the bad thing is, coverage of this beautiful game is hideously scares. It is a shame, because let me tell you, the US missed watching their boys dominate the competition.