KIKO, the LEFT and the RIGHT

I must confess I did not watch the debate Monday night. I felt there were more pressing issues, namely the Lions vs. Bears. Besides, I can have the lap top out and read the counter comments from my Facebook friends from the Left and the Right.

A few of the Facebook political comments were amusing, but most were just annoying. It gave me a great reason and opportunity to pair-down my friends list.

Interestingly though, I kept reading about this Giraffe on my Facebook news feed. At first I thought maybe it was some code about the debate. You know, Elephants & Donkeys and now there is some meaning behind the term Giraffes. Maybe the Giraffe was for the Tea Party or the Occupy group. But none of the posts made sense.

In the end I learned that a baby Giraffe was born at the Greenville zoo. It felt good to wake up Tuesday and to find most of my Facebook News feed be about Kiko the new baby Giraffe. That reading material was much more palatable.

I am not saying that we should have nothing to say about important issues and those that relate to politics. I think though that we should model more careful and reasoned discussion. Debates should be less about being right and more about being respected. We should respect someone enough to listen to their views because I want them to listen and respect my views. It’s not about winning the argument it’s about being heard and having a productive conversation. (My wife is rolling her eyes right now)

In the end, we shouldn’t be looking for government to save our world. Newspring Church Pastor Perry Noble says, “Yes, our country is in desperate need of change…but the kind brought about when God’s grace collides with our sinfulness. We’ve got to remember while politics will try to control the world; the Gospel is the only thing that can change it.”

In the end I think God was speaking to me when I became interested in Kiko. I think he was saying that the debates might be on dozens of TV stations, but in reality He is in control and He is the One that gives life and he is the One that can transform lives.

He also says that he created the Giraffe and as unusual as Kiko looks, it was not a mistake….and neither are YOU!

If I Were on The Twitter

I’m not on “The Twitter” but if I was, these would be my TWITS from last weekend.

Thursday at 7am: Rolling through the Chick Fil A drive thru for Brooks’ first day of school and taking Ryanne to Notre Dame @notapolticalstatementIjustlikeminis

Thursday at noon: Eating lunch in Corbin, KY at the Root Beer Hut. Not impressed. Saw a family with a camouflaged baby carrier! @theydon’tknowhowtomakesweetteainCorbinKY

Friday at 8:30am: We have pulled into the University of Notre Dame. The license plates on the cars around us read NY, MN, TX, CA, and SD. #Ryannemayneedaninterpreterwithheraccent

Friday at 9am: 16 co-eds attack our car and take everything of Ryanne’s up to her room. They cheered laughed and danced while they did it. @IsuckedinmygutandtriednottosayanythingstupidtoembarassRyanne

Friday at noon: #WeneedaMoesinShelby

Friday at 10pm: Ryanne stays in her dorm for the first night and April and I head back to the hotel to get TJ football updates. @TJwinsTJwinsTJwins

Saturday at 10am: I tried to sneak on to the football field but security stopped me. I wanted to re-enact the scene where the maintenance guy tells Rudy he’s 5 foot nothing without a spec of athletic talent. #feelsliketheyplaythethemefromRUDYinthebackgroundalldaylong

Saturday at 3pm: There is so much history on the campus. Touchdown Jesus, the Golden Dome and the statue of Lou Holtz! #Isurehopeshedoesn’tmajorinanthropology

Saturday at 9pm: Night two in the dorm. Reality is setting in for me and April. All I can think of is how small she was on her first day of school – Big Back-Pack and all those huge 5^th graders walking into Elizabeth School. @didn’tIjustholdyouforthefirsttime

Sunday at 9am: We walked down to the grotto and lit a candle and said a prayer. We’re not Catholic but I did stay at the Holiday Inn Express. #IhopethecampushasanAEDbecauseImayneedcpr

Sunday at 10am: Final goodbyes. I think I am barely breathing. I can’t even speak.  @criedforanhourbutmadeithomeinrecordtime

I have AMAZING kids! #IloveBrooksandRyanne

The NBA is Slowing Killing Itself

Have you watched an NBA game lately? Me neither. I mean really, who cares? I bet I was asked 35 times who I was pulling for in the Super Bowl. In the next two weeks all you will hear will be discussions about brackets and March Madness. When is the last time someone asked you about an NBA game? I bet every day the NBA staffers just thank God for soccer because if it wasn't for professional soccer the NBA would be at the bottom.

Attendance is at an all time low. Watch hi-lights of the game and the stands are empty. If they are reporting differently then people who report attendance figures for the NBA once worked for Enron. The desire to watch 20 year old millionaires scrimmage is far less appealing when you have to pay to park and the beer cost $7.

Hard to believe that David Stern is universally recognized as the best commissioner in sports when he has let the league drift back to the image of the 70’s. The NBA of the 70’s was marred with Cocaine scandals, the league today is full of gangsters, posses, and pot heads. There are too few of classy players like Shane Battier, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash.

10 things I would do if I were commissioner of the NBA

1.       Contract some teams. There are too many teams and too few players. There is not enough corporate wealth and support to justify having teams in Charlotte, Memphis, Minneapolis, Toronto, New Orleans and Oklahoma City.

2.       Expand 3 teams in Europe. Make it a long road trip to play Barcelona, Paris and London. This makes it more of a global game.

3.       Enforce the rules. Quit letting players walk, carry the ball and wrestle each other on defense. Currently the game is played by athletes and a few basketball players. I get to watch that at the Y every day. All the NBA has become is a glorified pick-up game.

4.       Make the playoffs single elimination. Actually the only time defense is played is in the playoffs but there would be so much more excitement in a one and done game. (in a best of 7 series the NBA has a better chance of controlling the outcome. Wrestling and the NBA have so much in common.

5.     Quit drafting children. Oh sure, Kobe and Labron have panned out but the rest have been really bad experiments. At least make the rule like major league baseball, if you don’t go out of high school you have to stay in college three years.

6.     Quit paying off potential. No other business entity has a salary plan that pays off potential. Pay for performance.

7.       Develop a minor league system. Put these young kids that don’t have an interest in college in the minor leagues. Give them time to develop and prepare for the pros.

8.       Adopt the rule like the NFL, when you get cut your contract ends. When you get $10 million guaranteed, the hunger and drive for success is gone.

9.       Promote the teams and not the individuals.

10.   Get rid of the idiots. (See picture) Image is everything.

NERF WARS

Many years ago when they were creating American Holidays, someone suggested, “Why don’t we get together and just eat a lot?”

“But we do that every day,” was the response.

“OK, let’s get together and eat a lot with people that annoy the hell out of us!”

That sentiment makes Christmas so stressful. Parties with in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and even neighborhood and work parties can really put Peace on Earth Good Will Toward Men to a test!

Can’t you picture this family Christmas get together? 25 people huddled around a pile of gifts and the traditional Dirty Santa game begins. Pick number 4 and 8 year old cousin #1 picks the nerf gun. Pick number 7 and 9 year old cousin #2 steals the nerf gun. The tension level moves to code yellow as Cousin #1 begins to cry. Move on to pick #12 and sister in-law #1 steals the Nerf gun back for cousin #1. Cousin #2 begins to cry and cousin #1 starts laughing and the tension level moves to code orange. Cousin #2 begins to pitch a fit and I lean in to my wife and say, “Why in the hell did you buy a Nerf gun?” My wife responds, “Well I didn’t know cousin #2 would declare Jihad!”

I swear at this time I heard my completely oblivious brother in-law #1 ask, “Where do you keep the bottle openers?”

With the tension level at code orange, pick number 24 is sister in-law #2 and she steals the gun back and baby it’s on like Donkey Kong! We are a few mullets and halter tops away from a Jerry Springer show!  “CODE RED, CODE RED – THE FAMILY IS IN CODE RED. EVERYONE PLEASE TAKE IMMEDIATE COVER” The two brother in-laws of course are oblivious looking for bottle openers and adjusting the volume during the game.

Quickly order is restored and in-laws and out-laws exit to their respective homes for the mandatory 7 day cool down period before the New Years Day Family get together!

God Bless us everyone and Peace on Earth Good Will Toward everyone but the cousins!

**Truth – This never happened. We were smart enough not to bring the Nerf Gun into the party and played this out in the car ride over. Names were withheld to enahnce the exaggeration.