Sunday, February 05, 2006

super sunday

ah, today. good day, ending off a nice weekend. friday, we had a throwers pentathalon @ school (work, not seminary). my frosh thrower did well, got a good start on his season. it'll be interesting to watch him develop. our other throwers did decently. most are top notch, so when they don't have a great day, it feels like they had a bad day. but, they didn't.

after track, we went down to bakos to visit sara and woody. i love spending time with those kids. good people, always a good time. we played around there until after dinner saturday, and drove back.

surprisingly, snl was actually funny this weekend. a couple of skits weren't good, but overall a nice show. steve martin was funny, and they had a few of their new style, produced pieces that were very good. prince was the musical guest. okay, prince and steve martin? what is this, a show from the early 80's? but really, prince is a great musician. although his style is several years old (and tired) he puts on a good show, and man, that cat can play the guitar. (i just did a search for steve martin prince. this was funny to me, because martin prince is the nerdy kid on simpsons. this reminded me of a jeopardy category where they string together words like that, i think it's called before and after or something else like that.)

today...ah, the superbowl. now, as a rams fan, i didn't have any real stake in watching the game. but, i love a good football game so of course i'll watch. i went with seattle, mainly because i pull for nfc over afc. i'd say it's also because they had good stories or what not, but really, the nfl p.r. machine spins so much stuff out there, everyone's a good guy.

before the game, i had to go pick up a few supplies at the grocery store (big mistake). we had to get a handful of things (lil smokies and crescent rolls for pigs in a blanket). stood in line for like 25 minutes. that stunk. but, in the parking lot i saw a lotus. that was out of the ordinary, and i was impressed. lotus' are sorta strange looking, but you know that it will haul rear. if money wasn't an issue, i'd buy a lot of cars. one of them would be a lotus. i think the model we saw was the exige.

anyway, we had a superbowl party @ church. now, i know that some might think this is a way to skip out on church, or to not have to deal with the issue of americans not giving up anything, putting things in front of what is allegedly important. but, not so here. see, the first sunday of each month, we have dinner @ church in place of our "regular" service. i find this to be a nice thing. it helps us develop community, to fellowship with one another, but also to really try and get involved in each other's lives. so, it's very fortunate that the game lined up with our community meal and we could watch the game, grub and talk during the game.

as for the game, i enjoyed it. the first half was sloppy and slow, but i thought the 2nd half was pretty exciting. now, i think seattle got jacked on several calls, and they were important ones. but, if you're going to win the big game you can't make mistakes (2 missed field goals, interception, dropped passes, and terrible, and i mean terrible clock management @ the end of both halves).

finally, let me leave you with a question. it's not a real big deal, and i'm not really stressing on it. but, i thought it was interesting. it'll require a bit of set up, so here we go. for the track team, the athletes agree to certain things. hey, they're college athletes, reaping the benefits of being on a team. some get scholarships, some don't. now, i'm not talking about behavior or anything. being a part of the team, the students are not allowed to engage in activities in season that they could get injured at such as: playing intramural sports, skiing, playing flag football, etc. okay, seems pretty standard stuff. this rule is especially important because we invest a lot of time and yes, money, in these students. if they get hurt skiing, miss practice or competition, we're out. and they're out of an experience that they've worked hard for. and it's not that random or difficult to have a season ending injury*. so, as the news is ending tonight, they show their little human interest piece of fluff. tonight's story is a nonstory about a group of people who gather together every year before the superbowl to play a little mud football. they've done this for the last seven or eight years. the host of the game: a guy that graduated two years ago. so, every year that this game has gone on, he's broke the team rule. among the people i see playing this year: another current athlete. so, what should i do? (options are: nothing; talk to current athlete; report to higher up coach; report to other assistant coach who works with this guy; something else)



*last year, we had a kid walking on to the team. he came out one week, showed promise. now, he hadn't been shown the team rules, and wasn't officially on the team yet. anyhow, he goes snowboarding, gets in a wreck on the slopes with another person he's with, breaks his wrist, ribs, and i think collapsed his lung. totally random accident, but that's why we tell them not to engage in such activities.

6 comments:

dana said...

I don't think scholarship athletes should be allowed to participate in those types of activities. Non-scholarship... you're getting into more of a gray area for me.
I do know, having hosted mud football events personally, that they are some of the most dangerous activities one can do.

Jimmie said...

I agree with Dana. If it were an athlete on scholarship I would talk with the head coach. It is only fair to the entire team that the person is reprimanded. (Let the head coach decide what the punishment should be, if any.) If it is a walk-on athlete I would report it to the assistant coach.

I obviously can't watch the Fresno news, but I am curious if the host of this mud football event once stole a Ronald McDonald?

edluv said...

yeah, although he either: got much better at hiding his acts or; he cleaned up his act after that.

Anonymous said...

I think you should report this to the head coach. Since these students are being paid and I'm sure signed an agreement they should be held accountable for their actions. I sure you remember the coach holding you accountable for some of your behavior.

JPN said...

I agree with the above, if a scholarship, report it directly, if a walk-on, maybe talk to the individual first.

JPN said...
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