We All Are Wrong, Yet We Continue to Try...

Every year millions of my Americans complete an enjoyable process, in which we write team names in series of lines and boxes. Then we sit back and watch in angst as 18-22 year old men play a child's game in which they try to throw an orange ball into a metal circle that is suspended ten feet above ground more times than the other team does for 40 minutes.  Many Americans like to think they have the correct combination of teams to create a perfect bracket, though the actual odds of that happening are 1-in-100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. For those of you who were not math whizzes, that is 1-in-100 million trillion.

International affairs come in second place to March Madness.
Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

But not me. No, filling out the bracket is a miserable process. I overthink lay-up picks and underthink the halfcourt shots. I become enamored with a team solely because every one in my bracket pools and the experts have a popular choice. Instead of picking a mid-major like VCU, Butler or George Mason that completes their Final Four journey, my dark horse pick is usually gone by the end of the first weekend. It is a agonizing process to fill out my bracket every year, which is why I limit myself to only one bracket--as you should to if you have any integrity. 

I like to think I know basketball. I do my homework, and follow it closely (though I rarely write about it), but there is no way to know what team will go on to the next round in a single-elimination tournament like the NCAA Tournament. It is because said zaniness and no-sense order that those like myself, who pay attention to the game, are just as lost as everyone else from from the middle of March to early April in the realm of college basketball.

John Calipari's Kentucky team is the early favorite, but we all know what
that means... nothing.

So here's to you casual fan who will win the office pool because you picked Loyola (Md.) because you picked the team that would win if the mascots raced that a greyhound would dominate the competition. And to you casual fan who wins a lump sum of money between old college friends because you had a Wichita State-St. Louis-Harvard-Purdue Final Four because you had no idea what a Shocker, Billeken, Crimson or Boilermaker is or does. 

Here is my bracket, open to humiliation for all of the world to see. I know my picks are bad and do not be afraid to call me out on them if you please. Regardless of how you came to your Final Four, it has to be more correct than mine, thus closer to that 1-in-100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

A Bounty-Full of Problems in New Orleans

On Friday, the NFL released a 50,000 page document with details of a bounty system the New Orleans Saints had in place under former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. In the last three years under the system, Saints players were paid bounties to knock opponents out of the game and for difference-making plays. As many as 27 defensive players were involved in the bounty pool, which reached a top value of $50,000. Players were rendered a $1,500 reward for knocking an opposing player unconscious, $1,000 if an opponent was carted off the field and a $10,000 bonus was promised from starting middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma if one of his teammates could knock Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre out of the 2010 NFC Championship. Williams also used his bounty system in Washington and Buffalo, where he was the defensive coordinator and head coach, respectively.

 Gregg Williams (center) and Johnathan Vilma (left)

Sadly, NFL players around the league have publicly shared how the Saints' "pay-for-pain" is not the only like system in pro football. Many players have come forward and explained on radio and written interviews how teams use monetary incentives to boost players on-field performance.

Former players Mike Golic and Darren Woodson on ESPN's Mike and Mike radio show tried to make the case that paying their colleagues a few hundred dollars for taking out the opponent's top players was essentially the same as high school or college players being given the increasingly popular helmet stickers for good play. One enormous flaw in this argument is that the stickers are given for good on-field play: a sack, interception or touchdown; but there are no schools that celebrate injuring players on the opposite team by adding a sticker to a kid's helmet. Nor are the student-athletes payed by the high school or university for ending an opponent's game, season or career.

Junior Galette making a little extra cash at the expense of Brett Favre.

In regards to rewarding positive play on the field with cash compensation in the NFL, go for it. They are professionals, whose job it is to win football games. Coordinators and head coaches alike, feel free to use the monetary motivation to inspire positive play for your team, but do not use money as incentive to injure opposing player. It is despicable--from the 1998 Atmore, Alabama's Little League Sportsmanship Award winner for the Yankees, yours truly. I have the backing of Super Bowl two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, who told the Washington Post, "it can't be a part of football."

As for the involved parties of "Bounty-Gate," they can expect steep--and deserved--repercussions from the league's office and Commissioner Roger Goodell, who have placed an added importance on player safety. Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman said in an interview a few weeks ago that the NFL would become too violent, as the American public will eventually lose interest a la boxing. America's most popular sport is seems far from extinction, but as players become bigger, faster, and stronger behavior such as that demonstrated by the Saints can not be tolerated if the NFL wishes to remain on top.

No More Radio (for at least 40 days...)

The Christian church is now five days into my favorite season on the church calendar, Lent. I have expressed my love for the Lenten season before on this blog and what I gave up last year. Here is a quick history...

Though it has its roots in the Catholic Church, it is not strictly a "Catholic" thing, as so many protestants might believe, nor is it the stuff that sticks to your clothes when they come out of the dryer, as so many of the sixth graders in my Sunday School class guessed. Lent, or some form of preparation for Easter Sunday, dates back to the second century. After the legalization of the Christian church in 313 A.D., the Council of Nicea wrote in 325 A.D. that Lent should be observed during the 40 days before Easter. The number "40" has great significance to Christians (The  number of days Noah spent on the ark and the number of years the Israelites wandered in the dessert). Three characters from the Bible also went through a period of testing during 40 day fasts: Moses, Elijah, and Jesus before starting his ministry. 

All of this to say we as Christians use these 40 days to prepare our hearts for the resurrection of God's son. During Jesus' stay in the dessert, the Bible says he was tempted by Satan three times. The church encourages its members to give up or add something to their everyday life for 40 days to, like Jesus was, be challenged. In doing so, Lent becomes a time of introspection in which we take a closer look at how we can be more like the man who came to save the world from sin. Similar to how the season of Advent prepares us for the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day, Lent prepares our hearts for Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

That brings me to the title of this post. I have decided to give up listening to the radio in my truck for Lent. For those of you who know me, you know I like to listen to sports talk radio just a little bit. When I am not filling my ears with arguments and commentary, the country music is usually turned up. Without the soundwaves flowing, I have a couple of quiet minutes in every day to myself to be in silence with God (minus the MagnaFlows rumbling under the truck). So if you see me on the roads and it appears that I may be talking to myself, more than likely I am trying to pray more like my mother or singing hymns--the only songs I know all the words to thanks to my old man, who is a music minister. Side note: I have great examples in my life.

Since the ban of AM-FM transmission in my truck, I have been belting out my own acapella version of Fernando Ortega's Give Me Jesus. The lyrics are my theme through the Lenten season.

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus, 
You can have all this world, 
But give me Jesus.

Linsanity vs. Tebowmania: No Real Comparrison

With New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin exploding on to the sports scene in the last week, ESP'Lin' and many other media outlets were too quick to compare the young man to Denver Broncos' quarterback Tim Tebow following the NFL season.

'Lin'sane in the membrane

Again, we as a society have fallen prisoner to comparisons. I will be the first to admit that I am as guilty as the media giants, but why can we not just enjoy their impacts each as its own entity? If you examine more closely at the duo's road to stardom you will notice they have more contrasts than similarities.

Recruitment- It starts early on when looking for the differences in this couple. Tebow was rated as one of the top prospects to come out of high school in years. His recruitment was done early and often, and Tebow had the leisure to choose between two football powerhouses Alabama and Florida, going with the latter. Lin, a California native, was unable to garner enough attention from his hometown school and first choice, Stanford, to merit an athletic scholarship.

College Experience- Tebow won two BCS National Championships, was a Heisman Award winner, two-time SEC Champion and All-American, and named to the All-SEC team three times. He compiled a 48-7 record with the Gators and scored more touchdowns than any previous player in NCAA history. He was the king of college football and is considered by some to ever play at the collegiate level. On the other hand, Lin went to Harvard, where more students have become presidents (5) than played in the NBA (3). More impressive is that Lin graduated with a 3.1 grade-point average and a degree in Economics.

Part of the mania, Tebowing took the nation by storm

Draft- Although he was told "no" by experts over and over during the entire draft process, the Broncos traded three draft picks with the Baltimore Ravens and took Tebow in the first round as the 25th player in the 2010 NFL Draft. Lin was not selected in the 2010 NBA Draft. However, he did earn a contract from the Golden State Warriors, who later cut him. After being claimed off waivers by the Houston Rockets, Lin averaged seven minutes a game in preseason scrimmages. He was cut by the Rockets before the start of the sesaon. The Knicks picked up Lin and sent him the the NBDL, the Association's developmental league. If not for injuries to two starting point guards on the Knicks, Lin would have remained the 12th man on the roster of a sub-.500 season.


Christianity- Tebow is the most polarizing figure in sports because of his well-documented, out-spoken faith. He has taken a stand on many controversial topics. Though not given the same platforms as Tebow  has over the last two seasons, Lin has been given standard answers when speaking about his faith. Lin has been very appreciative to God for his talents during press conferences much like many other athletes after recognition.

Lin is the brightest star in NYC... for now

Individual Production- "All Tebow does is win!" Sure he does have miraculous comeback wins over the Dolphins, Chargers, and Bears and he threw the winning touchdown pass in his first playoff game. However, he had 18 touchdowns and 13 turnovers this season, too. I am in no way trying to discredit his wins and good moments (as I have been so often been accused of), but in football more than any other sport the importance of a solid overall "team" is necessary. Tebow did benefit from a ball-hawking defense and the league's top rushing attack. Since moving to the starting lineup that was missing its two superstars, Lin has led the Knicks to 7 consecutive wins and is averaging 24.4 points and 9.1 assists per game.

Undoubtedly, both athletes have defeated the odds stacked against them and taken advantage of a little good fortune thus far in their young careers, but the sample size is too small. The New York media has helped blow Linsanity out of the water, and more than likely, the madness will cool down, unless we have the next Steve Nash on our hands. Tebowmania will unquestionably crank back up as the NFL's summer workouts begin. Regardless, enjoy their performances, personalities, and let Linsanity be Linsanity and Tebowmania be Tebowmania.

*As someone who loves wit, it was incredibly difficult not to use every Jeremy Lin pun I have heard while writing this. You're welcome.

Super Bowl XXVI's Best Commercials

No matter how hectic watching America's biggest game with a group of 60 middle and high schoolers can get, when the two to three minutes of advertisements came on during breaks of NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl XXVI, all was quiet--then and during Madonna's halftime show. Overall, this year's ads were lacking creativity.

We had the same usual suspects: a talking baby, GoDaddy.com girls and B-list celebrities, which grace our televisions every year. Also the beer companies, whose humor is pointed towards my 21-35 year-old population, was lacking any humor at all. Among all the 30 second to one minute bits of $3.5 million of television exposure, here are my favorites:

5. The Dog Strikes Back-Volkswagen- Here is your prototypical Super Bowl advertisement: high quality by way of a costly budget, animals, and plenty of time to tell a story. Though I love Star Wars, it falls in the rankings because of the last 30 seconds.

4. 2012-Chevrolet- As a proud owner of a Z71 Silverado and lover of the recently bankrupt Twinkies this advertisement was an easy sell to me. I honestly will not be surprised if this is how the world is post 2012. Chevrolet had a strong night with the New Grad spot as well.

3. Transactions-Acura- More commonly known as "the one with Jerry Seinfeld," this commercial was a witty minute full of reminders of the greatest television show of all-time. But Jay Leno? More of a Letterman guy myself.

2. Matthew's Day Off-Honda- Needless to say, the nuances that come along with Honda's quick version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off were not picked up as easily by the youth group as they were by the older folks in the audience. Hats off to Honda for their rendition of one of my all time favorites.

1. It's Halftime in America-Chrysler- Was there any question here? Clint Eastwood's raspy voice in a pep talk to America makes this the obvious No. 1. "This country can't be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again and when we do the world is going to hear the roar of our engines. Yeah it's halftime America and our second half is about to begin." Inspiring words from Dirty Harry.