Father/Son Campout 2012

 Coleman I got to experience our first camping adventure together Friday night… this was my first time camping since college, 2^nd time ever! We attended a father/son campout hosted by WYLegacy. This group was founded by Bud Baab and has been creating opportunities for Fathers to intentionally connect with their children for over a decade. During the weekend we got to:

Setup Camp

 

Fish

4-Wheel

 

Play Sports

Bond

And Making Memories

 

It was a great overnight adventure and I hope we can do it again!

Gundy, the Pokes, and the BCS

So many people are lamenting “the rematch” as a travesty. They want to blame the humans, ignorant coaches like the one from Air Force that apparently does not own a TV or have common sense. However, all of those people are not the problem, it is not their fault, and ultimately this is not on the BCS… it is all on the 40+ year old “man” named Mike Gundy.

Having never been in that situation before, he said Bama deserved to be #2 on November 28. Instead of thinking they could actually beat OU and have a case for the BCS title game, he sheepishly submitted to Alabama being a better team. As a lifelong Dallas Maverick/Texas Ranger fan, I understand his thinking that they wouldn’t actually do it… but keep it to yourself Gundy!

That being said, he should have harped on the fact that his team lost in double OT to a team on the road the same day his school has the worst tragedy of any school all year. He should not have made excuses, but played the media in such a way to say something like, "today was an extremely tough day for OSU. The plane crash and deaths were a huge distraction, we played with heavy hearts, and I am glad we were able to play at all with such a tragedy." That is the truth everyone in the country knew, believed, and would’ve sympathized with. 18-22 year old kids played a competitive game on the road under the worst of circumstances…

Gundy should have also, in the same breath, harped on the fact that Bama lost at home, after a bye week. Bama had their shot, at home, and lost. Bama had their shot after an off week, and lost. Bama had their chance, and lost. OSU did loose to Iowa State, but on the road under the worst of circumstances, Bama lost at home after a bye week.

Les Miles has proven that there is no room for a high road when it comes to the BCS. You plead your case non-stop, and let everyone know why they would be idiots to put any other team ahead of yours. Gundy cost OSU a shot at the title; it is his fault and no one else’s. The BCS media and coaches should have had the common sense to see the situation for what it was, but ultimately Gundy is to blame for not wanting to “politic.”

Although the BCS blew the title game, the real question is why wouldn’t they after what Gundy said.

Athens Trip – March 2010, Day 7

Today we started off in Monastiraki, which is the major tourist spot in Athens, to grab a quick lunch and a couple of things for our family. After a short period there, we hiked up to Mars Hills to a time of Bible study, prayer, and reflection. It was fantastic to have such great reason to praise God and to talk through our trip. For me personally, I also enjoyed working on my sermon for Sunday from that key place in Greek Christian history… hopefully, the message will be as inspiring as Paul’s unknown God message!


Anyway, once we finished our time at Mars Hill, we made our way to Holargos. Today was different at our main campus because the students were receiving their marks or grades. Due to “report card day” they did not have the usual sports programs, but we were able to talk to the kids and say our goodbyes for now.


At 5:00, Sophia (the primary basketball director) drove us to a school we had never been at before to allow us to lead basketball with those children. The kids in this program were in 2nd and 3rd grade (7-8 years old – younger than our normal group). Unlike the other school, all of the parents came with them and we had a brief time to meet all of them. It was fun playing with the younger kids, and being able to lead the entirety of the session. We were not expecting to be given the reigns in this school, but we were elated to do so – we will definitely have to think through some age appropriate drills for next time!


Another cool thing about today was that our friend from America that has recently moved here joined us today; his name is Ryan. He has a very good heart and great mind for how to Shine in this country. We are excited to see how God uses him here and what will come of our newfound friendship. Fortunately, we were able to introduce him to Sophia, and he might even be able to enroll his own children in the sports academy of Holargos! It would be incredible for them to have an ongoing relationship with the workers and municipality – please pray this works out!

Ryan was also able to meet Bill. We stopped by Bill’s restaurant and introduced them to one another. Bill has a very busy schedule, but we are hoping he makes time to study the Word with Ryan and develop a friendship with him as well – please pray for this too! Our time with Ryan today, playing with children, introducing him to our friends, and dialoging about our work here encouraged our hearts greatly. It is our hope to continue this partnership and watch what happens!

Whenever I return home, I will do a summary of our trip. As a final prayer request, please pray that God would bless us with a safe and uneventful trip home. God is good, and He is definitely moving here!

Athens Trip – March 2010, Day 6

Today we started by going to my favorite place in Holargos, the local tennis club. For whatever reason, I find it to be extremely relaxing and enjoyable. The main worker there, Helen, remembered me when I came in and even asked if Christy was with me – pretty cool that she remembers her too! We visited for a little bit, but had limited conversation as the club was extremely busy. (Whenever we walk from one place to another in town, we have been trained to constantly pray for those we come in contact with, Raymond taught us that!)


Next we went to visit another friend over lunch, someone we had the opportunity to share with last May. As we came in, he was excited to see us (he knew we were coming). We spoke briefly before we ate, but spoke for a good amount of time afterwards. Long story short, he not only remembered our previous conversation, he had been thinking about it and reading his Bible. After going through the plan of salvation and what it means for Jesus to be Lord of your life, he thought about it and asked Jesus to be his Savior and Lord! This was so exciting!!!

Something else of note today happened on our way to the municipality, we saw a group of teenagers reading and passing around a Bible. We had no clue what they were saying, but we do know it was a Bible and we also know they were reading and talking about it. In the same way that God worked in the man’s heart in the restaurant, he can work in these teenagers lives as well! He is so faithful and so able to break through anywhere at any time through anyone for anyone! God is so much better and capable than we can imagine. The Holy Spirit is always at work in the hearts and lives of people, we just need to instrument who declare His glory and exalt Jesus.

After our incredible experience, we went to the school we work at and played basketball with the kids. Usually we will run drills or participate with them, but due to cold weather they typically cancel… However, today there were about 14 or so kids who showed up, “because they knew we would be there.” HOW AWESOME IS THAT!


Anyway, we played with them for a little over 2 hours and then had to leave… because Jamie got his lip all busted up! One of the kids accidently hit Jamie’s lip with his head going to a ball. Fortunately, we were able to get some ice from a local music café and stop the bleeding. The poor kid who messed Jamie’s face up felt terrible and profusely apologized. Jamie kept trying to reassure him it was not big deal and not to worry about it, but the guy still felt bad.


For dinner, we returned to the restaurant we ate at the other day with our friends Kostas & Catalina. Believe it or not, we order the goat again, with some pork as well. It was a good dinner and a fantastic day. God is good!!!


There are 3 other things you need to know about this day that are quite funny:
1. Jamie wore shorts today. He has been bound and determined to do so since we first decided to come, and today he did. Never mind that it was below 50* all day (except for 15 minutes, maybe). It was so cold, the sports academy in our municipality cancelled the programs… but Jamie wore his shorts. To his credit though, we did see 2 other people in shorts, in a city that has more that 5 million people! (Notice the heavy coats and scarves the people are wearing next to Jamie... who is in his shorts)


2. We saw a dude with a man purse or as Jerry Seinfeld calls it, a European carry-all!



3. Jamie got his tail whopped by a 10 year old… (ahem, suffering for Jesus) then proceeded to eat an orange in a quite humorous way.


(Goat, it's what's for dinner)
(A health club with an interesting name, Gym N' Tonic)
(The tennic club)

Athens Trip – March 2010, Day 4

Today was a great day. After breakfast, we headed to Holargos to watch their semi-professional teams play basketball. The women’s game started at noon, and they scored an easy win. We enjoyed watching the elbows fly and some of the players get intense, but we were concerned when our friend Kostas did not show up.


At the conclusion of the game, I called him on his cell, but he did not answer. We were quite disappointed and decided to grab lunch before the men’s game. On our way to a local restaurant, Kostas called and asked if we could meet him at 3:00, which we were more than happy to do. He took us to a Cretan place called Biftekaaatsi. Amazingly enough, he gave us the name of the place and the street and we managed to find our way there – keep in mind we do not speak the language, had no idea where the street was, and I thought the place was called Vistacatsi!


Anyway, Kostas showed up with his wife Catalina. We had been told that most Greeks will eat dinner for at least 2 hours, so we were expecting that the meal would last until the men’s game started at 5:00. Somewhere around 6:40, we figured that we would not be able to make the game at all, which was fine by us.

Our time with Kostas and his wife was awesome. There are many interesting things about the dinner. First of all, we asked them to order for us, which they did. They started off with several appetizers: a huge bruschetta-like bread thing (almost like a bagel with tomato and goat cheese), goat cheese wrapped in a crescent and covered with honey, sausage, cabbage rolls, and a salad with honey mustard. Then we had our main courses: chicken, meat patties, and goat with pasta. Ironically enough, the goat had the best flavor (I would have taken pictures of it all, but I did not want to look too goofy).

We talked about lots for different things as well, from family to politics to culture. They have a 15 year old boy and a 10 year old girl, and we face the same basic issues with our kids – wanting them to be respectful, caring for their future, desiring to protect them from the rubbish on TV, etc. Due to the Greek economic crisis, they have many concerns about what is going on in their county, but maintained a relatively positive attitude. They said the biggest problem within their culture is that the people do not follow simple laws.

The dinner ended with them driving us to our bus stop and inviting us to their house the next time we are in town. We plan on seeing Kostas and his staff tomorrow. As is the case with most of the people we are in contact with over here, they do not understand why we are here. In fact, one of the women in his office is convinced that we are some sort of s-p-i-e-s, which is absurd and hilarious, especially since we are involved with sports - I told them we want to learn how to better play soccer... Anyway, he gave us some information on her to rattle her cage a little tomorrow, which we are really looking forward to doing.

NBC + Olympic Coverage = Fail

The Olympic coverage has been horrid. Today I was reading a sports blog I follow and saw this picture. While it is fitting for NBC to be horrible, why can they not make adjustments and show live coverage and spare us the 2 minutes of commercials for every 1 minute of live coverage of actual events!

2010 Sport Predictions

Tiger – He ended 2009 being dropped by AT&T; he will end 2010 on top of the competition with the ability to pick who he wants to sponsor him. My guess is all those who’ve questioned him will regret going with morals (public opinion) over reason (Tiger is the greatest golfer ever). Although I am not going to predict on his family life, I do hope he works the major issues out and stays married for his kid’s sake.


Tony Romo – He has been the best QB in the NFL the 2nd half of the season this year. Not only will he win a playoff game this year, he will bring legitimate hope of a Cowboys Super Bowl in their own Cowboy’s Stadium next season.


Texas Tech and Kansas – As a Sooner, it bothers me that 2 of Stoops’ most highly regarded former coaches have been fired due to mistreatment of players… their firings also make me feel like the Big 12 just got easier. For their fans who like winning, you’ll be sorry. For the Tech administration, you are pathetic!


Urban Meyer – Does anyone else remember the Billy Donovan/Orlando Magic saga of a few years ago? He was losing all of his star players, and then bolted for the Magic only to second guess himself and return… sound familiar? Well, it might be the sun, water, or lack of confidence to rebuild, but the Florida coaches are straight flakes! What really blows my mind is that the administration enables it. My guess is that U of F will suffer the loss of recruits and games because of Urban.


Kobe Bryant – People who never saw Jordan play will argue Kobe (who hit his 3rd game winner of the season yesterday) is the greatest ever, but he will not be the best player of this decade… neither will LeBron.

River Plate Soccer Game

For the first time in my life I went to a soccer game, although they call it futbol here in Argentina. It was crazy to watch as the fans were on their feet singing, chanting, dancing, and yelling the entire time the game was going on. River Plate won the game 3-1 with all 3 of their goals coming within about a 5 minute span. Although I am still not a soccer fan, I will say that I loved the sporting atmosphere and now have a favorite Argentine team. Here is a video from the game:

Cole’s Poll (Week 1)

1. Florida – Undisputed top team in the country.
2. USC – Only Ohio State should be able to beat them, but they usually choke, will it happen again this year?
3. Texas – The Red River Shootout is all they care about, and for good reason.
4. Alabama – Will they fare better in their conference championship game with Florida… doubtful!
5. Oklahoma State – Could the hype be real… doubtful!
6. Penn State – Can a team with a cupcake schedule make the title game… I hope not!
7. Ole Miss – I thought Snead was suppose to be awesome?!?
8. Ohio State – Navy… seriously?
9. California – Looked good, but they usually do in September.
10. North Carolina – Granted they are an ACC team, but they are the ACC team to beat.

It was good to see Notre Dame, Michigan, Tennessee, Miami, and Arkansas win their openers, because when they are good college football is better. Most of these teams will face gigantic beatings in the coming weeks, but for one week they did good and get recognition. Also, congratulation to SMU and North Texas for matching their win totals last year in week one… hopefully they can win more than last year!

My New Golf Dream

We all have dreams and aspirations, things we would like to do one day… I just added one to my list: Play a round of golf at the Legends Golf & Safari Resort in South Africa. It is an amazing stretch of 18 holes designed by 18 different top-flight golfers, including Padraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie, K.J. Choi, Retief Goosen, Justin Rose, Trevor Immelman and Vijay Singh. And I'm sure each one of those 18 holes is a perfect mini-masterpiece of challenge and reward. Along with, apparently, a lion or two along the way, if we're to believe the brochures.

This course also has an Extreme 19th hole: Set high up on the impressive Hanglip Mountain and accessible only by helicopter, this par 3 hole is played from a vertical height of 430 metres. After a short, breathtaking helicopter flight, golfers have the opportunity of teeing off from one of three tee boxes, high up on the escarpment. With advanced technology in the form of four separate cameras and the latest tracking equipment, the golfer can follow and capture the tee shot and the flight of the ball.

The fairway is seeded with Cynodon grass and contoured to funnel the ball to the green below. In celebration of the African Renaissance, the green has been shaped like the map of Africa and is protected by a large waste bunker.

Golfers can choose to play this challenging hole in addition to their round of 18 holes, or as an experience on its own. A hole-in-one earns the lucky golfer one million US dollars!. Conceived by Graham Cooke of the UK, embraced by CEO, Peet Cilliers, and designed by David Riddle, the Extreme 19 is truly unique - an unforgettable golfing experience!



Awesome… I cannot wait to play there!

(This golf course was brought to my attention by yahoo sports)

Soccer Worth Watching?!?

As crazy as it sounds, this kid makes soccer worth watching. His name is Madin Mohamed, a 6 Year Old New Zidane. From a person who cannot stand soccer, I would go watch this kid play.

Party's Over: Welcome Back Tiger!

Golf On TV Is About To Be Good Again

Breaking News: Golf is about to become watchable again. Although I consider myself a fan that will make a point to watch the major championships, as well as some other golfing events, I have found myself rather uninterested in televised golf since the US Open. Thankfully, Mr. Eldrick Woods (aka Tiger) will play golf for money next week, his first official appearance since winning the U.S. Open with two shattered knee caps and a broken three-wood eight months ago. So, for the first time in eight months, I will be making plans to watch golf again!

ESPN's Story
AP's Story