Category Archives: Sports

What’s the new national pastime?

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multi-tasking

As someone who teaches “Western Culture” to Asians living in China, I often have to think and evaluate things that normally I might just take for granted.  For example, if I was taking a test on American Culture and they asked: “America’s national pastime is __________” I would quickly fill in “Baseball” and wouldn’t even re-think it for a second! But is that really true?

I came across an article on CNN’s website that suggested that baseball has not been America’s National Pastime since the 1950′s!  Hmmm, interesting – he might be right!

He ended up talking about the explosion of ‘choices’ that Americans have to occupy their time, especially with the popularity of portable devices that serve up limitless amounts of distraction.  He asked the question: “Do today’s Americans simply enjoy the screens they carry with them, or are they psychologically addicted to them — is it a pleasurable pastime, or are they hooked?”

So, what do you think?  If you were helping me prepare my lecture on “American Culture” that I will teach my students next semester, what would you suggest I tell them is “America’s National Pastime”?

What's America's "National Pastime"?

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Cowboys’ playbook goes iPad

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Those of you who know me, know how much I love my iPad. Since my father-in-law bought me the iPad 2 last year, I have found ways to use the iPad in just about every aspect of my professional and personal life!

I use it to teach from, projecting Keynote presentations and showing video clips to my students. I use it to read and respond to Email. I use it to read and study the Bible (I even have a ‘read-through-the-Bible’ function in my BibleReader that keeps me on track!) I communicate with family and friends using Skype, I share and view photos and videos from family and friends. I keep track of the news, the weather, sports, all on my iPad. The list of all the things I do with my iPad is too long for me to list here… needless to say, I take the iPad with me most places. Continue reading →

Nate’s First Baseball Game!

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Nate and I were given tickets to see the Texas Rangers play the New York Yankees last night! This was Nate’s first time to go to a baseball game (and my first time to go see the Rangers!) I wasn’t sure how Nate was going to do with a night game that started about the same time he is usually brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed!

Rangers vs. Yankees, © Steve Webel

Nate did  really well though! As you can see from the photo, we were sitting in the upper deck, which was “pretty cool” to Nate, although I think he wasn’t into the actual game play as much as he might have been if we were sitting closer. (There is just something about HEARING the ball smack into the catcher’s glove when the pitcher (Yu Darvish) throws a 97 mph fastball!

Rangers vs. Yankees, © Steve Webel

Nate really did get into the cheering, and he loved all the different songs and chants that go along with live baseball games! Another thing that Nate thought was especially cool was recognizing the “songs about Jesus” that a couple of players had as their “intro” songs that played as they came up to bat.

Rangers vs. Yankees, © Steve Webel

It probably would not have mattered to Nate any, but the 47,085 fans that were at the Rangers stadium appreciated that the Rangers were victorious over the Yankees 2-0!

Wow! Tebow scared me!

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I found a way to watch Gator football here in China, which is a HUGE blessing for me.  College football has been one of the ‘luxuries’ from home that I’ve missed most in my 9 years living in East Asia.  The only downside – the games are all on in the middle of the night or early Saturday morning!  Oh well, I can make sacrifices!

If you are reading this, you probably already know that I am a huge Gator fan (class ’96) and also a big fan of Tim Tebow, arguably one of the best to have ever played college football!  So this morning I’m watching Florida put the finishing touches on a Kentucky Fried Blowout and then my heart stopped when I saw this;

Tebow_Motionless

I mean, I’ve seen Tebow hit people, and get hit by people so hard that it makes you start to believe some of the ‘Chuck Norris’ and ‘Superman’ quotes (aka Tebowisms) that always seem to float around Tebow.  So to see him laying motionless on that field made me go numb.  My brother, who was listening to Gator radio (via the internet), and I were discussing what might have happened – both of us stunned.  Then after coming back from commercial I got to see a visibly dazed and wobbly Tebow walk off the field.  Whew!

Tebow walks off under his own powerI felt better about things, but was still unsettled.  It was obvious that the ‘worst’ had not happened and that Tebow was not paralyzed or otherwise seriously injured, but it was also obvious that he was not right.  My brother joked that they were going to have to hide Tebow’s helmet to keep him from coming back into the game.

I didn’t come to that, in fact he was taken out on a golf cart and then eventually left the stadium in an ambulance while the game was still on-going.

Tim Tebow has been known to put a favorite quote from the Bible on his eyeblack that he wears in the games.  In this game, he wore Isaiah 40:31 which says

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

I’m not exactly sure of all the reasons that this passage is meaningful to Tebow, I can take a few guesses considering his background.  What is interesting to me is verse 30 that precedes this quote;

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

I’m confident that Tebow will play again, but even if he did not, he’s the kind of person who has more going for him than just football, and he’d be okay.  He seems to have the proper perspective on what is important in life, and while everyone else might have been calling him ‘Superman’, I have a feeling he understood the truth in Isaiah 40:30!  Let’s pray for ‘renewed strength’ for Tebow in the next few weeks as he recovers.

Dr. Pepper Drive For The Championship… what is that? insult to injury?

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I was surfing for some college football news and I came across the above video.  Most of you who know me, know that I LOVE college football, I LOVE the Florida Gators and that living in China, I don’t get to watch any live football games.

I’m okay with that, I’m willing to give that up.  But when this video also has to very prominently display that it is the “Dr. Pepper” drive for the championship… well, that”s just rubbing it in!

Go Gators!

Integrity & Character Return to the White House

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Tim Tebow and the rest of his national championship team went to the White House on Thursday so that Mr. President Obama could congratulate the team on their second national championship in three years.

President Obama invoked the words “playoff system” Thursday when the Florida Gators, college football’s national champions the past three seasons, visited the White House.

The president spent eight minutes congratulating the Gators, mentioning several players by name. Near the end of his remarks, as he has done before, Obama again called for a playoff system:

“I don’t want to stir up controversy.  You guys are the national champions — I’m not backing off the fact we need a playoff system.  But I have every confidence that you guys could have beat anybody else.  And so we’ll see how that plays itself out.”

After what surely must have been an awkward pause, Obama added: “I noticed they got all quiet after that.”

According to the White House transcript, that was followed by laughter.

Apparently there was a bit of controversy stirred up by Obamas ‘playoff’ comment as sports announcers on ESPN and other places seemed to feel that Mr. Obama has more pressing matters and that he should keep out of the business of college football.  There has been talk of Congress getting involved, at the encouragement of President Obama, in forcing the hand of college football to develop some sort of playoff system.

ObamaWhile I personally would love to see a playoff, I absolutely agree with the guys at ESPN that Mr. Obama has bigger fish to fry and he needs to stick to things that matter a lot more than college football… like people’s livelihoods, their homes, and the safety of American troops deployed around the world.

Obama recognized Tebow by specifically mentioning him during the brief visit.  (I really wish Tebow could hang with Obama for a day or two, maybe Obama could benefit from having a little bit of Tebow in his life…)

Obama called Tim Tebow, the Gators’ quarterback, an inspiration for many people. Tebow is a Heisman Trophy winner who speaks openly about his Christian faith.

“He puts faith, family and academics above football. And that’s incredible when you think about what he’s done on the field,” Obama said.

Tebow said in an interview after the ceremony that he appreciated the president’s remarks.

93 Million Reasons For Tebow To Remain A Gator in ’09

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Spring football practice just started at the University of Florida in Gainesville and it puts a great big smile on my face to know that Tim Tebow, one of college football’s greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, walked out onto that practice field to complete his senior year, by-passing what certainly would have been a multi-million dollar NFL contract had he decided to go pro after last year’s season.  There is an interesting story behind Tebow’s decision to stick around for his senior year that I thought I’d share with those who may be interested.
A day or so before last year’s BCS College Football National Championship Game God impressed upon Tim Tebow that he needed to change the message he had displayed on his eye black all year long. Previously, he had a reference to Phillipians 4:13 on his eye black. He talked to four or five others about switching the message and everyone except his parents told him not to do it because they had been so successful all year with the Phillipians 4:13.
His parents, Pam and Bob Tebow, supported the change and Tebow knew it was the right thing to do. So, he made the change and played the championship game with John 3:16 on his eye black.
tim-tebow-john-3-16We all know the outcome of the game (in case you don’t, the Gators played the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners and they won 24–14), but the phone call that Tim Tebow received a couple of days later when he was back in Gainesville is where this story becomes interesting.
Tebow answered his cell phone and it was the P.R. guy for the UF Football team. He said, “You set a new record.” Tebow wondered what kind of record was he talking about, it’s not exactly a new thing for Tebow to break a record of one sort or another. “In the 24 hour period from the start of the BCS championship game, JOHN 3:16 was Googled…93 MILLION times! No other topic had ever been Googled that many times in a 24 hour period of time.”
The follow up story from Urban Meyer, Coach of the 2008 National Champion University Florida football team is where we get look at what kind of person Tebow is:

We all hear about the incredible family Tim is a part of. With everything going on in the world, you just know there is no way Pam and Bob Tebow can be as perfect as they are made out to be.

I am here to tell you I witnessed the most amazing conversation which is the truest testimonial to how incredibly good the Tebows truly are.

A few days after the championship game I sat at a table in the back of the Ballyhoo restaurant with Tim, Pam and Bob Tebow. It was just the four of us and I listened in amazement as Tim’s future about moving to the next level of football was decided. Unbelievably, the NFL was never once mentioned. Tim’s dad started the conversation by saying that Brett Farve spoke about his faith and no one ever listened. Here was a future Hall of Fame quarterback and no one heard his message. Tim then said…”I can think of 93 million reasons why I would want to stay in school and play my senior year at the University of Florida .”

That’s how the decision was made.

Now I know there are skeptics out there, especially those who are anti-Gators and/or anti-Christian.  Seems to me though, it’s very hard to deny that Tebow is the real deal.  It no doubt helps that I’m a Gator fan through and through and that I graduated from UF at the same ceremony as Danny Wuerffel in 1996, but I am really hoping that Tebow has an unprecedented senior year at UF!

Go Gators!

Isn’t he gorgeous!?

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Funny the things you remember.  I can clearly remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard that the passionate and always energetic “Crocodile Hunter” aka Steve Irwin had passed away.  That was a little over two years ago (Sept. ’06)

I was looking for some media to share in my Society & Culture class for a lecture on Australia and I came across this funny ESPN Sportscenter commercial with  Steve Irwin and Albert, the mascot for the Florida Gators!

Tebowisms

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Last year I wrote a post that included some “Tebowisms“, you know statements that recognize the awesomeness and total domination that exists in the Florida Gator quarterback Tim Tebow.  Here are a few;

  • “When Tim Tebow was a kid, he made his mom finish his vegetables.
  • “Tim Tebow doesn’t punch in to work. He stiff-arms.
  • “People with amnesia still remember Tim Tebow.
  • “Tim Tebow gets called for roughing the tackler.”

You may recognize some (many) of them as statements that were formerly assigned to our favorite Texas Ranger – Chuck Norris.  No offense Chuck, but there is a new sheriff in town.

Tebow

Tebow for Heisman number TWO!