I mentioned a few months ago about our church search since we’ve been back in Little Rock. We’d hoped to have planted ourselves before now - actually well before now - but it hasn’t happpened yet. This is due in part to it being more difficult than we expected, and also due to sickness of various family members in November and December, which kept us from attending all together as often during that time. So, the process has been slowed down a little recently. In my previous post, one of the things I mentioned is that there would be things we would miss about our tradition if we, in the end, choose a church family that is outside of it. One of those things would be acappella music.

This weekend I went to a basketball game at my alma mater, Harding University. The “pep band” was there, playing fight songs and other songs to get the crowd excited as the tip-off drew near. However, when it came time to sing the national anthem, the band stood silent. A lone voice began singing “Oh say can you see…” and then was joined by everyone else in the building (or so it seemed). The gym was full, and, at a school affiliated with Churches of Christ, there were a lot of folks there like me - people who’d been singing acappella all of their lives, and people who knew how to do it, and do it well. I’ve heard the anthem many times in 38 years, but not many times was it better than Saturday night. You could hear all of the parts being sung. It was really cool. We also attended the College Church of Christ Sunday morning, where the singing is also always good. They don’t sing many of the same songs I’ve grown accustomed to singing over the last 10 years, but they sing many of the songs I grew up with, songs I sang there in college, and they sing them well.

It’s sort of a strange feeling, quite honestly, because I’ve always looked forward to a day where I would be a part of worship that included both voices and instruments. I love music of all types, and I wanted to experience that on Sunday morning, too. There were those rare occasions where I visited an instrumental gathering, or a worship event of some type, and I longed to experience more of that. But the following Sunday I’d be back at my home church singing acappella again. And so I would wait with anticipation for the next opportunity.

We’ve visited only one acappella church since we’ve been back in Little Rock, and we haven’t been there since mid-October. So, after three months of praise bands on Sunday mornings (and usually singing the melody), I opened my mouth to sing bass notes again on Sunday. As I sang the first line of the first song, I realized at that very moment that it had been three months since I’d done that. And I realized for the first time that I missed it, and more so than I would have thought.

If I had my choice, I’d attend a church where both instrumental and acappella music were available weekly. Either in separate gatherings, so that I could experience either one on a given week, or, ideally, a mix of both in the same gathering. However, I’m not aware of such a place in this area. (And even if there were, it might not be the best place for us anyway. There’s far more to consider than musical styles.)

Now, worship gatherings are not all about me. I realize that. They are not designed and executed to please me. Hopefully, they’re designed and executed to encourage one another and give glory to God. But, we all have preferences, and I’m not exempt from that. It’s unlikely that there exists a place for any given person where all of their preferences for worship gatherings (or anything else, for that matter) are found. So, I know that whatever family we choose in the end will not be “perfect”, so to speak, in that way. And that’s probably a good thing. There will be something that I could have found somewhere else that I would have preferred (at the expense, of course, of some other preference.) And in the end, I’m not concerned about that because if it’s only that - a preference - then it’s not really that important.

Wherever we land, the music will be what it is. There will be singing, and there may or may not be accompanying instruments. I know that I will enjoy it either way, and, at the same time, long for the other on some days. I know that, at least for this coming Sunday, there’ll be a band where we attend, and I won’t be singing bass. There could be another long wait until it happens again, I don’t know. But I know now that I appreciate both accappella and accompanied music on Sunday morning, and that they are both blessings in their own way. Above all, though, I pray that my heart is truly “making music” to God, music that only he will hear, regardless of the musical style heard by our human ears. I feel certain that’s his preference.

Other grands slams come at more favorable times of the year. True, the French takes place during the NBA playoffs and it’s usually a couple of South Americans or Spaniards playing in the men’s final, which limits interest in America as well. But it still gets more attention than the Australian, probably because it’s summer in the U.S. and people are playing more than they are in January. Nothing is really going on during Wimbledon except regular season baseball (zzz…) and golf (zzzzzzz…), plus it’s got the whole tradition thing going for it. And the U.S. Open, while taking place early during football season, does happen here in America, and also plays at night, too, so it gets a lot of air time and press. Plus, the rowdy American crowd makes it more entertaining, too. But the Australian sometimes goes by without much notice.

American tennis fans often remember their top players success at other grand slams. People like Connors, McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi - you remember how many times they won Wimbledon or the U.S. Open. Usually you can remember how many times they won the French, too, but that’s primarily because the number is usually zero or a number very close to zero (again, Europeans and South Americans tend to dominate there).

Even as a tennis fan, I didn’t realize the Australian had started for a couple of days this year. Venus Williams was already out of the tournament, and Serena Williams and Andy Roddick would be gone shortly thereafter. I haven’t watched that much of it, mainly because of being busy with various things the past two weeks and of course, college basketball.

I did see a little bit of a Martina Hingis match, I believe in the third or fourth round. It was nice to see her back. I always liked her and was glad to see her playing again, and doing quite well, also, reaching the quarterfinals. I watched some of Justine Henin-Hardenne and Maria Sharapova - the only match I’ve really watched more than a few games of so far.

I will likely watch the women’s final tonight between Henin-Hardenne and Amelie Mauresmo. It should be a good match. The men’s final I will likely not watch. Roger Federer - who may very well be the best player ever by the time he’s done - is playing a guy I’ve never heard of. I’ll probably keep an eye on it, and if it gets interesting, I’ll stay with it. But I don’t see that happening. I would expect Federer in no more than four sets.

I said a couple weeks ago that I wasn’t sure how good Florida really was since they hadn’t played anybody. After rising to #2 in the polls, they’ve now lost two in a row. First, at Tennessee, who appears to be having a good year and isn’t necessarily a bad loss. Then a couple of days ago at unranked South Carolina, who I know less about than I do Florida, but that didn’t look like a good loss. So, I think Florida is not likely a top 5 team - maybe not a top 10 team - but I’m still guessing a little. I’ll have to try and watch them soon. They play Kentucky in a week or two, and I’m sure that will be on ESPN prime time, so I’ll probably check them out then.

Speaking of Kentucky, guard Patrick Sparks made Gregg Doyel’s least improved players list. Actually, he didn’t just make the list - he was #1 on the list.

One quote from Insomiac’s Lounge worth repeating:

The Big East is easily the strongest conference in the country this year. Although that isn’t quite as impressive of a feat when you have 50 teams in your conference.

I took my daughter to basketball practice last night during the Duke-Virginia Tech game, which Duke won rather easily 80-67. I had recorded it, and so I watched the first half starting at about 10pm last night, but fell asleep early in the second half, so I didn’t see the whole game. I understand I missed Lee Melchionni being kicked in the face by a Tech player (who was susequently ejected.)

It appeared Duke rebounded pretty rather well from the Georgetown loss, especially Shelden Williams, who ended the game with 24 points (shooting 64%) and 15 rebounds. J.J. also added 24 points, and the game saw the second return of DeMarcus Nelson, this time coming back after a bone bruise. If Nelson can remain healthy this time, Duke should be a better team in March than they have been so far - and they’ve been pretty good so far.

One of the things I love about America is the professional athletes we have to entertain us. No, no - not with their talents on the field or court. Rather, with their stupid comments. They’re so ridiculous at times, it’s impossible not to laugh at them.

Now, I’ve always thought Vince Carter was a moron. (After all, he played at UNC.) But this week he really reached another level with his comments about Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game earlier in the week. Vince actually said:

“The only bad thing about it is that younger kids, whose minds are easily warped, are going to think, ‘Ohhh! I am going to go out there and do it instead of (honoring) the team concept first. That is what is missing in the game, guys understanding how to play as a team.”

Which I find ridiculous because:

Last season, Carter ranked just behind Bryant in shots attempted per game (Bryant took 20.1 shots per game, while Carter took 20.0). And Carter is still among the league leaders in that category this year at 19.0 shots per game, although he’s well behind Bryant, who leads the NBA at 27.7 shots per contest.

Apparently Vince has become a team player when we weren’t looking. Thanks for the laugh, Vince.

A couple of years later, Mrs. Elliot (widow of missionary Jim Elliot) and Rachel Saint (sister of missionary Nate Saint) went to live with the Waodani, and continue the mission begun by these men. They taught the tribe about God, how he wanted them to live, and in the end the tribe put down their spears, stopped killing others (and each other), and began following the paths of God. It is truly a miraculous story. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it, and you should see it soon.

Also released by the same company last week was the film End of the Spear, which is the movie version of this same story. Now, let me first say I have not seen the movie yet, and probably won’t until it hits DVD, so I can’t really comment on the movie itself. I’ve read some reviews - positive, negative and all points in between.

Some of the negative reviews are concerned about a “watered-down gospel presentation” in the movie. But many of them are focused primarily on the fact that the lead role is played by actor Chad Allen.

I’m usually suspect of movies done by “Christian film companies” from the start. They have produced some of the worst films ever made. (I think we all remember the Left Behind movies.) But from what I’ve heard, these guys at Every Tribe Entertainment were out to make a quality film, not a film that will go straight to Christian bookstore shelves and never be heard from again. They wanted, among other things, quality acting, and they chose Allen as one of those actors.

Now, I don’t recall having ever seen Allen in anything. And as I said, I haven’t seen the film, so I don’t know how he is in it, either. But the fact remains he’s an established actor and the folks at ETE thought he was the right man for the job.

Oh, there’s just one more thing: Chad Allen is also gay. Not only that, he’s a gay activist. Which, evidently, makes him even worse. People are concerned about this guy’s lifestyle and activism, and that people watching the movie won’t be able to separate the actor from his life, and therefore he won’t be convincing as the character he’s portraying in the movie. Perhaps this is a valid concern, or perhaps not.

When I started looking at who was in the film several weeks ago, I was checking out some of the actors on IMDB to see if I recognized them from another film or television show. It didn’t take long to find out that Chad Allen was gay, and not much longer to find out about his activism. I admit I thought it was an odd choice, and I won’t argue with those who have said that, at the least, perhaps the filmmakers made a bad choice simply due to the controversey that has surrounded the film.

But here’s the thing - I suspect that many people would have remained unaware of this, but now know because various Christian groups and “pro-family” organizations are making this into a huge story. Without this, many people would not even know who he was and, most likely, wouldn’t care. But now I guess many will have a problem with it (just google search on it - you’ll see lots of discussion, mostly negative. I actually saw self-righteous musician Steve Camp say “Jim Elliot would be ashamed.” Not sure how Camp knows that.) They’ll be pressured by friends to boycott it. They’ll be pressured by “pro-family” groups to take a stand against homosexuality (how not seeing the film is taking a stand, I can’t quite understand.) And some people will miss what might be a very good film because of it.

Grant posted about this same story earlier this week, and I thought this comment was on target:

I have a question concerning that reaction. Can we think of another reaction to things other than boycott? Is that as creative as we can get? How about…ummm, I don’t know…dialogue, conversation, bridge building?

But unfortunately, it seems that the Christian community here in America doesn’t have time for that. We’re usually too tied up in criticizing lost people for being sinners. We need something to protest and complain about. The “Happy Holidays” are over, and The Book of Daniel has been canceled, so I guess this was next on the list. This will keep people occupied until they can start gearing up to be offended by The Da Vinci Code this spring and begin a new round of public complaints and general embarrassment of the rest of us.

However, it appears that the end of the road is near. According to CMSpin, the band is soon calling it a day. Not surprisingly, Stuart’s voice has had about all it can take, and that is at least part of the decision. I figure most bands have a small time frame for success, and then other bands move into the spotlight. I think Audio A’s spotlight time has been over for a while anyway, and so it’s not necessarily a bad thing to move on. But they put out some good stuff during their time and I’m glad they did. My favorite songs, I’d say, are probably “Memoir” (Bloom), “Some Kind of Zombie” (Some Kind of Zombie), and “My God” (Audio Adrenaline). They’ll be putting out one final disc, Adios, later this year.

I’ve made no secret about my dislike of Tennessee. Seeing their football team fail to make a bowl was the highlight of the college football season for me. I know that sounds harsh, but I think it started with a friend from Memphis in college who was a big time Vols fan. The Clint Stoerner incident in 98 didn’t help.

It’s also obvious of my love for Duke basketball. True, it’s primarily the men’s team, but I’ve become a big fan of Coach G and the women’s team in recent years as well, as they have become a perennial top 10 team and been to several final fours.

So, I watched the much-hyped women’s game last night between #1 Tennessee and #2 Duke on ESPN last night. The game was played at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and the short version is this - the Lady Devils embarrassed the Lady Vols. They led by 28 points at one point in the 2nd half, finishing with a 75-53 win. Duke outplayed Tennessee in pretty much every area of the game. Duke’s women have had some good seasons over the last 7 years, but I think this might just be their year. Next up is a game at Clemson, and then a UNC team that beat them 3 times last year. Sunday, when they come to Cameron, I expect Duke to exact a little revenge for last season.

After another failure to win a Super Bowl by former Vols quarterback Peyton Manning (or even get to a Super Bowl, for that matter), I heard it suggested last week - in jest, of course - that maybe the Colts should consider bringing in Tee Martin as quarterback. As you may recall, Martin was the Vols quarterback the year after Manning graduated. It was also that season that the Vols won the national championship. Bring in Tee Martin… that just cracks me up.

I did not watch the NFC game as closely because I just didn’t care. I guess I wanted Carolina to win - although I’m not sure why. But it appeared that Seattle had little problem with Carolina’s offense on their way to a 34-14 win.

The AFC game was the one I cared about. There’s not really a team in the NFL that I consider “my team”, so I usually pick a team each year that I hope wins the Super Bowl. I’ve sort of latched onto the Patriots the last few years - mainly because I always wanted them to beat Indianapolis, who I don’t care for due to my dislike of Peyton Manning. So, this year it was Pittsburgh who took at Indianapolis, so I’m pretty much with them the rest of the way. I thought if one of the road teams was going to win, it might be Carlolina - based primarily on the talking heads saying they are the “hot team.” But instead, it was the Steelers, who, just like last week against the Colts, jumped all over the Broncos early and then just maintained the lead for the rest of the game. Jake Plummer helped a little, too, with 4 turnovers.

So, I’ll be looking forward to Super Bowl and seeing if Pittsburgh can keep it going.

It was also not a good weekend to be undefeated in college basketball. Pitt lost early Saturday, followed by Duke, then later Florida.

I wasn’t surprised by any of them, but if I would’ve picked one to remain unbeaten, it would’ve been - of course - Duke. I didn’t know much about Georgetown, having not seen them play or heard much about them so far this year. They were unranked, probably due to a weak schedule and no quality wins (which, of course, has now changed).

However, I looked at their schedule before the game on Saturday, and while they hadn’t really beaten anyone of consequence, they did have three “good losses” (if there’s such a thing.) After an early season loss to Vanderbilt, they’d had three other losses - all on the road, all less than 10 points, and all against ranked opponents. They’d lost to West Virginia, and to two teams who’ve been in the top 10 most of the season - Illinois and Connecticut. That, coupled with the facts that they were playing at home and that most people give Duke their best shot (especially when they’re still undefeated), led me to believe Duke could easily lose the game.

What surprised me, though, was how they lost. Basically, nobody except J.J. Redick showed up. The defense was horrible. They simply could not stop Georgetown from scoring. The Hoyas shot 67% in the first half, and 62% for the game, in the 87-84 win. Of course, that’s easy to do when 4 out of every 5 shots is a layup. Duke actually shot 52% for the game. It’s not very often that they’ll shoot 52% and lose. That’s practically unheard of. Shelden Williams was non-existent on offense (4 points), and Paulus had a couple of late turnovers - including one on the last play with Duke down three. Redick played great as usual, putting up 41 points for the second time this season (previously against Texas). But he had no help, and Duke was down 14 at the half and couldn’t recover. Coach K made the following comments:

All of a sudden we do J.J. watching, where we’re watching J.J. play. We might as well get tickets and sit behind the bench. And no one else is doing anything out there.

We were not worthy of our jerseys, our Duke jerseys, in the first half.

With a little better defense, especially in the first half, they would be 18-0. Instead, now it’s off to Virginia Tech, where they hope to avoid a second straight loss. And maybe now all of the idiot talking heads can stop talking about Duke or anyone else going undefeated. What did I say last week?

Duke managed to pull away late and win what was a very close game throughout (despite the final score of 81-68). State went up 62-58 with about 6 minutes to go, then Duke finished the game on a 23-6 run to end it.

A key play (probably the key play) in the game was a “6-point play” late in the second half. With the score tied at 65, Sean Dockery made a 3-pointer and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but got his own rebound and kicked it out to Lee Melchionni, who dropped his own 3-pointer and suddenly Duke was up six, and never looked back.

State’s big man Cedric Simmons had a great game, benefiting from Duke’s defensive strategy of taking away the three-point shot. He scored 28 points, pulled 9 rebounds, and had 7 blocks. It reminded me of the Indiana game, where Duke also tried to take away the three-point shot and it helped Marco Killingsworth have a career game, too. However, Duke countered with the usual suspects - J.J. Redick (28 points, 6 assists) and Shelden Williams (21 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 5 steals).

I thought Duke took a lot of bad shots in the game, especially in the first half. Some of it may have been State’s defense, but I thought they just rushed shots at times and took some long (and unnecessary) three’s. I thought a little better shot selection would have helped maintain a lead, which they could never do for long. State also was shooting well - 53% in the first half, and 52% for the game (to Duke’s 38% in the first half, and 45% for the game).

But a win is what matters, and now they’re 17-0, tying the best start in school history (the 1992 team started 17-0 as well.) A win at Georgetown this weekend would give them the record. They won’t remain undefeated - a difficult stretch of road games is on the horizon - but it would be nice to see them set the “best start” record.

Speaking of being undefeated, I’ve seen several articles this week where this possibility was discussed. The people saying it could happen have lost their minds. The age of a team finishing undefeated is over, in my opinion. It’s just not going to happen anymore. Here’s a quote from Coach K last night, speaking to that and to the Duke hype (which, as I’ve noted before, I don’t like, either):

Some of the things that are being written are just overdone about our team, and that’s the world they live in. Are they going to go undefeated? Are they going to do this? We’re starting Lee Melchionni and Sean Dockery. You didn’t even say that when we had Bobby Hurley, Christian Laettner and Grant Hill, so it’s just extreme. It doesn’t represent who we are, but we deal with it. You write whatever you want, but I think sometimes our kids play to that. They didn’t have good looks on their faces. There’s a lot of pressure on them, so that’s why I told them, ‘Just have fun and play. The outcome of this game will be determined on how well we have fun in the second half.’ And we did.

Along the same lines, a note about Mike Patrick - who I love as a play-by-play guy. However, I kept getting a little annoyed about him going on and on about how State was “not intimidated in the least” playing against Duke. The thing is this - this is ACC play. It’s not like Duke is going to intimidate anyone in conference play. Maybe they intimidated Seton Hall or Bucknell, but not in conference play against teams that see them every year. And definitely not against a good team like State.

So, enough already with expecting teams to be intimidated by Duke. They won’t be, and if they’re a good team, they shouldn’t be. In fact, in most cases, I think teams not only are not intimidated, but have greater motivation to play well and attempt the “upset” (which is a relative term anyway). Duke gets everyone’s best shot. You can’t do that if you’re intimidated, so these guys need to stop being so astonished that a team plays well against Duke.

There are only 3 undefeated teams in college basketball, and they all remained so this weekend. Pitt just be Louisville, and yesterday Florida beat some worthless team from the SEC (it doesn’t really matter - everyone’s horrible except Florida - and they haven’t really played anyone yet, so it’s hard to tell how good they really are.)

Duke, the other undefeated team, beat Clemson on the road Saturday. Clemson managed to put on possibly the worst free throw shooting exhibition I’ve ever seen. They managed to make only 6 of 22 free throws in a 10-point loss. That’s 27% from the line. At one point in the game, they were 3 of 14, I believe, when Mike Patrick said to Len Elmore, “I think you could drop-kick three in.” It seemed to even rub off on J.J. Redick, who missed 4 free throws himself (12 of 16), and he usually goes a month or more without missing four. Four misses in one game is unheard of, and I believe a first for him at Duke.

How about this - on the same day (Saturday), Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky all lost at home. This has to be an extremely rare occurence - first of all that all three of these teams lose on the same day, but also all three at home, that’s even more amazing. Granted that all three teams are not quite what they usually are this year, but still it’s somewhat shocking. Kansas lost to Kansas State for like the first time in 12 years, I think. North Carolina, also a young team, lost to a dangerous Miami team. And Kentucky continues their slide, losing their third in a row, this time to Alabama, who’s missing their best player for the rest of the year. They were not great when they had him, and so a loss by Kentucky at home to an even lesser Alabama team says even more about the shape Kentucky is in at this point in time. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to get much better - that was their 2nd in a row at home, so they still have to go on the road, too.

As usual, I could care less about the NFL until the playoffs start (and really don’t care significantly more even then, but watch nonetheless.) It seemed everybody was talking up the Patriots again, who had gotten hot again at the end of the regular season. However, they promptly lost to Denver with 5 turnovers Saturday night. The team most people seemed to be picking, though, was Indianapolis and Peyton “can’t win the big one” Manning. Well, the nickname still holds true as the Steelers knocked off the Colts this afternoon. I actually feel bad for Tony Dungy and hated to see him lose, although I didn’t mind the rest of the Colts losing at all. He seems like a good guy and has had a rough month or so, and you’d like to see him have successs.

Manning, however, I don’t feel bad for, especially after his post game comments. He made a statement that he was “trying to be a good teammate, but let’s just say we had some protection problems.” In other words, it was the fault of my offensive line that we lost. Very classy. I guess that’s why they never could beat New England when it mattered. And perhaps the offensive lines at Tennessee from 94 to 97 were equally bad, since he never could win the big one against Florida. Why didn’t he go ahead and blame it on the kicker, too? And the defense? And the coaches? If only the rest of the team was perfect like Manning. You’d think after so much experience losing big games, he might have learned to be a more gracious loser. Instead, I guess he’ll just have to settle for being a loser.

So I’m watching the NFL Today postgame after the Steelers-Colts game, and Greg Gumbel introduces Jared the Subway guy in the studio there. He has Subway sandwiches for all the NFL Today guys. I think the show was sponsored by Subway or something.

Here’s the thing - enough already with Jared. Okay, so he was real big, ate a bunch of Subway sandwiches and lost a bunch of weight, and now he’s thin. But didn’t that happen like 10 years ago? Do I have to hear about it for the rest of my life? Is he ever going to go away?

On his blog a few days ago, John Alan Turner writes about the book, the movie and his own book being released this spring, which is a response to the theories espoused by Brown and others. In his post (which you can read here) he basically says that Christians get all jacked up about movies like Passion and Narnia, but what will we do about movies like The Da Vinci Code? Will we be as ready to have meaningful conversations with unbelievers about a movie like this as we were with the others?

I personally hope it’s not one of these situations where people are boycotting the movie, picketing theaters, making stupid comments in the press, etc. In other words, I hope people will try to have something relevant to say instead of a bunch of finger-pointing and condemnation. (Think The Last Temptation of Christ.)

I think Christians often miss chances to encourage others to see important movies that have themes that could (and should) be discussed from a Christian worldview. Movies like Hotel Rwanda and Crash in recent years come to mind. Hopefully, we will not miss the opportunity to contribute something important to the Da Vinci Code discussion that will be reignited by this movie’s release.

College basketball fans everywhere love to hate Duke. As a Duke fan, this doesn’t really bother me. I agree with many that certain media types (especially those named Vitale) spend too much time praising and hyping the Duke program. I wish they’d shutup, too.

So, it also doesn’t bother me to see things like these. Actually, I think they’re funny, too.

There was Maryland Nearly Kills Me, after the Duke-Maryland game Wednesday. I liked this one a lot. My favorite line:

9:43 - Vitale gets his excited voice on and screams, “That’s why they’re uno number one, baby!” three times in a row. I begin to contemplate suicide.

And I saw the article More reason to hate Duke the other day. A few of the comments I thought were humorous:

“Krzyzewski was channeling John Wooden now, and the conduit for his new self was Shane Battier, the consummate student-athlete, everybody’s All-American, the anti-Laettner.”

“They won a national title in 2001. Krzyzewski wrote books on leadership. It was enough to make everyone sick. A national Duke love-in nearly ensued. But hotter heads prevailed, and hate ruled the day.”

“Then along came Redick, this 6-foot-4 shooter from Roanoke with an undying love for all things Duke. He’s all heart and guts and clutch shots. He’s like Chris Collins, only with talent.”

In other Duke news, it appears DeMarcus Nelson has a bone bruise in his right ankle. So, it’s not the same injury as before - which has healed - but he is listed as doubtful for this weekend’s game with Clemson. How long he’ll be out, I have not seen yet, but sounds like he might be back soon if he’s “doubtful” for the weekend.

Maximus 67% Batman, the Dark Knight 67% Captain Jack Sparrow 58% The Terminator 58% James Bond, Agent 007 54% Indiana Jones 50% The Amazing Spider-Man 50% Neo, the “One” 46% William Wallace 38% Lara Croft 29% El Zorro 25%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

With the chants of “not our rival” still ringing in their ears, the Maryland Terrapins were overwhelmed early and often as Duke forced 18 first half turnovers on their way to a 45-22 halftime lead. Maryland ended the game shooting 30%, and their first player to hit double figures came with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the game. Duke played sloppy in the first 10 or 12 minutes of the 2nd half, or they may have won by 40 or more.

And speaking of action heroes, Shelden Williams had a monster game, ending with a triple double (19 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 blocks - yes, 10 blocks). He was practically unstoppable inside. J.J. Redick also had his usual game with 27 points, and even had a 2-hand dunk - the first dunk of his career at Duke, according to Patrick and Vitale. Greg Paulus and Josh McRoberts continue to improve. The only down note of the game was DeMarcus Nelson leaving in the first half and returning with a boot on his foot again. Whether it was a precaution or he has reinjured his ankle is still unknown.

Overall, great game (for Duke fans). I expected them to come to play and win easily. I only predicted 17, and it ended up 24, but I was being a little conservative in my pick, so I wasn’t surprised. But I did think Maryland might put up a little more of a fight. As I said, it could’ve been much worse.

One other thing I noticed: Magic Johnson was there, and during one of the 37 times they showed him sitting in the crowd on the ESPN telecast, I noticed a girl sitting in front of him with a Kentucky hat on. Have things gotten so bad in Lexington that Kentucky fans are now having to go to Duke games to see good basketball?