I thought I’d try to get in an update post here before I’m gone for a few days. My kids are on spring break this week, and I’m only working through noon today. I’m taking off the rest of the week, starting with taking my daughter to lunch. She’s asked for just the two of us to go out to lunch, so we’re doing that today. The rest of the week is not completely planned, but mostly just some time to spend together as a family, and for me, not working!

We all went to see Horton Hears A Who this weekend. It was pretty good. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did several Pixar movies, but it was still fun. I usually find Jim Carrey to be annoying to some degree, but he wasn’t too bad here. I’ve had Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (HBO) on my DVR for months now, and I’m hoping to find time to watch it this week during my time off.

My eMusic downloads refreshed this past weekend. I’ve not decided what else I’ll be getting yet, but I finally pulled the trigger on John Fogerty’s double-live album The Long Road Home - In Concert, which I’ve had on my list for many months now. It’s part solo, part CCR, and it’s all good. It includes one song I was unfamiliar with, apparently from an album of his a few years ago. It’s called “Déjà Vu (All Over Again)”, where Fogerty expresses his opinion of the Iraq war, suggesting it’s another Vietnam. Check it out.

I finished A.J. Jacob’s book The Year of Living Biblically yesterday. I enjoyed it a lot. First, it was hilarious. Jacobs is pretty funny. But, I also found it thought provoking at times. How seriously do I take the Bible? How do I, at times, interpret it to fit what I want it to say instead of taking it for what it says? My one complaint is that it probably could have been a bit shorter. He tended to include plenty of accounts that really didn’t add anything to the story. But still, I’d definitely recommend it.

I’m currently reading Erwin McManus’ The Barbarian Way. I read this about two and a half years ago, but as I think I mentioned before, I’m a part of a book club with a couple of ministers from my church, and that’s our book for March. I’m about halfway through.

In other books, I’ll start reading Lewis’ Mere Christianity over the next few days. Our small group at church is beginning a study of it this week. I’ve had this book for probably 15 years, and have yet to read it. So, finally, I will. Also, I picked up Shane Claiborne’s new book, Jesus For President, a couple of days ago. I plan to start it next week, after I’m finished with McManus.

I was somewhat sad to see the series finale of Jericho last night. I guess we won’t get to see America’s next civil war, although I understand the producers are still hoping to land it somewhere else after CBS showed them the door. A fair amount of it was beyond belief, but I still enjoyed it while it lasted.

If you don’t read Greg Boyd’s blog, go check it out. He’s had some great stuff over the last month. Start with his Feburary 28th post and read up to the present.

I’ll probably have a tournament update next week, but until then, here’s #3:

Our preacher was preaching on suffering a few months ago, and actually made the comment “suffering sucks” during his sermon. It was immediately followed by something like “Is it okay if I say it like that?” I don’t know if anyone was offended or not. I liked it, personally, because I thought it was right on. Suffering does suck.

I just finished reading Bart Ehrman’s newest book, God’s Problem : How The Bible Fails To Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer.

In the book, the former pastor and current religion professor looks at the reasons the Bible appears to give for suffering. In the final chapter of the book, he provides somewhat of a summary of what he’s covered earlier in the book, and the following is my summary of his summary.

He states that he is not satisfied with the explanations of suffering found in scripture, and then bumps down the list and rehashes some of his questions and/or comments about the various reasons.

In the end, Ehrman believes that the author of Ecclesiastes advocates a different view - that this life is all that there is, and not everything makes sense, so we should make the best of it. We should do everything that we can to help diminish suffering in this world and make life better wherever we can.

I enjoyed this book, and one of the main reasons I wanted to read this book is that suffering in this life has increasingly been an issue for me, in that seeing the suffering in this world - many of the examples Ehrman discusses in this book and more - causes me to ask my own questions, seeking an explanation and, on occasion, wondering if God even cares. Many of my questions are the same that Ehrman raises in this book.

(One question I’ve had over the last couple of days is where was God when Duke couldn’t get the ball in the basket during the final five minutes Saturday night. Ehrman, who teaches religion at UNC, probably isn’t asking that question. Anyway…)

Ehrman - no longer a believer and now an agnostic - doesn’t really provide any new answers to those questions and I certainly didn’t expect him to do so. And I doubt he covered any new ground that’s not been covered before on the problem of suffering. The book simply looks at scripture for the reasons it provides for suffering, and explains why he rejects them. However, I still found it thought provoking, even if I am not willing to accept his conclusions as the final answer.

Just now getting around to this, but yesterday my son had enough of a cough and cold that we kept him in from church. Since my wife was scheduled to sing, I stayed home with him.

During that time, I managed to read a book. A whole book. That’s almost unprecedented, that I would be able to sit and read a book from beginning to end (although, granted, it was only around 91 pages.)

The book was Sam Harris’ Letter To A Christian Nation. Harris is an athiest who writes this short book in the form of a letter to American Christians (more specifically, fundamentalist Christians, but he also includes all religion and all religious people at different points in the book.) I thought he asked a number of valid questions - sometimes even questions I myself would ask. Other things were less convincing and almost seemed to born out of his own frustration that everyone doesn’t see things as plainly as he does. In other words, Harris seems fairly hostile towards what he sees as nonsense and, in fact, dangerous. (Interestingly, he also chides Christians for their arrogance, but displays a healthy amount himself.) It is a book about religion, but also seems to be about politics as well (or, at least, that’s the way I read it.)

I remembered that Mike Cope had written about this book last year, and so I share his posts as well, as he had posted some quotes and some good thoughts as well.

Mike’s posts:

• Letter to a Christian nation

• Christian evidences

The book is worth a read, and certainly interesting to read how another person from the outside sees the Christian faith. And as Mike mentions, I think it’s something that can be beneficial to Christians, allowing us to look at how well we represent the one we claim to follow.

I’ve been wanting to post something regarding one of the books I’m currently reading, but haven’t gotten around to it. I will still try to do so in the coming week or two, but for now, I’ll post a Publishers Weekly review from Amazon.

The book is titled Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy, and tells the story of the shootings at the Amish school in Nickel Mines, PA, in late 2006. The world was stunned by (and sometimes questioned) their forgiveness of the killer and his family. This book takes a look at their response, as well as other examples of tragedies among the Amish and their similar responses, and how it relates to their faith and their daily life.

When a gunman killed five Amish children and injured five others last fall in a Nickel Mines, Pa., schoolhouse, media attention rapidly turned from the tragic events to the extraordinary forgiveness demonstrated by the Amish community. The authors, who teach at small colleges with Anabaptist roots and have published books on the Amish, were contacted repeatedly by the media after the shootings to interpret this subculture. In response to the questions why—and how—did they forgive? Kraybill and his colleagues present a compelling study of Amish grace. After describing the heartbreaking attack and its aftermath, the authors establish that forgiveness is embedded in Amish society through five centuries of Anabaptist tradition, and grounded in the firm belief that forgiveness is required by the New Testament. The community’s acts of forgiveness were not isolated decisions by saintly individuals but hard-won counter cultural practices supported by all aspects of Amish life. Common objections to Amish forgiveness are addressed in a chapter entitled, What About Shunning? The authors carefully distinguish between forgiveness, pardon and reconciliation, as well as analyze the complexities of mainstream America’s response and the extent to which the Amish example can be applied elsewhere. This intelligent, compassionate and hopeful book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on forgiveness.

I’m about halfway through, but it’s been quite good thus far.

Once again, I did not read nearly as much as I wanted to this past year. I’m down to about half the books I was reading a few years ago (and even that is still far less than I would like to read.) So, I’ve got a long list to read for this coming year, many of which will probably go unread as well, but we’ll see. As was the case with my music list, this list is not limited to books released this year, but simply books I read this year. I suspect, had I read more, some or most of these wouldn’t have made the list. But, with a short list to start with, this is what you get. So, with that said, here’s the books I enjoyed the most.

10. Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life
Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker

I’ve never been a Colts fan, but I’ve come respect Tony Dungy a lot over the last couple of years. A friend loaned me this autobiographical book recently and I appreciated learning even more about Dungy and his life as a disciple of Jesus, a husband, a father and now a Super Bowl winning coach. I’m not big on the “God had a plan for us losing this game” kind of talk he uses on occasion, but still an enjoyable read by a genuine “good guy” in professional sports.

9. I Sold My Soul on eBay: Viewing Faith through an Atheist’s Eyes
Hemant Mehta

Not a great book, but certainly interesting. Mehta is not a Dawkins/Hitchens-like atheist (after all, his blog is called “The Friendly Athiest”) and is not hostile to Christianity. He states several times that he is open to believing, but he just hasn’t been convinced. This book is a chronicle of his year-long visits to a number of churches (more about that here), and his opinion of what was positive and negative about his experiences as a non-believing visitor.

8. Tobacco Road: Duke, Carolina, N.C. State, Wake Forest, and the
History of the Most Intense Backyard Rivalries in Sports
Al Featherston

Obviously, as a fan of Duke basketball and the ACC, a book about the “big four” of North Carolina basketball is right up my alley. Having read Joe Menzer’s Four Corners, also on the “big four”, a few years back, I didn’t find a lot of new material here. Still, it was fun to read again through the history of the four programs.

7. Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and
Threatens America: An Evangelical’s Lament
Randall Balmer

Balmer, a religious history professor and Christianity Today editor, feels that voting Republican has almost become a necessary tenant of Christianity in America. Balmer is a politically liberal evangelical and in his book he discusses how the Religious Right came to possess the power they have, and his objections and alternatives to their agenda.

6. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Barack Obama

Now-presidential candidate Obama shares his ideas for making this country a better place and improving the increasingly hostile political climate. He talks about faith, values, race and family, among other things, as well as his own experiences that have prepared him for public service. A good introduction to him and his vision for the country.

5. Cinderella: Inside the Rise of Mid-Major College Basketball
Michael Litos

Litos, a VCU grad, spent the 2005-06 basketball season with the CAA conference. Boy, did he pick the right year. He chronicles the season, beginning with Drexel’s near-upsets of Duke and UCLA in the NIT, and ending with George Mason’s magical run to the Final Four. A great read if you love college basketball as much as I do (and if you don’t, you should.)

4. Letters from a Skeptic: A Son Wrestles with His Father’s Questions
About Christianity
Greg Boyd and Edward Boyd

This book by pastor/author Greg Boyd (The Myth of a Christian Nation) is a collection of letters exchanged between himself and his unbelieving father over a period of a few years. His father asks hard questions about God and faith and he provides his Biblically-based answers. The exchanges eventually resulted in his father’s conversion.

3. The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
Francis Collins

Collins is a geneticist who was once head of the Human Genome Project. He speaks of his life as a scientist and an atheist, and how his study in the scientific world played a part in his conversion to Christianity. A very good read, especially since so many Christians seem to be under the impression that science and faith must be rivals instead of complimentary to one another.

2. It’s Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case
and the Lives It Shattered
Don Yaeger with Mike Pressler

It’s a travesty that the Duke Lacrosse case went beyond the first couple of weeks. This book by author Don Yeager and former Duke Lacrosse coach Mike Pressler provides great detail as to why. While the case eventually ended positively with the players being exonerated, much of the damage done was likely irreparable. An excellent read.

1. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Ishmael Beah

At the age of 13, Beah was, along with many other young boys, forced to become a child soldier during the conflict in his native Sierra Leone. He tells of his background, his experiences in the war, the loss of his family and friends, the daily challenges he faced, and his eventual escape from the war and Sierra Leone, ultimately landing in the United States. This is an unforgettable story about an amazing young man.

That’s it. That’s the list.

If interested, you can see the complete list of books I read this year here (although I haven’t kept up in providing ratings and reviews for them all.)

When I read this passage from Camp’s book, I was reminded of the Derek Webb song “A Love That’s Stronger Than Our Fear,” particularly the line which says “tell me, since when do the means justify the ends and you build the kingdom using the devil’s tools.”

Here’s the quote from Mere Discipleship:

After the April 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, an angry letter to the editor appeared in one of the Nashville papers:

To the Editor:

Once again, we experience the tragedy of a mass shooting at one of our schools - [this] time in Colorado. The news anchors and President Clinton wring their hands and say, “What shall we do? What shall we do?”

The standard knee-jerk reaction is to try to pass more laws restricting gun ownership, but that is not the answer. The answer is simple: Execute the little bastards.

Texas has the highest per-capita rate of executions in the country, and you don’t hear about school shootings there. Maybe when we start punishing criminals, we will see a reduction in the crime rate. It’s time we realize that turning the other cheek doesn’t work.

In spite of the writer’s confidence about the efficacy of the Texas death penalty, within a number of months a gunman entered Wedgewood Baptist Church in Forth Worth, and killed seven of the Christians gathered for a youth prayer service.

In any case, the letter-writer’s logic merely updates the logic and faith employed by Charlemagne centuries earlier: certain things work, and certain things don’t. “Turning the other cheek,” it is claimed, “doesn’t work.” And in our concern to accomplish certain noble ends, we must make sure to be “effective.” How shall we convert the masses? Or how shall we accomplish a “reduction in the crime rate?” “The answer is simple: Execute the little bastards.”

Instead of grappling seriously with what Jesus could have possibly meant by “turning the other cheek,” the letter-writer’s crass reflex provides yet an updated example of the old Constantinian reflex to be “effective,” to “get the job done,” and do “whatever it takes.” Such a reflex appears deeply indoctrinated with a faithlike trust in the radical impracticality of Jesus’ teaching: if one wants to maintain culture, maintain civilization, maintain any good within the community, the assumption goes, one must utilize means that “everybody understands.” In this way, “discipleship” gets castrated, or at least sharply curtailed in its assumed rightful place. “Following Jesus” becomes something one does on Sundays and in one’s quiet time in order to “go to heaven,” but the way of Christ has no place in the real world of violence, injustice, and greed. “Church” becomes an institution necessary to instill “moral values” in the citizenry of a democracy, but the fundamental teachings of its Messiah are taken to be irrelevant to the way the world “really works.”

“If we have struggled to bring about a kingdom of heaven on earth, we have been willing to borrow our tools from the kingdom of hell.” Or so a contemporary philosopher described the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But might his words aptly describe not only the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan, but significant components of Christian history? - that in the name of the kingdom of God, we have made use of the tools of hell?

Our Sunday morning class is working through Jesus’ sermon on the mount right now, and this past Sunday covered “turning the other cheek.” Questions were asked involving various scenarios in which it just didn’t seem possible that turning the other cheek would possibly work. That seems to be the prevailing sentiment among many that I see discussing such issues of radical discipleship - Jesus’ way just won’t work.

I understand that feeling. But do we dismiss certain things which seem impractical, simply for that reason - that it “won’t work,” without actually trying it? The problem with Jesus’ way is that it won’t work the way we want it to work. The outcome may not be what we desire, and so move on to something that makes more sense to us. Something that will, as Camp says, “get the job done.”

I don’t doubt that Jesus’ way of operating in this world will, in fact, work. The problem is that sometimes we just won’t allow it.

The teaching minister at our church recently asked me if I would be interested in forming somewhat of a “book club.” Since I love to read, I was all for it. We decided to choose a book each month, read it, then meet to discuss what we read and what we thought of it. Initially, I believe, it’s only the two of us, although others may join at some in future months.

We decided to start this month, and suggested several books. We ended up choosing one we’d both read a few years ago, but both wanted to read again: Lee Camp’s Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World. So, after starting the book this weekend, I thought I’d post a few initial quotes and thoughts.

Camp opens the first chapter discussing the Rwandan genocide of 1994, highlighting the fact that Rwanda was considered “‘the most Christian country in Africa’, with as much as 90 percent of the population claiming some Christian church affiliation.” He questions why the Rwandan church failed to be the church during this horrific time. Why, if 90% of the country is supposedly Christian, did over 800,000 people die at the hands of their neighbors?

He suggests that perhaps the Rwandans brand of Christianity - largely imported from the West - was made up of Christians, but not of disciples of Jesus. Camp writes:

When push came to shove, the Jesus who taught his disciples to “love their neighbor” was missing when young men were hacking old men, women and children to death, simply because these neighbors were of a different ethnic background. Numerous Christian martyrs of both Hutu and Tutsi ethnic identity died because of their resistance to the massacres. But that these faithful martyrs were a minority among the fold of Chrsitians has led critics to suggest that the “gospel” imported into Rwanda failed to ever challenge the ethnic identities of its “converts” - they “became Christian,” but many remained first and foremost either Hutu or Tutsi.

This is not a unique failure of Christians in the history of the church, as he points out. The church has often used the sword in our history. What about Jesus’ example and authority in our lives? Camp continues:

“Jesus is Lord” is a radical claim, one that is ultimately rooted in questions of allegiance, of ultimate authority, of the ultimate norm and standard for human life. Instead, Christianity has often sought to ally itself comfortably with allegiance to other authorities, be they political, economic, cultural or ethnic. Could it be that “Jesus is Lord” has become one of the most widespread Christian lies? Have Christians claimed the lordship of Jesus, but systematically set aside the call to obedience to this Lord? At least in Rwanda, with “Christian Hutus” slaughtering “Christian Tutsis” (and vice versa), “Christian” apparently served as a faith brand name - a “spirituality”, or a “religion” - but not a commitment to a common Lord.

Then, Camp asks the following:

We American Christians, are we any different? Do we have all the same cultural assumptions about Christianity that would allow us to shelve our discipleship, to compartmentalize our faith, so that we too could fall prey to such demonic forces? Do we have on the same blinders? We good American Christians, could we do the same thing?

Recently, on a “Christian” message board, there was a thread titled “Communism and Christianity.” I no longer recall exactly what all was being discussed, but there was a quote that stuck with me, largely because it seemed so glaringly un-Christlike (and, by the way, it was made by one who is actually in ministry himself.) Here it is:

I like my freedom and will fight to the death to keep it!

“It’s all about me, baby. I will kill to maintain my lifestyle” - with an exclamation point. You might expect things like this from the more extreme folks - perhaps your Phelps’, or maybe even your Robertsons or Falwells, considering some of their off-the-wall comments in the past - but coming from someone in ministry and a part of my own tradition of Churches of Christ, it was a little more troubling.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that it’s really that uncommon. Many of the Christians that frequent that board, and many other boards/blogs like it, would apparently wholeheartedly agree with his declaration. (Particularly if the “enemy” were Muslim.) And so the more things like this that I read, the more it seems to me that the answer to Camp’s question - “Could we do the same thing?” - very well may be “Yes, we could.” I always come back to a quote by Shane Claiborne, which I’ve used here before:

Our world is desperately in need of imagination, for we have spent so much creativity devising ways of destroying our enemies that some folks don’t even think it’s possible (much less practical) to love them. We have placed such idolatrous faith in our ability to protect ourselves that we call it more courageous to die killing than to die loving.

When it comes down to it, are we more willing to “die killing” then “die loving”? If we say we’re following Jesus, what does it really mean to truly follow Him? Is our allegiance fully to Him, or only when it’s convenient, only when it’s safe?

I am going to try to post regularly as I go through this book. That’s it for today, but hopefully I’ll post more later. And let me add one other thing, just to be clear: I’m asking those questions above of myself first.

Shortly after I posted Thursday I called my wife to check on my daughter. She was home sick that day, after having developed a cough the seemed to be growing worse each day. So, she was heading to the doctor, and I called home to check. No answer, so I called her cell. She was still at the doctor, waiting for a nurse to reappear and give my daughter a shot. The reason? She had pneumonia.

Four days later, after the shot and antibiotics, she seems to be doing fine. The doctor said that they’d seen a lot of it recently. My daughter’s friend was just in the hospital with it a month or so ago. Fortunately, the medicine, fluids and rest seemed to have done the trick. She returned to school today, which the doctor said she’s be able to do, and so hopefully she’ll remain well.

Unfortunately, this has limited some Halloween related activities for us. We were planning to visit “Boo at the Zoo” here at the Little Rock zoo last Wedensday night, but she’d come home from school running fever. “Boo” lasts through Halloween, and we may still try to make it tomorrow night, if possible, since it’s a bit warmer here this week. But last Wednesday was members night (we are members and wanted to go on that night), and it gets more crowded the closer you get to Halloween. It will probably depend on how my daughter does over the next two days.

More movies… I watched a couple of movies this week that I’d never seen. Being the season of Halloween, there have been plenty of “horror” films on cable. I caught the original Saw last week and figured I’d see what it was all about. I’m not much into “horror” movies, mainly because they usually suck - just a bunch of gratuitous violence and little else. I kind of enjoyed Saw because there was a little more to it than that, although it’s still not exactly my kind of entertainment. I later came across Saw II, which, unfortunately, I would have to rate well below the original film. It was more along the lines of a Friday the 13th where a bunch of people are killed over the course of the movie. Just not that interesting, and basically a waste of time. You knew, too, after having seen the first one, that there’d be a twist at the end and it was pretty predictable. So, I think I’ve watched my last Saw film.

Over the weekend I also finished Al Franken’s Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair And Balanced Look At The Right. It’s a few years old now, but I “mooched” a copy and thought I’d check it out. I’ve always thought Franken was pretty funny, and this book was no exception. My wife began to find my laughing out loud annoying at times. There was a lot of interesting info in the book, and while I’m not willing to take everything Franken said as gospel, I suspect much of it is on target. Seems unlikely you’d write a book about so-called liars without making sure your facts aren’t pretty solid. Of course, he has a (left-leaning) perspective unlike those he criticizes, so no doubt there are those on the right who would see some of his facts and interpretations in a different light. I even felt some could be viewed as saying more or less than they did as Franken presented them. Still, the book was a lot of fun, and the story of him taking his “son” on a visit to Bob Jones University (as if he was searching for a college) was hilarious. You can read that online here.

I found this morning (via Mark Elrod and Political Cartel) that athiest Hemant Mehta spoke at my alma mater, Harding University, last night. I read Mehta’s book, I Sold My Soul On eBay, just a couple of months ago and enjoyed it. His is an interesting story. I’m glad he was invited and would like to have been there to hear him myself. However, I found it interesting that an athiest was allowed to speak at HU, where folks like Mike Cope would be denied.

I’ve found very little time for trying to post anything recently, as is already evident by my lack of posts. Trying to find time here and there, but the “busyness” of both work and home lately has eaten up most of my time.

So, here’s a few random things just so that I don’t go more than a full week without a post.

Lax

I recently read Don Yeager’s It’s Not About The Truth (a great read), and DBR has reviewed another recently published book on the case, Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and K.C. Johnson (who is the man behind Durham In Wonderland.) I suspect a lot of the material in the book is identical to Yeager’s book, but part of me wants to read it as well. So, I’ve put it on my library request list and we’ll see what happens.

Other reading

I’ve been stuck in the middle of two books (see sidebar) recently and just haven’t had time for reading, either. After finishing the books by Card and Collins, I have Jon Meacham’s American Gospel on deck, and I also have a few re-reads I’m considering - C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, which I’ve wanted to read again for years; Lee Camp’s Mere Discipleship, which I’ve wanted to read again since I first read it; and, Philip Yancey’s Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, since we’re studying prayer right now in our Sunday morning meetings and small groups at church. I also have Scot McKnight’s The Real Mary that I may read in December. But, as usual, I’ll probably not get through half of these and possibly none. I guess I’m going to have to start taking vacation time in order to read.

Music

I’m hoping to acquire the new Springsteen disc soon. I’ve read a lot of good reviews, so I’m anxious to have it in hand shortly. When I have eMusic downloads again next week, I also have a list ready, including new albums by Dashboard Confessional and John Fogerty.

In the meantime, I’ve been listening to the newest from David Crowder Band and Caedmon’s Call, both of which I’m enjoying, but haven’t really had time yet to fully digest. I can, however, recommend both.

College Football

Watching the LSU-Florida game from Saturday (which I didn’t watch until Sunday afternoon), I couldn’t help but notice this: Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is the football team’s version of Joakim Noah. His jumping up and down, arm waving antics have always been a bit annoying, but taunting the LSU crowd in the first half was undoubtedly a bad idea, especially considering it was probably Florida’s biggest game of the year. He just looked stupid doing it, and even more so after they failed to win the game. If you want to run around taunting your opponents’ fans after you win, that’s one thing (although still unsportsmanlike.) But to do it before you have the game in hand is just idiotic. Especially when you’re playing in one of the most challenging environments in college football - Baton Rouge on a Saturday night. Nice job, Joakim Tim.

And, in Los Angeles, it was bizarro football weekend, where Notre Dame actually won a game (over UCLA), and USC - a 41-point favorite - lost to Stanford.

Garage Sales

Part of my “busyness” last week involved a garage sale. We had the sale on Saturday and unloaded a bunch of stuff, but had a lot left over, too. I’m always amazed at what people choose to buy and what they choose to leave behind. It usually seems to be the opposite of what you’d expect.

One year, maybe 10 years ago, we had a sale with some friends of ours (a co-worker of my wife’s and her husband.) We joked beforehand about how one particular item he was putting in would never sell. It was a small plastic Larry Bird Christmas ornament that someone had given him a number of years before. That’s right, Larry Bird on a hook so that you could hang him from your tree. As it turned out, it was one of the first things to sell. The lesson is, no matter how minute the possibility of a sale may seem, put it out anyway. You just might be surprised.

Okay, that’s it for today.

I’m excited, as usual, about the college football season kicking off this week. I don’t know what games are scheduled this first week, but I do know Tennessee-California are playing Saturday so I look forward to kicking off the season with a good game (hopefully better than their game last year, which was over pretty quickly.)

As for the Arkansas Razorbacks, I think they should have another solid year. After 10 wins last year, I think they’re in position to approach that again. I believe they will win all of their home games, with Auburn the most likely to steal a win at Fayetteville. Road games of note are LSU, Tennessee and Alabama. I don’t see them winning in Baton Rouge for a number of reasons, but primarily because LSU will be the better team. Tennesee will also be tough, as the Vols were embarrassed in the first half at Fayetteville last year. Plus, it’s hard for the Hogs to win in Knoxville - which they’ve only done once since joining the SEC, I believe, and that was their first visit in 1992.

As for Alabama, I keep hearing media-type folks say that, despite having their new and much heralded coach, that this team still has a lot of work to do. I have no idea how close to the truth that is, but no road game in the SEC has ever been easy for the Hogs. In their favor, Arkansas has been quite successful in Tuscaloosa since joining the SEC - I believe they are 3-4 at Bryant-Denny. However, this being the first SEC game for Alabama with Satan Saban on the sideline, I have to think they’ll be at their best (whatever that may be.)

So, in the end, I think Arkansas will lose all three of those road games (Alabama, Tennessee, LSU), but Alabama might be their best shot at a win. I think they will win at Ole Miss. Auburn and South Carolina should be a test at home, but I’m going to go with wins in those games as well. That would put them at 9-3, which would be another great year for the Hogs. That’s probably optimistic, but - and this is key - if everyone can stay healthy and out of prison, they should be in position to get 9 wins.

Despite the beginning of the college football season, I won’t get into full-on football mode for another two weeks, because today my favorite tennis grand slam, the U.S. Open, begins in New York. Obviously, Roger Federer has ruled the tennis world when it comes to men’s tennis. He is attempting his fourth straight U.S. Open title, coming off of his fifth straight Wimbledon. However, I’m predicting that Federer will not win the Open this year.

Rafael Nadal has clearly closed the gap. The three-time French champion played well against Federer at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2006, and looked as though he might end Federer’s Wimbledon streak this year with a fantastic match, before falling short in the fifth set. But, Nadal is also not my pick to win.

Andy Roddick’s lone grand slam title came in New York four years ago, but he continues to play inconsistently at times, and can’t seem to get over the Federer hurdle, either. Roddick has the skills to win it all, but I just have no faith in him.

I’m going with Novak Djokovic, who has impressed me every time I’ve seen him play this year (which, granted, is only a handful of times.) He’s played some great tennis, and I believe the U.S. Open may be his coming out party, his first grand slam title. I also admit that I’m leaning towards him because I’d like to see someone besides Federer or Nadal win. I like both Federer and Nadal, and am becoming more and more of a Nadal fan each with each grand slam. But, I’ve also enjoyed Djokovic’s play and demeanor, and I want to see him win this time around. So, he’s my pick.

Like the Hogs record, that may be a bit optimistic, but regardless, I look forward to another great U.S. Open, which always provides a lot of great tennis and great moments. Plus, I love the fact that it’s on in the evening - unlike other grand slams - so I’ll get to watch a lot of it, and probably get less sleep than I need over the coming two weeks since matches often run late into the evening.

Speaking of tennis, I’m about to start reading James Blake’s book, Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life. The book chronicles Blake’s upbringing and tennis career, including his net-post collision a few years ago that fractured a neck vertebrae, his bout with shingles, and his return to tennis in 2004. I’ve always liked Blake and look forward to reading his story.

I also just finished Don Yeager’s book It’s Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case and the Lives It Shattered. I enjoyed this and may post more about some of it later (suffice to say now that Mike Nifong is even a bigger <deleted> than I realized.) It’s really an amazing story. Much of it was played out in the press, but there’s even more to it and it’s an absolute tragedy that this went beyond the first few weeks. I was reminded often of the West Memphis Three case (see Mara Leveritt’s Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three.)

Fortunately, unlike the WM3 case, the truth eventually was made known, charges were dropped and the accused were declared innocent. Hopefully, the same will some day happen for the WM3.