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:

The madness technically began last night, but I still don’t care for the play-in game. For me, it still doesn’t really begin until late Thursday morning.

Normally, I’d have already started posting about the tournament before now. Last year I did a post for each region with my thoughts and picks. This year, as of this morning, I’ve barely looked at the bracket. In fact, I haven’t really looked at it since Sunday night. And at this point I’m just hoping to fill out my picks before Thursday around 11am. (I did go ahead and side with - against my better judgment - Coppin State in the game last night, which turned out to be the wrong pick, so I’m already 0-1.)

I’ve had a pretty busy last week or so. I actually saw only one game on Saturday (Arkansas-Tennessee, although I did see part of both Georgia games), and none on Sunday. That’s unprecedented. Things are starting to slow down today, so I hope to have my bracket filled out by tonight, or at least early tomorrow.

Donovan

In the meantime, I like Billy Donovan, but someone needs to settle him down a little. He’s going nuts. And speaking of Florida, I heard them referred to as “defending champions” on ESPN Monday night. But Florida didn’t make it into the tournament this year, so can you really call them “defending” champions now? At this point, they’re not defending anything.

We’re #98!

What the hell is this? The College Basketball Invitational? Do we really need another post-season tournament? I’m not even sure there should be an NIT. If you don’t make the field of 64+1, then you probably should just shut it down until next year. But this? If you’re not good enough to make the NIT, you might want to consider shutting your program down, not playing more games against other underachievers. Instead, we now have the college basketball equivalent to college football’s December bowl games - crappy teams playing meaningless games. Hooray!

Picks by tomorrow. Until then, the first of three . . .

It all comes down to Saturday night.

Duke and Carolina will face off in the final regular season game, both sitting at the top of the ACC tied with 13-2 records. The winner of the game at Cameron Saturday will win the ACC regular season outright.

I can’t recall the last time that happened. The closest I can recall was In 2001, when Duke went to Chapel Hill one game behind and won the game to take a share of the regular season along with UNC. But I can’t recall an occasion in recent history where the regular season was decided by a final “winner take all” game. Usually it’s already been decided by then. And to add to the drama this year, a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament for both teams may be on the line as well.

The good thing for Carolina is that they come into the game playing well again and Ty Lawson - who missed the first Duke game, among many others - will be back on the floor (albeit still not at 100% yet.) I believe they’ve adjusted to Lawson not being there, so they shouldn’t have some of the struggles they had in the first game, which was shortly after his injury. Carolina shot the ball poorly from outside in Duke’s win as well, so if they shoot the ball well from outside (particularly Ellington and Green), they will be tough to beat unless Duke can slow down Hansbrough this time around. Brian Zoubek - who missed the previous game for Duke - is not going to stop Hansbrough, but if he can provide a few minutes here and there and help slow him down, that will be beneficial for Duke. It would be particularly nice if Duke could manage to get Hansbrough into early foul trouble (in either or both halves), but that’s extremely unlikely since ACC officials tend to give Hansbrough carte blanche to impose his will inside the lane (yeah, Duke gets all the calls. Right…)

The good thing for Duke is that it seems they’ve moved past their recent shooting woes. During a three-game stretch - which included their two ACC losses - they managed only 33% from 3-point range, and it would have been worse were it not for them catching fire late against Miami. Once they got their 3-point shot back, they went cold inside the arc against NC State, shooting only 9-29 (31%) and missing a lot of shots inside of 8 feet. They shot much better against Virginia two nights ago (51% overall, 44% 3-point) and they needed that coming into this game. You don’t want to come in to the biggest game of the year throwing up a lot of bricks. The key to their first win was their shooting, especially from behind the arc, and if they are to have a chance to win tomorrow, they’ll have do it again.

Home court seems to have been more of an edge for Duke than UNC during this decade. Since 2000, Duke has won 6 of 9 at Chapel Hill, while UNC has won 3 of 8 at Cameron. Four times they’ve split the regular season, and 2 of those 4 times they’ve both lost at home. Duke has thrice swept the regular season, to Carolina’s once (last year.) However, of the 3 wins in Carmeron for UNC, two have come the past two seasons. If Duke wants to avoid losing 3 in a row at home to Carolina, they need to hold serve again tomorrow night.

Duke has already exceeded my expectations this year. After what was clearly a “down year” last season (by Duke standards), I had great faith that they would easily improve on last season. I am a little surprised, however, that the improvement has been as significant as it has, particularly with so little help inside. I wouldn’t have expected a 26-3 record at this point in the season. I predicted a couple of months ago that they would finish 12-4 and second place in the ACC. They have guaranteed at least second place and exceeded my record prediction with 13 wins. And, they can finish at 14-2 and 1st place with a win tomorrow night.

I thought they were a year away from doing any damage in the NCAA tournament, and I do believe next year will be their year to be a favorite. Still being a very young team may or may not be a factor in their success for the remainder of the season, but if they play to their ability and shoot the ball well, they can play with just about anyone. Hopefully, they’ll play their best tomorrow night, and continue that path deeper into March.

I think it’s time for another classic. There have been plenty in this rivalry, but this game means more than usual this time around. The ACC regular season, and possibly a #1 seed in two weeks, will be decided by 40 minutes in Cameron tomorrow night.

Tennessee/Memphis had nothing on this game. This is what college basketball is all about.

ACC.

Duke.

Carolina.

Cameron Crazies.

March.

I love it.

Go Duke!

At least for tonight…

The day has arrived. February 6, 2008. The most anticipated day of every year for Duke and North Carolina fans. The day, this year, that #2 and #3 will face off. The day as glorious as any other day of the year, and more so then most. The first meeting between the Devils (19-1, 7-0) and the Heels (21-1, 6-1).

Why the first Wednesday in February - normally the day this game takes place - is not a national holiday remains incomprehensible to me.

In preparation for this game and the second half of the ACC season, I began reading Will Blythe’s book To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever : A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry last week. I bought this book nearly two years ago, but have just now gotten around to reading it. I always read at least one book on college basketball during January and/or February, and this is mine for this year.

Blythe is a UNC alum and, of course, hates Duke (thus the title.) Despite this character flaw :), this has been a very entertaining read thus far. Not only about basketball, but also family, society, and more, he writes with a lot of humor that has prompted me to laugh out loud on several occasions in the first few chapters. I look forward to finishing and expect it to be well worth my time.

Here’s a sample:

From time to time I have felt silly about this devotion to a college team and the concomitant hatred of its rival. Here I am, a grown man, huddled in front of a TV, hiding out from the world from November to April, watching students battle each other in games that shouldn’t mean more to me than to them. Right?

Not long ago, as I watched Carolina endure a particularly ugly sequence against Duke, I scared my girlfriend’s nine-year-old son, Harry. (I had already terrified the dog, the beloved Gracie, who had fled into the bathroom to avoid my raving.) Duke’s Dahntay Jones had just driven home a particularly obnoxious dunk and was now flexing his muscles like an insane bodybuilder. Was there no justice in the universe? Where was God?

I pounded my hand on the coffee table, stomped my feet on the floor, and exclaimed, with extreme eloquence, “Shit, hell, piss, damn it! And don’t say what I just said, Harry!” Indeed, I felt proud of myself that I had limited my profanity to just these few words. A virtual Zen master of self-control.

Harry, who had been watching me watch the game, asked, “Why do you have to get so mad?” Normally, he would have delighted in an adult’s swearing. But now he was edging backward across the room, the way people will when you have a gun pointed at them. His eyes were wide.

“Because I hate Duke,” I explained.

“Why do you hate them?” he asked.

Here I hesitated. A young boy had asked me a guileless question, and he needed an adult response. “Well, that’s an interesting question,” I told him, channeling Mister Rogers, “and it deserves an honest answer.” I paused for a moment, as I had seen his mother do when addressing an earnest inquiry by her son. Children are our future. We must teach them well, even when it is hard.

“The truth is they are terrible people,” I told him. “Detestable.”

“All of them?” he asked.

“Every last one of them,” I said. “Especially the coach.”

“I hate them, too,” Harry said, settling in next to me on the couch. And thus was born another soldier in the war. On the door of his room hung a chalkboard for self-expression, and I was pleased to note that now, scrawled in his child’s hand (with no assistance or prodding from me) was the unimpeachable sentiment, NO DUKE FANS ALLOWED IN HERE.

Blythe can likely make a long list of “detestable” players from Duke, no doubt (and has already named several so far.) Likewise, there are many UNC names I could list - like J.R. Reid, Rick Fox, Jeff McInnis and Rashad McCants, to name a few. And it’s beyond me how anyone could get behind a team which once included Rasheed Wallace, one of the biggest <bleep>s ever to step on a basketball court.

Clearly, I can relate to Blythe’s feelings here, albeit from the opposite perspective. I’m often overcome with such anxiety before a Duke game, especially a big game like Carolina, you’d think I was actually playing in it. Since the acquisition of my first DVR a few years ago, I now find it difficult to watch the games live, in real time. I usually record the game and start watching (from the beginning) later during the game so that I can watch it without all of the delays of timeouts, dead balls, free throws, etc. I can watch the game in about 45 minutes. The game still lasts around two hours, so the anxiety is still there while I’m waiting to start watching, but somehow starting it later and viewing it quickly makes me feel better. Sometimes, I just wait until it’s over and check the score online, then watch it in a much more relaxed state.

Yes, I’m pathetic.

Nevertheless, I look forward to the annual early-February meeting of Duke and Carolina tonight. Since it’s in Chapel Hill this year, the likely result is that Duke will suffer their first ACC loss. Carolina will be tough to beat at home, even if Ty Lawson isn’t playing (and I’ll believe that when I don’t see him on the floor.) Duke’s primary weakness is lack of inside players, of course, and while they’ve gone into Chapel Hill undermanned inside before and won (see 2001 when Carlos Boozer was injured), hope seems a bit more distant this time around. This time they’re not facing Brendan Haywood in there, but Tyler Hansbrough. But hey, the Giants weren’t supposed to win Sunday, either, right?

I will likely watch the game as I described above, starting from the beginning at about halftime. My wife and kids will probably already be in bed when I start, and it’s entirely possible that I’ll let a few things slip as Blythe describes above - probably at one or more of the many times Hansbrough lowers his head and bulls through a Duke player as the officials whistle remains silent or when Greg Paulus flops to the floor after someone breathes on him.

But regardless of outcome, there’s nothing else quite like the first Duke/Carolina game every year. It’s almost always just after the Super Bowl and seems to signal that the college basketball season has finally begun for real. And this year, it will also usher in the return of Dick Vitale and feature two of top three ranked teams. It just doesn’t get any better.

It’s often called the greatest rivalry in college sports for one simple reason: it is.

Go Duke!

Saw this on DBR this morning - a quote from Maryland freshman Cliff Tucker:

I can’t stand Duke. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to come here so I can beat Duke, I already got North Carolina. Duke is next. I cannot stand Duke. I tell people all the time, if they gave me a scholarship and that was my only Division I scholarship, I’d go Division II or something like that. I would never, ever go there. I don’t know what it is, I can’t stand Duke.

Looks like you’ll have to wait a little longer for that one: Duke 93, Maryland 84.

Duke was down by nine at the half, only to turn it around in the second half and win by the same margin. That can only mean one thing in the mind’s of Maryland fans: the officials are to blame. :)

And don’t worry about that scholarship to Duke, Cliff. I think they’re doing just fine without you.

That’s 5-0 in the ACC now. I’m pretty pleased with that start. Next two games are at home, and if they can hold serve, they’ll go to Chapel Hill at 7-0 in the ACC. Unfortunately, they’ll probably leave 7-1. Still, considering last year, this ACC season is off to a fantastic start.

Let’s go Duke.

It’s been a long week. More on that another time. For now…

From the land down under

In my US Open recap a few months ago, I wrote that Djokovic’s time is coming, and coming soon. The gap between Federer and everyone else was closing fast. Nadal already owns him at the French, and almost pulled off the upset at Wimbledon. And Djokovic finished strong last year and, in my opinion, was headed for a grand slam title in 2008.

He’s not there yet - he still has one match to go - but he took a significant step today in not only knocking Federer out of the Australian Open semis, but doing so in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (5). That’s a big one, and there seems to be somewhat of a changing of the guard going on right now, considering Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s straight set win over Nadal in the other semi yesterday. No Federer-Nadal final here. No Federer. No Nadal. But Djokovic’s time may have come. Tsonga - if he plays like he has been in this tournament - will be no pushover. I’ve seen him once and he was looking very good, and considering Nadal’s post-match comments (”I played fine, but he was unbelievable”) he was pretty impressive there, although I didn’t see that one.

I look forward to the men’s final Saturday night. It should be a pretty good one, and while I’ve grown to like Tsonga watching him play in this tournament and last year, I hope for the breakthrough for Djokovic. He’s my favorite player right now, and I hope to see him holding the trophy down under. We’ll see.

“I’ve created a monster that I need to win every tournament,” Federer said. “Still, the semifinals isn’t bad.”

Federer is right, of course. His success and dominance of the men’s game in recent years has caused us all to be shocked when he loses in a grand slam (well, except for the French.) Yes, it’s a little surprising that he’s not in the final. It’s been a while since he lost in a non-French grand slam - three years to be exact, at the 2005 Australian Open, where he also lost in the semifinals. He’d won two straight Australian’s, and has won five straight at Wimbledon and four straight at the US Open. That’s pretty amazing.

Reaching the semifinal before losing indeed is not that bad. It’s good he recognizes that, because with the rise of younger players like Djokovic, Nadal and Tsonga, that may become a more regular occurrence.

But he’s not done yet. This may be a signal that his dominance is beginning to fade. The gap was closing last year, and with this loss, his grand slam titles will likely be more difficult to achieve. But he’s not Bjorn Borg. He’s not going anywhere. He’ll be back with a vengeance at the French, where he’s been owned, and at Wimbledon, which he owns.

The women’s final will be on ESPN tonight, in what may be the best-looking women’s final in the history of tennis, when Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic face each other. It should be a great match, too.

Duke wins, Tech flops

Okay, I am constantly hearing people complain about Duke players “flopping” in attempts to draw charges or other fouls. And, yes, it happens, and much of the criticism is deserved. Greg Paulus is among the worst, and some of his are simply embarrassing. Taking charges has always been a part of Duke’s game, and sometimes they try a little too hard to convince the officials of something that’s not really there. That’s bound to happen, and they’re bound to look stupid on such occasions. They’re not the only ones, but like so many other things, it always seems to be highlighted more when it’s Duke.

But nobody on Duke’s team - past or present - has anything on Virginia Tech’s Deron Washington. His performance in last night’s Duke win at Blacksburg was painful to watch. (Some of it is here, but there was much more.) I’ve never seen someone throw himself around the floor and flail his arms about the way Washington did, at times when there wasn’t even contact. It was stunning. I don’t care for Len Elmore, who was calling the game with Mike Patrick, but I had to agree with his assessment. After a while, as Elmore pointed out, Washington was not getting some legitimate calls because he’d been so theatrical for much of the game. All of his flopping and flailing came back to bite him in the ass. And he deserved it. Hopefully, for Virginia Tech’s sake, he’ll learn something from this.

I would also say this, though, in Washington’s defense. Despite the kick to Lee Melchionni’s face two years ago, I don’t think Washington was doing anything intentionally dirty on a couple of calls last night. First, the tripping of Kyle Singler. I thought Washington was upset and reacting to what he thought was a foul (which clearly wasn’t) as they ran back down court. I thought their feet got tangled up and that’s all. They will sometimes call that, sometimes not. But I thought the intentional foul on Washington was unwarranted. Again, had he not been so theatrical at the moment and many times prior to that, it might have just been a foul, or even a no-call. I think he was angry at the officials for the no-call, but I don’t think there was anything intentional about the contact with Singler.

The other was the undercut of DeMarcus Nelson. This one was less clear, but I also thought Washington was not being malicious. After multiple replays, it appeared to me that he was actually trying to get out of Nelson’s way, but unfortunately moved under him enough to cause the contact and the foul. Nelson was hot, and I can understand that, as it easily could have caused an injury. And I could be wrong, but I don’t think Washington was trying to do anything there.

Up next for Duke is Maryland. If they could pull of the road win, they could have a good shot at going to Chapel Hill in a couple of weeks still unbeaten in the ACC. But, Maryland, while not having looked that impressive for most of the year, did go into Chapel Hill and win last week. Plus, they’re always up for Duke, especially at home. So this may be the young Devils toughest test of the season. It should be a good one.

I did a lot of work around the house the past two days, so I was able to keep my eye close on the sports world (well, at least, the NFL, tennis and college basketball.) It was a great weekend in my opinion.

NFL

The Super Bowl is now set.

A year after Peyton reached his first Super Bowl, his oft-maligned younger brother will make his first appearance there. A great finish in the NFC championship as the Giants, once again, won on the road (their 10th straight road win) to upset the Packers. I love Favre and would like to have seen him with another shot, but I also felt pretty good about Eli making it as well. I hope that, win or lose, he has a great game. I also had to feel good for the Giants’ kicker after missing two field goals late in that game.

Oh yeah, and the Patriots won again.

Australian Open

Some great tennis this weekend in Melbourne, although I didn’t see much of it. There were some great 5-set matches on Saturday. With ever-underachieving Andy Roddick packing his bags earlier in the week, James Blake came through for the American men on Saturday. Blake was down two sets to Sebastian Grosjean before pulling out the win 6-2 in the fifth. I love Blake and would really like to see him win a major, but the deck certainly seems stacked against him considering the top three players in the world right now. Hopefully, he’ll eventually get his shot.

One of my other favorite players is Marcos Baghdatis, who took a two set to one lead on Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, before eventually falling 6-3 in the final set. Baghdatis is always a lot of fun to watch, and I’d like to have seen this match in full, and certainly would like to have seen him win.

Finally - the one match I did get to watch most of - was the Roger Federer/Janko Tipseravic match. This was also a five-setter that saw Federer on the brink of losing. Federer rarely is challenged in the third round, so this was certainly news. Even more so, considering it went five sets. And it’s almost incomprehensible that he would be taken to 10-8 in the fifth. Tipseravic was playing outstanding and went up two sets to one before Federer finally did what he always does - win. I admit I’m growing tired of Federer and would love to have seen him drop this one. I’m looking forward to seeing how he finishes out in Sydney. Can he do it again?

I’m hoping one of the other two top seeds - Raphael Nadal or Novak Djokovic - is the one that takes him out. If they all keep winning, Federer would have to go through Blake, Djokovic and then Nadal to win. I don’t think he’ll have much trouble with Blake, but facing Djokovic and Nadal on successive days would be quite a challenge. But, as I said, they all have to keep winning. If they do, I think Federer will not get #13 just yet.

College basketball

This was a weekend of upsets with two of the top four going down Saturday - both at home. Maryland went into Chapel Hill and knocked off #1 UNC, which was just astonishing. I didn’t see that coming at all. And, I literally didn’t see it, because, while it was on ABC, it wasn’t shown here because of the contract our local ABC station has to show SEC games instead. So, we were treated to Alabama vs Mississippi State instead. Great. (That comes in real handy during football season, but really sucks during basketball season.)

Then, USC went to #4 UCLA and came out with their own upset. Oh, and while not an upset by any stretch of the imagination, Kentucky lost again. I thought I would enjoy mentioning that. I was right.

My fear was that a another top ten team was going to go down when Clemson came to Cameron Indoor later that night. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but Clemson’s size proved to be difficult for Duke to handle, which wasn’t exactly a surprise considering the dearth of post players for the Blue Devils at this point. Clemson killed Duke on the boards, but fortunately Duke was able to force 20+ turnovers (and score nearly 40 points off turnovers) to counter the Tigers rebound dominance. I’m not sure how many second-chance points they had, but it was far too many. Duke needs to figure out a way to solve their lack of inside game before they have to face a team with size that won’t turn it over with the regularity that Clemson did Saturday night.

Still, Duke won, UNC lost, God is good.

It’s true. But who cares? The ACC basketball season has begun!

Duke tips off their ACC season on Sunday night as Virginia comes to Cameron, so I need to go on record with my ACC record prediction for the Blue Devils. Last year I thought I was being a bit pessimistic when I predicted a 10-6 record in the ACC. Turns out it was actually an optimistic pick instead, as they finished at 8-8. With a number of very close games, they only needed a few more shots to drop to finish 10-6 or even 11-5. Of course, had a couple of shots not dropped, they may also have been 6-10.

The expectation is always high for Duke, but after a sub par season and with the arrival this year of three talented freshmen (including one of the best in the country,) significant improvement over last year is certainly the expected outcome this season. And yes, 22 wins evidently qualifies as sub par at Duke, although the 8-8 ACC mark is probably the primary reason it was considered a “bad year.” Clearly they’ve looked much better in the preseason this year, but as always, the ACC is a step up, so it all starts for real this weekend. It’s a late start for Duke, as they usually play their first ACC game in December, but they were not on that schedule this year. Duke and Virginia are two of the four teams that haven’t yet played a conference game.

The biggest area of concern for Duke, of course, is their inside play. Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek have been adequate, but again, henceforth the competition will be stronger most nights. They’ll have to bring it every night. Duke clearly missed both of those players Wednesday night in a win over Temple - Zoubek is out 1-3 weeks with a foot injury, and Thomas is battling a respiratory infection. They’ll need these guys in the game to avoid being too overmatched inside. Their quickness and athleticism help them overcome some of their inside deficit, but if these two cannot stay healthy for the long haul, it will be much harder on them. They were fine last night, but they don’t play Temple every night.

After predicting 10-6 last year, and seeing marked improvement so far, I will go a little better this year. While Marty Pocius is already out for the season, I don’t think that will hurt them significantly, and I will otherwise assume everyone else stays healthy for the most part.

First, I expect them to win all of their home games. Their toughest competition at Cameron will be NC State, Clemson and, of course, North Carolina. But I have confidence they can take all of those. Clemson may want some revenge for the “clock issue” at Cameron last year, Duke could also still be without Zoubek at that point. But I’m counting on a win there. UNC is clearly one of the best teams in the country, and beating them anywhere will be difficult, even at Cameron. However, after having lost four in a row to UNC (assuming a loss in Chapel Hill at mid-season), Duke will finish the regular season with UNC at Cameron, DeMarcus’ senior day, the freshmen having played a full ACC season, and I fully expect them to get the job done.

As for road games, I’m counting UNC as a loss, and I think a win will be difficult to pull off at NC State as well. Maryland will tough road game as usual, no matter that they’ve not looked very impressive thus far. They’ll show up for Duke. Of course, in the ACC, I think they could lose any other road game as well, but I expect a minimum of a split on the road. So, I’ll go with a 4-4 road record.

After predicting their finish last year and seeing them fall short, I’m a little apprehensive about doing so again this year. Nevertheless, while I - along with everyone else - expect UNC to win the regular season, I expect Duke to finish no worse than tied for second at 12-4. Hopefully that won’t prove to be optimistic again. They’ll have to stay healthy to do so, but I think they will.

The ACC season has begun.

GTHC!

My self-imposed official cutoff for my favorite albums of the year was Thanksgiving, so I’m in the process of determining what my favorites list this year will look like. Anyway, look for that in a couple of weeks, probably mid-December. And I’ll probably post my favorite books list around the same time.

Therefore, this album won’t be on the list, as I downloaded it just last night, so I guess it goes into my 2008 pool.

I was checking out a friend’s blog earlier this year and noticed his “now playing” list (which still hasn’t changed months later). One of the discs he listed was Funnel Cloud by the band Hem. I liked the clips I heard of it and put it in my eMusic “save for later” list. Six or eight months later, it’s finally risen to the top. Very good stuff, unlike much of the stuff I listen to and quite a nice departure. Here is a live clip of the track “Not California”, although it is not high-quality and doesn’t do justice to the album version. Check out Funnel Cloud.

Nutt to Ole Miss

I was fine with Houston Nutt leaving Arkansas. I’ve already said it was time to go, and I think everyone knew it, even Nutt himself. But I was more than a little surprised that they allowed him to go directly to another SEC school, especially the closest to Fayetteville, and one that will allow him to easily recruit the same players he would have at Arkansas. I don’t think it was a bad move for UA to let him go (or, ask him, perhaps), but I do think it was poor judgment to allow him to stay in our backyard at Ole Miss.

Interestingly, there are now four coaches in the SEC who’ve coached at other conference schools: Tommy Tuberville (Ole Miss, Auburn), Steve Spurrier (Florida, USC), Nick Saban (LSU, Alabama) and now Nutt. Not often you see movement like that, although only Tuberville and Nutt have gone directly from one to the other, with Spurrier and Saban taking a less direct path by way of the NFL. Also interesting are continued rumors of Arkansas’ interest in Arkansas-native Tuberville. I like Tommy and would be fine with him in Fayetteville, but it still strikes me as unlikely. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

We don’t need no stinking Badgers!

Duke looked impressive against Wisconsin last night, which, of course, thrilled me. More balanced scoring, with five players in double-figures again, and a 20+ point win over a top 20 team with a lot of size. This was another test against a team with size, where Duke is deficient, and they again passed with flying colors, especially in rebounding. The Badgers, however, were not as athletic as the Devils, which is where Duke really killed them. I hadn’t seen Wisconsin play and wasn’t sure how deserving they were of a #20 ranking, but Duke really played great and never really let them in the game from the beginning. Now I’ll be interested to see them against a team with both size and comparable athletes. If they can succeed there, it’s going to be a great year.

They still have a couple of early season tests coming up before conference play, both on neutral courts, when they meet Davidson this weekend and Pitt in a couple of weeks. I’m hoping they’ll remain undefeated heading into their first conference game on January 13 vs Virginia. I was overly optimistic last year, and so I’m trying not to get too excited just yet, but this team is clearly well ahead of where last year’s team was at this point, and with more talent. Therefore, I’m finding it almost impossible to avoid getting just a little pumped about the rest of the season. I still say that all of those rejoicing at their alleged demise last March are going to be a little disappointed this year.

The Golden Compass

CT has published a collection of emails received in response to their questioning the different responses by Christians to last year’s The Da Vinci Code film and the upcoming release of The Golden Compass. Here’s one I thought was worth repeating:

Am I worried about this new book infiltrating the brains of my three little ones? Not really. What I am more concerned with is the more subtle, soul crushing attacks of materialism in our culture that leads my kids at the ages of 5 and 3 to already tell me almost daily what possessions they want to acquire. I am more concerned with the ease and comfort that we live in that may anesthetize them to a need for the gospel. I am more concerned with the reality that they are daily exposed to a Dad that loves them desperately yet regularly falls short of perfection. I pray they will learn to look to Jesus when I fail them. Don’t get too worked up about this one, people. We have bigger fish to fry, spiritually speaking.

I understand a lot of the concern from parents. However, as other responders suggested, I don’t want to completely shield my kids from things that might challenge their beliefs or cause them to ask important questions about spiritual matters. I feel that we must question what we believe and not blindly accept it. My beliefs have changed many times over the years due to questioning and studying various aspects of my faith. I hope my kids will do the same.

And, as the comment above suggests, there are many other dangers out there that fall into the “bigger fish” category, many of which have become commonplace in American Christianity. I’m far more inclined to believe that things like safety, comfort, materialism, greed, selfishness, nationalism, apathy and many others all pose a much greater threat to Christians in this country than Philip Pullman ever will.

My kids may never watch this film (although I might.) My son is too young, and my daughter would not be interested in this type of film anyway (she’s yet to watch the Narnia film from last year.) But if they want to someday watch it or a similar film, I doubt I will prohibit it. More likely, I’ll watch it with them so that we can then discuss it together.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got.