The Dash and the Spread

Couple of sports related thoughts this eveing.

First I just read a blog on Yahoo! Sports Dr. Saturday about the Florida vs. Charleston Southern. This is Florida's big time "cupcake" game to start the season. No big deal right? I mean Kansas State did (does) this kind of thing all the time and blows teams like McMurry and Hardin-Simmons out of the water. It's just a standard part of the game of college football now adays to have that kind of game early in the season. Here's the thing that caught my attention: it seems that it was being reported via blogs and tweets through out the morning that Florida was a huge favorite in the game. The question though is just how big of a favorite are they? What would you guess? 40? Maybe even 50 for a season opener against a I-AA school. No the reports were that Florida was favored by...wait for it...73!!! That is a 10 touchdown difference. Let that sink in for a second...that's right, 10 touchdowns. And that is just to say that Florida will score at least 73 points more than Charleston Southern, even if Charleston Southern does manage to score.

Now let me say that this line is not accurate. Yes Florida is favored to win and win big, but not by 10 touchdowns. Instead they are favored to win by no more than 9 TDs, or 63 points. I have to say that regardless of what the outcome is, to be favored by 63 is incredible. If you are wondering, the line is from today's (Thursday) issue of USA Today.

The other thing that has captured my attention this week in sports is Usain Bolt. If you aren't sure who that is, or you have heard the name recently, but still can't quite place it, let me refresh your memory real fast. Bolt is the Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in both the 100m and the 200m. Not bad right? Here is the thing though. Bolt this week broke both of his own records in those two events.

First, on Sunday Bolt set a new 100m world record with a time of 9.58 seconds. Think about that for a second. This man, who is 6'5" ran 100m in less than 10 seconds. The fastest person in college track is a guy at LSU by the name of Trindon Holliday. He is a sprinter and a kickoff returner for the Tigers. In June he won the NCAA 100-meter dash title by running that distance in 10 seconds flat. That is dang fast let me tell you. Yet Bolt beat that time this past weekend by nearly a full half second. I know it doesn't sound like much when you just read it, but in a race like that half a second must feel like forever. Bolt, who is the size of some NBA guards, ran 100 meters-the straight section of the track-in less than 10 seconds. He was covering more than 10 meters PER SECOND.

Then last night (Wednesday) Bolt set a new 200m record, again breaking his own previous record. In the Olympics he ran the 200 in 19.30 seconds. Last night he ran it in 19.19 seconds. He was able to shave a full tenth of a second off his already world record time. The guy that finished second in this race ran a shade under 20 seconds. He was over six tenths of a second behind Bolt. That is a split time in the 200 of nearly 10.1 per 100m. Pretty dang fast. Basically, Bolt could beat me in the 100 (or any other race to be honest) running backwards, blindfolded and giving up a 10 meter head start. Incredible. It will be even more so to see if he can once again break his own records. Peace and Love y'all.

The Great Vick Debate

Something that I have been thinking about in the last few weeks and days, especially as football season is fast approaching. It is a topic that I'm sure has been covered and then covered a bit more, but it is something that I spent some time thinking about in the last few days in particular. That subject is Michael Vick.

Now I will assume that pretty much everyone who might happen upon this here post will know at least generally what the deal is with Vick. In case you don't....Michael Vick was the quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons a couple of seasons ago. He was convicted of bankrolling a dog fighting ring and sentenced to 23 months. He served 20 of those months in prison and the last three under house arrest. He has, in the last month or so, gained his full release. This of course brought about questions concerning what he would do once he was again a free man. Would he be able to return to football? Would there be a team out there that would be wiling to take a chance on young man who was such a phenomenal athlete before missing out on two full seasons in the NFL? One thing was sure, the Falcons would not be welcoming him back.

There was and is still great debate about all of this. Most of the debate seems to center on two things: 1) What team would be willing take a flier on him knowing that it could upset their fan base, and 2) does he even deserve to have another chance in the NFL after what he did?

The first question was answered on Thursday when the Philadelphia Eagles signed Vick to a one year deal worth $1.6 million, with a team option for a second year worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million. Vick was introduced as an Eagle on Friday. So that answers that question in the debate. The other question is a touch more, well, touchy. Here are my thoughts about if Vick deserves a second chance.

1) As a man- As a person, I would say that yes he deserves a second chance. Let's face it, we have all made mistakes in the past...and will continue to do so in the future. What if every single time we made a mistake, it was held against us from that point on. There would not be a one of us who would be able to say that they deserved anything. With that in mind, how is it that we can look at Vick and say that he does not deserve a second opportunity as a person? What he did, what he was involved in was wrong. He lied about it in the beginning, but he has come to realize where he went wrong. That is the important thing here. Without repentance there is no hint of change. Many people will look at this situation and say to themselves "He has been sufficiently humbled, I suppose he can have another shot." I thought about this last night and what an arrogant statement it seems to be actually. We think that we can decide how much humbleness is a sufficient amount for someone? That if they are not as humble as we think they should be that they don't deserve that second chance. What I notice with Vick is that he went into jail seemingly an arrogant kid, and he has come out as a humble man. I serve a God and a Savior who has given me plenty of second chances. I believe that we are called to do the same in these kinds of situations.

2) As a player- I think that he also deserves to have an opportunity to do what he seems to do best and that is to play football. In all of our lives, we would like to have the chance to do that thing that we are best at and to get payed for it. That is the situation with Vick. What he does best it appears at this point is to play the game of football. Why should he be denied that chance to once again do what he is best at? He has served his time, paid his allotted debt to society, and now it is time for him, and us, to move on.

3) As a quarterback- Ok, so this is where my grace runs out. This is an opinion that I hold that has nothing to do with Vick's crime or the time that he has been away from the game. I have just always thought that he was an awful quarterback. He has a strong arm, and can launch the ball like nobodies business, but that really doesn't mean anything if you can't actually hit your receivers. Granted, he showed some flashes of what it is (old school) to be a QB. But those flashes were few and far between. Vick would be better off, in my opinion, as either a running back or a receiver. With his speed, who would be able to keep up with him if he were to break away? It has always been my feeling that Vick decides to run too soon from the pocket. As soon as he seems to think that he feels pressure, he bolts. With this in mind, I feel like he would be better served at a different position, maybe even as a return man what with his speed.

All in all, I do feel that Vick is more than deserving of his second chances in life, as a person as well as as a football player. I don't think that taking a chance on him as a quarterback at this point (or any other point really) is the greatest idea that a team could have. Peace and Love y'all.

Bits and Pieces

It's been a couple of weeks since I last had anything to write about. I guess that happens. I don't want to write stuff just to be doing it you know, so I don't write as often as I would like to now it seems. On top of that, I've been really busy. I'll try to do better now that things are slowing down a bit.

As I sit here at 12:15am, I can still hear Puck in her room playing and talking. She takes after me too much in that regard I suppose. Roni told me last night when I was driving home from McKinney that she heard her in her and Boo's room crying. When Roni went to check on her, she found that the light was off (as it was supposed to be) and Puck lying in bed crying her almost 4 year old eyes out. When Roni asked her what was wrong she responded by saying that Boo wouldn't talk to her implying that she was being ignored. As it turns out Boo wasn't talking to her for good reason...she was asleep.

The boy is waking up for some reason. I can hear him fussing in his bed, and I know that I should go and see what he needs, but I don't want him to end up in my bed again. Too late for that as I just went to check on him and he is now going back to sleep next to his moma. Puck also informed me that Boo wouldn't give her any blanket. Again, Boo is asleep, not being mean or spiteful.

Thank you to any and all that may have read the last thing that I posted. I really enjoyed that book, and I hope that maybe someone else will pick it up now and give it a chance. Fair warning there will be another book review coming in the near future. This one will be over the book "Rick and Bubba's Guide to the Almost Nearly Perfect Marriage." So far it has been a pretty entertaining read.

Not much else is going on really. I'm writing now just because I wanted to write. I do greatly enjoy doing this kind of thing. Thanks for taking time to peruse it...or at least to give me a hit on here. I know that this post seems rather random, but I needed to take a little bit and just do that. Peace and Love y'all.