Dear anonymous person who gave me a seat from the former Yankee Stadium…
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
What an unbelievably generous gift! I’m blown away. As a baseball fan and as a New York Yankees fan, this is a wonderful gift. If I knew who you were, I would give you a massive bear hug.
Again, thank you.
Kevin Durant walked into his postgame news conference following the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s Game 1 victory over Denver and climbed to his seat atop a podium with three things in hand.
His cellphone, a pair of headphones and a Bible.
The first two, Durant has always carried. The third item was included only recently.
For the past 44 days, Durant, the Thunder’s two-time All-Star and reigning two-time scoring champ, has become a Bible-toting ballplayer. Since March 8, Durant has read passages each day from the black leather Bible he carries with his name engraved on the front cover.
Durant has been spotted digesting passages at his locker before games, which is not uncommon inside NBA locker rooms. Teammate Serge Ibaka has done the same since he entered the league. The sight of Durant thumbing through the Good Book, though, represents just another reason why many observers have labeled Durant a special kind of superstar.
“I just want to grow spiritually with the Lord,” Durant said. “It’s something I always talked about, but I never really got into it.”
Durant finally decided to commit himself to a covenant of daily worship on March 7. The Thunder was in Memphis for a game against the Grizzlies. During a trip to pregame chapel, which more than half of the Thunder’s roster attends regularly before each game, Durant found his final source of inspiration.
The team chaplain for the Grizzlies, like Durant a Maryland native, stressed what a difference daily reading can make. The minister told the young man that even a scripture a day can change his life.
The next day, Durant began his devotion.
“I’m keeping strong at it, just trying to make my walk with faith a little better,” Durant said. “That’s making me a better person, opening my eyes to things and I’m also maturing as a person. I’m just trying to grow.”
(From NewsOK - http://www.newsok.com/article/3560862)
(From “Uncommon” by Tony Dungy)
(This blog post was originally posted on February 18, 2009…)
I have subscribed to Sports Illustrated for years. As a subscriber to Sports Illustrated, the annual Swimsuit Edition (first published in 1964) gets sent to my house every February.
Here’s the cool part…
I have not seen one picture or one article from the Swimsuit Edition in years. Every year my incredible wife gets that particular issue, rolls her eyes at the super models who are not wearing their swimsuits, and immediately throws the issue in the garbage.
My 2011 issue came on Wednesday. It went in the trash on Wednesday and I never knew it came to the house.
I love that she does this for me. The raw, honest truth is that I probably do not have the strength to do it myself. Granted, I might throw it away but not without first taking a peak. (I care here you thinking “but you’re a minister!” Yeah, you are right, I am a honest and real minister.) I cherish the fact that my wife cares about my purity enough to help me succeed. She gets it. She makes me a better person. She makes me a better follower of Jesus.
Some people might think “who cares?” or “what’s the big deal?”
Here the truth…
I know I am not missing anything. My eyes have better things to look at. I have better thoughts to think about. I got a hottie that I am madly in love with and who loves me back. Who needs the Swimsuit Edition? I know I don’t.
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Here’s the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Challenge…
Follow my wife’s lead. If you get the Swimsuit Edition, throw it away. If your husband/son/brother/friend gets the Swimsuit Edition, take the initiative and throw it away for him (like me, he probably doesn’t have the strength to do it himself).
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” – Jesus in Matthew 5:27-29 (NIV)
What’s my favorite all-time Christmas present?
That’s a tough question to answer/process. Does the first Apple Macbook that I ever got in 2007 rank at the top of that list? Maybe it’s the Super Nintendo I found under the tree in 1991? Or is it the Rocky Balboa/Clubber Lang two-sided Rocky 3 punching bag of 1983?
When it comes to Christmas presents, Heather raised the bar this year. And no, I am not talking about the recent “we’re having a baby” news.
When I was asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, I couldn’t think of anything. I honestly have everything I need and most of the stuff I want. I have most of the toys a boy could want. So I asked for experiences this year.
My amazing wife responded by buying me season tickets to the rest of the Oklahoma City Thunder (my favorite NBA team) home games. They are way up in the section called “Loud City” (aka…the nose-bleed section). But I am beyond exciting to be seeing the next 25+ games (including playoffs) in section 307, row F, seat 15 in the OKC Arena.
Including this game on January 30…
Here’s the view from my seat…
Great job, Heather! I love my Christmas present. Thunder Up! It could be my favorite all-time Christmas present.
On second thought…that Rocky 3 punching bag was pretty stinkin’ cool.
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What did you get this year from Christmas?
What’s your favorite all-time Christmas present?
Well…it’s official…again.
After 20 seasons, 41-year old Brett Favre is retiring from professional football. Assuming this is the end (he has retired two other times, only to come back the next season), Favre departs as the National Football League career leader in victories (186), yards passing (71,838), touchdown passes (508), attempts (10,169), completions (6,300) and interceptions (336).
While those records are undoubtedly impressive, I am most impressed with Favre’s NFL-best streak of 297 straight starts. From September 1992 to December 2010, he never missed a start. He showed up to play quarterback every week for 18+ years.
That got me to thinking…
Who has the more impressive streak? Brett Favre or Cal Ripken Jr?
Cal Ripken Jr has the Major League Baseball record for most consecutive games played. From from May 30, 1982 to September 20, 1998, Ripken played in 2,632 consecutive games. Everyday for 17+ seasons, he played shortstop or third base for the Baltimore Orioles.
Both streaks are extremely impressive. Both took guts. Both required a ton of toughness. Both took consistently showing up.
If I had to choose, I would go have to go with Cal Ripken Jr’s streak.
I understand how violent NFL football can be. Anybody who ever turns on their TV on a Sunday can see that. I know how Favre played through multiple injuries and personal tragedies. In no way am I disrespecting or downplaying his amazing streak.
Personally, it all comes down to the incredible daily grind of baseball. MLB teams play a 162 game schedule. NFL teams play a 16 game schedule. MLB teams also play much more often. For example, in May 2011 the New York Yankees are scheduled to play 29 games in 31 days with only 2 off days. NFL teams play once a week often having 7 days between games. There have been many times where Brett Favre has missed a full week of practice due to injury only to play in that week’s game. Cal Ripken Jr never had that luxury.
That’s me.
What about you? What do you think?
What is the more impressive streak – Brett Favre’s 297 straight NFL starts or Cal Ripken Jr’s 2,632 MLB consecutive games played?
Recently, REVOLUTION associate student pastor Michael Bergstrasser – that’s B-E-R-G-S-T-R-A-S-S-E-R – went to the Memorial vs Sante Fe high school football game and met some new friends. Here are some of the highlights…
Shown at REVOLUTION on Wednesday, September 8, 2010.
After seeing this great idea on Rodney Fout’s blog, I thought I would share some of my tweets I sent out this week…
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Follow me on Twitter HERE.
The New York Yankees today (March 18, 2008) are playing another March spring training game. However, this is not the typical Grapefruit League spring training game. The Yankees have traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia to play an exhibition game against the Virginia Tech Hokies.
It is hard to believe that it has almost been a full year since tragedy hit that campus. In April 2007 a graduate student murdered 32 people while wounding 23 others. I know that it is easy to let numbers and news like that fly in one ear and out the other without thinking too much about it. We have become all too comfortable with tragedy like this. Unless we are personally affected, we often are not driven to heartbreak (me being the first to admit that). 32 families were destroyed that day. 32 moms and dads lost their son or daughter that day.
For today’s seven inning exhibition game, the New York Yankees are dressing a full squad. They have sent 28 players, the entire coaching staff, General Manager Brian Cashman, and Team President Randy Levine. Out of those 28 players, all the Yankees star players will be there, including Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon, Jorge Posada, among others. They didn’t send all the scrubs and bench players. They sent their stars. Their varsity. Their “A” team.
The New York Yankees are helping affirm something that God has been teaching me lately. They are a perfect example of the ministry of presence. The ministry of presence is simply being there for somebody who is experiencing tragedy. It isn’t fixing the tragedy or taking away the pain. The Steinbrenners and other executives at the Yankees could have simply thrown some money at the campus or worn a Virginia Tech hat in one of their games as a tribute. They could have had a special moment of silence at their other games. While all of those honor VT and are good expressions of support, it is not as comforting as being on campus, shaking hands with students, and hanging out with the players.
In the book of Job, Job goes through tragedy. He loses his family, his possessions, his wealth, his status, his health, and well, pretty much everything. Job is right in the middle of his tragedy when we meet three of his friends: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Now these three often get ripped for how they react to Job’s situation, but they also did something right that we can apply to our lives today.
Job 2:11-13 (NIV) says, “When Job’s three friends heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.”
What an amazing picture of the ministry of presence! They simply sat with him for seven days and nights without saying a word. They knew that in the middle of Job’s storm their words would not resinate like they normally would. Their actions of simply being there spoke loud enough. They cried with him, sat with him, grieved with him, and gave a very precious gift to him…their presence.
Whether you are a Yankees fan or not, you have to like and respect what they are doing simply because they didn’t have to do it. Will their presence at Virginia Tech fix their situation? No. But does their presence mean a lot? Absolutely.
Next time somebody you know is in the middle of a tragedy, remember the ministry of presence.
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***This blog post was originally written on March 18, 2008. After reading through Job lately, it was time to bring this back up.
Longtime Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell passed away yesterday. Harwell revealed in September that he had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer of the bile duct. He was 92 years old.
In what can only be described as “news of the weird” or “only in baseball”, Harwell was once acquired by the Brooklyn Dodgers for a catcher in 1948.
On August 2, 1981, Ernie Harwell was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Here is this legendary announcer’s description of the game that he loved and covered for 55 years…
Baseball is the President tossing out the first ball of the season and a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm. A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That’s baseball. And so is the big, fat guy with a bulbous nose running home one of his (Babe Ruth’s) 714 home runs.
There’s a man in Mobile who remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburgh forty-six years ago. That’s baseball. So is the scout reporting that a sixteen year old pitcher in Cheyenne is a coming Walter Johnson. Baseball is a spirited race of man against man, reflex against reflex. A game of inches. Every skill is measured. Every heroic, every failing is seen and cheered, or booed. And then becomes a statistic.
In baseball democracy shines its clearest. The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rulebook. Color merely something to distinguish one team’s uniform from another.
Baseball is a rookie. His experience no bigger than the lump in his throat as he begins fulfillment of his dream. It’s a veteran too, a tired old man of thirty-five hoping that those aching muscles can pull him through another sweltering August and September. Nicknames are baseball, names like Zeke and Pie and Kiki and Home Run and Cracker and Dizzy and Dazzy.
Baseball is the cool, clear eyes of Rogers Hornsby. The flashing spikes of Ty Cobb, an over aged pixie named Rabbit Maranville.
Baseball just a came as simple as a ball and bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business and sometimes almost even a religion.
Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World’s Series catch. And then dashing off to play stick ball in the street with his teenage pals. That’s baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying., “I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”
Baseball is cigar smoke, hot roasted peanuts, The Sporting News, ladies day, “Down in Front”, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and the Star Spangled Banner.
Baseball is a tongue tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown. This is a game for America. Still a game for America, this baseball! Thank you.
I am a big New York Yankees fan. But I am a bigger fan of the game of the baseball. And the game of baseball lost a great personality and a great man. My thoughts and prayers goes out to the entire Harwell family.
After hearing the cancer diagnosis, Harwell told The Associated Press on September 4, 2009, “Whatever happens, I’m ready to face it. I have a great faith in God and Jesus.”
I can’t wait to meet Ernie Harwell and talk baseball in Heaven.
