Funny guy

One of the many reasons I love Bill Cosby...

Josh Hamilton, outfielder for the American League Champion Texas Rangers, was named the ALCS MVP last night. Hamilton's an incredibly talented player who's an outspoken Christian. After being a top draft pick more than ten years ago, Hamilton became a drug addict and an alcoholic, and ended up being completely banned from baseball for a couple of years in the mid-2000s.

Anyway, if you're interested in good stories about good people, HERE'S one from Sports Illustrated written in the spring of 2008.

Really?

A woman in Michigan is being sued because she posted an ad (in a church) seeking a "Christian roommate." Apparently it's somehow illegal to want to have a say in who you LIVE WITH.

I have the hardest time figuring out how people get elevated to positions of authority in this country when they're this stupid. How are we so offended at everything? What a rotten bunch of people we are.

For simply putting up with us, Lord, you are most merciful.

Call me a geek...

But THIS is super awesome. Apparently, Israel and Google are teaming up to put the entire collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls online. They'll be viewable in their original form. They'll include English translations of the text. They'll be searchable. And they'll be FREE.

A whole lotta dough

There's an Oroweat (bakery) outlet store nearby that we just discovered about a month ago. It's super cheap. Today we went back for just the second time. They have a "punch card" where when you spend $25 you basically get three items for free. On Tuesdays, apparently, it's "double-punch day," so for spending $12.50, this is what we got...

Also, since we used Elizabeth's Old Navy credit card for something other than Old Navy, we also get a $20 Old Navy giftcard... so for twelve and a half bucks we got TONS of bread, buns and bagels, and twenty bucks to Old Navy. Not a bad shopping trip.

How underdogs can win

I find stories like THIS to be extremely fascinating. Warning: It's LONG.

Funny

So, Emily put this on her blog, so you've all (probably) seen it already. But, it made me laugh my head off (almost literally... now I'm like Nearly Headless Nick of Hogwarts fame), so you get to see it here too.

Unreal

In the fall of 1992 I was 8 years old. I was in Mrs. Levenhagen's 3rd-grade class. I was learning multiplication tables and how to write in cursive. I was earning the nickname "Fingers" because when we played "Around the World" with multiplication flashcards, I had a habit of throwing up (not vomiting) a random number of fingers as I shouted the answer to the problem. Bill Clinton hadn't been elected yet. My family lived one block away from the elementary school I attended with my brothers in the only house I'd ever known at the time. My mom didn't work outside the home, except to be a "room mother" at every single school party and field trip I ever had. Computers weren't even a remote part of daily life, and the only cell phone I'd ever seen was used by Zack Morris in new (yes, NEW) episodes of Saved By The Bell. OJ Simpson was still a good guy. No one had ever heard of Monica Lewinsky. Family members could accompany you right up to the gate when they dropped you off at the airport. Thurgood Marshall was still alive. Computer-animated movies were still a distant speck on the horizon, and the Chicago Cubs were awful (okay, some things never change) - but their roster included names like Joe Girardi, Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson and Greg Maddux.

Why am I bringing any of this up?

Since September 20th, 1992, Brett Favre has not missed ONE start in the NFL. Not one.

The stat you'll hear on TV is that tonight is his 289th consecutive start, but that stat counts only regular season starts (which I think is completely stupid). He's also never missed a postseason start, and his teams play in the postseason nearly every year, so the real number is something like 313 consecutive starts. For an NFL quarterback. If you're not impressed, let me know and I'll roll a 300-pound shopping cart over your body 15-20 times per week, 17-18 weeks per year, for the next two decades (and you'll have to set nearly every NFL quarterback record, and run some wind-sprints while we're at it). Even then we're probably not coming that close to re-creating the environment that guy faces.

P.S. As I finished up writing this post, Favre set another record: Most fumbles in a career.

Ware

My wife bought a DeMarcus Ware jersey the other day. We got it for her because a) she's wanted a Cowboys jersey for awhile now, and b) every Friday for her job at Dick's Sporting Goods employees are encouraged to wear an NFL jersey.

Today she was telling her dad about it on the phone and I overheard her say the following...

"It's a DeMarcus Ware jersey. He's a really good player on the defense. He sacks the quarterback. Often. He's really cute too. I like it when he takes his football helmet off."

For the record, I think he's kinda cute too. And my wife knows quite a bit about football. Just thought you should know.

Rocktober

Around here, Rocktober is the term that refers to the Colorado Rockies when they're in the playoffs and everyone's getting excited about it.

Since the Rockies aren't anywhere near being postseason contenders, I'm hijacking the term for my own uses. I'm going to use it in reference to the fact that the month of October absolutely ROCKS.

For someone who LOVES two sports -- Major League Baseball and NFL football -- no time of year is better. The baseball playoffs start on Wednesday. The NFL season is really getting into the regular season grind.

The weather is perfect in October. Temperatures are usually between about 50 and 70 degrees. Cool and damp is how I like it. October usually brings a good chunk of clouds and some rain (but not too much). The leaves on the trees are turning. Scenery is beautiful, and almost every day feels like you can put on a sweatshirt and either go outside to play some football, or sit by a window and read while it rains outside. It's just gorgeous.

The sports.
The scenery.
The weather.

ROCKtober is the greatest month ever.