The NFL Needs a Witness Too, Tim

I’m not sure which was bigger news, that Florida knocked off the Sooners for the “national championship” of college football (no real surprise there, “Go S.E.C.!”), or that Gator QB and saint-in-the-making Tim Tebow received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for a little too in-your-face “Gator Chomp” after plowing through Sooner safety Nic Harris.

Did you see the way he knocked Harris down? I’m sorry, but that’s just rude.

Tebow is something special, both as a player and a person of faith just trying to “give a witness.” No two ways about it. Yet, am I the only one that gets a little uneasy with the running hagiography?… Read the rest

Bravo, Enrique!

A while back, I wrote a story about my Dad and his service aboard the submarine USS Cubera in the 1950s. Several times a week, people Google their way here for information on the Cubera and check out that post. I always hoped that one of Dad’s former crewmates or another Cubera alum might someday leave a comment.

I just always figured it would be a US sailor, not a Venezuelan one:

Mike,
eventhough 3 years has almost passed on  the story of your dad and mom, I would like to add that your dad behavior could not be better, I’m a venezuelan citizen who served onbaord the ARV Tiburon( SS CuBERA) for 5 years; I was P.O.1;

… Read the rest

More Like Little Bighorn

“This is a hard loss. It lets us know we can’t underestimate anybody, and we’ve got to play to our full potential. We didn’t come out and play like we’re supposed to.”

–Terrence Cody

Well, there you have it. Not only is our man Mt. Cody able to squash you like a bug, he’s a rocket scientist to boot.

Duh. I’m sure that was part of St. Nick’s game plan—go out there, and whatever you do, underestimate your opponent.

After weeks of denying that they weren’t underestimating the Utes, Bama went out and did just that. Then after the game player after player stepped up to the microphone and confessed to the media that they did exactly the thing that they said they weren’t going to do.… Read the rest

Polygamists Do It Better and More Frequently

Okay, I do have to tell this one good N’awlins story, bad game notwithstanding.

Number One Son was standing on the balcony of the Homewood Suites in downtown NOLA on New Year’s Eve carrying on a running cheer with Bama fans on other balconies and on the sidewalk below.

When they started up the “It’s great. To be. From Aaalabama…” chant, a Utah fan in the next room heard the commotion, came out on his balcony, grinned at Number One and started to scream, “It’s great. To Have. Tweeeelve wives…”

Good times. Not to be nullified in the least by a team which apparently left their best stuff in Atlanta and didn’t show up ready to play.… Read the rest

It Won’t Be Easy in The Big Easy

allstatesb.jpgFinally, after a week in which Outland Trophy winner and our Biggest Ugly of them all, Andre Smith, was suspended for contact with a sports agent and key assistants gazed longingly at greener, more cash-filled pastures (and yes, it looks like Bama DC Kevin Steele is off to Clemson), we get to play a football game tonight.

Bama is a 9-point favorite against the Utah Utes in tonight’s Sugar Bowl. Sure, the Tide would much rather be playing a higher profile team like Texas or Ohio State, but they know the Utes have a mid-major-sized chip on their shoulders and will be bringing it hard.… Read the rest

Revisting Those Top Ten 2008 Anti-Resolutions

Well, it’s the last day of 2008; tis the season for end-of-the-year reviews. Remember those Top Ten Anti-Resolutions that I made back on January 1st? Maybe we ought to check in and see how much regress I made in doing those things “that I know, absolutely without a doubt, I will never, ever do this year…”

1) Serve on another committee. No problemo, 100% failure on this one. That Machiavellian committee experience back in 2007 got that little itch out of my system for decades to come. I fastidiously avoided large rooms with conference tables and PowerPoint projectors or any situation where more than 2-3 people were gathered together gesticulating madly while arguing over petty politics and personal agendas.… Read the rest

Epidemic Ocularis Hyperlacrimus

If you and your family are casting about looking for something to do this holiday season, take them to see the movie “Marley and Me”–it’s a good old-fashioned emotional flogging they’ll never forget.

Owen Wilson is surprisingly sober, Alan Arkin is a cuddly curmudgeon, Kathleen Turner is downright scary and Jennifer Anniston shows off more range of emotion than skin for once. And Marley (well, Marleys since 22 different yellow labs were used in the film) is a charming rascal of a mutt.

Warning: It may be inappropriate for a large majority of pre-tweeners due to the emotional intensity.… Read the rest

A “Thin Place”–Right Hand Side, Two Thirds Of The Way Back

“Our pew” is on the right hand side, two thirds of the way back. That’s where we always sit when we attend Christmas Eve services at our second church home, Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Huntsville. I’ve written of our experiences there before, and as longtime readers know, that’s our refuge where we occasionally go in order to escape the tyranny of the modern (e.g. PowerPoint!) and surrender instead to the power and holy mysteries of the liturgy.

Picture in your mind the quintessential Christmas Eve setting: an old, storied building topped with a 150 foot Gothic Revival spire reaching toward the heavens, the nave bathed in soft candle light and bedecked with festive, seasonal greenery, a 12-foot Christmas tree near the front, beckoning with a thousand starry lights.… Read the rest

My Facebook Status Update (If I Had One)

My Facebook status update (if I had one) would probably read something like this:

“Mike is really digging ‘Straight No Chaser’ right now.”

Not the drink (although my father-in-law, bless his heart, did slip me a little shot of whiskey last night after I threw out my back pulling down the stairs to the attic), but the a cappella music group which is all the rage after their Youtube video spoof of “Twelve Days of Christmas” recorded 10 years ago when they were all in college at Indiana University (Hoosiers do music?) went hog-viral last year about this time.

That led to a group reunion, a recording contract with Atlantic Records and a new Christmas album “Holiday Spirits” which I downloaded from Amazon Saturday and, as my hypothetical Facebook status says, am “really digging.”… Read the rest

Ancient Fire, Forever Sacred

satellite-view-of-earth-at-night-750.jpg

My first patient was already in the chair at around 8:05 yesterday morning when an electronic sensor at the Monroe Street substation near the downtown library detected a problem with the transformer and proceeded to shut down the power to approximately 20,000 customers, from Monte Sano Mountain in the east, to Research Park in the west and south to Airport Road.

But I didn’t know that at the time. When the power shut down, I’d been microwaving my morning vitamin drink, a staple during the winter months when I’m daily assaulted by the medical dictionary’s worth of viruses that my patients exhale into the office air.… Read the rest

My Kind of Ink

As a licensed eye care professional, and moreover one who is interested in maintaining said license until such time that I retire and/or write my first multimillion dollar bestseller, I cannot say that I wholly endorse this particular Eye-dea.

Still, the thought of www.ocularfusion.net appearing on average every 5 seconds whilst tatted across the superior eyelid folds of an army of Fusioneers does bring a smile to my face.… Read the rest

Membership Has Its “Privileges”

members-only-logojacket-111507-2.jpgIf you’re among the (*cough*) “elite corps” (aka “The Fusioneers”) that has registered here, you received an email this morning containing a sneak preview of a new blog that I’m rolling out.

It contains the community columns that I wrote this past year for The Huntsville Times, not to mention a “bonus track” from the early years.

Oh, and a few other tidbits, such as a picture of me (kudos to Number One Son for his mad photography and computer animation skillz) and my real name (like it’s so tough to figure out).

You see! Membership really does have its “privileges.”… Read the rest