One Tulsa Too Many

Tulsa Union High School proved to be one Tulsa too many for the Grissom Tigers. We lost a body-bruising 2-1 tussle in the final of the Island Cup Invitational tonight. Union, ranked #1 in the state of Oklahoma, was by far the best squad that we’ve played this year. It took us a while to adjust to a team that was just as quick or even quicker to the ball than we were, and in the beginning they were winning most of the 50-50 balls and pinning our defense on their heels with their aggressive, pressing attack.

But by midway through the first half, we had found our legs and launched a few dangerous forays of our own.… Read the rest

One Tulsa Team Down, One to Go

We came away with a hard fought 2-1 victory over Tulsa Memorial High School today in the semifinals of the Island Cup. Like the quarterfinal, we struck early with two quick goals, one of them a work of art–a header off a 40-yard feed from our defensive midfielder. We had several other close chances, and Memorial caught our defense napping with a second half goal which gave them their second wind. But we held fast, and now we face our second Oklahoma team of the day, Tulsa Union, in the final in a couple of hours.

One Tulsa team down, one to go.… Read the rest

A Good First Day

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Number One Son and his Grissom High teammates stretch prior to this morning’s match with Gadsden City High School at the Island Cup Invitational in Orange Beach, Alabama.

They must have been plenty loose, because they proceeded to go out and “mercy rule” yet another opponent 10-0. Number One put the finishing touches on that one, scoring his first goal of the season with a nifty shot just inside the left post outside the reach of a diving keeper.

Our afternoon opponent, the Cullman High Bearcuts, proved a tougher challenge. They showed little interest in attacking, opting instead to hunker down with 9-10 field players inside the box at all times in order to keep us out of the net.… Read the rest

A Bad Weather Day

By now most of you have heard about the nasty weather that blew through Alabama today, including the horrible tornado in Enterprise. We drove through some very bad storms south of Montgomery around 3:30PM. The straight line winds and driving rain were a little unnerving, and we constantly scanned the horizon for any sign of a funnel cloud. Thankfully, we never saw one. But others were not as fortunate.

As we traveled down I-65 today, we were on the phone with my younger sister who lives in Ozark, Alabama about 20 minutes away from Enterprise, the hardest hit area. Her husband is a physician and was at the local hospital there when some of the injured started coming in.… Read the rest

The Lads In Orange

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We’re on our way out of town to follow the fortunes of our Lads in Orange, otherwise known as the Grissom High School Tiger soccer team. They’ll be defending their title at the Island Cup Soccer Tournament in (appropriately enough) Orange Beach, Alabama.

Grissom is currently ranked #1 in the state, having won the Lakeshore Shootout in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago. Of course, rankings at this point of the season mean very little. What matters is being ranked #1 at the end of the day on May 12, 2007 at the close of the state championship.

We have the perfect storm of talent assembled this year, the majority of these kids having played with and against each other since they were 4-years-old.… Read the rest

Let the Vetting Begin!

Bruce Feiler responds at length (and very well) to the “Jesus Tomb” controversy.

His interview/debate with Simcha Jacobovici on the CBS Morning Show with Hannah Storm is especially entertaining.

Here’s a money quote from Feiler:

At least Dan Brown called his book fiction. In fact, I prepared to say Hannah, there is more truth in Dan Brown’s fiction than there is in Simcha’s fact.

Ouch. If you’re Simcha Jacobovici, that’s gotta hurt.

… Read the rest

Found Jesus? Part II

Bad boy Billy Ray finally came forward for baptism at a Church of Christ in L.A. (Lower Alabama). Preacher and the whole con-gree-gay-shun rushed down to the river before Billy Ray changed his mind.

Preacher put him under quickly, making sure that all body parts were completely covered by the cleansing flood. He held Billy Ray under a right smahutt time, sews it would take real good and all.

Finally, he lifted Billy Ray out of the water. “Have you found Jesus?” Preacher asked.

Gagging and spitting, Billy Ray tried to reply but couldn’t before Preacher did something highly unorthodox for a Church of Christ evangelist–he put him under again.… Read the rest

CSI: Jerusalem?

It doesn’t get bigger than this. We’ve done our homework; we’ve made the case; and now it’s time for the debate to begin.

–Producer James Cameron on the upcoming Discovery Channel documentary, “The Lost Tomb of Jesus.”

Better hold the phone on this whole Easter thing–might as well cancel those sunrise services and sleep in for a change. You see, James Cameron, the man who brought you “The Terminator” and “The Titanic,” is announcing in a New York City press conference today that he believes archaeologists have found the tomb and bones human residue of the so-called resurrected Christ.

This is actually an old story repackaged to ride the crest of the recent wave of revisionist Christian history (think Da Vinci Code) that we’ve seen the last few years.… Read the rest

He’s Bama Bound

davids-senior-formal.jpgBig Mama has called her native son and Number One has answered–he’s Bama bound.

Number One had literally been losing sleep over the Big Decision, so torn was he between choosing The University of Alabama and his parents’ alma mater (Hail!) Harding University. I had lunch with him a couple of weeks ago to see how things were going and to let him explain to me his reasoning. At the end of that conversation, I was impressed. Number One understood full well what he would be gaining and losing with either choice, and he was able to list off the pros and cons of each with ease.… Read the rest