Basketball is going well these days. Logan really is learning his position. He plays center, which is odd. He not only isn't one of the taller kids in the league, he might only be about the 4th or 5th tallest kid on his team. The reason the coach is putting him there is that he's strong and durable and can bump and grind down in the paint.
The weekend was a bit of a disappointment. 4 games and all losses. We played the same team, twice: the other Sylvania travel team. They're called the Tarheels. It was put together with some good players who played together when they were young, then augmented with the two most athletic kids from Logan's travel baseball team.
Prior to this weekend, I would have thought that they were clearly a couple of levels above us. Now, though, Logan's team has really closed the gap. The first game, we lost by 4. Second game, we were missing 2 starters and lost by 6.
Really, all in all, the boys should be proud. The Tarheels are one of the better travel teams for a team from the 'burbs. We have our weaknesses, but overall the team has improved. Logan started the season being maybe a good-ish rec player, but not playing at the level you see in travel. Now, he holds his own. Very proud of the progress he's made. He did it all on his own. Unlike baseball, I've given him very little help, guidance or coaching in basketball.
He loves basketball, though. I'm going to work with him on it, year-round. As I've often said, basketball is the first sport where it gets difficult just to make the team. Baseball is not far behind. A reasonably athletic kid can play football, run track, do wrestling, if they put forth some effort. Baseball and basketball really require that they are working on the sport, even if just a little, all year-round and not just when the season is approaching.
Logan is getting tall enough and skilled enough that I can probably play some 1-on-1 with him. He already has better ball handling skills than I do. Any advantage I have will purely be based on size, but it's not the worst thing to learn to play against taller opponents.
Baseball workout last night was a lot of fun. Logan is still looking remarkably sharp despite no off-season workouts. He has proclaimed that his three favorite sports are football, basketball and ping pong. So, I have a fear that his interest in baseball may be precarious at this point.
I'm very, very glad he's on a different team this year. His last team, he got pidgeonholed a little bit. Played some amazing center field, but only got to play maybe 8 innings of infield all year long. That's probably how many innings he pitched, too.
On this new team, not only will he have the chance to play infield and pitch, he'll probably have to. There are 11 kids on this team, too. 11 is a more manageable number than 12, for a number of reasons. There are a couple kids on the team who can pitch, but Logan will clearly have to step up.
They're going to have a short rec basketball season that starts right around the time our travel season ends. I'm going to sign Logan up. His coach is going to talk to us about it. I doubt the rec will let us play as a team, but I think that's what he's going to try to do. Will know more as things develop.
I'm getting excited about the baseball season coming up. I hope Logan is, too!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
What I Think About Tim Tebow
Tebow mania is sweeping the nation and if he can pull off an upset today, we'll be in deep throes of Tebow-itis. My son loves Tim Tebow. Loves his style of play. Loves that his name has become a verb. (Tebow (v): to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different.)
The debate on Tebow seems to fall down the lines of what people think of him personally. Those who appreciate his spirituality seem to think he's a great football player. Those who don't think he's a lucky, overrated hack.
So, what do I think of him? Especially given that I'm essentially an avowed heathen? I think he's awesome. So, let's break it down.
His praying? It's obnoxious. No doubt about it. Although it aligns with what many evangelical Christians think, it's clearly against what many other Christian faiths believe regarding overt displays of belief. I was raised in a Catholic tradition (and yet was never struck by lightning despite my heathen ways), and always appreciated the elegance of Matthew 6:5.
"And when you pray, you should not be like the hypocrites, who love standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets to pray, so that they may be seen by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward."
This also aligns well with my overall philosophy of life. Do what you want. Don't bother others. So long as you do your thing and respect that others don't have to do your thing, you ensure not just your freedom but the freedom of everyone else.
However, again, this isn't the way others believe. Sometimes you have to cut a wide berth in respecting the beliefs of others because, frankly, sometimes people believe in some really obnoxious stuff. How big a problem are evangelical Christians? I've always felt that these were the folks who were the subject of the quote, "Almost everybody likes Jesus. It's Christians that people can't stand."
But really? How much of a problem? I've known quite a few and generally found them to be truly nice people. I enjoy their company and although they didn't understand at all how I could not be religious, they didn't seem to be bothered much by it.
Honestly, I've had a lot more difficulty with people trying to convert me to Amway than I ever had with people trying to convert me to Christianity. Even the hardcore evangelicals I've encountered tended to be kind, friendly, happy. I just don't have a problem with them.
Ultimately, when I think back to the days of my youth, I was probably more obnoxious in my disbelief than they ever were in their belief. So, is it obnoxious? Yes. Of course it is. It's hard to escape that. But is it harmful? Is it a problem? Is it symptomatic of religious bigotry? No, I don't think it is.
Now, no doubt, if Tim Tebow ended every post-game interview with, "all praise to Allah and to his prophet Mohammed, blessed be his name," the evangelicals would get an idea of how obnoxious this behavior can be. If he wore "Jihad" eye-black and shouted "allahu akbar!" at every touchdown, people would think he was pretty much the most obnoxious person, ever.
But would it be a problem? What if he did something not religiously motivated? What if he pretended to be a chicken in the end-zone and clucked and strutted around like a rooster. What if, in every interview, he clucked and made chicken noises?
I'd think it was awesome. I'd find it awesome that he was doing it despite knowing that it made people irritated. I'd laugh that people would be so irritated at something that's purely intended to be entertainment. Yes, folks, sports are entertainment. Nothing more. Nothing less. That's it. Touchdowns don't cure cancer. They don't end wars. They entertain people.
Which is why I like Tim Tebow, tebowing and all. He's entertaining to watch. Especially given that sports involve some rather unsavory characters, from drug-users who sue to play again after getting lifetime bans, to people involved in murder, sometimes I really wish sports had the ability to exclude people who are clearly not a good role model to young people.
Since they don't, all the better that we have a clean living kid playing the game. Tim Tebow seems to be free from any other controversies or bad behaviors. Doesn't even appear to be a womanizer. Even LEGAL vices don't seem to appeal to him. If this is because of his Christianity, then all I can say is that Tim Tebow is an example of Christianity gone right.
If more Christians were like him, people might not just like Jesus, but like Christians as well.
As for his football skills, I'm even further from being an expert about playing QB than I am about spiritual matters. However, I'm from the school of thought that great QBs find a way to win. This isn't punt, pass and kick. The idea is to be the team with more points when time runs out. Tim Tebow has found ways to win despite what many consider ungainly physical abilities and a style of play that is ill-suited to the NFL. However, the NFL highway is littered with the careers of many a promising QB who never quite got their stuff together. Usually, they wore orange helmets. Does anybody think Tim Couch was a great NFL QB? If you had to chose between Couch, who supposedly had the stuff of great NFL QBs, and Brian Sipe, who was small and had a weak arm, which one would Browns fans rather see under center?
Good luck, Tim Tebow! At least one heathen will be rooting for you today.
The debate on Tebow seems to fall down the lines of what people think of him personally. Those who appreciate his spirituality seem to think he's a great football player. Those who don't think he's a lucky, overrated hack.
So, what do I think of him? Especially given that I'm essentially an avowed heathen? I think he's awesome. So, let's break it down.
His praying? It's obnoxious. No doubt about it. Although it aligns with what many evangelical Christians think, it's clearly against what many other Christian faiths believe regarding overt displays of belief. I was raised in a Catholic tradition (and yet was never struck by lightning despite my heathen ways), and always appreciated the elegance of Matthew 6:5.
"And when you pray, you should not be like the hypocrites, who love standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets to pray, so that they may be seen by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward."
This also aligns well with my overall philosophy of life. Do what you want. Don't bother others. So long as you do your thing and respect that others don't have to do your thing, you ensure not just your freedom but the freedom of everyone else.
However, again, this isn't the way others believe. Sometimes you have to cut a wide berth in respecting the beliefs of others because, frankly, sometimes people believe in some really obnoxious stuff. How big a problem are evangelical Christians? I've always felt that these were the folks who were the subject of the quote, "Almost everybody likes Jesus. It's Christians that people can't stand."
But really? How much of a problem? I've known quite a few and generally found them to be truly nice people. I enjoy their company and although they didn't understand at all how I could not be religious, they didn't seem to be bothered much by it.
Honestly, I've had a lot more difficulty with people trying to convert me to Amway than I ever had with people trying to convert me to Christianity. Even the hardcore evangelicals I've encountered tended to be kind, friendly, happy. I just don't have a problem with them.
Ultimately, when I think back to the days of my youth, I was probably more obnoxious in my disbelief than they ever were in their belief. So, is it obnoxious? Yes. Of course it is. It's hard to escape that. But is it harmful? Is it a problem? Is it symptomatic of religious bigotry? No, I don't think it is.
Now, no doubt, if Tim Tebow ended every post-game interview with, "all praise to Allah and to his prophet Mohammed, blessed be his name," the evangelicals would get an idea of how obnoxious this behavior can be. If he wore "Jihad" eye-black and shouted "allahu akbar!" at every touchdown, people would think he was pretty much the most obnoxious person, ever.
But would it be a problem? What if he did something not religiously motivated? What if he pretended to be a chicken in the end-zone and clucked and strutted around like a rooster. What if, in every interview, he clucked and made chicken noises?
I'd think it was awesome. I'd find it awesome that he was doing it despite knowing that it made people irritated. I'd laugh that people would be so irritated at something that's purely intended to be entertainment. Yes, folks, sports are entertainment. Nothing more. Nothing less. That's it. Touchdowns don't cure cancer. They don't end wars. They entertain people.
Which is why I like Tim Tebow, tebowing and all. He's entertaining to watch. Especially given that sports involve some rather unsavory characters, from drug-users who sue to play again after getting lifetime bans, to people involved in murder, sometimes I really wish sports had the ability to exclude people who are clearly not a good role model to young people.
Since they don't, all the better that we have a clean living kid playing the game. Tim Tebow seems to be free from any other controversies or bad behaviors. Doesn't even appear to be a womanizer. Even LEGAL vices don't seem to appeal to him. If this is because of his Christianity, then all I can say is that Tim Tebow is an example of Christianity gone right.
If more Christians were like him, people might not just like Jesus, but like Christians as well.
As for his football skills, I'm even further from being an expert about playing QB than I am about spiritual matters. However, I'm from the school of thought that great QBs find a way to win. This isn't punt, pass and kick. The idea is to be the team with more points when time runs out. Tim Tebow has found ways to win despite what many consider ungainly physical abilities and a style of play that is ill-suited to the NFL. However, the NFL highway is littered with the careers of many a promising QB who never quite got their stuff together. Usually, they wore orange helmets. Does anybody think Tim Couch was a great NFL QB? If you had to chose between Couch, who supposedly had the stuff of great NFL QBs, and Brian Sipe, who was small and had a weak arm, which one would Browns fans rather see under center?
Good luck, Tim Tebow! At least one heathen will be rooting for you today.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)