My Inner Author

Today the news in the world of baseball dealt not with the excitement about the start of a new season, but rather with the tragedy of a life cut too short, all courtesy of yet another drunk driver. Nick Adenhart, a 22-year-old rookie pitcher with the Los Angeles Angels died in a horrific car crash, along with two other young people when a drunk driver in a minivan ran a red light and plowed into their car. As is seemingly typical in these awful tragedies, the sorry excuse for a human being who caused this tragedy, emerged relatively unscathed from the crash, and proceeded to flee from the scene. He was arrested a short time later. The degenerate trifecta became complete when it was revealed he was driving with a suspended license stemming from his previous conviction for, wait for it, DRUNK DRIVING. But this story, like so many, is only beginning. You see, Mr. Adenhart had just finished pitching 6 shutout innings of baseball in his team's game earlier that night, in his 4th major l...

Spring officially began March 21. However, for baseball fans the world over, and I myself am one of those, it actually began when pitchers and catchers reported to major league camps at the end of February. The 4 weeks of Spring Training are a great time for true red-blooded American baseball fans to delude themselves into believing their teams have a chance to win it all this year. Okay, if you are a cookie cutter Yankee or Red Sox fan, you don't really count anymore. But the rest of us, we see hope in the arm of a 32-year journeyman pitcher who is now joining his 6th team in 8 years and has had 3 good outings against the 'B' teams in early March. We hope for the improbable, we have faith in those who have let us down before, and we can dream bigger than Walt Disney. Personally, I grew up as a Phillies fan from 1974 to present. There were no teams in FL back then, and some clown named Ted Turner owned the Braves. Eventually the Braves grew respectable, but the other ...

As I sit to write my first non-serious (well less serious) blog in quite awhile, I find myself disappointed the last BSG episode will be airing in less than 72 hours. Ever since 1987, when Star Trek: The Next Generation went on the air, I have ALWAYS had a Sci Fi themed show to watch year in and year out. TNG, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise from the Star Trek franchise; Quantum Leap, Sliders (for the first few seasons at least), The 4400, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and of course, BSG. My love of Sci Fi will come as a shock to no one who even vaguely knows me, as it has been my favorite genre since my first glimpses of television as a child. But not all Sci Fi is good. Some of it is downright awful. However, what sets the shows above apart from all the others (Sci Fi and mainstream) is so simple to understand. Writing, really amazing writing, which emphasizes character development and the everyday challenges we face. It leverages a make believe universe to tell a story an...

When choosing what topic to write about, I must admit my mind wanders over the entire spectrum. Religion, Sports, Church, Politics, Relationships, Technology, Current Events, History...you get the idea. Anyway, as usual it began in the simplest of ways.I recently heard a line in a movie, an older movie, which got the ball rolling. It seems only fitting to begin there. "Two thousand years ago we "knew" Earth was the center of the universe, 500 years ago we "knew" the Earth was flat, imagine what we will "know" tomorrow." When I heard that line again, my mind immediately locked in on the issue of Global Warming. In reviewing some material on the topic, I came across another great quote which tied in my thoughts as well. “Nothing is so firmly believed as that which least is known.” Those words were written by French author Michel de Montaigne, in the 16th century. Did you know in the 1970s, we were facing a Global Cooling, another Ice Age? T...

Have you ever sat and wondered how important you are to the world? Sure, many of us have seen "It's A Wonderful Life" (I hope you have anyhow), and maybe even "Family Man" (another great movie, and I am not a Nicolas Cage fan at all). Therefore no doubt, you can envision the "big" things. Just ask those passengers on the US Air jet which had to crash land in the Hudson River how important pilot (Captain Chesley Sullenberger) was to their lives. But I didn't mean the easy what if, I meant bigger. How many lives does the average life "touch"? As I began to think about this over the past week or so, I mentioned my thoughts to a friend to see how they would envision trying to determine such a thing. To my surprise, I not only got their feedback, but I got a story to affirm my entire thought process to boot. Let me share their story before getting back to my premise, I think it sets the table well. My friend actually smiled at me as I ...

This article ( http://www.dallasnews.com/ sharedcontent/dws/dn/lates tnews/stories/012209dnspos hutout.40d72ee.html?ocp=2 ) tells the much discussed story of a high school girls basketball game in Texas which ended in a 100-0 score. Much has been written about the negatives and positives already, but people who know me, realize, I can't be quiet sometimes. As a coach for youth sports, mainly kids between the ages of 6-14, I have been able to work on the foundation of each child's future outlook on sports, teamwork, and I hope, life itself. Too often in America today people shove their kids into competition with a vengeance. I have seen parents, coaches and spectators yelling at officials and umpires over a call or missed call, and behave in ways which are reprehensible. I know of many families which "travel" on weekends so their children can compete against the "best of the best" and push themselves more. Does a 10-year-old kid need to really raise his/her l...

This was originally posted on 6/6/2008 Well, I have not blogged much lately. There have been many things occupying my time, energy and thoughts these past couple of months, and while I have had many ideas about writing some of my thoughts down, I have been unable to get a few clear topics to discuss. Several of these topic ideas may get time in the coming weeks (Friendship, Dealing With Adversity, even football). But first, I have decided to share some thoughts on another book I have read, which ties into some of my earlier blogs. A few months ago, I wrote about a book called "I'm fine with God...It's Christians I Can't Stand" by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz. It helped give voice and attention to some of my concerns with the direction of my faith. It truly struck a chord with me. You can tell by reading the older blogs. Over the past few weeks, I found another book which has made me take a look at myself and my faith. The book is called "unChristian...