Let wonder replace worry

The Shameful 2008 Seattle Mariners

I moved to Washington State in the fall of 2001 and the Seattle Mariners were finishing up one of the most amazing seasons in the history of Major League Baseball. For the first time since 1906, a team won 116 games in one season. Despite not fairing well in the playoffs that year, expectations were high for the future.

How times have changed. The Mariners finally finished a season that has been painful to watch. For the first time ever, a team with a $100 million payroll lost over 100 games. 101 to be exact. Last night the Mariners finally got their first home series sweep all year. (Yeah, you read that right.) It has been very easy to just not care about this team.

We did make it to one game this year and had a good time. One thing you can say about Seattle, in the midst of losing their NBA team, the sale of Safeco, banking disasters, and a tough economy, this city has remained highly faithful to its pro sports teams. Some city's would have not filled the 100 level with the play this team gave it fans this year, yet Safeco Field remained full.

Those fans deserve better than the shameful display the Mariners put on the field this season. I'm looking for the front office to blow this team up in the next few days and to just start from scratch.

2009 can only be better.

Is Your Favorite Starbucks Closing?

Starbucks will be shutting down 600 stores and as many as 12,000 workers will lose their jobs when the closings begin this summer.

Many in Seattle are saying it serves Howard Schultz right for selling the Supersonics to an Oklahoma City investment group whose motive was clearly to get the team playing in Oklahoma as quick as possible.

It is said that there have been massive boycotts of Starbucks in Seattle since the move was officially announced last week.

I'm not boycotting though. I find it surprising that everyone is just now upset about this. I knew this was happening the day he sold the team to a group of people who have never lived in Washington State and had no intention of ever moving here.

Anyway, the Seattle Times is compiling a list of the known stores that will be getting the axe this summer.

Is your favorite coffee hangout closing?

Fourth of July and Mariners Baseball

This morning we loaded up 2 chartered buses and headed down to watch the Mariners play the Tigers. Even though the Mariners are having a tough year (to put it lightly) it was still fun to go with the group. Seattle even pulled out a win. This was Jaxson's first baseball game- he had a great time.

Here are some pics from the day. Click for full size.

Seattle Mariners

I believe that the Mariners are officially the worst team in baseball and are on track to become the first team in history to spend $100 million on talent and lose 100 games in a season.

John McClaren (who's Wikipedia article I linked currently refers to him as the ineffective manager for the Seattle Mariners) went on a profanity laced tirade during the post game news conference today that lasted a grand total of about 34 seconds.

Here is a censored version of what he had to say.

What if the CEO of a major corporation lost it in front of reports like that after a bad fiscal quarter? Why is this immature behavior tolerated (and expected) in sports but would get anyone else not only fired, but sent to anger management classes?

Touching Them All

Link: ESPN.com

Here is a touching story from here in Washington State. Someone at church was telling me about this game last week and I am glad to see that ESPN picked up on it.

This could really be used in a variety of ways in youth ministry. I can think of 3 different discussion topics right now off the top of me head. I may be showing it soon.

This is 5 minutes that you will not regret. Trust me.

Big news out of Arkansas tonight

Bobby Petrino Named Razorback Football Coach - University of Arkansas Athletics

24 hours after an embarrassing night on Monday Night Football, Petrino was in Fayetteville calling the Hogs.

I spent a couple of minutes on the Falcons message board tonight and to say they are angry is an understatement.

I also went to a popular Razorback message board and they are ecstatic.

Bobby Petrino is a great coach. I have no doubt he will do a great job.

However, he signed a 10 year deal at Louisville and left the next year. Then signed a 5 year deal in Atlanta and did not even last the whole season.

What is he going to do if a better deal comes along next year?

Football weekend

Nicole and I have spent the last two days watching college football. Some great games this weekend.

• Darren McFadden is so much fun to watch. LSU has gotten lucky too many times this year and that luck ran out yesterday. It was good to see them lose, especially to Arkansas. Still, Houston Nutt should explain how having the best player in the NCAA gets you a 8-4 record.
• Nebraska fired their coach after a 5-7 season. Will Houston Nutt become a Cornhusker? After the win yesterday, it is going to be much harder to see him go. I'm not in Arkansas anymore though, so I don't understand the deep tensions that have ran there. I just know he has not been popular this season.
• Did you see the Tennessee/Kentucky game this afternoon? Another example of why the SEC is the best conference in the nation.
• I was right about the Apple Cup. What a great game. Washington State won it in the last minute. I was hoping for overtime though. College football overtime is the most exciting things in sports.
• Nick Saban got what was coming to him. I wonder what he is going to compare this loss to?
• With LSU and Kansas both losing this weekend, the BCS is once again a disaster. Is this really the best way? I guess I am pulling for West Virgina.

After a relaxing 2 days, it is back to work tomorrow.

Buy Nothing Day

Nicole and I (unknowingly) participated this year.

It was much more fun staying home, watching the guys down home in Arkansas beat the top team in the nation.

Tomorrow is Washington and Washington State battle for the Apple Cup. Neither team has had a great year, but they seem to match up pretty well. Should be a good game. I'm just going to pull for whoever gets behind first.

Nick Saban

Goodness, this really makes me dislike Nick Saban.

You lost. To Louisiana-Monroe. Yeah, it is an embarrassment.

I know that college football is a religion in Alabama, but seriously?

Just mentioning a football game loss in the context of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 is so tacky, even if you are trying to make some weird illustration.

Newsflash Sabin, football is a game. You lost. Now move on.

How awesome would it be for Auburn to beat him this weekend. What in the world would he say then?

Wisdom from Coaches

I was reading Men's Health tonight after youth group and came across a page of quotes from some of the world's greatest coaches. I was surprised how accurate some of them were in terms of ministry. Here are a few that stood out to me.

If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes good, we did it.
-Bear Bryant
I really liked this one. I can screw up youth group all on my own, just by not taking the time to study and prepare. But, I could never pull off a great night alone.

If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
-Pat Riley
This is more of a life lesson, but definitely applies to ministry.

If what you did yesterday seems big, you have not done anything today.
-Lou Holtz
Man, did we ever have a great retreat to Tall Timber a couple of weeks ago. Each student put in over 10 hours working hard and serving endlessly. The easy thing to do is to congratulate ourselves and talk about all we did for a few months. It is so much harder to say "what's next?"

Today you have 100% of your life left.
-Tom Landry
Every youth pastor should hang this one up in their office so we can remind students who have made mistakes in the past of this truth.

Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
-John Wooden
May we always remember that we are nothing more than a vessel. God could have chosen someone else, but He didn't. That's amazing.

All of these, plus 13 more quotes are in the November 2007 edition of Men's Health magazine.