FCS round two plus Christmas decorations

Another one of those" things that Chris should never discover" is the quadruple screen on ESPN3.  Thus, I got to watch at least parsts of several of the eight playoff games today.  The main one I paid attention to was the ODU-Georgia Southern shootout.  Back and forth into the third quarter, ODU had to play catchup late, and missed an onside kick by the margin of less than a yard in the air and fell 55-48.  That was one of my five correct picks against 3 misses.

At the top of the bracket, Sam Houston survived another shootout, coming from behind to top Stony Brook 38-31 (I got that one, too).  They'll get Montana State, who beat UNH 26-25 when the extra point to tie with 7 seconds left got blocked, costing me that one.  Northern Iowa won the last game to go final against Wofford 28-21 (another miss) on quite possibly the bonehead play of history.  After UNI had scored to go up 21-14, the kickoff went to Wofford return man Stephan Shelton, a very discouraged young man tonight.  He caught the ball inside the 5, but the momentum carried him into the end zone.  Not only does he not leave the end zone (since he must have thought he caught it in the end zone instead of outside), but he doesn't even kneel to down it- he just starts casually walking it to the referee.  The UNI players realize, unlike Shelton, that the whistle HAS NOT blown, and run up and knock the ball from his hands.  He continues toward the ref, asking WTF that was about- until the ref runs past him to watch UNI land on the ball for a TD.  Merry Christmas, UNI; happy holidays, Stephan.

UNI gets Montana, who disposed of Central Arkansas 38-7 (win for me) next round, to finish out the top of the bracket.  On the lower bracket, Ga So will get Maine who, as predicted, topped App State by an unpredicted 34-12 score.  North Dakota State, in a game I should have gotten right but went for the upset, topped JMU 26-14, and they will face my cautious but correct pick, Lehigh.  In a game with no fewer than 6 ties, the last one was snapped when Lehigh caught the Towson qb in the end zone for a safety in the last minute and change for a 40-38 win.

Next round, Martin the Magnificent takes Sam Houston to keep the undefeated season going against Montana St.; Montana to take out UNI (unless Stephen Shelton transfers over this week); I'll take GaSo over Maine in next week's battle of the century; and Lehigh over the Bison of  NDST.

_______________________________________________________

And now, after some technical difficulties, here are our Christmas decorations!

The angel in my bedroom window- I LOVE flashy lights!

Laurie's patented Christmas village

My "random lights" in the front window

The newest addition to the village, A second story glass-enclosed ballroom with music and dancing people.  Much better than dancing with the stars.

And the village people... so to speak.  The houses are a general store, a private home, and the village jail.  With three policemen patrolling a 4-foot village, we must have a lot of reprobates.



Laurie's display at her old house used to be a grand display, on a ten-by-three table that we had no room for when we moved on.  Though smaller, it more than makes up in greater quality as the years have gone on.  The new ballroom she got today is so neat- the little people sweep around the ballroom to Silent Night, and it has a volume control so they can look neat without being annoying.  My only question was how they would get in, as the door seems to be a bit smaller than they are.  But since it doesn't open, I suppose it doesn't matter.

The lights in the front window are from her dad's estate, older than Methusaleh and never been used.  The ones in my room have a controller that changes them from running lights through several flashing patterns to (Scrappy's favorite) gently fading on and off.  We sleep with the fade on all night (making Christmas not one of Scrappy's top times of year).

And now... the great seventies countdown!

As the applause dies down, the Humble Author steps to the mike.  "Thank you, " he begins.  "Thank you for coming by for this, what I hope will be, a wonderful show.  I'd like to say a few words of introduction before we begin.  One can only realize how many truly deserving songs there are when you try to set an arbitrary limit to these things.  Like with the sixties countdown, you could literally make lists of 'the 500 top songs that missed the countdown'.  And still have good songs. 

"For myself, I had actually made a list of over 1,200 a couple years ago, and this is basically that list.  A lot of changes have been made; some songs that graded high because I'd just gotten a CD with it have slid;  Others I have revisited and said, 'what are you doing down there?' The old top fifty are relatively intact. But there are a lot of new faces elsewhere, and some old faces have disappeared.

"Some songs wear better than others, and this has been a factor since I burned the top 150 or so to CD from the old list.  This was especially damning to a couple of songs.  Carly Simon's That's TheWay I've Always Heard It Should Be got nailed for all the early morning heated conversations I had with Carly over her take on marriage and how she was complaining about "I'll never learn to be just me first" when she's out of college and still living at home.  Another one didn't fall clear out, but it did fall to today's list, so you'll have to wait a minute on that.

"Even last night after I printed the list, I agonized over songs 'I should have put in'.  But in the end, I looked for the emotional connection- something in the memory, the lyrics, or the music, that set one apart from another.  So, allow me one more check of the numbering, and we'll begin."  And with that, he steps back from the stage and the lights dim.  Suddenly, he sticks his head out one last time and says, "Glad we checked that.  The numbering was indeed buggered up; and it will be 320, and not 325."

320- I Like Dreamin', Kenny Nolan, peak position #3, 1977.  This is a song that happened along about the time of my first big freshman crush.  Her tastes at the time ran more along the lines of Don Ho.  Kenny actually wrote along with Four Seasons mentor Bob Crewe songs like My Eyes Adored You and Lady Marmalade.

319- Second Hand News, Fleetwood Mac, unreleased, 1977.  Man, remember how great Rumours was?  I could have easily put all ten tracks on here!  I think I ended up with three.  And looking at the list, now I've got I Don't Wanna Know playing in my head.

318- Lady Blue, Leon Russell,pp#14, 1975. Perhaps the smoothest song of all time.  I find it hard to believe this couldn't have been #1 in any era, but Bob's your uncle.

317- Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Beatles,  #49, 1976.  Silly, yes.  Fun, yes.  Got a lot more airplay here than nationally, apparently.

316- Knowing Me, Knowing You, ABBA, #14, 1977.  Top ten in 14 countries, #1 in five.  Only the USA, Spain, and Finland had it outside the top ten.

315- Head First, The Babys, #77, 1979.  The title cut of an lp that got played a ton that summer in our group.  One of many songs that remind me of summer at Snow Lake. Frankly, I thought the only single was Everytime I Think Of You, though I would have released California.



314- Nightrider, Electric Light Orchestra, non-charting, 1976.  Wiki claims it didn't chart on either Billboard or Cashbox, but I thought it had on Cashbox. One of the best songs to never chart, then, I guess.

313- Message In A Bottle, The Police, #74, 1979.  The first of 3 straight #1s in the UK, a moderate AOR hit here.  One of those songs I wish I could say, "It's my all time favorite of theirs", but it's a crowded line.



312- Heard It In A Love Song, Marshall Tucker Band, #14, 1977.  I don't know what's weirder- that there are so many 1977's down here, or that so many of them hit #14.  A mellow song I always sing along to.

311- Tin Man, America, #4, 1974.  This song got tucked in last night.  I remember Mom hated this song- see couldn't make sense of it because she thought they were saying, "I never did give nothing to the Tin Man" instead of "Oz never did..."  And if you get derailed there...

310- Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted, the Partridge Family, #6, 1971.  This was the other big dropper from the original countdown I mentioned.  I remembered this as a clip to the episaode where Danny thought he was adopted, and was looking through graveyards, etc., for clues to his "real" family.  Funny how Bonaduce never did get that clue.

309- Jazzman, Carole King, #2, 1974.  Carole is the second great love of my life, after Yvonne Elliman.  Her vocals just soar, and the imagery:  "When the Jazzman's testifyin' and the band is windin' low/ It's the late-night side of morning in the darkness of his soul.."

308- Jamie's Crying, Van Halen, unreleased, 1978.  Plenty of drunken times in the party woods to this one.  Van Halen was like one-two with AC/DC to the drinking crowd back then. (Of course, I never cared for AC/DC.)

307- Detroit Rock City, Kiss, #25, 1976.  Despite the fact that all the rest of the world wanted to hear was the b-side (Beth) this song was night after night battling for #1 on the nightly top ten call in show on WMEE.

306- Spirits In The Night, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, #97, 1975. I love all of Manfred Mann's Bruce Springsteen covers.  Just heard this on my pandora station last night, as a matter of fact.

305- Magnet And Steel, Walter Egan, #8, 1978.  This song, forever linked in time and my mind with Toby Beau's My Angel Baby, immediately takes me back to the hottest days of summer.

304- The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Genesis, non-charting, 1974.  Pre pop-chart Genesis is the best! "Wonder women draw your blind!/Dont look at me! Im not your kind./Im Rael!"

303- Tear The Roof Off The Sucker(Give Up The Funk), Parliament, #15, 1976.  I'm a sucker for good funk.  And no one was better than P-Funk.



302- Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band, unreleased, 1975.  Springsteen Live  changed our lives.  Another summer nights at Snow Lake song.

301- Happy Anniversary, Little River Band, #16, 1977.  There's just something about that middle part: "There's a lesson here to learn, when your baby ups and leaves you/Carry on don't be concerned, even though you're so much in love/ You need a little help from above, whoa-ohh".

"And that brings us to the end of this installment", he says as the lights edge up just a little bit.  "Be here next time for more funk and fun in the seventies.  Drive safe, and here's something to guide you home.  Good night, everybody!"

Just to let you know...

Unless I change my mind by tomorrow morning, the Great Seventies Countdown will begin with a leadoff 25- song list from 325 to 301.  That's right, we're going three-twenty-five, and it could have been a LOT bigger- you never know how MUCH bigger until you look at the songs that couldn't make the cut.  Even at that, my printoff of my wordpress list ran 15 pages!

Also, prepare yourselves for the NEW living room!  Actually, the room isn't completely new, but the arraingement is.  The before was (l-r) computer stand for new computer, table with non functioning attached lamp, big blue sofa dirty from happy paws and listing at one end from fat bottoms, and Scrappy's cage with Laurie's custom built covering table.  Now the table sans non functioning lamp are off-frame to the left, with my lovely Old Crown case full of beer caps and the collections three bottes taking their new place in place of said lamp.  New computer stand remains the same, but it's new neighbor to the right is the cage/table, with our printer  and a functioning lamp taking their place amongst the stuff on its top. 

What is new is not the beagle, but the couch/recliner, made of beautiful I-can't-believe-it's-not-leather, guaranteed to clean easier than fabric and allegedly proof against even Scrappy's claws (which I really should trim this weekend).  And next to it...

Our lovely model Laurie shows off her new computer table for the old computer.  Other than the part played by the delivery guys and a bit of assistance with the table's slide, Miss Laurie did this all herself whilst I loaded a truck that will be bringing those Arden patio cushions you demand to a K-Mart store near you.
Blurry-eyed again from a last couple of hours tweaking the list, I say goodnight for now.  Tune in tomorrow, for TGSC week one!

step into my time machine week 84

I've got some good bedtime stories for the trip tonight (as I'll be working tomorrow), including a MHOFer in the Where Are They Now feature, the birth of a brand new feature, two of the stupidest group names of all time, meeting a Beatle at the urinal, and we'll connect Rod Stewart to Eric Burdon and War.  You ready?  I am! Let's all go...

We kick things off as usual with the hot 100 debuts from this week in 1976, and there were ten of them.  A couple that I recognized I'm going to hold off on mentioning- for now...  But I will mention 4 of the set- 2 of them debuting in unusually high positions.  Coming in at 89 is newcomer Stephen Bishop with a song I really liked back in the day, Save It For A Rainy Day.  Bob Seger introduces us to his Silver Bullet Band at #80 with the title cut to their Night Moves lp.  Get yer lighters ready- the debut at #56 is none other than Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird.  And all the way up at 46, from the mega album Songs In The Key Of Life, Stevie Wonder with I Wish.

Joining these now-35 year old hits in birthdays this week, three songs turning 40- Day After Day by bad luck's poster children, Badfinger; Carly Simon's famous Heintz Ketchup theme, Anticipation; and the Grateful Dead's opus Truckin'.  And four songs turn 45 this week: Paul Revere and the Raiders' Good Thing; the Monkees' #1 I'm A Believer; the Mamas and Papas' Words Of Love;  And a song called 98.6 by the unusually billed Keith.  Actually James Barry Keefer, this song gave him his greatest fame.  One result of which was getting slapped on the back and told how great a song it was- by John Lennon, while side by side at the urinals.  I guess if he was the kind to wet himself when meeting a celebrity, he was in the right place.  However, things had fallen apart by 1968, when he had the double whammy of a flop second album and an arrest for draft evasion.  He quickly went from "Pissing With The Stars" to "Serving Coffee To The Four-Stars".  Happy birthday, anyway.

Our big dropper this week was Dr. Hook's top ten A Little Bit More, falling 22 to #77; the big mover was Blinded By The Light, climbing 25 to #57.  And that brings us to #49 and the where are they now segment.  Why #49?  Because it's my age!  Where were you in '62?

And at 49, we find the steadily climbing Lost Without Your Love by Bread.  Now anyone that cares knows that Bread was David Gates, who is alive, kicking, and singing.  The other members have some good stories, as well.  Jimmy Griffin, who was the second most successful of the members, eventually left the band, sued Gates over names and royalties, and eventually joined with fellow member Rob Royer to form Toast.  Jimmy died of cancer in 2006, as did drummer Mike Botts.  Botts joined on the second album, replacing veteran sideman (and one man six degrees from last week) Jim Gordon, who left to join Clapton in Delaney and Bonnie's entourage.  The remaining original (and Surviving) member was Rob Royer, who also left early and was replaced by Larry Knechtel.  Royer was partnered with Griffin for a long time before and after Bread, including writing the Carpenters' hit For All We Know.  After Griffin's death, Royer finished in 2010 a project started years before with Griffin, a deathbed request.  It was a trippy sci-fi narration deal which would take mouch more time to explain than for you to just look up on Wikipedia if you're interested.  In the meantime, Knechtel- who was already famous for being the piano man on Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters- died of a heart attack in 2009.  Thus, the reunion tour they did in 1997 is all there is.  The band was inducted into the Vocal Groups Hall Of Fame in 2006, and the MHOF in this last crop of entrants.

Three songs enter the top 40 this week, and once again the Lords of Irony rear their familiar head.  Last week's WATN victim Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band climb 9 from the magic 49 spot to 40 with the triple song Whispering/Cherchez Le Femme/Ce Ce Bon; I Like Dreamin' by Kenny Nolan moves up 8 to 39; and the aforementioned Mr. Clapton goes from 43 to 32 with Hello Old Friend.

And now, the new feature.  Last week, I announced the demise of the #1s of different years portion of our show.  To replace it is somewhat of the same thing with a different spin.  A dude by the name of Josh Hostler has a site where you can find the #1 song on whatever date of ANY year.  Now sometimes he jibes with what you find on other sources, sometimes he doesn't.  Accepting his entertainment value if not his accuracy, I'm going to pick one song that catches my eye from that date each week and spotlight it.  And all of you growing up on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In like I did will understand why I picked this one.

The #1 song for this week in 1929 (although Wiki says it was actually #1 in May) was the "theme song" for famous crooner Nick Lucas- Tiptoe Through The Tulips.  This was the bigger of two hits he had from the movie musical Gold Diggers Of Broadway.  The first color film by Warner Brothers, this was the #1 grossing film of all time from 1929-1939.  This song has actually been covered several times, including by two of the truly stupid named bands of all time- Uke Til U Puke and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.  Of course the definitive cover of the song was by Tiny Tim; and when he and Miss Vicki got married on the Tonight Show, they were serenaded with the tune by Nick Lucas himself.  How's that for a heartwarming story?

Three orders of business before we enter the top ten.  First, an almost but not quite salute to the Commodores' Just To Be Close To You, which peaked at 11 last week and drops to 20 this time around.  Second, we have two new top tens, and thus two songs make room for them. The Edmund Fitzgerald goes down fast, falling from 3 to 13.  And former top dog Rock'n Me drops from 9 to 18. Third, I'd like to note the trio of my all time favorites who are banging on the door.  Burton Cummings climbs from13 to 11 with Stand Tall; Nights Are Forever Without You does likewise from 14 to twelve; and Livin' Thing moves from 20 to 17.

Climbing 5 to join the tops of the pops at #10 are Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis with You Don't Have To Be A Star.  Moving up one spot to #9 is Alice Cooper with I Never Cry.  Firefall holds at #8 with You Are The Woman.  moving from 12 to 7 is Leo Sayer with You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (which I think should have been covered by Uke Til U Puke).  The Spinners climb one to #6 with Rubberband Man.  Nadia's Theme likewise climbs one to #5 for Messers Botkin and DeVorzon.  Boston holds at four with More Than A Feeling.  The Bee Gees leapfrog Tom Scholz and Co. to move into the #3 slot with Love So Right.  Holding at #2 are the Captain and Tenille with Muskrat Love.  And that leaves us with our #1 song- and our six degrees victim.

The whispered French in Tonight's The Night by Rod Stewart, as I've mentioned before, belongs to his babe-at-the-time Britt Eklund.  Britt came to the world's attention as a Bond Girl in the film The Man With The Golden Gun.  Gun was scored, as were many Bond flicks, by John Barry, who composed the theme, which was sung by Lulu.  The only Bond theme not to chart in either the USA or the UK, Barry himself hated it, and it was described as "inane" (having read the lyrics, I'll vouch for that) and "one long stream of smut" ( which may be a bit strong, but it was a Bond theme, after all).  Ironically, the aforementioned Mr. Cooper was asked to write a theme for the film- which he did- and it got rejected.  It ended up on the lp Muscle Of Love.  While not any of the things the Lulu version was described as, it certainly was repititious.  Anyway, that brings us through Lul to the "Jimi Hendrix incident."  This occured on the UK variety show that Lulu hosted under various names from 1968-75. 

"...one episode remains famous for Jimi Hendrix's unruly live appearance where, after playing about two minutes of Hey Joe, Hendrix stopped and announced "We'd like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to The Cream, regardless of what kind of group they may be in, dedicate to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce". He then broke into Sunshine of Your Love. With the studio director signalling for Hendrix to stop he continued. Unrepentant, Hendrix was told he would never work at the BBC again. He told his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham "I'm not going to sing with Lulu. I'd look ridiculous".

And to finish out with a biiig stretch, the last performance that Jimi made before his death was a jam session with- Eric Burdon and War.  And with that, and a congrats to Mr. Stewart for his third week in a row at #1, I bid you good night and good music.

Tids and bits.

A collection of shorties, because...
#1- the "roll-out" shipping season began today for us. Five trucks, one cart, 5 guys, and one hour OT.  Pretty much the same to be expected I'm guessing for the next three weeks.  Add to a very bad dream, wet shoes from last night, a TMI-sequence of draining bathroom trips, an air turner that left little gray marks on black fabric, tearing a truck halfway apart to find two cushions that defied scanning and another with two shipping labels (one seen and scanned, the other hiding on the side), and a half-hour long plant meeting with the company VEEP of production and El Grande Queso, it was a FUUN day.

#2 to say hi to 2 new followers in the last two days!  First there is Ron AKA the old geezer, a man with a very interesting personal testimony and a pretty interesting blog.  Second is Beliza, who is a member of the Great Postcard Campaign and just got the card I sent here way over there in the lovely land of Luxembourg.  You should become a member of the campaign, too, if you are not already.  This is a great time to join since I've just sent out my cards for the first round and won't have to again until all of you send one to me!


#3 is a partial attempt at one of my favorite features here at TAW, where I instruct scam e-mailers on how to do things right.  My latest victim is one Dr. Oswald Daniel; and I'm not going to go through the whole thing other than to compliment the "good doctor" on his peculiar spin:

 I am using this opportunity to thank you for using the internet daily.Due to your effort, using internet programs indoor and in your office, we want to compensate you and show our Gratitude to you with the sum of $6,000,000.00 United States of America Dollars we have authorized Rev, Donald Raymond in capital city ABUJA nigeria to assist you in getting your compensation checks across to you.

He claims to be part of World Internet Programs, which with a little imagination we can see is the great and wonderful entity that "runs" the internet, and wants to thank li'l ol' me for wasting so much time on his company's product.  One thing he gets a fail on- Having looked this up on one of the many scam-info sites, I noticed that he changed- or tried to- change his contact man from Mr. Kelvin Green to Rev. Donald Raymond.  He gives the contact info for the good rev, but forgot to delete a whole paragraph of info about Mr. Green's part in all this- or at least forgot to swap names.  Damnit, Oswalt, this stuff is important!  I also think that perhaps you should be grateful to those who use the internet OUTDOORS as well!  Overall grade- C+.

#4- Time for all good daddys and their beagle-babies to hit the hay.  Good night and God Bless, as Red used to say.

NHFFL the end of the regular season

First, let me calm any fears- Our ride was 25 minutes longer tonight than usual for the snow, but we survived.  The person in the Honda that couldn't top 20 without her ass end sliding down 1000 east probably added 5-8 minutes all on her own, but it's not like we ever topped 40.  By the time we hit good enough roads, we hit traffic.  Tomorrow should prove interesting- not just for the weather.  Our first retail shipment was supposed to get loaded this afternoon at 1, but as per usual for us and trucking companies, he failed to show until 15 minutes before happy go home time, and thus he will join the 6 trucks we have for tomorrow- if, of course, they show.

Second, I just got the word that Ndamekhum Suh got a two game suspension for being an idiot Thursday, just as yours truly predicted. "He will likely miss the next two games, severely hurting the Lions' chances for the playoffs."  AWWWW.  Maybe if Jim Schwartz could discipline himself, let alone his players, they wouldn't be facing this.

Third, before he slips into media oblivion, let me say one thing about Herman Cain and all the women that the dems and Politico seem to be manufacturing at will.  Wasn't Martin Luther King shacked up with a married woman in that hotel when James Earl Ray shot him?  Just sayin'.

Now, onto the purpose of this post- the end of the regular season in the NHFFL has arrived.  The Rangers finished off their third ten-win season with a 35-27 win against the Angels.  The Aguas return to the league with an 8-4 campaign and second place despite dropping the finale 26-19 to the Beagles.  The Beagles managed to win just 3 games despite scoring 5 more points than they gave up.  Which is ironic since they won a division title last year with an 8-4 record and 22 fewer points scored than given up.  The Greenwoods big return also netted them an 8-4 record and a playoff spot, though the Aguas take second on the tie breaker.  They closed with a 39-25 victory over the KCAs, who go from 7-5 and a Super Bowl championship to 4-8 and time to work on the ol' golf game.

A tremendous back and forth battle was waged between the Elks and the B2s for the Gold Division title.  And in the end, if the Elks could have just counted only Monday night, they'd have had a 33-9 win... but those nine that the Tubers got gave them a 49-42 win and a division title for the first time since they won the first two Dupont Divison titles waaay back in 1997-8.  In fact, they were 16-32 since their last non-losing season (2006, 6-6) until this year. In another twist, the B2s scored one less point than they gave up, making them the second champ in 2 years to manage that. The Elks finish in second place free and clear, though, because the Porkchops first season ended with a 44-32 loss to Buzz.  The Chops end at .500, good enough for the last playoff spot.  Buzz claimed 4th, by the tie breaker against the Ducks, who closed with a 42-20 pasting of the Clock BBQs, who lost their last 4 by a combined 90-157.  When the Bills went cold, so did the CBBQs (who had Ryan Fitzpatrick and Fred Jackson).




So the Rangers, who are 0-8 in the playoffs, get the week off to enjoy their third division title and first since 2004.  They'll await the winner of the Aguas/ Greenwoods game, both of whom have been out of the league since 2001, and the G'woods have been out of the playoffs since 2000. The B2s, who haven't seen the playoffs since a 32-21 loss to the Ducks in 2006, also get a rest while they await the winner of the Elks/Porkchops game.  The Chops, of course, are brand new; the Elks return to the playoffs for the first time since winning Super Bowl XI in 2007.

One last thing- here are the rosters for the all-pro game the week after the Super Bowl.   The Purple will have Angels Aaron Rodgers and LeShon McCoy; the Beagles' Beanie Wells and Vincent Jackson; the Greenwoods Ray Rice, Greg Jennings, and reserve Matthew Stafford; the Aguas have starter Calvin Johnson and reserve Neil Rackers; the Rangers send Mason Crosby and the DET D; the KCAs send the reserve D of CIN.    The Gold division is lead by Buzzies Cam Newton, Adrian Peterson, and Sebastian Janikowski; the B2s' Arian Foster, Wes Welker, and reserve CHI D; the Ducks Michael Turner and Larry Fitzgerald; the CBBQs' Dez Bryant; the Elks GB D and (amazingly) reserve qb Drew Brees; and the Chops contribute reservist Nick Folk.

Sunday message +

This week, in my looking at the propechies of Christ's coming, I am at Psalms 2. Specifically, vv 4-9:

⁴ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
⁵ Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
⁶ “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”

⁷ “I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
⁹ You shall break^[a] them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” 
        
Okay, the big thing I want to look at here is the term "Begotten".  When I was a wee lad in Catholic school (for which I forever praise God for putting me there), The explanation of begotten was a little bit difficult, because we could recite in the Apostle's Creed, "begotten, not made, one in being with the Father".  Hence it became tied up in a concept of being BEYOND born or created.  A magical, mystical genesis, if you will.  So then we read Psalm 2 and became all confused.  If begotten meant this magical, mystical, always been sort of thing, then what did Psalm 2:7 mean?

So look up the concordance version of "begotten".  It simply means born, creating an offspring.  Nothing magical or mystical.  So just what is going on?  Well let's backtrack by going forward.  The first chapter of John's Gospel explains that Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God.  Always in existance, always part and parcel of who and what God is.  But then, an evolution was made- "and the Word became flesh."  How is this so? Look to Luke 1:35, where the angel describes to Mary that flesh and God are going to combine in her womb; "Therefore, also, that the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God".

Confusing?  Then cast off human perception and follow me.  Who we know as Jesus Christ is and was an always-existant facet of God.  But at a point in time, this essence took on flesh, becoming both God and man.  Thus, God tells Him, "(Now) You are my Son- this day, I have begotten You."  So now, not only is Christ a part of and wholly God, but also has become as flesh the Son of God.

So the way we were taught begotten wasn't exactly on-beam; but it was probably about as close as you could get it to first-through-eighth-graders. Come to think of it, it's not much easier now.  But guess what? We're dealing with a being that is beyond our concepts of time and space, who wove both atoms and galaxies out of the same cloth.  Scientists reject God for this very reason, saying they need "proof" of His existance, and yet to have that proof  would remove God from the very concept of "God".  IOW, some things aren't meant to be understood in this life.  But God gives us enough understanding with which to have faith.  Not to mention , He gave us that understanding in a form that could serve both as a propechy when He gave it 3,000 years ago, and as in instruction 2,000 years after He accomplished it!

------------------------------------------------------------------

Now for the "+" in our story.  First off, be sure to click on that "Chris' Cap Collection " link to see the prizes I got at the 37th annual "Turkey Trot" beer collectables show yesterday.  I assure you, the posts on CCC aren't just dry figures and pictures, but I fill in actual interesting stories, both about the caps and the people who made the beer, as well as how I got them.  (And if that still seems boring, then just humor me!)

Next, a look at the FCS playoffs.  I didn't get a "thromp" of JMU over Eastern KY, but I did get a win.  I said ODU shouldn't (actually, I said "shopuldn't", but since Blogger's spell-check likes to excise whole paragraphs for no apparent reason, that's the way it goes) have any problem with Norfolk St., and they didn't.  I said Central Ark. should beat TennTech, and they did; and I thought I was going to mess up giving Stony Brook the edge over Albany.  But the Seawolves stormed back from 28-10 down to win 31-28 to make me a perfect 4-0 in round one.  So let me try round 2.

Stony Brook gets #1 seed Sam Houston State.  Now, I'm not convinced how much that 11-0 record means in SHS's conference, but I'm pretty sure it means more than what it would in SB's Big South, so Sam I am.  Montana State meets UNH, and I would've had no problem going with State- until they lost their rivalry game to Montana so badly.  I, with severe reservations, will take... UNH.  Next up is Northern Iowa vs Wofford, and neither of these teams were just lighting the world on fire at season's end.  But since I went with them all year, I'll take Wofford for the upset in Iowa.  Montana will be hosting Central Ark., and I will take the home team here.  Then it's Georgia Southern against ODU.  Actually, you have Southern Conf. vs CAA the next two stops, because the next bracket is Appalachian State vs Maine.  I'm pretty confident that the two conferences will split thes games; not so confident on which wins which.  Let's say GaSo and Maine advance.  That brings us to Towson and Lehigh.  Cautiously, he looks around the room and says, "Lehigh".  Which brings us to next week's final game, JMU and North Dakota State.  I've said all along that JMU had no business getting this spot, and NDST was the #1 team for a while, and they're playing in the great plains.  Give me JMU.