Category: Carley (Page 3 of 10)

Cowboys and Texans

Before I get to a couple of sports points, here’s a first-day-of-school picture from Valerie and Carley who began classes yesterday at Oklahoma Christian University. This first-day selfie was taken before the tornado sirens interrupted dinner last night and forced them into storm shelters during the “inland hurricane.” Of course I phoned both of them early, way before their scheduled 9am classes, to sing “School Bells” and to say, “Work hard, learn a lot, be sweet.” I think they still appreciate that. Maybe.

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Ezekiel Elliott is into the fifth week of his holdout, he is yet to sign the latest contract offer from the Cowboys, and I’m not sure where this is headed. There’s so much wrong with this stalemate between the NFL rushing champion and Jerry Wayne — so many weird twists, he-said-she-said stuff, and timing questions. But isn’t that just like the Cowboys? Nothing will ever make sense, it’ll all go against every football maxim and norm, it’ll blow up in the most agonizing way possible, and somehow Jerry’s Death Star will still sell out every Sunday and he’ll still make a jillion dollars and they’ll still go 8-8.

Jerry postures by claiming you don’t need a rushing champion to win a Super Bowl. How in the world would he know?!? He’s never won a Super Bowl without a rushing champion / league MVP and the last time he did that my two daughters at OC in the above picture weren’t even born! Since then, he hasn’t even won a single divisional round playoff game!

The Cowboys have reportedly made an offer to Elliott that is worth between what Le’Veon Bell and Todd Gurley are making, so somewhere between $53-60 million or $13-14 million per year. That would make Elliot the second highest-paid running back in the NFL. And he hasn’t said ‘yes.’ Who’s giving Ezekiel advice? He’s not in the last year of his contract; he has two years remaining. If he holds out the whole season, who’s going to trade for him or sign him to more money next year? If he plays this year and somehow he wins the league rushing title again and the Cowboys go a conference championship game for the first time in a quarter-century, wouldn’t he be in a much-better bargaining position?

This isn’t at all like Emmitt Smith holding out in 1993. Smith had only one year remaining on his current deal, he was a Super Bowl champion and MVP, and the Cowboys had the pieces around him to legitimately win another couple of titles. None of that is the case with Elliott. Ezekiel Elliot has been involved in more league investigations than playoff appearances.

And — people are forgetting this — after the Cowboys went 0-2 during Emmitt Smith’s holdout, he was in the best bargaining position imaginable. And the NFL’s all time greatest running back wound up signing the same deal the team had on the table all along.

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I feel like I have to remind people at least once a year that I am not a Cowboys fan. I stopped rooting for the Cowboys when Jerry Wayne fired Jimmy Johnson and replaced him with Barry Switzer at head coach. I am a Houston Texans fan. It’s like rooting for the JV. It’s brutal. I mean, how bad does your organization have to be if you’re an irrelevant football team in Texas? I cheer for the Texans as a protest against Jerry Wayne and to spite ridiculous Cowboys fans. And it’s terribly lonely. It’s awful. I’ve made the five-dollar bet every year with our Central youth minister — Tanner in the past, Josh now — that Houston will finish with a better record than Dallas. And I’ve won that bet four out of eight years. But they’re just as bad as Dallas. No divisional playoff wins. For almost two decades, the same level of success as the Redskins and the Bills.

Now Lamar Miller is out for the year after tearing his ACL on his first carry of the preseason and they’re refusing to pay Jadeveon Clowney. The only intrigue or suspense for me this year will be in which team, Dallas or Houston, goes 9-7 and which team goes 8-8. Just like last year. And the years before.

Peace,

Allan

Back to OC

We’re still two weeks away from classes beginning at Oklahoma Christian University, but we moved Valerie and Carley back to Edmond Saturday. Both of our younger daughters have leadership roles with OC’s annual orientation next week, “Earn Your Wings.” So they were going to get there early anyway. But Val needs to be there even earlier to attend training as a new residence director. Well, we’re not making two trips. So, they’re both in.

Valerie is in a different on-campus apartment with just one roommate — one of the perks of being a residence director. And Carley is sharing a dorm suite with a bunch of her buddies.

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, the whole thing has become a foregone routine. We eat dinner at Alfredo’s in Yukon Friday night on the way to my sister Rhonda’s house in Edmond, spend the night with Rhonda and her family, move the girls in at OC Saturday morning, eat lunch at The Garage, go shopping for the girls (trash cans, storage drawers, milk, bread, chips, ice-cream sandwiches), fill up their cars with gas, and be back in Amarillo before dark.

Valerie is a senior Youth Ministry major. She’s graduating in April with a Youth and Family Ministry degree and is in the beginning stages of looking for a full-time youth ministry gig. If you know of a Church of Christ that’s looking for a dynamic, hard-working, self-starting, female youth minister with a heart for young people, get in touch with Val right now. She’s going to be in high demand.

Carley is a sophomore Psychology major looking to complete her bachelor’s degree in under four years and earn her doctor’s degree from OSU or UT or some huge state school in less time than that.

Carrie-Anne is also starting back to school as the Culinary Arts Director at Canyon and Randall High Schools in the Canyon ISD. She’s in a brand new kitchen in a new building and will probably be living/teaching out of boxes for the first few weeks.

As for Whitney and me, we’re trying to squeeze in a couple of more Sod Poodles games before the season ends.

Peace,

Allan

Keith, Buddy Holly, and Ruckus

Church historian and theologian John Mark Hicks has published his recent review of my brother Keith’s latest book, The Letter and Spirit of Biblical Interpretation. Hicks presented the review during a 90-minute session at last week’s annual Christian Scholars’ Conference at Lubbock Christian University. In fact, three scholars presented their reviews and then Keith formally responded. I’m not sure how familiar you are with these kinds of things, but biblical scholars and academics frequently come together to exchange really long words and very dry humor.

Being that Lubbock is less than two hours south of Amarillo, Keith and I decided to make it a day. We took in the Buddy Holly museum together that morning and posed for the typical pictures. We enjoyed a great lunch together at Chuy’s — also very typical and expected. And then I was pleased to attend the session that honored Keith’s book in particular and his great work for the Church overall.

(There were just the two of us and no other visitors at the museum to take our pictures.)

Keith’s book explores the shift over the centuries from a “both/and” reading and interpreting of the Scriptures in which the scholar or exegete considers both the literal meaning of words and passages and the spiritual or metaphorical or allegorical meaning to an exclusively critical historical method in which the verses and passages can only mean today what they meant when they were written. Now, that’s an oversimplification — you have to read his book to get all the nuance of that. But Keith appeals to the Rule of Faith, the ancient creeds, as a guideline for biblical interpretation and application and he pushes for the recovery of the “both/and” methods that the Church employed for the first 1,500 years of Church history. It’s a good book. I recommend it. Although universities are using it as a text book, it’s not nearly as technical as his other works. It contains references to classic rock and movies and a very helpful illustration borrowed from The Simpsons. You can read this thing.

Hicks just posted the entire review on his blog here.

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Carley and I took in the Sod Poodles game last night with Greg and Bruce in Dale’s suite seats. And I shamed Carley into taking a picture with the team’s mascot, Ruckus. (There were other people there to help us take the pic.) Come on! How great is that?!

Peace,

Allan

March 2 in Oklahoma

Carrie-Anne and I are spending Texas Independence Day in the state of Oklahoma. The timing’s not great. I should be on Texas soil today, with Texans, breathing Texas air, listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan, eating tacos, and reading a Larry McMurtry book. We’re in a state today where the citizens are so proud of their heritage they declare on their license plates that their home is “OK.” Gives me chills.

It’s Spring Sing time at OC. Valerie’s in charge of Theta’s makeup, she’s singing and dancing on the front row of Theta’s patriotic show, and she’s helping Gamma Rho with their Grinch fingers.  Carley is Theta’s self-proclaimed “play-pusher.” I didn’t know what that was until she explained she’s the one who pushes “play” to start their soundtrack. My nephew Asa is in Delta and their lifeguard show is hilarious. We’re staying at my sister Rhonda’s house, getting caught up on family stuff, eating her homemade chili, and getting ready for the show and the awards tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, Happy Texas Independence Day from Oklahoma.

To scratch your Texas itch on this most wonderful of days, click here for a 601-word history of our great state. And, maybe, put another dozen or so slices of jalapeno in that chili.

Howdy,

Allan

Dak Prescott in Bad Company

What do Dak Prescott and Quincy Carter have in common? Well, going back to the end of last season, Dak has thrown for under 200 yards passing in each of the past five Cowboys games. The last time a Cowboys quarterback threw for fewer than 200 yards in five straight games was in 2003. That quarterback was Quincy Carter.

Oh, my.

Not only has Dak not broken the 200 yard mark in five consecutive games, he hasn’t done it in nine of the past eleven games.

Oh, no.

It’s not unfair to wonder if this Dallas offense is the worst in the league. Through three games the Cowboys are averaging 13.6 points and only 277 total yards of offense. Dak is averaging 145 yards passing per game, they’re converting less than 24-percent of their third downs, they’ve scored a total of just four touchdowns in those three games, and they’ve given up eleven sacks.

The Giants game was a fluke, not the opener in Carolina or last night’s sluggish loss in Seattle.

The offensive line is missing a piece or two and is nowhere near the “best line in the NFL” from a couple of seasons ago. Jason Witten is gone and Rico can’t even get on the field. You’re not going to win many games if Cole Beasley is your number one receiver. And if the running game’s not going, the passing game will never get out of the driveway. Scott Linehan has proven to be less than creative as an offensive coordinator and Jason Garrett’s never been known for making in-game adjustments. But the glaring thing, to me, is Dak Prescott. He’s not as good as we thought he was two seasons ago.

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A highlight of the annual ACU Summit for me is taking the Central students out for Sharkey’s burritos. Greg Dowell and I were blessed to share lunch last Monday with Chelsea, Josh, Kathryn, and Brooke. We talked together about their favorite teachers, their hot dates, and their parking stickers. We marveled at Chelsea’s double-major class load, Brooke’s landlording responsibilities, Kathryn’s enterprising creativity, and Josh’s unfortunate lime incident. And we shamelessly compared the Abilene Sharkey’s unfavorably to the Amarillo Sharkey’s. I’m so grateful that all it takes is a cheap lunch to get these kids to hang out with us for an hour.

We drove to OKC this past weekend to see Carley for the first time since she started classes at OC five weeks ago. She was performing in the school’s Freshmen Fanfare, something OC does, I think, to appease the freshmen who have to wait until they’re sophomores to pledge a club. As expected, Carley was super-animated, over-the-top with her Spring Sing face and her tasteful choreography. We didn’t see much of Valerie — she was training and working double weekend shifts at her new job, Ted’s Cafe Escondido! (Our whole family is so proud! Ted’s! A colossal achievement!) But we got to chill with the Bear, check in with her roommate, and meet some of her new friends. We also learned that Randy Roper’s kid can sing. Who knew?

Peace,

Allan

If You Had a Twitter…

My daughter, Carley, emails me every now and then with “If you had a Twitter…” in the subject line and a really funny meme or otherwise internet hilarity attached. I cannot resist sharing with you what she sent me today. If you have a Twitter, maybe you’ve already seen this. If not…

GUNS ‘N’ ROSES HAVE SURE MELLOWED OUT IN THEIR OLD AGE

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