Category: Cowboys (Page 49 of 53)

Inappropriate Use of a Football Team

September 20, 2007 / Allan / 4 Comments

Terrell Owens got fined $7,500 by the NFL this week for what they’re calling “inappropriate use of a football.”

Jason Reeves knows a little about that.

When will the league fine Jerry Wayne for inappropriate use of a football team?

I’m afraid if Julius Jones gets hurt today in practice, the Cowboys will call O. J. Simpson. He should be out of jail any day now. Hey, if this Romo thing doesn’t work out, Michael Vick will be ready to go for 2009. You can inagurate the new stadium with a new quarterback. Why not?

The Cowboys’ signing of defensive lineman Tank Johnson is unexplainable and inexcuseable. In the past 18 months — which represents most of Johnson’s NFL career with Chicago — Johnson’s been arrested four times on gun charges and probation violation stemming from the gun charges. In a raid on Johnson’s suburban Chicago home, police found caged pit bulls and seized three rifles, a semi-automatic weapon, three handguns, and over 500 rounds of ammunition. In a scuffle with police in which officers used mace to help subdue him, Johnson is reported to have told one of the men, “You’re not the only one with a glock! If it weren’t for your gun and your badge, I’d kick your ___!” He was pulled over recently at 3:30 am on suspicion of drunken driving.

Nice.

Welcome to the Cowboys. Where character counts and integrity matters. Unless we’re really in a bind and you can really play ball.

Jerry Wayne made a pretty big deal about taking Johnson off their draft board in 2004 because of his character issues coming out of college. He openly bragged about it. We’re not going to bring in that kind of element. But as soon as Jason Ferguson goes down, Tank Johnson’s character is suddenly not a factor anymore.

It reminds me of the year I first started rooting against the Cowboys. Summer of ’96. Lots of player arrests. Lots of off-field issues. And Jerry Wayne threw down the gauntlet. No more tolerance. You break team rules, you’re gone. Kendall Watkins, a third-string tight end, was spotted at a Dallas bar Jerry had declared off limits. And he was canned the next day. Big headlines. News conference. Jerry bragging. Zero tolerance.

Less than two weeks later Michael Irvin’s busted in his drug and hit-man scandal. It’s all on tape! But Jerry says, “Michael’s family. Look at all he’s done for this organization. He’s family. He needs us to help him. We’re doing what’s best for him now. He doesn’t need us to throw him out. That’s not right. He needs us to love him and get through this together.”

And Jerry, yesterday, says he signed Tank Johnson because he believes in second chances.

It would be nice if Jerry would just say they signed Johnson this week because he can help give them some inside info on the Bears, Sunday night’s opponent. That would be sleazy. It would be underhanded. Skirting the rules. Flaunting the system. Breaking written and unwritten NFL policies.

And it would be much more palatable than what they’re actually doing.

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It’s great to be back in the office / study today here at Legacy. I missed everybody and felt strangely disconnected from things while we were in Abilene.

But what a great experience we had at the ACU Lectureships! I’ll have to talk more about all that tomorrow. Lots of observations and opinions I’ll share that, I’m sure, will spark plenty of theological reflection and discussion.

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Please be in prayer today for our oldest daughter, Whitney. Following a series of tests two weeks ago, doctors just told us yesterday morning that one of her optic nerves is swollen and they’re calling us in at 4:00 this afternoon for further tests. Her eyesight has been deteriorating in rapid and noticeable fashion over the past couple of months. She’s wearing bifocals now. And this swollen nerve issue may be the reason. We’re hoping this is something that can be fixed with little or no problem. She’s nervous and so are we. Your prayers on her behalf are very much appreciated.

Peace,

Allan

Ode To The Bear

September 10, 2007 / Allan / 3 Comments

It was eight years ago today, September 10, 1999, that God blessed our family with Carley Renae. In Wichita Falls. Our only child not born in Austin. The only one we knew was coming the day she came. An alarm clock woke us up at 7:00 that morning to drive to the hospital, not water breaking and painful contractions at 3am like with the other two. But the delivery took just as long. It wasn’t until after dinner that Friday evening, after we ran Granny and Grandpa and Gram and Gran-Gran and Pop-Pop and Aunt Pam out of the room that Carley made her first appearance. She just needed a little privacy. We thought maybe she was shy.

We were wrong.

There’s not a shy bone in Carley’s body. Never has been.

Carley’s been given plenty of nicknames in her eight years—that’s just part of being in our family, I think. Carl. Carley Sue. Gnarley (which Jimmy Mitchell took to the next level when he started calling her Gnarles Barkley). Little Bit.

But Carley has always been and will always be The Bear.

It began early in her life. She wouldn’t just cry when she needed something. She screamed. When she was wet. When she was hungry. When she wanted something. Anything. She would scream in a way the other two never screamed. Like she was furious. Carrie-Anne was the first one to call her a bear. And it stuck. It was her attitude and her angry screaming as a baby that started it.

But as it turns out, Carley is our most sensitive child. She cries at the drop of a hat, as often in reaction to the pain of others as for her own pain. And she is our most affectionate. She loves to hug and cuddle and play. She’s always grabbing our hands or jumping on our backs. She went from angry bear to cuddle bear in a hurry.

But we just call her Carley Bear.

Carley is a sweet, funny, outgoing, loud, compassionate little girl. She keeps us constantly entertained with her singing and dancing. She says exactly what’s on her mind, which also keeps us very entertained. She is a beautiful gift from our God. And she fills our lives with joy.

Happy Birthday, little girl. We love you.

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More questions than answers, I think, from last night’s Cowboys game. Understand, I do tend to see only the negatives with this team. In fact, I’m sure I’m actually looking for them. But aside from Jason Witten’s amazing performance, don’t a lot of things from last night’s win over the Giants concern you?

How long will Romo be able to keep throwing those wobbly side-arm balls in the NFL?

How long until Marion Barber does something in the heat of battle so incredibly dumb that he gets suspended for four games?

Yes, the Cowboys D is good against the run. But with that secondary, who needs to run? The Cowboys DBs made Eli to Plaxico look like Montana to Rice. Anthony Henry and Jacques Reeves are WAY overmatched. And, I’m sorry, Roy Williams is probably one of the top three or four most overrated players in the entire NFL. I would take Everson Walls right now over anybody else the Cowboys have—single kidney and yellow T-shirt and everything.

What is that extra little plastic strap around the back side of Wade Phillips’ headset?

The Giants lost their starting quarterback and their starting running back in a one-score game. We all realize that, right?

How many games can the Cowboys win, giving up 35 points on defense? And don’t say it’s OK if Dallas scores more. Dallas won’t.

And, as much as I hate saying this, Jerry Wayne’s new Pepsi commercial with Romo and Phillips is actually very funny. Jerry is running a very close second to Payton Manning for most completely over-exposed NFL personality. But that new Pepsi spot is pretty good.

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Finally (you Legacy brothers and sisters will appreciate my use of “finally” here), a word on change from C. Eric Lincoln, especially in light of our on-going conversations regarding small groups:

“A society or a community that is religiously alert will invariably react to whatever may be perceived as a religious innovation because whatever is new is perceived as an implied threat or contradiction to what has already been settled by history and confirmed by tradition. The ‘innovators’ seldom see their new doctrine or practice as innovation but are quite likely to find its justification, or indeed its roots or requirements, in precisely the ‘Old-time Religion’ to which all parties appeal as jus canonicum.”

We find our unity, our common ground, in whatever discussion we’re having, in the blood of Jesus Christ and his claim of Lordship over every segment of our lives. Our commonality is found in the Holy Word of God and in his mission for his Church. We can all agree on that.

Peace,

Allan

Be Holy Because I Am Holy

September 7, 2007 / Allan / 3 Comments

Our Children’s Minister at Legacy, Kipi Ward, is the one who mischievously taped the Jerry Wayne Papa John’s pizza ad to my office door. It didn’t take me long to figure it out. She and I share a common disgust for the way he acts in public. Look at the expression on his face. Click on the closeup shot on the right and look at how his leg is hiked up in the Heisman pose. Are you kidding me? The owner of the Dallas Cowboys is in his suit and tie, in all seriousness, striking the Heisman pose, to sell pizza.

Forget the pizza. Deliver me!

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I just returned to the office from speaking at chapel at Fort Worth Christian High School. A very pleasant fellow, Mark Weathers, invited me a few weeks ago. And I didn’t realize until just a few days ago that I was scheduled to speak the very morning of the Fort Worth Christian – Dallas Christian football game.

Very weird.

As we were chit-chatting in the foyer the bell rang and here they all came, a couple of hundred high school students in an overwhelming sea of Cardinal Red. All the football players wearing their jerseys, all the cheerleaders in their uniforms, all the pep squad in thier red shirts, and everybody else with some kind of red shirt proclaiming their spirit and allegiance to FWC. I turned to Mark and I said, “There’s no way they can know I graduated from DC.”

I captured their attention, I’m fairly sure, with a little joke about the football coach and lots of sports analogies during a brief message on commitment taken from King Asa’s life in 1 Kings 15. And it’s not like I was wearing my letter jacket or my high school ring. But it was very surreal. I felt like they all knew I was not one of them.

For most of my 40 years on this earth, Fort Worth Christian has been the enemy. Now, I find myself in a church family that meets less than two miles from the campus. Some of my best friends now, I’m finding out, were playing football and basketball at FWC the same time I was at DC. And now their kids are Cardinals. I’m playing hoops at the Cardinal gym once a week. I’m so disoriented. Paradigm shift. Worlds are colliding!

We’re having dinner tonight with Andrew and Stephanie Brownlow and their two wonderful little boys who spent most of Wednesday night trying to put a FWC ballcap on my head. And then we’re going to the ballgame together. At Fort Worth Christian. The last DC football game I attended, I was suited up. That was well over 20 years ago. But I’m starting to get butterflies again.

My junior year we snapped a four game losing streak to Fort Worth Christian 14-7 at our place. We commemorated that victory with a special patch on our jackets. My senior year we beat the Cards on their field 63-14. The first team only played the first series of the third quarter and then we had the rest of the night off. I predict a similar outcome tonight. In fact, I predict the same score: DC 63-14.

I further predict that I will not be sporting any body paint tonight.

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For those of you who care (mom and the other two), the swelling has gone down a little but my nose is still very sore and very crooked. And I’m a little worried about the discrepancy in nostril size. Suddenly, I’m not concerned about popcorn lung anymore.

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“You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.” ~Leviticus 20:26

The greek word Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 and 4:7 is “hagiosmos.” It means a process leading to a state of holiness or holiness as the end result of a process. Either way, Paul is communicating a process. Continual conformity to God’s character. Becoming exactly like God.

And sometimes we distort this a little bit. We think of holiness strictly as separation from the world or separation from our culture. Paul’s idea of holiness is fundamentally a different concept. His is all positive. Holiness is a process of becoming more and more like our God who’s chosen us and who saves us.

Now, modeling ourselves after God does require some separation from things that don’t please him or things that conflict with his holy character. But to overemphasize or only emphasize the idea of separation hides or ignores the primary aspect of sanctification.

It is multi-faceted. You can view holiness as the gift God gives us at baptism. You can see it as a future goal to be realized on that last day when Jesus comes back to take us to Heaven. You can view it as an on-going journey. It’s past, present, and future. It’s all of that. It’s a one word summary of God’s will for his children.

And as God’s children, it’s our calling.

“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” ~1 Thessalonians 4:7

Peace,

Allan

Consider It Pure Joy…

August 31, 2007 / Allan / 6 Comments

Going back briefly to our conversation about the sacred and the profane from last week, allow me another observation. Have you seen Jerry Wayne’s latest Papa John’s Pizza commercial?

I was so shocked and appalled that I replayed it two times last night to make sure I was really seeing what I was seeing: the owner of the Dallas Cowboys in outrageously exaggerated Cowboys pajamas and slippers, cuddling and carressing the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl trophy and, in his sleep, comparing the greatness of winning an NFL Championship with eating a Papa John’s pizza. Here’s the commercial if you haven’t seen it yet.

You would not use a communion tray as a spitoon, a baptistry for a hot tub party, or the worship center to screen a rated-R mobster flick. And you certainly would never use the Super Bowl trophy to sell pizza in your pajamas! The man has no shame. No dignity. It’s embarrassing. I’m convinced there’s nothing — NOTHING — he won’t do for money.

You just thought Ameriquest Field was a horrible name for the Ballpark in Arlington. Brace yourself.

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According to the Religious Liberty Commission 200-million Christians today live with serious persecution: threatened with prison and violence for their faith. An additional 400-million face “non-trivial restrictions to their freedom and the loss of many basic human rights, simply because they choose to love and follow Jesus.”

Nina Shea, the director of the Freedom House Program on Religion, claims “Christians are in fact the most persecuted religious group in the world today, with the greatest numbers of victims.”

More than a few sources confirm there were more Christians killed — martyred — for their faith in the 20th century than in the first 19 centuries combined.

I’m not sure how we relate to this. Our own persecutions, if we have any at all, don’t even register a blip compared to this. I’m humbled and hurt by the realization that our brothers and sisters with whom we unite in our worship to God and in our communion around his table are being persecuted in ways we can never imagine. Millions and millions of our brothers and sisters are being persecuted.

Why aren’t we?

Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:12 that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted.

Why aren’t we?

Is it because we live in the United States? Is it because we’re lucky?

As we get into 1 Thessalonians 3 this Sunday at Legacy we’ll notice that first century Christians were persecuted because they lived in a way that threatened the culture. The values of the believers starkly contrasted the values of their neighbors.

They lived in an intolerant pagan empire. We live in a tolerant pagan empire.

The god of the Roman Empire was the emperor. And if you didn’t burn incense to the emperor, you were arrested. One of the gods of our empire is nationalism. And I wonder why we take our hats off for the National Anthem at a football game but we cringe when somebody wants to say a prayer before dinner at Chili’s. Our other god in the U.S. is consumerism. And I wonder why so many of us spend 10 or 20 times more on gadgets and technology and entertainment than we give to the church. First century Christians were persecuted because they stopped attending the civic feasts. But if our kids have a ball game or we have another type of civic event to attend, we’ll skip our own church assembly to be there and not even blink. Actors who became Christians quit the theater because the plays all presupposed the existance and activity of pagan gods. And I wonder about the movies we watch and the music we listen to that glamourize our nation’s gods of sex and violence and greed.

I’m not trying to beat us up. I just want us to think.

Michael W. Holmes says, “Christians in the United States are in greater danger of being seduced by non-Christian cultural values than of being persecuted by them.” It’s a very subtle thing. And we need to be aware of the devil’s schemes.

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We’re heading out to Liberty City in East Texas this afternoon to spend the evening and most of the day tomorrow at my parents’ house with Geoff and Rhonda and their three kids from Edmond and Keith and Amanda and their three kids from Searcy. Brent and Sharon and their two kids are busy with school stuff and a 25th wedding anniversary party, so we won’t see them much. But I do love having the whole family together like this. I’m very much looking forward to it. It seems that everytime we’re together — and it’s not nearly as often as it should be — we laugh and laugh and laugh until it hurts.

Growing up, we all lived in the same part of East Dallas. We went to church together and had meals together all the time with our grandmother and all the uncles and aunts and cousins. Most of our stories and laughter today stem from those days of all being together as a family when we were kids. And today we’re so spread out, separated in three different states, 5-7 hours away from everybody. Our children can’t wait for weekends like this to be with their cousins because they only happen two or three times a year. I regret it. And I don’t know what to do about it. It seems all our families are like this now.

If your family is still all together in the same area, count your blessings. Don’t take that for granted. It’s becoming increasingly rare.

I’m blessed to be in such a loving and caring family, united by our common love for each other and our common faith in God through Jesus. And I can’t wait to see everybody tonight.

Peace,

Allan

School Bells, Dot Races, and .500 Ball

August 27, 2007 / Allan / 5 Comments

The Dallas City Council held an emergency meeting this morning and agreed to postpone the plans for a Cowboys Super Bowl parade. At least for a couple of weeks. Good for them. Everybody back down to earth a little bit now? I find it enormously amusing to hear everyone from Wade Phillips to Tony Romo and Marcus Spears point to the Houston crowd as being a big factor in the preseason loss Saturday night. What?!? If the Texans crowd in a non-conference preseason game in August is a problem, how in the world do they plan to handle the partisans in Philly and New York in division games in November?

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Two Green Valley Gators and a Northridge Wildcat.

Our girls all started school today: Whitney in 8th grade, Valerie in 5th, and Carley in 2nd. Whitney was very apprehensive and even a little unsteady this morning with getting her schedule and lockers and books and finding the classrooms. But Valerie and Carley were, as always, ready to go. I’m anxious to hear how their first day went. I’m sure we’ll celebrate by going out to eat together this evening and listening to all the stories.

My dad, the whole time we were growing up, woke us up on the first day of school every single year by singing “School bells! School bells! Dear old golden rule bells!” at the top of his lungs all through the house. It would irritate us so much. And it would get more obnoxious and loud every year, and our protests against it would be louder and more demonstrative, so that it developed into one of those things that we expected and counted on and — maybe — even looked forward to with a twisted kind of delight. It was extremely corny. And I’ve sung it to my girls on the first day of school now every single year since Whitney first went to Kindergarten 8 years ago. And they act the same way we did as kids. And I’m afraid I act the same way dad always did. Family traditions are very powerful ways to connect us to our past and give us and our children a real sense of history and belonging to something bigger than ourselves. The exact same things can be said about church and faith traditions. Maybe I will. Later.

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65 of us from the Legacy Church, mainly teens and their families, attended the Mercy Me concert and Texas Rangers game at the Ballpark Saturday night. What a great evening of fellowship and worship and baseball. Singing “I Can Only Imagine” with my girls and the band. Paying more for the hamburgers and french fries than I did for the tickets. A three run homer in the taco inning. Explaining to Nick that it’s not cool to say you picked the right color in the dot race when you’re holding all three. Listening to Hooper and Fleming argue about obscure SEC football players from the ’80s. That cup of cold water NOT given in Jesus’ name (Thanks, Enger!) A great view of Jerry Wayne’s new stadium. Bott’s throw. Laird’s bunt. And a Rangers win. What a great night!

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There are only three more days until football season begins with eleven college games on Thursday. And if we have a punter on the list in the countdown, we’ve got to have a kicker. Al Del Greco played for 18 years in the NFL, most of those seasons in Houston with the Oilers. He’s the Oilers’ all-time leading scorer. He holds the NFL record for most consecutive games with a score. He holds the top two NFL marks for most PATs in a row. And he’s one of only four Houston Oilers to ever score 100 points in a season along with Earl Campbell. George Blanda, and Tony Zendejas of the Flying Zendejas Brothers. 21 of Del Greco’s 347 career field goals came from 50 yards out or more. Jan Stenerud, Bronko Nagurski, and old Darryl Lamonica receive honorable mention. But I love those old Oilers. And Al Del Greco was automatic.

Yesterday’s #4 is Brett Favre, whose first NFL completion as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was to himself off a deflection. He’s the NFL’s only three-time MVP. He’s never lost a regular season game in temperatures colder than 35-degrees. He took the Packers to two Super Bowls, beating the Patriots and losing to Denver. And he started his career in Atlanta with the Falcons as a second round pick out of Southern Miss. In that one season in Atlanta, he appeared in two games and went 0-5 passing with two interceptions. I love the way Brett Favre plays. I love watching him. It’s either disaster or brilliance, nightmare train wreck or poetry in victory. Either way, it’s exhilirating. Reggie Roby gets a well-deserved honorable mention. But I think we’re way over the quota now on kickers and punters.

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And finally, here’s what you’ve been waiting for: my game by game predictions for the Dallas Cowboys 2007 NFL football season.

Sep 9 v. Giants: It’s the only division game before the bye-week in late October. It’s at home. It’s the season opener. And it’s on Sunday night national TV. It’s Tom Coughlin’s coach-friendly boot camp training style against Wade Phillips’ player-friendly summer camp style. Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer have huge games receiving against the Cowboys’ suspect secondary. But Eli Manning fumbles in the Giants’ end zone late for a safety and Dallas wins by one, 18-17.

Sep 16 @Miami: Terrell Owens spends the Saturday night before the game at a party at Shaq‘s house on Miami Beach. Things get out of control when T. O. calls Dwayne Wade a goody-two-shoes and O’Neal actually puts on his Dade County Sheriff’s Office uniform and arrests the Cowboys wideout. Stephen Jones bails Owens out of jail at 2am. But the distractions prove to be too much. Zack Thomas and Jason Taylor crowd the box, stuffing the Cowboys run game and sacking Tony Romo four times in a 33-13 Dolphins win. Trent Green looks like Bob Griese (in a good way). Wade Phillips claims they lost the game on purpose to motivate them for the Bears next week.

9-23 @Chicago: If the road to the Super Bowl goes through Chicago, the dream is over. The Cowboys get rolled 34-6. Carrie Underwood has stopped returning Tony Romo‘s calls and has been seen lately with Kameron Loe. Wade Phillips, for the first time this season, tells the media his defense “isn’t hitting the gaps.”

9-30 v.Rams: Jerry Jones‘ new commercial for Motorola in which he wears black tights and sings Blondie’s “Call Me” inside the Alamo is the talk of the players and reporters at Valley Ranch. But it doesn’t seem to be too big of a distraction. Now that Bill Parcells is gone, it’s just Jerry back to being Jerry. Back at Texas Stadium, the Cowboys find their groove against St. Louis. Marc Bulger throws three interceptions and fumbles twice and Dallas wins 24-10.

10-8 @Buffalo: The trade between the Bills and the Cowboys that netted Dallas Drew Henson and made J. P. Losman the starter in Buffalo looks like a wash. Dallas wins a boring matchup 17-14 to get to 3-2 on the season. The biggest news of the week comes when Bill Parcells and Keyshawn Johnson make light of Emmitt Smith‘s “Dancing With the Stars” victory on ESPN’s pre-game show. Emmitt reminds Tuna and Me-shawn that, between the three of them, that’s the only championship that’s been won in the past ten years. For the first time in recorded history, both Parcells and Keyshawn are speechless at the same time. The earth shifts just a little on its foundation.

10-14 v.Patriots: After scoring a first quarter TD, New England receiver Randy Moss runs to the star on the 50-yard line at Texas Stadium to celebrate. Terrell Owens laughs. George Teague, watching the game in his living room in Wylie, drives to Irving and clotheslines Moss on the sidelines late in the fourth. Bill Belichick is taken to Parkland Hospital for dehydration. The gray hooded sweatshirt in the 95-degree Texas sun wasn’t a good idea. Pats win it easily 28-12.

10-21 v.Vikings: Cowboys win big. You and I could give the Vikings a good game.

The Cowboys enter the bye-week at 4-3, very much in the thick of things in the “competitive” NFC. Bad news comes when Leonard Davis snaps a hamstring stepping over a sock on the floor in his bedroom. Julius Jones expresses concern with the big fella out. Marion Barber calls Julius a baby. Here we go.

11-4 @Philadelphia: Not a good start to the heart of the division-heavy portion of the schedule. The Cowboys get blown out by the Eagles 43-14. Julius Jones averages 1.1 yards for his 26 carries and a fumble. Marion Barber picks up 8.2 yards per carry on 6 runs, including both Dallas touchdowns. The Dallas Morning News reports that several “veteran players” say they miss Bill Parcells. Tony Romo calls Troy Aikman and asks if he still has Lorrie Morgan’s phone number.

11-11 @Giants: The secondary situation can’t get any worse. Eli Manning tried to throw the game away. But the Dallas defensive backs can’t catch anything. Roy Williams and Jacques Reeves both drop easy picks. And the Giants win a close one 21-17. In a desperate move, while they’re in New York, Jerry Jones signs free agent Alex Rodriguez to play cornerback. Derek Jeter actually drives A-Rod to the airport. But the deal falls through when Rodriguez insists on bringing his own equipment manager, massage therapist, and chef.

11-18 v.Redskins: In a move designed to stop the losing streak, Wade Phillips starts Brad Johnson at quarterback. And the plan works. Johnson doesn’t attempt a single pass in the 48-7 romp. Julius Jones and Marion Barber combine for 270 yards on 63 carries (Jones: 49-11 yards; Barber: 14-259 yards).

11-22 v.Jets: Thanksgiving Day. In an effort to retire while on top and “walk away on my own terms,” Brad Johnson has announced his retirement this week following the win over Washington. Tony Romo gets his starting position back and Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett is named his backup, all in a short work week. The Jets win 24-17. Wade Phillips ends his post-game news conference by screaming “They’re not hitting the gaps!!”

11-29 v.Green Bay: This Thursday night game is televised by the NFL Network. So my dad, who lives in East Texas and doesn’t have cable, is staying with us tonight so he can watch it. He keeps asking me if I think Brett Favre is going to return for the Packers next year. My mom keeps talking about Bart Starr. I can’t concentrate. The Cowboys win 23-14.

12-9 @Detroit: Marion Barber has shaved his head, figuring that’s the only way Jerry Jones will allow Phillips to make him the starter over Julius. It works. And Dallas runs all over the Lions 38-9. Matt Millen’s record now as the Lions’ General Manager is 25-78. It’s a joke. He could drive a Honda to work and the Ford family would still keep him.

12-16 v.Philadelphia: At 7-6, Dallas needs this win to secure a playoff spot and eliminate the Eagles from the postseason. Philly coach Andy Reid tells his squad he’ll wear spandex to the team Christmas party if they hold Terrell Owens without a catch. As a precaution, Under Armor hires 75 new seamstresses and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hires four new consultants. The Eagles win a dogfight (can we still say that nowadays?) 14-10.

12-22 @Carolina: Following the Packers game, my dad decided to stay through the holidays so he could watch this snoozer against the Panthers, also on the NFL Network. Carrie-Anne and I decide to buy dad a cable package for Christmas. Carolina wins it 21-17.

12-30 v.Redskins. The Cowboys always beat the Redskins.

Add it up. 8-8. No playoffs. You heard it here first.

Peace,

Allan

Sacred Space, Last Part

August 23, 2007 / Allan / 4 Comments

Allow me to comment on a couple of your comments, attempt to sum up my thoughts at this point, and then get to some Rangers and Cowboys:

I’m sure Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, not because they were making change, but because they were ripping people off. They were using their position to exploit the position of others and taking advantage of those who had no recourse and no way to defend themselves. However, having said that, Jesus goes on to quote the prophets when he declares that his house should be a house of prayer.

This whole thing with sacred space doesn’t have to be about money. It just has to be about recognizing things that are sacred and working to keep them that way, recognizing what worship space is for and what it’s not for. Of course, Christ’s Lordship claims all of creation. All things are sacred to Christ. God’s work through Jesus is to redeem all things back to him. And so we don’t just need to concentrate on the physical parts of our church buildings. Even more, we must apply those same principles to our daily and hourly lives.

There is a genuine tension here, not unlike the tensions we find throughout our Holy Scriptures. The Kingdom of God has come and the Kingdom of God is coming. We’re adopted as children of God and we’re groaning as we await our adoption as God’s children. We’re in the world and separate from the world. That “right now and not yet” tension is not unlike this question of sacred space.

My great friend Jim Gardner contributes this insightful gem in an email:

“What is undeniable to me is that people, created in God’s image, are the apex of God’s noble purpose and, as such, communities of faith that are serious about their calling should place their investment into causes that advance the reign of God in the hearts of people. That more often happens in the 165 hours each week we are away from the facility than it does in the three hours we inhabit the facility.”

True.

In the temple courts and house to house. Both. There’s a Scriptural description of both.

Last thing and most important thing: let’s just recognize and be aware that basketball goals and big screens and chairs and walls and paint color are not neutral. It all communicates something. Everything communicates something. Those things may communicate different things to different people depending on their experiences. But all things communicate ideas and shape perspectives and provoke expectations. Nothing’s completely neutral.

Here’s the bottom line. you wouldn’t use a gold-plated tray for BOTH communion and for spitting out your wad of chew. You wouldn’t use the font for BOTH baptisms and hot tub parties. And you wouldn’t use our worship space BOTH for praising God and for screening “Godfather.” We recognize that those lines are there. And we also understand that different people will draw their lines at different places for different things. We just need to be aware that, indeed, those lines do exist. And those things need to be thought through and talked about by church leaders, not ignored. We shouldn’t behave as if it doesn’t matter.

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It was 14-3 when Whitney and I left for a quick bite at Whataburger before Bible class last night. It was 23-3 when Bible class began. And then we got home and learned that the Rangers had defeated the O’s 30-3. A modern Major League record. An all-time American League mark. And it immediately got me thinking: how many games this year will the Cowboys score 30 points? What’s the over-under on that? I’d put it at two. And I’d take the under. Along those same lines, the folks in Baltimore were thinking the same kinds of things. The NFL Ravens, who play across the street from the Orioles, haven’t given up 30 points in a game since the 12th week of 2005. It was funny watching the highlights last night as even the Baltimore fans were cheering for Texas as the score climbed into the upper 20s. As long as we’re getting scorched, we may as well break a record! It’s like cheering for the losing team with a no-hitter on the line in the 8th. At some point you find yourself rooting for the opponent just for a chance to see history.

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I was watching an interview with Cowboys coach Wade Phillips last week. And he was asked, as he is almost every day, what he expected out of his team this year. Record-wise. He replied, “I just want to get the best out of the players we have.” He went on to explain that they could have a losing mark this year and, if his players all played up to their maximum levels of expectation, they would still consider it a successful season.

If his players all met the highest expectations, the coach still doesn’t know if they would have a winning or a losing season? It sounds like the coach doesn’t know what he has. Or maybe he’s just overly downplaying things on purpose to manage expectations.

New Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Brian Stewart was also asked last week what it takes to be a great defense. And Stewart said it takes three things: no injuries, players playing up to their potential, and luck. According to his criteria, he and the coaches and players have little or no control over two-thirds of what it takes to be great. Now, are they just managing expectations or are they setting themselves up for later when this team stinks?

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There are just seven more days until football season. One week from tonight we’ll have eleven college football games, some of them on TV, including the nightcap highlight SEC tilt from Starkville where Mississippi State hosts LSU. Seven more days until the games that count. And the greatest football player to ever wear #7 is John Elway.

At Stanford, Elway never went to a bowl game and lost more games than he won. Although he did hit .321 for the Cardinal baseball team. But he wound up in the College Football Hall of Fame. And that can only be based on the fact he’s the winningest quarterback in NFL history. Which is weak. But, whatever.

Elway was the Colts top pick and the number one draft pick overall in 1983. But he refused to play in Baltimore and wound up in Denver where he played 234 games in 16 years and led the Broncos to six AFC Championship Games, five Super Bowls, and two Super Bowl wins. He went to the Pro Bowl nine times. He was the NFL MVP in 1987 and the Super Bowl MVP in ’99. He’s the only QB in history to pass for 3,000 yards and run for 200 in seven consecutive seasons. He passed for over 51,000 total career yards with 300 TDs and ran for another 3,407 with 33 rushing touchdowns. Elway’s actually the 5th leading rusher in Broncos history. And he could lead a comeback. 47 times Elway took the Broncos on a game-winning or game-tying drive in the fourth quarter or overtime. 46 of those times were against the Cleveland Browns. Or at least it seems that way. Of course, detractors would say he wouldn’t need all those comebacks if he didn’t get his team so far behind at the start. The man did throw 226 career interceptions.

I prefer the old AFL style Orange Crush uniforms seen here and here over the current look seen here and here. And the cheesy look seen here.

Morton Anderson gets an honorable mention. But Elway’s the best ever #7.

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I’m sick of the forced banter between Dale Hansen and new Channel 8 weatherman Pete Delkus. I’ve been watching WFAA TV since before I can remember. But last night I turned it off. For those two to talk about their sex lives and make fun of each other’s sex lives and joke about Viagra and who can and who can’t and then drag the other two news anchors into it is just too much. It’s juvenile, sophomoric, and completely inappropriate. How do they keep any news credibility or legitimacy about them? It’s embarrassing.

I think I’m switching to Fox 4. Possibly 11.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Cowboys (Page 49 of 53)

Inappropriate Use of a Football Team

Ode To The Bear

Be Holy Because I Am Holy

Consider It Pure Joy…

School Bells, Dot Races, and .500 Ball

Sacred Space, Last Part

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