Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

Let me say up front I’m a life long Alabama Crimson Tide fan. I have no stake in this year’s NCAA football BCS Championship because the TIDE stunk this year. But this year has been wild with all of the # 1’s and # 2’s losing week after week. THE POLLS AP & Coaches stink!

This week Missouri and West Virginia #’s 1 & 2 went down leaving Ohio State @ #3 and Georgia @ # 4. The logical progression is #’s 3 & 4 would move up to #’s 1 & 2, right? NOOOOOO! The NCAA and the media have their darlings. So LSU who lost to Arkansas just a week ago at home and barely beat lowly Tennessee jumps from # 5 to # 2 over Georgia. Something is fishy!

Could it be because Mark Richt is a fine man of morality (he is an outspoken believer) and doesn’t go tooting his own horn? I am definitely not an Auburn fan but a few years ago they got ripped off when they went undefeated and didn’t get a shot at the National Championship. It is time to take the Championship out of the hands of the RUSSIAN judges and put it on the field.

The NCAA is a farce. They pick and choose which rules they want to enforce. They put Oklahoma and Alabama on probation for something their administrations had nothing to do with. But Southern Cal and Tennessee can pay players and get a slap on the hand. Show some consistency. Georgia is getting robbed! Those student athletes competed by the rules and what does it get them? I’m sick of this. It is time for the NCAA to go.

What do you think?

41-17  ROLL TIDE! 

[NBC 5]

Aggravated assault charges have been filed against a church deacon and a University of Oklahoma Sooners fan after officials say he grabbed a University of Texas fan between the legs during a scuffle in an Oklahoma bar. A couple of months before the annual Red River Shootout between the Sooners and Longhorns, words were exchanged at Henry Hudson’s Pub between a Sooner fan/deacon and a Longhorn fan. Witnesses said it was because Longhorn fan was wearing a UT T-shirt.

The church deacon makes his living as a government auditor and had gone to the bar that night for one reason — to play darts.

Read about it here.

[From me]

Darts? They don’t have a dart board in the Family Life Center?
This sounds like a great joke. I’m just glad it didn’t happen between Bama and Auburn. Truth is better than fiction.

[HT] Monk in Training

[From Christian Post]

More than 100 faculty members at Iowa State University have signed a petition opposing the football coach’s plan to make a chaplain an official member of the team staff.

Coach Gene Chizik, hired last November, wants to hire a chaplain who would be paid by private donations. ISU athletic director Jamie Pollard supports the plan because he contends student-athletes are under a lot of pressure and need access to spiritual guidance.

“Are you going to have counseling for Jewish students? Muslim students? There’s no such thing as one religion or one version of Christianity,” said Dr. Hector Avalos, a professor of religious studies at ISU.

Read about it here.

[From me]

As much as I hate to agree with the professors, they make a valid point.  What if the coach was a Muslim and brought in a Muslim Chaplain?  I wouldn’t want that either.  My brother-in-law, David was on staff with Athletes in Action (part of Campus Crusade for Christ) for many years in Columbia, SC.  Lou Holtz made David his chaplain for the Gamecocks his first year there but he wasn’t paid by USC.  David raised his own support though Athletes in Action.

I don’t think we can have it both ways.  I’m trying my best to be consistent.   I think it is great that Coach Chizik is open to a Godly influence on his team, I just don’t think it should be a state sponsored position.

What do you think?

Alabama’s basketball program is headed in the right direction under Head Coach Mark Gottfried. We are ranked pre-season Top 15 and in some polls top 10.

The football program is headed south. I like Mike Shula, but I just don’t think he will make it. Congrats to Mississippi State on the victory. But Bama has way too much talent to lose that game. Butch Davis, I would wait before going to Chapel Hill, Tuscaloosa will give you much more $$!