Jack's Stuff

2005-11-28T08:21:00.000-05:00

So yesterday had to be one of the most intense NFL overtime games I've ever watched. Matt Webber and his Dad are hardcore New York Giants fans. The Giants are rallying in the fourth quarter and tie the game up with a two point conversion. On a critical thrid down, they stop the Seattle Seahawks and force them to punt the ball back with a minute left. Giants drive into Seahawks territory but miss a Game Winning fieldgoal and the game goes into overtime.

Now, NFL overtime rules are simple. It is sudden death. First person to score wins. The Seahawks win the coin toss and but do little on their drive and punt the ball to the Giants. Giants drive but miss a 40~ yard fieldgoal. Ouch. The air is so intense at the Webber's place. No one is talking besides Reggie. At anytime, the Seahawks could break a play down the field and get within fieldgoal range. It was back and forth with neither offense doing much but the Giants manage a 53 yard fieldgoal try that is short. Seattle would drive and get into Giant's territory dropping passes or stuttering and punt the ball. Seattle would throw strike deep on a 30~ yard pass and kick a fieldgoal with 2:45 left in overtime.

This had to be by far the most intense and emotional overtime game I've watched. Even though I'm not a huge fan of the Giants, the urgency of sudden death brings bigger consequences to each play. The endzone is no longer where the defense makes it's last stand. It's at 35 yards out where a 52 yard fieldgoal could end everything you have worked for up to that point. Every play counts now. Teams aren't waiting for third down to step up the game. Defenses are looking to make a stop before their opponent makes it into their territory. The Offense is scratching for a few yards at a time, knowing they have a shorter field to work with in Overtime.

This is what makes NFL overtime rules so climactic. I love College football's traditions and deep deep rivalrys but lose the sissy overtime rules. Both teams get a chance at the ball in overtime? When was overtime a whole new game? Overtime should be an extension of the regulation period. The teams already had 60 minutes to decide a winner. If you need MORE time because you never got the ball in overtime, you my friend need to play harder in regulation.

If when the game winning field goal goes threw the uprights as regulation expires, would you whine because you didn't have a chance at the ball in the last two minutes? Rarely are games lost solely in the fourth quarter alone. All games are 60 minutes. All games are won or lost in 60 minutes. Every coach goes back and thinks, "if we had converted more third downs" or "if we had won the turnover battle." Can't win the game in 60 minutes? Then it's time to see who can win under the most dire pressure situation.

On another note, I am pleased with that College finally adopted a video replay policy this season. My only gripe is there is NOT an official initiating and watching the replays in the booth. It's a replay "technician." Even though we can all be hard on officials, NO one knows the rules better than the guy with the white hat on. At least let HIM be able to look at the replays himself.

2005-11-22T00:38:00.000-05:00

So i have been kinda busy. I've been thinking about buying World of Warcraft, even though it's got a monthly fee. I've been kinda bored for a good RPG and Wow is probably the most replayable one out there. Blizzard is constantly updating it with new content and there is the new expansion coming. So who knows. I might have a new addiction soon. It's up to whether or not I want to pay that darn monthly fee.

2005-11-13T07:54:00.000-05:00

Typing before church, I'm also spying my Fantasy football lineup. I have two critical matchups. TJ Duckett against the Green Bay Packers and Donald Driver against the Atlanta Falcons. I can start B. Westbrook against the Dallas Cowboys or Jimmy Smith against the Baltimore Ravens. What crap matchups. Anyways. I gotta go. I'll type some more tonight.

2005-11-08T10:36:00.000-05:00

I'm so depressed that the Miami Dolphins lost again. This time to the Falcons. Come on, the Falcons!? We should have beaten them. But Gus Ferotte does his usual and throws a pick to kill our comeback drive. Come on. I've had some weird dreams recently. They are all kinda embarassing and would get me in serious trouble with my friends. I'll just leave it at that. I gotta stop eating all that spicy food before I eat.

I watched the Colts put on an offensive clinic against the Patriots. I sure hope the Dolphins get some success in the air against the Pats. I'm desperate to get out of this funk. It's just some depressing football weeks for me.

2005-11-04T15:30:00.000-05:00

I hate work right now. I just want to sleep and watch some espn. I'm off to work in 15 minutes. I work with Joel Ross today. That will be fun. I get to teach him everything I know about life, women, and........ no really.

2005-11-04T07:28:00.000-05:00

Today, well, I'm tired this morning. My legs are sore from Frisbee and Football. I scrimmaged with the Inturmural football team yesterday after ultimate frisbee. Playing mostly defense, it was a so so practice. Kevin is a gifted quarterback and a leader. The offense centers around him and I don't think it would run otherwise. Haha. Even with Kevin though, I was kinda dissappointed with all the dropped passes and miscommunicated routes. Ever dropped pass is a critical conversion and a critical momentum swinger. Seeing dropped passes is tough. When the offense practiced goalline plays, they converted on maybe 50% of the plays?? It's just two yards. The defense was even running with six people at one point.

Overall though, it was a fun time and a good practice. Matt had his catches and ran that slant well. I'm surprised Roach isn't playing wideout. He's got such sure hands.

Work meeting yesterday was a waste of time. The owner of Yazoo's, Chris, is a smart man but I feel everything he wanted to implement yesterday isn't going to work out. For starters, there is not one standard to follow. In a model business, there is a general manager or owner that runs the business a certain way. He has assistants that he teaches to run the business his way while he isn't looking. So everyone follows the standard of the owner. Chris, however, doesn't really have time to constantly groom his assistants so he ends up with two assistants running the business two different ways. Considering the margin of error he was expressing yesterday, I don't think the business is gonna run to expectations.

Another point. Most likely, there will not be new checklists, so everything he mentioned yesterday will all be forgotten. I think the statistic is we forget 80% of what was said to us in two days. In less than 12 hours, I don't remember half the stuff that was said in the meeting. Besides my mention of the need for a new broom, I dont' even know how much everyone else retained. I know from my experience at Zaxby's, basic business concepts are just forgotten unless it's taught. Another statistic. We retain 60% of what we read when we actually perform the task while we read it. Like cooking. I'll remember a reciepe almost perfectly if I was making it at the same time.

That's just my theory. I hope I'm wrong and everything goes as planned.

Football plays are the same way. It's one thing to look at the play drawn out on a white board. It's even better to actually line up and watch the play develop on the field. You learn to recognize the formation, recognize everyone's assignments, and recognize when to adjust.
Sorta like running plays against the scout team. You learn to recognize what defense they are running and know right away where the holes are because you ran against THAT defense so many times in practice. We humans are creatures of habit. I forgot who I am quoting...

2005-11-03T18:30:00.000-05:00

Just got back from Ultimate Frisbee. I'm typing this on Roach's computer. My team won both games in dominating fashions. The first game was to eleven and I think we won 11-8. All the sportscenter highlights were Matt webber getting the jump ball and Reggie catching in traffic. Reggie doesn't even jump that high. I always expect him to catch the ball even with four guys around him. It's just like nobody can throw his concentration off. Or it's just nobody is big enough to box him out. The only person that could defend him was Roach, who's a real ball hawk. I heard he was playing football without his glasses yesterday and still got an INT. I end up dropping like five passes to me. Kinda embarassing, but we got the W.

Next game was to 7. I got pushed in the endzone on one pass by Roach's roommate. It was a perfectly legal play. If this was NFL rules, it was legal. He pushed after I got the frisbee. So we got the TD by penalty. I'll take it. The second look I got in the endzone I let the frisbee right through my hands and it hit me in the brow. I'm just a laughing stock. I'm glad I get looks at all though. Rather play the game and take risks than sit the bench and pretend to play. I later wrestled IceTrey and won of course. It's all about that scratch in the W column.

Sports in general has taught me a lot about life. I know this is boring but it's my post and I get to ramble. They say it's better to have love and lost than to have never loved at all. Even if you suck, give it all you got and play hard. Everyone notices how you bounce back and stay confident. Playing as a cornerback is just like that. You can't win them all. Just come up with the ball when it counts. You can let them nickle and dime down the field. But on third down, all you need is that one play and all those yards they ate up on that drive = kick. All you need is that one play. On offense. You could be playing from behind all game. Just make one play. Catch one ball down the field. You gain that momentum. First down. You make a play and all the sudden one play turns into two plays. Everyone in the huddle starts to carry themselves. On that crucial thrid down, your left tackle buys the QB that extra step into the throw. You get one step on the lineback behind you. Touchdown. One step for that one win.

Today, I decided to get a digital camera. I have no pictures of anybody dear to me. I two panoramic pictures of the ministry back when I got baptized and homecoming the next year. I have a few pictures of Spencer and I when we went backpacking but otherwise I have no pictures of guys like Matt Brooks, Mike Simo, Paul G, Meade, Matt Webber, Roach, Richard, Eze, or anyone really. I just noticed that when I was looking at a picture Matt Webber had of Richard, Roach, Trey and him at Six Flags. I was thinking, I've been to Six flags before. But I have just memories. And I'm a bad story teller. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. That will make up for my crappy story telling skills.

Random thought. I wonder if Russell Tilman has told anyone that Viagra can cause sudden death.

2005-11-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

I'm up early reading my Bible, but I can' stop thinking about football. As I read Joshua, I'm think conjuring up images of a football team gathering around saying a prayer, "Protect this house." Who's gonna protect this house!?

Anyways. I'm buying a digital camera this week or next so I'll start taking pics like a madman. It's the new trend and I'm jumping on the band wagon. I've always been jealous of DH's logs and logs of pictures. And that beautiful round belly he use to have.

Ughhh, gotta read my Bible here otherwise I won't do it later on in the day. I just learned recently Catholic means "universal." I guess it was universal because it combines all the legalism of Judaism but still satisfies the New Testament concepts of following the "spirit of the law" (Math 15). I'm just speculating, knowing nothing about church history. I'm not even sure when the Catholic Church started. I'm guessing with the first Bishop of Rome, Pontifex Romanus, or Pope. The Top religious office in Rome was the Pontifex Maximus. I love Roman History.

I don't think the Christian world would use the title Pontifex Maximus for the Bishop of Rome because after the time of Peter, Rome was an Empire and was still very much a polytheistic state. They probably worshipped Octavious Augustus more than anything else. So God knows who the first pope was after Peter's time.

Looking it up on Google I find Saint Linus who is believed to be in the Bible! (2 Tim 4:21). Nothing is known about him though. That sucks. I was expecting some good reading. I also learn that the Pope DOES use the title Pontifex Maximus. That's kinda funny to me because the Pontifex Maximus(translates to greatest bridge-builder) was more of a political position than a religious figurehead. Sure he was the top religious officer of the Roman state. But it was because he was in charge of the bridges over the Tiber River. Since the Tiber River was considered sacred and it was where the founding fathers of Rome where found, the Pontifex Maximus got his sort of religious duties from those concepts I guess. He appointed all the lower priests for each God of Rome and appointed the Vestal Virgins, who are a legend of their own.

It's sad that I learned more about Roman History in my high school Latin classes than actual Latin. The Vestal Virgins were the priestesses of Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth. There were Six of them and they were usually the prettiest girls drawn from a lot of influencial Roman families. The Vestal Virgins were also, well, virgins. They were selected at age 6 and served 30 years (most chose to serve their whole life). Their primary duty was to keep the Fire of Vesta burning. If it burned out, and it did a few times, they were all executed. If they lost their chastity during their tenure, well, worse things happened. They were buried alive.

With all that, they did get the privaleges of being THE most powerful women in the Roman state, or possible the ancient world. For one reason, they could vote. Two, they could own property and sign legal binding documents. Three, they had ridiculous political power, like freeing slaves and pardoning criminals. The most Senior Vestal was almost like an oracle. Whatever she said was considered the will of Vesta. The Vestal Virgins also had their own reserved seats at all the banquests and usually served as a guest "master of ceremony" role. They also had their own escorts, traveled in a covered caravan and ALWAYS had the right of way. There is even one story of where a Vestal Virgin merely laid eyes on (looked in the general direction) a prisoner of war and the Roman General freed the prisoner to please the Goddess. If you married a former Vestal Virgin, well, you were one lucky fella.

Outside of this history lesson, I got football on my mind. Fantasy Football is really testing me this week with some poor matchups. If you never played Fantasy Football, it's all about the matchups. I got to decide between S Davis @ Tampa Bay or B Westbrook @ WAS. I'll probably wait til Sunday morning.

Well I'm done teaching kids. Good morning sunshine.