Happy Birthday, J-Roo & Nathan-Yahoo

They are out there on the road to Iowa somewhere today, but Happy Birthday greetings go out to eldest daughter Jerusalem and her hubby Nathan.

Nathaniel's birthday was yesterday (September 27). As far as I know and can see he has been a good husband to our daughter, and a great dad to our grandsons. If he hasn't, Big Ups to Jerusalem for not broadcasting it! And BIG UPs to Nathan for fathering those boys ... our only grandchildren ... so far (hint hint to other parties who need to get married and/or get pregnant!). Hope the Iowa gigs are lots of fun, Nathan. Your in-laws love you.

Jerusalem's birthday is tomorrow (September 29), a date she shares with her youngest uncle, my brother Tim. The first of our four children, she was a $25 Air Force baby born in New Jersey, of all places, and a genius from the day she was born, mature beyond her years from the start, the child we treated least like a child. What a super wife, mother, and businesswoman! You may not be too sure of it, Jeru, but your parents think you turned out great! And, oh yeah, thanks for having the grandbabies! We love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS, kiddoes!

Fantasy (Nightmare) Update #3

MLB: The championship round lasts 2 weeks. We compete in 10 categories. I've trailed by 1 or 2 from the start. I edged ahead 4-3 last night, but so far tonight my hitters are 0 for 9, and now i trail 4-3. Need a strong finish over the next 4 days to win my first baseball championship.

NFL: Oh, man. I don't think I've ever had such a weekend. No wins, 1 tie, 5 losses. 0-1-5. How ugly is that? Drew Brees, who got me 1 point in week one, got me MINUS 1 point in week three. MINUS ONE! My unique rosters idea isn't going so well... so far.

College Football: Thank heavens for Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. Even though the Hogs took it on the chin from Kentucky -- Kentucky! -- the Dynamic Duo led my team to victory. Still undefeated, 4-0.

Fantasy Update #2

A mixed week in my fantasy leagues.

MLB: My CBS Sports team led most of the week, then my hitters stopped hitting when the weekend arrived and my opponent pulled away, so I lost in the semi-finals. My 6th-seeded Yahoo team faced the 2nd seed in the semi-finals and we tied 5-5 -- but I won on the tie-breaker, with a better ERA. I'm in the championship round this week against the 4th seeded team, which upset the top seed.

NFL: I went 1-5 for the weekend! A couple of close games, a couple of blow-outs. So I have one team that is 2-0, one that is 1-1, and 4 that are 0-2. I've deliberately challenged -- and handicapped -- myself by requiring that I have completely unique rosters on all 6 teams, denying myself the ability to have any great player on more than one team. So far, it's tough sledding. At least I got 15 points from Drew Brees this week instead of one -- but I still lost that game by 7. I need some plop plop fizz fizz!

College Football: Won again, thanks to Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. Although the Hogs lost at Alabama, we still ran wild and piled up the RB stats. I'm 3-0.

And he's gone!

Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears had another amazing punt return for a touchdown in yesterday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs. I was hoping there would already be a YouTube video of it I could post here, but it hasn't shown up yet. It was Hester's 8th TD return of a punt or kickoff in the NFL, including his first-play feat in the 2007 Super Bowl.

Describing it just doesn't do it justice, of course. If you see one of the numerous replays on TV, watch #22 (Dimitri Patterson) of the Chiefs, bottom left of your screen. He's one of the outside "gunners" and as he sees Hester cutting to the far sideline away from him, he makes a tremendous adjustment, reversing his field and taking an angle to cut Hester off. He makes one false step, readjusts his angle, and it looks like he will make a shoestring tackle. He bears down on Hester, who hasn't even glanced in his direction. Hester is intent on staying in-bounds, his eyes straight ahead, looking at the sideline, the players in front of him, the path to the end zone. As Hester approaches mid-field, Patterson moves in for the kill, diving full-out for Hester's legs -- incredibly Hester senses Patterson's diving tackle and alters his gait, lifting his feet higher, and jumping over Patterson's outstretched hands! And he's gone! Another 50 yards later, Touchdown!

Patterson made a great play, Hester made a greater play, an amazing flash of athletic excellence, reminding us again -- "it's a game of inches."

Wanna see it? You have to make a little effort. Go to the Chicago Bears website here: http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/multimediapopup.asp?mm_file_id=915&play_clip=Y#. Now use the search feature at the bottom and search for Devin Hester, then choose the September 16 highlights file. It's the 3rd play in these highlights. Watch the feet! Enjoy!

Fantasy Update #1

MLB: My 6-seed team won against the 3-seed in one of my baseball leagues to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs, where I face the 2-seed now. This is the first week of the playoffs in my other league, and I have a slim lead after one day's play.

NFL: I won 2 and lost 4 in the first week of play. Tony Romo was The Man. Drew Brees got 1 point. ONE point. The losses weren't close. I have work to do.

College Football: I'm 2-0. I have a pretty awesome team, led by the Arkansas Razorback running backs, the Louisville Cardinals quarterback, and the LSU defense.

Think of how much time I would save if there were no such thing as sports.... Ha Ha!

Diana Krall - Why Should I Care?

OMIGOSH! Now I'm YouTube-ing and cross-blogging! Will this cyberspace addiction never end??? Oh well, enjoy my favorite Diana Krall song.

Fantasy Island

The Playoffs!
The Playoffs!

I confess, I'm a fantasy sports fan. I wouldn't call myself a fantasy nut, but I've definitely made a commitment. If you sign up to play you owe it to the other guys (and gals) in your league(s) to pay attention and stay active. I hate it when people don't even show up for the draft, and/or lose interest and quit actively participating. The fun is staying committed, even if you have a bad season.

I started with Fantasy Football two seasons ago after few years of resistance. Last year I added basketball, and this year I did fantasy baseball for the first time. I've had my share of stinkers, but overall I've done pretty well, I think. Last year, I won two of my six NFL leagues, and this year I've made the playoffs in both my MLB head-to-head leagues. (I'm 11th in a 12-team league in my cumulative points league. Beats being 12th.)

For NFL fantasy football I recommend CBS Sportsline and NFL. com over the others. I did baseball on Yahoo Sports this year, and liked it a lot.

I'll have six NFL fantasy teams again this year -- 2 each with CBS, NFL, and Fox Sports. The season starts tomorrow night with the Colts and Bears. Wish me luck. Dunt Dunt Dunt Dah!

Attention spans ...

I noticed that my recent posts have inspired one or fewer comments. Ha ha!

Reviewing all my posts, I see that the one that got the most comments was my very first one -- 6 comments on the amazing development of my entering the Blogosphere. Next most was 5 comments on my essay on Cleavage -- a subject of universal and enduring interest.

Several others had 4 comments, then it started trickling down to 3, 2, 1 ... none.

Yes, I am amused. No, I don't care. So far. I blog for ME, not for thee. ... Although, of course, I hold thee in highest regard.

MeMe Does It Again

What a nice Labor Day we had ... MeMe did it again!

Thinking back, we couldn't think of any special Labor Day events. We don't have a family Labor Day tradition. (I've come to associate Labor Day with my brother Paul coming to preach the day before at my church, and the great concert in the evening service with the Arkansas Revival Center singers. We had a big blessed day on Sunday on that 5th annual event.)

But this year, Tanya decided that we would "do Labor Day." The menu was planned and invitations went out. We cheerfully (mostly) killed ourselves Saturday doing a complete cleaning and wash-down of the screened-in back porch and its contents to get ready for whomever was able to show up. My, how that back porch shines now!

As it turned out, just Maw and Paw (Tom & Ethelee Beverly, Tanya's parents, from Hot Springs Village) and Teija (TAY-jhza) Nelson (Tanya's only sister, from Ft. Smith) were able to join us, but they were enough to have a wonderful time. It was a wonderful visit as we fellowshipped and feasted -- smoked barbeque ribs, corn on the cob, potato salad, Ramen noodle cole slaw, and iced tea, and, naturally, a sweet watermelon for dessert. (The pictures here were taken at the Beverly's house Easter 2006. We were too busy eating to take pictures yesterday!)

It was a lovely day. MeMe did it again! Hope you all had a good day, too.

PS ... and today I had ribs for breakfast ... and for lunch ... yum yum!