Friday Musings

The Final Four
I am looking forward to the games tomorrow, and thinking that this year's edition of the Final Four has the potential to be a very memorable one. No one is going to be missing the #1 seeds. You gotta love a school like George Mason making it to Indy. It is the best underdog tourney run that I have seen in my years of watching the event, and their win over Uconn last weekend was one of the most exciting games I have watched in a long time. I would love to see a LSU vs. George Mason championship. If not, at least I can still look forward to "One Shining Moment" at the end of the game.

Who's Afraid of Blogging?
The two readers out there who may have been reading my reflections on the Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit? book might be wondering what has happened to the regular entries in that series. Rest assured, I haven't abandoned the book midway and will try to resume my reading, although I don't expect to be posting the remainder of the chapters with the same regularity as the previous posts. I know that Nate and Tristan are thinking to themselves "I told you so..." and they are right. If I can post one chapter per month "post-baby" I'll be happy.

Food, food, food...
An overlooked benefit of having a baby are all the great meals that people bring you the week afterwards. Each evening brings the anticipation about what new dish will be dropped off. Some of the highlights:

• Chicken casserole with stuffing and gravy on top. You can never go wrong with stuffing and gravy.


• "BBQ"-flavored chicken with a wonderful pasta-salad side.


• Mom's homemade pot-pie. This had a very flavorful and crispy crust.


• Brownie dessert with a chocolate, whipped cream and heath topping. A singularly exquisite dessert which we hope to obtain the recipe for soon.

Everything was delicious, and we are just coming back down to the reality of making our own dinner again. Which is fine, but I will look back fondly on "free homemade meals" week.

Friday Musings

Coaching Carousel
This past week has been quite an eventful one as far as basketball coaches in the state of Iowa are concerned. Last week brought the news that Morgan would be canned, on the heels of a disappointing season and his involvement with a shady scheduling outfit. I don't think he did anything wrong, it was just the scapegoat for a new AD to get his own guy in there. Curtis Stinson and Will Blalock announcing their departure may have done more to seal the deal as next year wasn't looking any brighter. My first reaction to McDermott wasn't overwhelming excitement--I was expecting maybe a higher-profile guy. But then again, he has taken UNI to three straight NCAA tournaments. There's no question he can coach, but whether he will be able to bring in the recruits to compete in the Big 12? That remains to be seen. Personally, I'll take a lesser-talent team that overachieves over what we had this past year. Good luck to the new Mac.

Marcus Fizer
Former ISU basketball player Marcus Fizer is one of my all-time favorites to don the cardinal-and-gold. A first-team All-American and Big 12 MVP in 1999-2000, he led ISU to perhaps its greatest season ever. He carried that team, leading them to a Big 12 regular season championship, Big 12 tourney championship, and within a breath of the Final Four (we were robbed). But as the third overall pick in the NBA draft, he has been a bust as a professional. But check out this article I stumbled across this week. It appears that Marcus has found the Lord. He thanks God for the humbling experience of being jilted from the NBA, and lists basketball, the Bible, and his babies as the most important things in his life right now. It is good to hear that Marcus has found what matters in life and I look forward to meeting him someday in glory.

March Madness?
Before Nora was born I was really hoping that the baby would come on the eve of the NCAA tournament. That way I could watch lots of games with my week off of work and all the time in the hospital. I pictured cradling our happy newborn and introducing her to the pinnacle of sporting events while she gazed on in trance-like wonder. All the parents out there are chuckling to themselves right now, and they are right. I did get part of my wish: Nora was born the day before the tournament began. Otherwise, I was waaaay off. There really was no way to understand how extremely tired I would be and that I would gladly choose sleep over watching basketball (I know, pretty crazy). The one exception was watching the Iowa and UNI games in the hospital, but I was still operating on adrenaline at that point. On that note, my condolences to the Hawks. That one hurt as much as Hampton.

Nora Mae

As of this past Wednesday at 4:24 in the afternoon, I am a dad. In case you care about the stats, she is 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 20.75 inches long. Our little Nora is such a precious gift and Lauren and I are so grateful for her. The time since Tuesday night when we went to the hospital seems like such a whirlwind that I can't even remember it all right now. It is definitely nice to be home again, even if we don't have the nurses' help whenever we need it. The whole process is sort of a surreal, out-of-body experience. I knew that there was a baby growing inside my wife for the past 9 months, but to actually drive home with her and hold her in my arms is something else. Miraculous is the only word to describe it, and I am overwhelmed with the blessing which God has allowed us to partake of.

It's...almost...here...

After the long long wait, Lauren and I are headed in to the hospital tonight to be induced (er, I mean she will be induced). Being five days overdue and more uncomfortable by the day, she is more than ready. And with some of the blood tests being a bit abnormal and slightly elevated blood pressure they decided its time. So we'll be at the hospital at 8:00 sharp. And if all goes well be meeting our new family member tomorrow sometime. Your prayers for a safe labor and healthy baby are appreciated! I'll post an update when I get a chance.

2 Seconds

Is that enough time to inbound the basketball from mid-court, take two dribbles, shoot from 3-point range, and put back the rebound? Apparently it is, since that is what happened to my church-league basketball team today. It was a 55-55 tie before the ill-fated play that ended our season. The ref near the basket shrugged his shoulders and said "Count it."

Friday Musings

David Crowder & Third Day
Sunday night Lauren and I watched these two bands play in Ames. (Thanks for the tickets Nate!) Going into the show, I had a couple thoughts. I was excited to see David Crowder for the first time. And I wasn't quite sure how Third Day would be. Don't get me wrong--I like Third Day, especially the older stuff. But it seems they dropped off a bit on their more recent efforts and I haven't found myself listening to them for a while. Turns out there was nothing to worry about--it was an *awesome* concert from both of them. Third Day may be older, more mainstream, and less original than when I first saw them in 1996, but hearing them play favorites like "Consuming Fire" and "Thief" took me right back. The crowd was great, and singing "Blessed Assurance" with 2500+ people gave me goosebumps. You can read Mark's glowing summary of the night here, where he quotes Mac as saying: "This wasn't the biggest night of the tour, but it was definitely the best." More pictures here.

Hoosiers
My wife and I watched this classic last night. I've seen it many times, but it has been a while. It is the greatest sports movie ever made. And it makes me want to go out and play basketball immediately after viewing. Something else I appreciated last night were all the beautifully scenic, nostalgic shots of rural Indiana. Which reminds me of Iowa and how much I enjoyed growing up on a farm and shooting hoops against the side of the shed. I know, it's cheesy, but I don't care.

American Idol
This is the top search on Technorati.com right now. We saw it for the first time this season on Tuesday and didn't think the women were a very strong group of singers at all. And some were just flat-out annoying. Why do they keep singing old songs like "Wind Beneath My Wings"? Obviously Simon was dishing out the criticism pretty hard. I'm not a big fan of the show, just curious on how many hits this will get me.