steve-o
Introduction To The House of Carr
Introduction To The House of Carr

BCS Hangover

Hate to say, "I told you so," but I did predict on Saturday that BCS voters would feel guilty and put Florida ahead of Michigan. They couldn't help themselves; this system is totally flawed. Allow me to cite an example of how ridiculous the BCS system is. Jim Walden, former coach of Washington State and current TV analyst for the team, votes for the all important Harris Poll. On Saturday night he filled out his ballot and ranked one loss Florida #1 ahead of the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes. His reasoning:

"In my heart of hearts, I believe that neither Ohio State or Michigan could get through Florida's schedule with only one loss."

So he cast his all important vote based on a hypothetical situation. Walden's vote didn't determine the OSU/Florida match-up, but his reasoning was indicative of a system that is totally objective. More wisdom from Walden:

"In my opinion, not only has Florida proved themselves No. 1 through the season, they had to play the winningest teams to get there. Look at their schedule: Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina. Even the team with one of the worst records, Florida State, is still Florida State. "

If Walden forgot that this was 2006 and thought it was another decade, then this reasoning is defensible. But this year's SEC was incredibly top heavy and not as impressive the further down you go. The whole "The SEC is the toughest conference in America" stigma is totally subjective. I watched a lot of SEC games this year and it wasn't pretty. Seems to me like Walden wasn't even watching college football this year.

Oh, I almost forgot to ask. Coach Walden, as an informed voter, how many games did you watch Florida play this year? His response:

"I haven't seen Florida play. But I used to be a Miami Hurricane. I hate the d*mn Gators,"

Brilliant. I'm glad the NCAA uses such an air-tight system to protect the integrity of their sport.

Doesn't really matter to me. I'm stoked about buying more OSU National Championship gear anyway.

,

Echo Rocks

,

I enjoy our church. We're having the time of our lives. We had five more first-time visitors tonight. And our core group rocks, working incredibly hard to get things set up and running smoothly. Slowly but surely we're getting there. For some reason Kaelyn shines on Sunday nights. She constantly smiles at everyone and loves to sing along while Tye leads worship. She's still not getting the words right though.

And then there's me and my mastery of the English language. Tonight, in the midst teaching on some of the sexual melees in Jesus' family tree, I transitioned to the life of Rahab the prostitute. Trying to tell where it was located in the Bible, I misspoke and said, "Joshua tapped it, too" instead of "Joshua chapter 2." I guess Jericho was a happening place.

Good times.

Bomb Alert

Recipient: The Bowl Championship Series Now that USC lost to UCLA and Florida isn't going to blow-out Arkansas it looks like we're in-line for the epic Ohio State/Michigan rematch. While that's good news to the school up north [RIP Woody] as well as good news for Buckeye fans [getting to smack Michigan in the mouth twice in one season AND win a national championship? Too good to be true] it really sucks for the BCS. Nobody outside of Big Ten land cares to see this and it could finally bring about the playoff we've all been longing for.

But here's my prediction: the powers that be will manipulate the system so that Florida will go to the title game, even if they squeak by the Razorbacks. It's the only way to save face.

Wear your kevlar, just in case.

,

Merry ******mas?

,

Over at the House of Carr homepage, I added a tab for our eventual Christmas stuff. To save space, I merely labeled it "Xmas." A good friend wondered if this was akin to selling out,"taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas." Good question. Let me explain it here.

First, in order for me to ruin everyone's holiday, we need to understand that it was very unlikely that Jesus was actually born on or near December 25th. The date was picked a few centuries after Jesus lived, in order to replace the popularly celebrated winter solstice, a pagan holiday. The most common deity worshiped on this date was Mithra; in Israel, we were able to observe a Mithra shrine in the sea port of Caesarea [for more on Mithra & Christmas, see here].

The word "Christmas" is literally a contraction of "Christ's Mass." The Greek word for Christ is "Χριστός" [Christos]. Notice the first letter is an X, the Greek letter Chi [pronounced "Key"]. For over 1,000 years the word "Christ" has been abbreviated with an "X" or "Xp" throughout various Anglo-Saxon and Eastern Orthodox writings. So using "Xmas" still emphasizes the presence of Christ in the holiday.*

Somehow, as retailers began to use Xmas as an abbreviation for the holiday [which has been done for almost 100 years now in America], some believers felt it was an attack on Jesus, not recognizing him being the center of the holiday. I'm not quite sure where this rumor started. I suspect that it comes down to advertisers trying to save a buck. Whenever you can shorten an ad to conserve space/ink, you usually do it.

Regardless of how you spell it, it's impossible to deny that the the holiday that we celebrate as Christmas today has its origins in the Christian faith.

*I should admit that I really don't take issue with calling this "the holiday season" because the word "holiday" is derived from "Holy Day," again showing the religious nature of the celebration.

What Is It Good For?

You probably haven't heard of Malachi Ritscher. And that would probably disappoint him . . . if he were still alive. Ritscher was a war activist, who was deep disturbed by the Iraqi Conflict. He wanted to make a powerful statement against the war to get people thinking before the midterm elections. So four days before Election Day, next to a busy expressway during the Chicago morning rush-hour, Ritscher doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire. He died within minutes. This form of suicide, known as self-immolation, has been practiced by devout Hindu and Buddhist monks for many years.

Ritscher had prepared a suicide note, as well as obituary claiming, "if I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world." He presumed that his violent death would make headlines around the country, but it didn't. It took the coroner five days to examine his remains. It wasn't until a local independent Chicago paper picked up on the story that it's begun to raise interest.

There is now a group of individuals who are heralding Ritscher as a martyr to advance their anti-war cause. They long to carry his anti-war platform across the country and inform people of his terrible, violent death. But these people should beware how closely they align themselves with Malachi.

This was a very troubled individual. It seems he had a life-long struggle with depression, which in of itself isn't bad, but it went deeper. Ritscher claimed that he was in a situation to kill Donald Rumsfeld one day on a Chicago street, knife in hand, but chickened out. And yet there's now a group who want to laud him as a hero and make sure that his death wasn't in vain.

But that's all a bunch of crap.

Look, everyone has an opinion about this war, and many Americans are ready to be done with it. But how does killing yourself add to the debate? Enough people have died in the conflict itself. Ritscher claimed that he killed himself so that his death could make a difference. This guy could've done many, many more productive things with his life than trying to be an anti-war symbol and ending it.

I'm sorry, but Ritscher was just being selfish, trying to go out in a blaze of glory [pardon the pun]. He thought suicide was his ticket to postmortem stardom. He bet that if he killed himself at election time next to a busy expressway that everyone would talk about him. But nobody really noticed. And chances are, if I didn't write this post about him, you wouldn't know about him either.

You probably never heard of Norman Morrison either. Morrison was a Quaker, opposed to the Vietnam war and he too burned himself in protest. This guy, however, to the act to a different level as he brought his daughter with him to witness his death. What difference did his actions make? I'm glad the media ignored this story. The last message we need to send to young people is that if you kill yourself for a cause then you'll make the evening news. These anti-war groups should steer clear of using Ritscher as an example. Next thing you know, this action will elicit a copycat effect.

From personal experience I know that suicide is never the answer. If this becomes a new American trend for extreme activism, then "barbaric war" won't be our only moral problem.

Grammar: The Really Mean Girl

Fortunately she's an actress and not a writer. Lindsey Lohan's effort to extend condolences to Robert Altman's family was a massacre of the English language. Highlights include:

"He left us with a legend that all of us have the ability to do."

"Please just take each moment day by day and consider yourself lucky to breathe and feel at all and smile"

"Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourselves' (12st book) -everytime there's a triumph in the world a million souls hafta be trampled on.-altman Its true."

Read the gruesome details here.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Had lunch last week with friend Dave Little. Dave and I met at the beginning of the year as we endured the Christ Hospital Pregnancy Class with our wives. We sat in the back of the room and constantly lobbed one-liners at the instructor. I think she didn't like us, thus Dave and I instantly clicked. His wife Holly gave birth to little Paige a few weeks after Kaelyn was born. Come to find out, he was works at Crossroads Community Church in Oakley. Dave was in the business sector and left it to join the Crossroads staff, taking on the title of Creative Dude. Dave is a talented designer/artist currently working on a Chickens In Space

Thought I'd tip you off to his blog where he posts sketches. Sketch Ninja is a hodge-podge of his doodles that are varied yet interesting. I've subscribed to the RSS feed; it's a wonderful addition to my Google Reader. Do check it out.

For Your Listening Pleasure

Christmas time is here, and it is evident at Beit Carr with the arrival of Christmas decorations. This is, by far, Kelly's time to shine as she makes our condo a veritable Winter Wonderland. She does a great job with a limited space. The funniest thing about this transformation is the arrival of the Christmas music. Kel still has a cassette [a rectangular cartridge that plays music just like a CD] with some older holiday tunes she recorded from records [a circular disk much larger than a CD that plays music like a cassette]. She plays the tunes to get in the Christmas spirit, warming up by hearing that "it's Christmas-time all over the world," as well as a "song of mine, in three-quarter time." Classic.

Although I'm not quite the Christmas zealot, I do like some Christmas songs. I'm pretty particular in what I listen this time of year, so let me suggest three CDs you should acquire to get you through the season, ranked in ascending order.

3) Now That's What I Call Christmas. The hits series gathers an eclectic mix of Christmas classics from Nat King Cole to Frank Sinatra to Bing Crosby. The inclusion of songs by Michael Bolton and Gloria Estefan keep it low on the list.

2) A Charlie Brown Christmas. Kelly got this for me as an early birthday present. The jazz interpretation of popular holiday songs by the Vince Guaraldi Trio could soon become my number one. But it hasn't yet unseated . . .

1) The Home Alone Christmas. I wasn't a huge fan of the Macaulay Culkin franchises but the soundtrack that my brother Tim purchased in the mid-nineties has since heralded in my holiday season. Subtract the TLC rendition of Sleigh Ride [Rest-In-Peace, Left Eye] and you have a stellar set of songs. I look forward to explaining to Kaelyn the merits of Tom Petty as a Christmas crooner.

Deck the halls, my friends. Deck 'em till they bleed.

Let Subjectivity Reign

Regardless of the Bengals poor play, I've been rather disgusted by the NFL this year. Officiating has been absolutely abysmal, so much so that it's ruining the product. I just flipped on Monday Night Football to see a unnecessary roughness call against a defensive lineman who barely touched Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselback. What drives me crazy is that coaches are held responsible for their team's record but officials who can dictate the outcomes of the game are untouchable. There's been no rhyme or reason to some of the calls this year; Cincinnati lost a couple of games that were decided by unexplainable penalty markers. The league better take this issue seriously or it'll bite them in the arse.

Oh, and NFL Network is a dumb idea too.

Kevin "Freakin'" Kaesviharn

I know he's on our team, but it kills me that he's putting up these great stats in a contract year. You still have to let him walk at the end of the season, no matter how well he does [sorry, Emily]. In light of today's victory I just had to drop this stat tonight:

The last time Cincinnati had a shutout was December 3, 1989, also against the Browns. Reagan was President, I was in junior high, and the Cold War had just ended.

So you might say it's been a long time.

Thursday will be huge. A victory against the Ravens means a Bengals play-off trip.

Eat More Nativity Animals

Just got back in from our Thanksgiving journey, from Cincy to Lexington to participate in consecutive days of gorging. Much fun was had by all and Kaelyn loved the extra attention from the relatives. While reading today's Lexington Herald Leader, my father-in-law came across an article about their church, the church in which Kelly and I were wed. Southern Acres Christian Church was called out by PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] for their abuse of animals in a live nativity scene; I guess leaving animals outdoors and feeding them is cruel to the critters. Only one small problem: Southern Acres hasn't had a live nativity scene in years. So why were they contacted about this issue?

All day I was puzzled by this until I came across mention of a similar case in Alaska [HT: Scott Aughtmon]. This church in Anchorage had an identical complaint from PETA, yet they had never used live animals before. Now it's all perfectly clear.

The PETA people contacted all their local chapters to seek out a church to pick on during the holiday season. So they drop an email/press release about the local church and get some free pub. Perhaps the national headquarters should have instructed members to first investigate whether or not the targeted church actually had a live nativity. So instead of being relevant, PETA ends up looking ridiculously out of touch.

Perhaps, as one of my kin-folk wondered, the organization is should really be referred to as the acronym PITA, for Pain In The A**.

Today Is The Day

A 3:30 kick-off won't come soon enough. This is a battle for the ages. Will the passing of Bo Schembechler inspire the Wolverines to victory?

[In a related note, how dumb do you feel today for naming your band The Dead Schembechlers?]

I'll admit, I'm a tad nervous because Michigan has an awesome defense this year. If the Buckeyes win, my distant Uncle Lloyd Carr won't lose his job but he will officially have to refer to Jim Tressel as "daddy."

Forget the BCS, tomorrow is the national championship game.

Having people over to watch the game tomorrow so if you're in the neighborhood, stop on in. Bring snacks.

I'm A Quitter

Look, peoples, you gotta cut me some slack. I know I declared it "IF I BLOGGED THEN" week, but I'm going to have to scrap it.

It was probably a little kitschy anyway. I was trying to break up the monotony for you a little bit but I just can't do it. It's a combination of 1) I don't have the time to be that creative right now and 2) there's a lot of other stuff I want to touch on right now.

What I will do, however, is pull out the "IF I BLOGGED THEN" every once in awhile if I'm feeling it.

If I let you down, you have my deepest apologies. Check out the video at www.houseofcarr.com for a peace offering.

IF I BLOGGED THEN

Sunday June 14, 1987 I was rad tonight!

Growing up in a small church sucks sometimes. We go to church 20 minutes from home so none of my friends from school go here. There aren't any good looking girls in the youth group. And we always are going to church. We're there two times on Sunday, on Wednesday Night for prayer, and on Friday Nights for work night. Sometimes I wonder if I'll go to church when i'm older.

But tonight was cool because I got to preach a sermon. We had a Youth Night and I was allowed to preach for the very first time. I wasn't sure what to talk about but I got this idea out of a book that sounded cool. I had a lock box of love and was asking people if certain keys would open it. I had keys like SELFISHNESS and WORK but they didnt work. Then I had a key that labeled GOD and it opened it. And then inside the lock box was a Bible. And I was like, God loves us and he gave us the Bible. IT WAS SO RAD! Nobody wanted to be baptised though.

Someone said I should be a minister someday but that's the dumbest thing ever. I don't want to be a dweeb. I'm going to play football at Ohio State and then go into politics.

Oh, and the Reds beat the Braves today. I hope they win the World Series this year. It sucks that Pete Rose retired last year but he's an awesome manager and will be in the Hall of fame in four years. You can bet on it.

That's all for now. 21 Jump Street is coming on and Johnny Depp is way cool. He might make it far but that Holly Robinson sure will. She's hot. I don't know what a narc is, but maybe I can be one if politics don't work out.

,

God Told . . . Him

,

Before I dive into IF I BLOGGED THEN week, allow me to direct you towards this Wall Street Journal article on plagiarism in the pulpit. Found it interesting because of the local connections mentioned in the article. Steve Sjogren, founding pastor of the Vineyard in Tri-County stated that pastors he looks to for encouragement get 70% of their sermon content from someone else. They also noted the case of Liberty Heights Church in West Chester; the church was close to CCM and I knew a couple of guys on their staff. Apparently they fired the pastor who had grown their church over charges of plagiarism.

How do I feel about it? It's only a big deal because pastors don't do it right. There's nothing wrong with using someone else's work AS LONG AS you cite your source. Remember back in school that you could always use other people's research as long as you include it in your bibliography? It's the same thing in preaching. I don't use a lot of stuff from other people but if I do, I will make reference to it.

Both Sjogren and Rick Warren think it's unnecessary to attribute materials to other preachers and [listen closely] they're wrong. We're living in an age of authenticity, and it means even if you're a member of clergy; your integrity is everything. If I were to tell a story in first person that never happened to me, I'd be called out as a liar. Why should it be any different if people think I ripped the majority of my sermon from a guy in Texas and claim it as my own?

The real problem here is that ministers are forsaking their number one duty: the teaching of the Word of God. I know there's a lot of networking and pastoring that needs to happen in a given week but Sunday's message is the most important task I have each week. If I haven't fully invested myself in it, then I've failed. Coming up with 45 minutes of material each week ain't always easy, but that's my job. Try getting sympathy from someone who works 60 hours each week doing manual labor for your struggles in finding a text to preach on. If you don't like it, then perhaps you're in the wrong profession. I'm not complaining.

In Paul's challenge to Timothy, he tells him not only to preach the Word but to "be prepared in season and out of season." We pastors must always be in preparation for our next message.

Rant complete.

HT: Challies

What If I Blogged Then

Next week completes my second year of blogging. It's been a good ride. I've been able to keep at this rather consistently and it has, overall, been an enlightening experience. I'm not sure how long the blogging trend will last [can't imagine that people will still blog twenty years from now] but I'm still satisfied and will keep at it until it's no longer fun.

I like to use the anniversary as an opportunity to switch things up here at Beit Carr. Last year I proclaimed it Steve's Week 'O' Secrets, revealing little known thoughts about myself. This year I decided that I would dig a little deeper and proclaim it "IF I BLOGGED THEN" WEEK.

What if I had been blogging for the past twenty or so years? How would I have reacted to certain important moments of my life? For the next seven days, I'll try to reflect on what I might have written on some of those occasions. It might sound stupid, but that's my schtick so take it or leave it.

It all starts tomorrow, friends. Try to get some sleep tonight.

Don't Speak . . . For Now

I knew this was going to happen someday, and now is the day: I'm disallowing unapproved comments here at Beit Carr.

Part of the blogging experience is allowing people to comment on things that you've written. I'm all for some healthy debate, but when some people are more interested in posting incendiary comments, then that's going to far. As of late, I've received a few comments that crossed the line. After deleting them I was called out for censoring thoughts.

You can call this censorship if you want; and I'm fine with that, but you'd be wrong. Just because you have something to say doesn't mean you have to be perverse. I don't have to tolerate that, and I'm not going to.

And I should add that it's not as if I just came up with this idea; I've actually been mulling it for a few months now. I sometimes go days without checking out people's comments. And if it was something older, I might never see it. I'm not keen on people thinking that because I didn't erase an obscene comment that I somehow endorse it.

So because HaloScan, my current commenting feature, won't allow for approval unless you upgrade the account, I'll have to reinstitute the Blogger comments [this means you won't be able to access any old comments]. Then comments will only be posted if I give them the OK. Not the best way of doing it, but better than totally disallowing them.

I'm still messing with the HTML code and will hopefully have this taken care of by the end of the day.