Monday, October 29, 2007

It's Been a While

Hey friends and family. It's been over a month since I last wrote. Sorry about the long lay off, but things have been a little more than busy.

The new job is going great. Everyone - teens, parents, staff, deacons, volunteers - are really excited about what's going on in the youth ministry here at West Houston. We're starting up our weekly Monday night Bible study at our house tonight with a cookout and Monday Night Football. We've got a Jr. High retreat coming up this weekend and a slew of other events happening. Most importantly we're really focused on raising up spiritually healthy teens, not just running a good program. It's pretty exciting.

Okay, now to the nitty gritty. The real reason for the post is to lament the conclusion of another baseball season. Unfortunately this season ended with a Red Sox World Series victory. Luckily it fell on a Sunday, so most of America was worried about football.

Boston has officially become the New York Yankees of the 2000's. Take a look at their line-up, especially key players, and you'll find they were all purchased from other teams. Examples include but are not limited to:
David Ortiz
Manny Ramirez
Josh Beckett
Dice-K
Mike Lowell
Julio Lugo
Coco Crisp
Curt Schilling
J.D. Drew

Yup, it's time for people to start hating the Boston Red Sox.

On the other side of the rivalry, A-Rod officially opted out of his final three years with the Yankees. PRAISE THE GOOD LORD IN HEAVEN!!!!! Now I can stop pretending to like him simply because he's a Yankee. A-Rod is a self-centered egomaniac who cares only about his image.

There are two things that upset me about the way A-Rod handled things:

1. He has his inappropriately huge contract because teams believe he can hit 50 HR's, bat over .300, and drive in over 100 runs on a consistent basis. When he does it, he asks for more money. That's like me going to my elders asking for a raise because I taught Bible class for three straight months. I'm pretty sure the expression on their faces would say, "That's kinda why you're here."

2. His agent, The Devil (a.k.a. Scott Boras) says he made his decision because he was unsure as to what Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettite were going to do next season. You don't make decisions because you're unsure about something. You make them when you're SURE. He still had over a week before the opt-out deadline. Why not use that week to talk with those guys and see what they're going to do? I'm mad about that excuse because that's exactly what it is - an excuse. Bottom line, his money-hungry agent wants more money (although I'm not sure what he needs it for) and A-Rod is his little pawn.

Adios, A-Rod. Go infect another team.