The man at the helm

A couple things have inspired this post: First, the bye week has made it seem like an eternity since the Cougars of BYU have taken the field and I have a bunch of Cougar Blue bottled up inside me and it needs to go somewhere or there will be an explosion. And Paula hates messes. Second, BYU's football team is now entrenched in the top 10 in every poll - funny how against Washington they block a PAT and win, then drop in the polls but they don't even take the field last week and jump up three or four spots...gotta love the pollsters.
This post isn't to discuss how BYU would do in a BCS game (certainly they'd lose no worse than Ohio State has the past 2 years) or how valid their ranking is (3 top 10 teams losing to unranked opponents last week). All that is subjective. Detractors and apologists would all have valid points on the topic, I'm sure.
One thing with winning is that the press comes calling, especially when said team is an underdog (speaking of BYU's position as a non-BC$ school). And with the press comes greater scrutiny, visibility and exposure to the world. This can be unnerving because whoever does the talking suddenly becomes the face of the organization - a visible representation of the acronym by which the entity will be recognized across the nation. The weightiness of this representation is multiplied significantly when the organization also portrays a faith. So it is at BYU.

And as a died-in-the-wool Cougar fan, I'm thrilled that this face is that of Bronco Mendenhall.
Reading the words of Mendenhall in a newspaper column can paint the picture of a man full of hubris as he talks about the standards, aspirations and goals of BYU football. Such was the reaction of many when the motto for the 2008-2009 season was revealed: "Quest for Perfection". Comments and message boards are like train wrecks - a gruesome, ugly affair but difficult to turn away from - and scattered through the wreckage was the derission towards Mendenhall and this motto.
But to read is different then to hear or to see. (Any doubt about this, one just needs to go back through the comments on this blog for evidence.) Between the antenna-like picture on The Mtn and other media outlets, listening to Mendenhall explain his philosophies about coaching at BYU and the goals and aspirations he has for his team is interesting to say the least. His approach to the game of football at BYU isn't close to any other program - granted, this is partially out of necessity - and it's refreshing to listen to.

Mendenhall was on the Jim Rome radio show and the interview was very cool. Here is the link for your enjoyment.
This is a link to an interview Bronco did on a Seattle radio station before the Washington game.

Anyway, whether or not you are a BYU fan, hopefully you can appreciate the integrity and well-grounded nature of the man who is at the helm of Cougars of BYU.

One year down...eternity to go

I’ve been a dad for a little over a year now. While that may not qualify me to write books concerning fatherhood or have my own talk show on the matter it does provide me with knowledge – knowledge I didn’t have a year ago.

It’s incredible, really, the things that being a father does to you.

I find myself caught up in a desire to protect and shelter the tiny creation (of which I was an integral part) from anything that would cause those perfect brown eyes to rim with tears from slipping and scraping a knee as she masters walking today; or the breaking of a heart caused by cruel and thoughtless words muttered in derision by some stupid prepubescent boy down the road; or the catty and diabolical scheming of teenage girls when the edict of the popular minority has decided to ostracize or tear down.

Perhaps my angst would be different if I were the father of a boy; perhaps it would stay the same. Silly as it is to find my mind wander five, ten, and fifteen years in the future, the instant in which the twelve months prior have passed before me makes those coming years ever so relevant now.

Greater even than these anxieties – which cross my mind only on occasion – are the joyous moments of the now: the smile and squeal which greets when opening her door after a nap; the pitter patter of little feet racing around the kitchen during hide-n-seek; the intense babbling of words not known yet expected to be understood. Prior to that Tuesday afternoon at 1:23, I had no idea the ability to love someone or something else so perfectly and resolutely was within my capacity. Even now it surprises me.

So, between the angst of future events unknown and unseen and the elation found in the trivial happenings of today, I count being a father as the greatest privilege to have ever come my way.

A Satisfying Weekend

I'd be remiss if I failed to mention my Cougars of BYU. As many of you know, I am a big fan of the Cougars and an advocate for all their program stands for. One of the reasons I love BYU football is because of what it embodies: a group of athletes who are not the premier at their position, but are individuals who are good people. While I'm not ignorant to the errant ways of some, as a whole I believe these football players are honest, moral and good people; I would go as far as to say there isn't another football team in the nation that espouses the virtues of the BYU Cougars. Find me a team that presents a spiritual devotional every Friday night before their game on Saturday, whether at home or away; find me a coach (not local law enforcement) that requires regular community service participation.
The consequence of such standards is that it prevents the elite athletes from attending BYU. Nothing against the Mark Sanchez's, Beanie Wells, Knowshon Moreno's and Michael Crabtree's of the game, but there's no way they'd go to BYU even if they were in a BCS Conference going 11-2. No alcohol after the game? No sex? No Starbucks? No chance. So, BYU competes with below average athletes with above average morals. And sometimes that translates to a mark in the 'L' column. Such is the trade-off. And a trade-off I'm happy to make.
However, in recent years it seems moral fortitude and athletic ability have converged to produce the nations longest winning streak, the 2nd leading receiver in the nation, a QB 3rd in YPG, % and TD's, and a scoring summary (against a BCS team who knocked of a ranked BCS team their previous game) that is rarely seen. It's something to rise and shout about.

Making a case for C-Mak

Don't forget to become a Cyber Commoron! (see previous post)

The powers-that-be at ING have shutdown all personal email access, so I don’t get to check the ol’ Gmail account much – every other day or so. Anyway, the other day when I did check I had a message from my buddy Nick expressing his concern for my political soul after reading my endorsement of Cynthia McKinney for President of these United States. Additionally he asked for why I would support the former Congresswoman of Georgia.

All of you know of my love for the club. There’s nothing that brings me more joy that slipping into some pleather and rollin’ up onto the scene with the bass-line thumpin’ in the Camry. Clubbin’ is my happy place. For me and other members of the Hip-Hip Generation, Cynthia McKinney (C-Mak, as we call her) is our girl.

“Cynthia McKinney is a strong advocate, mentor and supporter of the Hip-Hop community. Her unique popularity among the members of the Hip-Hop generation and young people across the United States of America has made her a trusted voice on behalf of producers, retailers and consumers of Hip-Hop entertainment.” Posted on her website before losing seat in Congress

This fact alone is sufficient means for me to vote for C-Mak. Of course, there might be some who are not members of the HHG who need more reasons cast their vote for C-Mak come November. Here are some that might help:

1. C-Mak is an expert on race-relations. Skirted the metal detectors on Capital Hill but did not wear the pin required to identify her as a Congresswoman. When the security guard stopped her by grabbing her shoulder after repeatedly calling after her to stop, she punched him. In a move learned from our greatest ambassadors for racial peace (Jesse Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Louis Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright), she said chalked up the incident to racial profiling. Some may see this as divisive but I see it as resourceful. See, when Crazy Hugo Chavez, or Putin’s puppet President (alliteration), are starting up some ruckus with us, she’ll play break out the race/gender cards and BAM! the ACLU will be all over those guys! No one can beat the ACLU. Crisis averted.
2. The woman knows how to run an effective, clean campaign. In 1996 when she called her opponent’s supporters "holdovers from the Civil War days" and "a ragtag group of neo-Confederates", even though the guy was Jewish. And there was that other time in 2000 when she wrote “Gore's Negro tolerance level has never been too high. I've never known him to have more than one black person around him at any given time” even though Mr. Internet’s campaign manager was black. The best example of her graciousness in defeat was expressed by her father after her loss in 2002: A reporter asked Billy McKinney about his daughter's use of an old endorsement from former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young. Such endorsements were worthless, Papa McKinney replied, because "Jews have bought everybody. Jews."
3. C-Mak is intimately involved with the War on Terror, as illustrated by the fact her list of campaign donors while a Congresswoman included both terrorist sympathizers like Abdurahman Alamoudi, the former executive director of the American Muslim Council, and actual terrorists like former college professor Sami Al-Arian. Don’t think this isn’t a strength; it means she already has an in with the terrorists and we all know they’d never let anything happen to their own – except for those guys they strap with explosives and send into areas with large amounts of people.

There it is – my case of Cynthia McKinney. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a drink of water. My tongue fell asleep after being in my cheek so long.

Nippin' and Tuckin'

Cyber Commorancy has gone under the cyber knife and I've changed the look. The mantra I'm operating under is "Simpler is better" and since I don't post a ton of pics (leave that to Paula) the overall desire is to make the reading of the blog a bit easier. Hopefully this works.
Additionally, on the right-hand column there are a couple new things:

1. I've gone through and labeled all my posts so that they are sorted by topic. Most are self explanitory, though some are random; I'll have to hone the process over time. I'm sure some are miscategorized and others could have different labels applied, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to go through almost 200 posts and get it right everytime. So if there are some posts with the wrong label, let me know.
2. I've added this feature that Blogger calls 'Followers'. I changed the heading to "Cyber Commorons", which is based on a comment by Zach and which I am referred to on Natalie's blog, because 'Followers' is lame. I don't think this is a tracking thing, like if you visit it automatically adds you. From what I can tell you have to add yourself. If you want to become a Cyber Commoron, just click on Follow this blog and that should do it. Due to my giant ego, if this ends up getting no love I will remove it. But if there's a lot of people who want to become Cyber Commorons then maybe I can make t-shirts and we can all ride around like a cyber gang! Woohoo!
3. I don't really follow a lot of blogs - rather, only the blogs of people I know. Paula has a list of like a million people she keeps tabs on, as do other people related to her, and probably countless others. I don't have a problem with that - when I find out people are reading my rants I think it's cool. Keep on lurkin'. Anyway, Paula's been trying to get me to read this blog by someone she and Nat knew from school and I was like 'yeah yeah yeah....' and didn't bother until Monday-ish. Now I find myself checking it out regularly. chalk one up for Paula.I enjoy the topics, the writing style and comments readers leave. To get to the point, the new link on the sidebar is Salt H2O. Check it out - don't forget to read the comments.