Intentional Walks and Partying with Friends

I love getting together with friends and family. I LOVE IT! It is one of my favorite things to do. My soul sings when I am with people. Tonight we gathered to celebrate. Celebrate a team who went undefeated. Celebrate a team who represents our state. Celebrate fun. Celebrate competition. And we did. We ate, we laughed, we cheered, we screamed, we moaned, we cried, we yelled. A range of emotions. It was really fun. Although we lost, we had a total blast. I love that.

These are people I love to hang with!

As far as the loss...I am not complaining that we lost, I am just frustrated about the way it was finished. I realize that what I am about to say is about a strategy, but it's not a strategy that I like. In baseball they do an intentional walk when they are afraid of the batter. I can't stand it. Ever. Even when my Red Sox do it I yell at the screen. In basketball, when they throw around the ball until the shot clock forces them to shoot it, I go nuts. It's so irritating. Tonight, the last 2 minutes was filled with that junk. The fear that if they went for it Oregon would come back and win it with another touchdown and 2 point conversion. A legitimate fear.

There. I said it. I'm done. Congrats Auburn. Thanx for a great year University of Oregon. It was a fun ride. See you this fall!

Ducks in the BCS Championships

I am so pumped about our home team, University of Oregon, going to the BCS championships! I want to give you a little history. I haven't always been a Duck. I've only lived in Oregon since late 1996. Even after I came here I thought it was silly how many people were divided between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. I couldn't even keep the schools straight for years. I was invited to watch the Beavers play up in the Withnell's club seats and had an awesome time enjoying the food and the game from afar.

After that I had a bit of a dry spell until a few years later I was invited to go see a Duck game. I could not believe how LOUD it was. I had never been to a sporting event at any level that got even close to that volume! It was unbelievable. I have been to MANY sporting events in my life. At so many different levels. Mostly professional sports. Being a youth pastor in Atlanta I was often taken along or given tickets to take someone with me to see the Braves, the Falcons and the Hawks. I went to a LOT of games. NOTHING compares to going to Autzen stadium.

I have been invited to several games over the years, but it wasn't until my son Karston was 4 that I took him and we lasted almost an entire quarter that things stuck. You see, as much as he complained and was tired and didn't like the noise, as soon as we saw anyone wearing green and yellow after that day he would yell, "Look Pappa, a Duck fan!" He was hooked. The next year we went and made it almost a full half game! Karston was hooked...and so was I. Karston started asking for Duck gear. Now, he wears probably 85% Duck stuff out of all that he wears.

This season I have been fortunate to get to go to a whole bunch of the 12-0 games thanks to a friend of a friend. I have done some other posts about some of those experiences.

The other night Jimmy Fallon premiered his BCS Ducks power ballad video. This is amazing.

(facebook friends click here to watch the videos)

This year the show Sing-Off came back on the air again. It is an a Capella competition. The singers on this show are incredible. One group that was on this show was from the University of Oregon. They are amazing. They recorded this song and it's so fun! Check it out.