1. Joe Cox’s Determination- Joe Cox knows he’s not Matt Stafford, and knows he’ll never be as good as Matt Stafford. Joe Cox went through ridicule from his own fans, the media, and was even doubted by his coaching staff a few times when they announced that the backup would see playing time. I would have been very tempted to quit trying and say “Screw it, I’m not going to the NFL anyway, just put in the back-up and I’ll finish up my senior year. Then I’ll go coach somewhere and you’ll never have to see or worry about my sorry butt again.” (I seem to recall Tennessee quarterback Casey Clausen doing this) Joe Cox however took the cards dealt to him and faced the reality that even though he might not be the best quarterback in the world, he was the best that UGA had and he would do his best to help his team win, no matter what. It’s not easy when everyone is telling you how somebody else does what you do better than you, or likes to remind you how many mistakes you’re making, or why you should just quit. Joe Cox I think teaches us the true meaning of determination: keeping on trying and doing your best no matter what.
2. Your biggest weaknesses can turn out to be your biggest strengths- At the beginning of the year UGA couldn’t run the ball for a yard if their collective lives depended on it. In the Arkansas game, UGA threw the ball for 220 more yards than they did passing. It seemed like whenever a running back touched the ball they’d fumble it. It seemed like coaches were ready to scrap even trying to run the ball. Then there were the penalties. Any Georgia fan can tell you that we were pretty sure our colors were red, black, and yellow this year after seeing that stupid rag on the field so much. The frustrating thing was most of these penalties were stupid false start penalties. Then Murphy’s Law hit: Mr. Everything AJ Green got hurt and UGA was forced to play as a team. The team redoubled its efforts to fight its weaknesses. At the end of the year, in one of its toughest games of the year, UGA turned its weaknesses into strengths. Against Georgia Tech the Bulldogs ran the ball for more than four times the amount of yards than they threw it and only had five penalties. Think about it, the team who couldn’t run outran a team that pretty much only runs by more than 120 yards. That’s pretty darn good.
3. The toughest circumstances bring out unlikely heroes- Georgia’s defense this past year was downright awful. They allowed for 20 or more points in all but two games against Division 1A opponents. I remember seeing some stat like they were the 119th out of 120 teams in the NCAA in scoring defense. It really was sad to watch some of those games because it seemed like frustration begat more frustration. There really wasn’t much choice but to clean house of all the defensive coaches, except for the one who is also the recruiting coordinator. Uh-oh, Georgia still had one game left to play and the only defensive coaches left were the D-line coach and two 23 year old graduate assistants. These guys had to face a team who took one of the teams in the National Championship to their breaking point a few weeks ago. Kind of like the whole “Who am I Lord, I stutter, the job is too big” stuff that Moses said during the burning bush in the desert. Rather than not show respect to these unlikely leaders, the Georgia defense played what I think was one of their best games of the year, forcing 2 key interceptions and keeping Texas A&M from getting any rhythm in the 2nd half. Take away that patty-cake touchdown A&M got in the waning minutes of the game and Georgia would have held them to below 20 points. Not bad for a couple of 23 year olds and the next to worst defense in the land. Not bad at all.
4. When times are bleakest, people remember what’s really important- He wasn’t moving. For what seemed like forever Bacarri Rambo just layed there and you could have heard a pin drop in Sanford Stadium. Flash back: Auburn was driving the ball and looked like they were about to tie the game up right after Georgia finally took the lead. On a second down play from the 23 yard line Auburn’s QB threw a ball the landed in the hands of their receiver for about a half a second until Rambo lived up to his name’s sake and unloaded on the guy, forcing the ball to shoot out. He saved the game, but sacrificed his body. When Rambo was lying on the field I just stood there with a pit in my stomach thinking about Chance Veazey, the Georgia baseball player who is now paralyzed after a car accident. Then from the student section the chant “Rambo, Rambo, Rambo!” started. These were the same fans who booed their team earlier in the 1st half. I was pretty surprised, but kind of made a connection after the game was over. A lot of folks think my brother and I argue a good bit. But I’ll tell you one thing, if chips were ever down and I needed something I know my brother would be the first person there and he knows I would be there for him. When the elementary school bully picked on Tad, I beat the mess out of him. When I dealt with sadness and anger I didn’t think was even possible, Tad was there as long as I needed. We may fuss about stupid stuff like whether the Avett Brothers are good or when the proper time to play the ukulele/ harmonica is (not the middle of the night), but I love my big brother more than anyone else in the world and I know he loves me too. (yea, yea go grab a tissue)
5. Finish the Drill- It’s always been Mark Richt’s motto. It started from the grueling spring workouts the team goes through when the toughest part is at the end. That was certainly the case for this Georgia team. At the end of the year a game against Kentucky at home is supposed to be a cake walk, and it looked like it was going to be. 20-6 at half-time and we were just rolling along. Chase and I were even thinking about leaving the game after the 3rd quarter if we kept it up. Alas, the turnover demons reared their ugly heads on the Dawgs four times in the 2nd half, including one time on the one yard line when a touchdown seemed a definite. Georgia loses by a touchdown. If you’d told any football follower in the Peach State that Georgia had a chance against the top 10 ranked Nerds from North Ave. they probably would’ve laughed their butts off. The team didn’t give up though. With more swagger than a Soulja Boy song, Washaun Ealey and Caleb King decided they “They ran this state” and they were going to make sure we all knew. They ran all over the nerds and left them in the dust sucking on their inhalers. Willie Martinez knew it would be his final game as a UGA coach, as evidenced by the tears as time expired. But his squad put on a heck of a performance stopping the previous year’s ACC player of the year. Then Georgia followed that game up with what I consider the best all-around team performance of the year against a solid Texas A&M team. My lasting memory of the season will no longer be the disappointing walk back to Chase’s apartment after the Kentucky game. It will be the dancing after the Auburn game, the yellow turf in Ben Jones’ mouth after the Tech game, and Mark Richt surrounding himself with police as the bowl game ended to avoid the Powerade bath. The Dawgs ended with two gritty wins, and against all odds solidified the longest streak of any team in country of 13 years in a row with at least 8 wins.
Of course I would prefer to win every game. Duh, as I always say, winning is just more fun than losing. But I’m a Georgia fan, and I’ll still pull for a team that’s 8-5 even if others aren’t. It sounds cheesy, but I really did learn a lot from this team that didn’t have an all-star to start this year like they did last year, as evidenced by the team poster with the whole team on it. Sure we lost to Florida again. Sure losing poor UGA VII stunk big time. Sure I would have preferred Stafford and Knowshon to have stayed. But I’m still proud of the school I go to and I’ll be cheering on the Diamond Dogs in two months, the soccer girls on next fall, and football team next fall (those are my teams at school). Frankly, I don’t really care who wins the rest of the bowl games this year. I like Georgia better and nothing is going to change that. So there’s a non-political post, I hope you’re all proud. As the song goes, “Once a Dawg, always a Dawg, how sweet it is!”
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Christian and Liberal? A (very) brief response
Recently I had a good friend question why I felt the way I do concerning society and politics. My friend asked the reasons for having a 'liberal' ideology in view of a few of the hot-button issues that dot the political landscape for Christians. The question was posed in good faith, honesty, and genuine questioning with no insinuation or implication. This is a great friend and a great Christian who just wanted to know. Though my response was brief and I plan on expanding it into a sort of manifesto in the future, I thought it would be fair to share at least a portion of why I feel the way I do. I hope everyone had a great year and is having a happy holiday season. I'll break into my response after the more personal portion of the email.
********************************************************************************
What’s ironic is that while you see a divide in me being a Christian and a liberal, I see myself as a liberal because I am a Christian. (Note: I am a Christian first, no politician or political belief can change that) I guess I’ll run through the issues as to why I support the party I do, but let me preface it by saying that all boiled down it doesn't really matter to me who is in charge of our country. Romans 13 tells me that every governing authority is established by God. Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and whoever else are going to have to bow just as low as I am one day, so while I’m interested in politics, it doesn’t consume me. I’m a Christian who happens to support Barack Obama, not a Barack Obama supporter who happens to be a Christian. If Paul could write Romans 13 and in view of a government that was literally torturing Christians, I feel ashamed that at the level of anger expressed by Christians in view of politics in America because of earthly things like taxes.
So why am I a liberal? This won’t be an exhaustive list by any means; that would be a book. To get the typical Christian “hot-button issues” out of the way I’ll let you read my blog posts on positions on gay marriage and abortion at my blog. They’re both defended and my reasoning is given there. First- the liberal emphasis on caring for and improving the lives of the least among us. I firmly believe that Jesus did not ONLY come to this Earth to tell how great heaven is going to be and leave this world a mess of sin (Matt 25 is a firm example of this). We can also see that one of the first reactions the church had upon formation was to give to anyone who had need (Acts 2:45) Because I see combating poverty as the mission of Jesus, I feel compelled to make it my mission as well, and will accordingly support politicians who also make that their mission. Conservative philosophy, particularly in the past 40 years, has been tax breaks for the wealthiest among us and increases on taxes for the low and middle class. This has been proven to not have the “trickle-down” effect former Pres. Reagan so eagerly claimed. I don’t find this to be a “radical philosophy.” Consider the government that God himself established: the kingdom of Israel. Leviticus 19:9-10 tells the wealthy not to harvest all of their grapes, but to leave to leave those on the corners for the poor. Also, consider the grain that Ruth was picking from the edge of the field left by wealthy landowners. Did these poor people deserve this? Of course not, God compelled the blessed among Israel to give to the poor, and he made it a part of governmental law. As a Christian, I support government officials who do the same.
My view on poverty leads to #2: Healthcare. The fact that every American doesn’t have access to healthcare to me just isn't right. People are suffering, and I just don't understand why we're letting it happen. As of 2005 the US spent more than any country in the world on healthcare as a portion of our GDP (15.4%) but according the World Health Organization we rank 37th in the quality of healthcare provided (behind countries like Morocco, United Arab Emirates, and Costa Rica to name a few). So not only are we paying more than anyone, not only are we not getting the best quality of care, we're leaving the least among us behind. I just can't picture Jesus thinking this is ok. Both bills proposed by liberals in the House of Reps and the Senate provide greater coverage to Americans AND lower the national debt, something I know many on the Right are rightfully concerned with. I could go on more here but I think you see how I see this as pretty much the same as issue my view on poverty.
#3- Justice for all of people made in the image of God. I know I've written a lot already so I'll try to bullet point this one. Over the past 50 years the conservative movement has fought equal civil rights for blacks by fighting integration of schools, equal rights for women by opposing things like equal pay for equal work in the work place, supported TORTURING people to try to glean information (imagine if the early church had tortured the Roman soldiers or the Jewish leaders who crucified Jesus), inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants(Exodus 22:21-23) , etc. I just can't see things like this in the Bible. Look at the Sermon on the Mount, what a set of scriptures devoted to social justice! Blessed are the merciful, let your light shine before men (not talking about preaching the gospel here, he's passionately talking about how we treat others as he talked about in verses 1-11), turn the other cheek, go two miles even when you shouldn't have had to go one, and love your enemies. I feel like these scriptures compel me to vote for leaders who best support these views. (Keeping in mind of course that no politician or any human for that matter is perfect)
There are many more issues I could go on and on about but I think you probably see where I'm coming from. I understand how passionately conservatives view things like abortion, and hopefully after reading my blog post on the subject you can see that I want the same inherent thing as you do, I just have a different means to go about achieving that goal. I understand that my views are pretty different than a lot of folks in our area, but in all sincerity I'm doing the best I can to do what I read the message of the gospel to be. I realize these views are pretty radical, I mean at first thought I have many of the viewpoints of the conservative movement (believe it or not I actually volunteered on Bush's reelection campaign and worked for Republican State Sen. Jeff Mullis and Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's campaigns. It's true, I'm a recovering conservative!). I just finally had to realized that these views espoused by these men and others in the party weren't what I was reading. All that being said its a very fair assesment that I don't agree with everything put forward by the liberal movement. I also don't like everything that the elders decide at my church, but I support our elders completely and don't have a problem identifying myself with this church. Like I said though, my allegiance to any political party or even our country for that matter pales in comparison to my faith in Jesus Christ.
********************************************************************************
What’s ironic is that while you see a divide in me being a Christian and a liberal, I see myself as a liberal because I am a Christian. (Note: I am a Christian first, no politician or political belief can change that) I guess I’ll run through the issues as to why I support the party I do, but let me preface it by saying that all boiled down it doesn't really matter to me who is in charge of our country. Romans 13 tells me that every governing authority is established by God. Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and whoever else are going to have to bow just as low as I am one day, so while I’m interested in politics, it doesn’t consume me. I’m a Christian who happens to support Barack Obama, not a Barack Obama supporter who happens to be a Christian. If Paul could write Romans 13 and in view of a government that was literally torturing Christians, I feel ashamed that at the level of anger expressed by Christians in view of politics in America because of earthly things like taxes.
So why am I a liberal? This won’t be an exhaustive list by any means; that would be a book. To get the typical Christian “hot-button issues” out of the way I’ll let you read my blog posts on positions on gay marriage and abortion at my blog. They’re both defended and my reasoning is given there. First- the liberal emphasis on caring for and improving the lives of the least among us. I firmly believe that Jesus did not ONLY come to this Earth to tell how great heaven is going to be and leave this world a mess of sin (Matt 25 is a firm example of this). We can also see that one of the first reactions the church had upon formation was to give to anyone who had need (Acts 2:45) Because I see combating poverty as the mission of Jesus, I feel compelled to make it my mission as well, and will accordingly support politicians who also make that their mission. Conservative philosophy, particularly in the past 40 years, has been tax breaks for the wealthiest among us and increases on taxes for the low and middle class. This has been proven to not have the “trickle-down” effect former Pres. Reagan so eagerly claimed. I don’t find this to be a “radical philosophy.” Consider the government that God himself established: the kingdom of Israel. Leviticus 19:9-10 tells the wealthy not to harvest all of their grapes, but to leave to leave those on the corners for the poor. Also, consider the grain that Ruth was picking from the edge of the field left by wealthy landowners. Did these poor people deserve this? Of course not, God compelled the blessed among Israel to give to the poor, and he made it a part of governmental law. As a Christian, I support government officials who do the same.
My view on poverty leads to #2: Healthcare. The fact that every American doesn’t have access to healthcare to me just isn't right. People are suffering, and I just don't understand why we're letting it happen. As of 2005 the US spent more than any country in the world on healthcare as a portion of our GDP (15.4%) but according the World Health Organization we rank 37th in the quality of healthcare provided (behind countries like Morocco, United Arab Emirates, and Costa Rica to name a few). So not only are we paying more than anyone, not only are we not getting the best quality of care, we're leaving the least among us behind. I just can't picture Jesus thinking this is ok. Both bills proposed by liberals in the House of Reps and the Senate provide greater coverage to Americans AND lower the national debt, something I know many on the Right are rightfully concerned with. I could go on more here but I think you see how I see this as pretty much the same as issue my view on poverty.
#3- Justice for all of people made in the image of God. I know I've written a lot already so I'll try to bullet point this one. Over the past 50 years the conservative movement has fought equal civil rights for blacks by fighting integration of schools, equal rights for women by opposing things like equal pay for equal work in the work place, supported TORTURING people to try to glean information (imagine if the early church had tortured the Roman soldiers or the Jewish leaders who crucified Jesus), inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants(Exodus 22:21-23) , etc. I just can't see things like this in the Bible. Look at the Sermon on the Mount, what a set of scriptures devoted to social justice! Blessed are the merciful, let your light shine before men (not talking about preaching the gospel here, he's passionately talking about how we treat others as he talked about in verses 1-11), turn the other cheek, go two miles even when you shouldn't have had to go one, and love your enemies. I feel like these scriptures compel me to vote for leaders who best support these views. (Keeping in mind of course that no politician or any human for that matter is perfect)
There are many more issues I could go on and on about but I think you probably see where I'm coming from. I understand how passionately conservatives view things like abortion, and hopefully after reading my blog post on the subject you can see that I want the same inherent thing as you do, I just have a different means to go about achieving that goal. I understand that my views are pretty different than a lot of folks in our area, but in all sincerity I'm doing the best I can to do what I read the message of the gospel to be. I realize these views are pretty radical, I mean at first thought I have many of the viewpoints of the conservative movement (believe it or not I actually volunteered on Bush's reelection campaign and worked for Republican State Sen. Jeff Mullis and Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's campaigns. It's true, I'm a recovering conservative!). I just finally had to realized that these views espoused by these men and others in the party weren't what I was reading. All that being said its a very fair assesment that I don't agree with everything put forward by the liberal movement. I also don't like everything that the elders decide at my church, but I support our elders completely and don't have a problem identifying myself with this church. Like I said though, my allegiance to any political party or even our country for that matter pales in comparison to my faith in Jesus Christ.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
