If you ask me, people who don’t like Jim Carrey’s comedy don’t have enough fun. So enjoy (I said ENJOY!!!) this little video of him as a karate instructor (and former world champion).
Tag Archives: Sports
Who wants to be a runner-up?
Image via Wikipedia
A few months ago I went go-karting with work. It’s a hard life. But the races went really well – in the practice round it took me a while to find my feet, but I had fun. In the qualifying round I did just well enough to make it into the final. And in the final, I made it to third place! I stood on the podium, had my picture taken, and now have a bronze statue to show for it on the mantelpiece.
Getting that trophy made me very happy…but it wasn’t quite gold, was it?
How often do I apply this picture of a racetrack to life? The Bible seems to do it quite a bit, but the analogy’s somewhat different.
It’s as if we’re going go-karting, but the karts are just that bit too big so we can’t properly reach the pedals. There’s no way we’d ever get a qualifying time on our own…but there is one professional go-karter who has a perfect record and a guarantee of winning the race, and he’s offered me first of all a seat in his car, and then all the rewards that come with it! If there were ever a correct time to say ‘no-brainer’ this is it.
God recognises his own righteousness in us if we are in Christ.
God has prepared good works for us in advance so that we can carry them out.
Our salvation, and our eternal reward, is secure!
Don’t aim for the bronze medal when gold has been made available for us.
Shameless plug for a new blog
Image via Wikipedia
If you know me reasonably well you’ll probably be familiar with my interest in the NFL. I’ve been really tempted to write about NFL stuff on a lot of occasions, but have resisted that temptation for the most part because (a) I’m pretty certain that the audience of this blog is not even remotely interested in it, and (b) I’m not sure if I actually want this blog to change from a ‘faith and humour blog’ to a ‘faith, NFL and humour blog’.
So, I found a different way – head over to SamNFL.wordpress.com and you’ll find a brand spanking new blog, all and only about my take on the NFL.
Here’s the first post to give you a taster.
The Pro Bowl
Image via Wikipedia
The NFL has quite an interesting concept, called the Pro Bowl.
So, basically, throughout the season the players and fans vote for who they think the best players are, and the top-ranked players get to compete in this Pro Bowl.
It happens the week before the NFL final, the Super Bowl, so any members of the two teams that make the Super Bowl are excused. That’s not that big a deal because there are plenty of good players, there would only be a handful that make the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl.
I quite like the idea. Effectively, that season’s dream teams compete in a display of the best sporting talent – how could that be a bad idea?
But there’s a problem. Why would anyone actually want to watch the game? I’m sure it would be a good spectacle, but you don’t really support a team there. The two teams playing wouldn’t have any real character, and the originality of the playbook would be limited because the players aren’t with each other day in, day out, learning how they click.
So actually, I’m not sure I like the idea. I far prefer the thought of two traditional rival teams, each with its own established character, facing off for a good, tight, hard-fought game.
It probably is fun to watch.
But bring on the Super Bowl.
Just as a side note, this idea really wouldn’t work at all with real football (i.e. soccer). American football is a genuine team game. You work as a perfect team and win, or you don’t work as a team and you lose. In football, one individual can win or lose a game for the team. Hm. Perhaps that’s a rant for another day.
Remember Why You Play by David Thomas
Coach Kris Hogan’s high school American football team, the Faith Christian Lions, drew national press coverage when he led their fans to cheer for the opposing team in 2008, Gainesville State prison school. This book is a detailed account of their 2007 season leading up to that game.
The author is a journalist and has a fantastic way with words. I was never bored and felt drawn in to every emotion experienced by the players and coaches.
I loved this book – it’s personal, exciting, and emotional! But It does talk quite a bit in terms of American football language so if you don’t understand the game (as many Brits don’t) I expect you’ll enjoy it less than I did.
Overwhelmingly the best thing about this book comes in the penultimate chapter. The whole book I was thinking: this guy, Kris Hogan, is amazing!’ But suddenly the book climaxes and I realised that actually the whole point is that God’s grace is amazing.
I’d thoroughly recommend this book, and the upcoming feature film, One Heart, to Christians and non-Christians, providing you can handle the football jargon.
I got this book for free from Tyndale House Publishers. I’m not required to give a positive review.
Football = frustrating
Image via Wikipedia
For a start, I’m talking here about football. That’s the sport in which 90% of the time the ball is touched by the foot.
The rules of football are that the team who scores the most goals within 90 minutes wins the game, and the other team gets nothing. Traditionally in a league you’d get 3 points for a win, and nothing for a loss.
That’s cool, but sometimes you can play exceptionally well for 89 minutes, be in complete control of the game and have scored a goal, but then there’s one bad referee decision, or one defensive mistake, and the game is drawn, or worse, lost. It’s great if you’re the team who ends up on top, but for the loser there would barely be any difference between that result and if your entire team had pulled up a set of chairs and relaxed until the final whistle. The other team would still get 3 points, and you’d still get nothing.
Not to overthink this, but has football therefore become less of a sport than an art form? The purpose of football nowadays is overwhelmingly to entertain rather than to provide a competitive arena in which to demonstrate one team’s superiority…
Maybe it doesn’t really matter.
New NFL season
The NFL season kicked off this weekend, and I’m looking forward to it – I’ll be following the Seattle Seahawks (GO HAWKS!) and am hoping the rest of the season works out as well as this weekend’s win over the San Francisco 49ers!
Last season I had the privilege of seeing the Seahawks beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 41-0 so hopefully we’ll see something like that again, anyway here are my key thoughts:
- Not enough British people are into American football – it’s a very entertaining game and the lack of interest means it’s never on the telly. Gutted. Oh well, video highlights are available over here so at least there’s that.
- I’ve got to think about booking holiday the day after the Superbowl – last year I missed the second half so I could get to work on time, and that’s always better than the first!
- There’s another game happening at Wembley (and rumours of the NFL moving two games per season over here) – chances are I won’t be there as tickets start at £35 for the lowest seats right under the goals. Not a good view.
- Phil & Liz live directly below us, like the NFL, and have Sky+. Triple score.
