This is a debate that has been around sports groups for a while now. While it is true that they make a ridiculous amount of money, these coaches are under an extreme amount of stress. Three million dollars worth of stress? That’s up for discussion. Take this into thought though. Florida Gators head football coach Urban Meyers resigned from his job a couple of years back. Meyer, who was one of the most successful coaches in college football at that time, was making these millions of dollars like every other coach in the BCS. Meyers explained that the amount of stress that coaching was putting on his body was actually doing physical harm to him and quit do to health purposes. While this is one case of what the enormous amount of stress can do to a person, I don’t think that football coaches need to make as much as they do. How would it feel like being a professor at one of these schools? College is supposed to be about education first, and athletics second, yet some of these coaches are making well over two times as much as the professors. This does all seem very backwards, but then again i believe we live in a backwards society. People pay to watch sports, they don’t pay to watch kids learn. If I had to solve the problem right now,  I would purpose a maximum salary cap that a college has to pay a coach. One that all the colleges would agree on and still give the rightful money that these hard working coaches owe, but one thats also in a realm of reality.

It’s that time of year again. The lights are out and the trees are in place. But I don’t feel very Christmasy; I haven’t for the past couple of years actually. At least not like when I was a kid. I had always just chalked this up to old age. I know what your thinking, 19 is the new 35, or something like that. But that’s beside the point. The point actually is after reading this article I now know why. It’s because people are trying to take the Christianity out of Christmas. And it isn’t the Jews or the Muslims or any other type of religion. It’s us. And us alone. I’m not sure why either. I always knew that Christmas was about Jesus, even as a kid. I didn’t need someone to remind me everywhere I go. I think one of the reasons that people think this way is because kids look forward to Santa coming. Well can you blame them? If a magic man came to my house every year I would be excited about it too. And I was when I was a kid. But my parents always made sure that I knew the true reason for Christmas. So, maybe we shouldn’t blame the general public, and should start blaming the parents that don’t take the time to show their kids that. And what if they don’t want to? Can’t Christmas have more then one meaning? I think so. We already share the holidays with Judaism and Islam and other religions, why not Atheism?

When i started reading this article I thought it would be about the percentages and facts that in many ways many countries are ahead of us. This is true in natural resources, economy, and exports. However, after reading this i found out that it is just another argument with liberals and conservative. I found this extremely boring due to the fact that I don’t really care about politics. I wasn’t always like this though. I can remember to a time when i first learned of the republican and democratic parties. I viewed them almost like teams. I was admittedly excited for the day I could understand all of their political jargon and vote for myself. Although I am now at that point in my life, I want nothing to do with it. All I hear in the media these days are liberals this and conservatives that. I has got to the point where the words have taken on a new meaning, or maybe lost all meaning all together. This is why I think Americans don’t view our country as the best anymore; because all they see in the media is our country argue with itself. It’s almost like our government is self destructing on tv in front of the whole nation. Everyone says we need to put our differences aside and make some progress, but first we have to throw these stupid labels out the window. Until then, I will be just another American halfheartedly listening to the nonsense that both sides spew out, and thinking that maybe our country isn’t that great.

If you are any sort of NFL fan, then you know about Tim Tebow. The most talked about football player of the year. The quarterback that shouldn’t be a quarterback. The winner that shouldn’t win. Many sports analysts have down played and even “hated” on Tim Tebow; and for understood reasons. The man struggles in the pass game, and i mean STRUGGLES. His footwork is all wrong his release rivals that of a high school softball outfielder. However, he still wins. The man has lead the virtually irrelevant broncos on a 6-1 winning run and put them on top of the AFC west division. People argue that it is actually the defense that has produced all these wins. While the defense is playing spectacular football, that wasn’t the case before Denver started playing Tebow. Tebow not only elevates his own game, but everyone around him also. It’s uncanny, unpredictable, and unexplainable. They shouldn’t be winning games and no one knows how to explain it! I should know, as I am an avid Bronco fan myself. It’s ugly, even painful sometimes to watch my team struggle so much in the first half. Why do I keep watching then? I guess you just have to believe. I know it sounds corny, but it’s true. In a way, Tebow has made believers out of every Denver fan in America. Something that he values as extremely important in his own life. It’s also where he gets his signature move, “Tebowing”. Which consists of getting on one knee and reflecting about what you just did. So do I think it’s divine intervention that is helping the Broncos win? No. But as long as Timmy Tebow believes he can win, I will too.

A zombie apocalypse would suck. I know there are those weird geeky nerds out there that think it would be so awesome just so that they could see a zombie in real life. But guess what? If you see one, chances are its going to eat your face off. And don’t even get me started on the people that say they would want to be one. Your brain is dead and you cant think for yourself. Your just wandering around looking for human flesh and weird stuff like that until some bad ass with a chain saw comes up and gives your neck a buzz cut. And if I was in a zombie apocalypse I would be that bad ass. I watched the movie Zombie Land and that actually looked like it would be pretty fun for while. You know, just going around wasting zombies. Or if you have ever played the game Dead Rising, you would know that killing zombies is probably one of the funnest things on earth to do. Basically your trapped in this mall. And for some crazy reason there are zombies everywhere and you have to fight your way out to get your freedom. Being in a mall, there are all sorts of fun stuff you can go and grab to beat the crap out of the endless flow of zombies. Baseball bats, golf clubs, swords, guns, bazookas (even though i have yet to find one of these in a real mall), and anything else you could think of is available. I feel like killing zombies is so much fun because you don’t really fell bad when your doing it. I mean their not real people anymore and their just undead people trying to eat you, so that kind of takes the moral sting out of it. While we are on the topic, how do you kill a zombie in the first place? Their called the living dead for a reason, their dead! So it’s kind of a contradiction (like starburst, because their solid, yet juicy like a liquid) when you say you are killing zombies. I’m sure that there are some old mystic ways to actually kill a zombie, but I think today’s method of teeing off on ones head with a 3 wood just wouldn’t do the trick. I think if the world was full of zombies  I would also get tired of killing zombies after a while. It would also be pretty sad because all of your family and friends would be zombies, and so you would have to ‘kill’ them too. Well I’m about at that point where i realize just how many words that one thousand words are, because I feel I have been typing for quite some time and I not even have way their yet. You can tell I am getting a little desperate because I spelled out one thousand instead of just typing out 1000. But enough of this gibberish, lets get back to zombies. Famous people would also be zombies, which is both good and bad. On the good side, haven’t you ever wanted to take a baseball bat to Justin Bieber’s head just once? No? Well how about annoying political figures like Glen Beck? That’s what I thought. One the bad side, if it was myself against a monstrous zombie Ray Lewis linebacker, I don’t know who would win that fight, baseball bat or no baseball bat. Would animals also be zombies? Because if there was a little zombie puppy, I don’t know if I could take that thing out. I mean, could you hurt a puppy? Then there would also be things like zombie whales, but you could avoid those by just staying away from the ocean. Zombie bears wouldn’t stray too far outside the woods, so they wouldn’t be too much of a problem either. However, the worst zombie animal by far would be zombie birds. While they aren’t the biggest or baddest, they are everywhere! And they are up in the sky and in the air! How are you supposed to avoid air? They could swoop down and get you anytime, any place. And there would be so many different types of zombie birds! Sure, pigeons and and robins and things like that aren’t that bad. But crows are kinda big birds, and they only get bigger from there! What about a zombie hawk? Or a zombie eagle? And don’t even get me started on storks and pelicans and those big birds. I don’t know where I would live either. You would have to board up your house or something like that, but then you cant go out of the house when you need food. I think I would lock myself in some place like Sam’s Club. You have a basically endless supply of food, and they have bathrooms. And you could take out the nasty thin toilet paper that they put in there and put in some of the really soft Charin Ultra Soft paper that they sell there in bulk. Also, those places are basically just big square concrete building with almost no where for the zombies to break in. I think I would get pretty lonely if I was the last non zombie on earth. I dont think anyone can live like that for long if they are totally by them selves. Wouldn’t the electricity go out after a while anyway? Or the plumbing? I would probably roller blade up and down Sam’s Club if I got really bored. Does Sam’s Club sell roller blades? I should call them and find out. If they don’t I’ll stop in a Dick’s Sporting Goods and pick up a pair before I go to Sam’s Club. Wow I have about fifty words left before I am done with this blog. It is getting closer! I stopped using contractions so I can get more words if you have not noticed. Well, to avoid the risk of sounding more crazy about writing this then I already do, that is one thousand words so peace out zombie killers.

Today we learned about the pilgrimage to Graceland. I found it very interesting how so many people go to visit the death site of Elvis Presley. I also found it very interesting why some of the people went there. While many simply went there because they are a fan of his music, many others went there because they can relate the pain he felt in his life with the pain that they are experiencing in there own lives. I think I would definitely consider this a pilgrimage, because it has all the aspects of the Turner model. This also gives support to my feelings that a pilgrimage doesn’t have to be associated with a religion. While some argue that this Graceland retreat is a religion, I still have my doubts. In my opinion it doesn’t have a lot of the more important things in a religion such as an ultimate reality or a cosmology.

We read a piece in passport written by Malcom Gladwell today. It was about the similarities between dog fighting and professional football. In the story, Gladwell makes some very good points about the two. Where dogs are forced to fight in the ring, players bash into each other play after play just to win the game. It is a very dangerous thing to do for both the dogs and players. People also bet on both sports with spectators watching each event. However, players get paid to do what they do. They also have a choice, and are not forced into anything. In my opinion I thought it was a bold and brash statement to compare the two. Looking at this article as a rhetorical situation, I would say that the exigence would be that many retired NFL players suffer brain damage and other health risks later in their life. The audience would be football fans, players, and anyone else that enjoys watching football. What constraints and hinders the progress of this situation is that it is a naturally unsafe sport and it’s almost impossible to make enough equipment so that there is no risk of injury. It is also impossible to makes rules for preventing injury because that would ruin the game. All in all, I thought it was an interesting article but disagreed with the points made.

The main reason i choose to go to Morningside was because of Athletics. While I know that this has nothing to do with M’side being a liberal arts college, it was my main reason. Looking at the situation now though, I probably should have taken it into more consideration. I didn’t even know what the difference was between a liberal arts college and anything else until I came here. I believe that The Unlikely Disciple book that we really made me think in a lot of ways. I think I would hate all there rules and policies and their whole point of view really. In a liberal arts college you don’t have anything like that. You are able to do and think what you want, within reason. So I’m glad I got lucky and came to a liberal arts college, and i think I wouldn’t want it any other way.

This week in intro to religion we started talking about Eastern religions. This seems like it is going to be very interesting because I am not used to thinking in a non linear way. In Western religions we are always taught that you have one life, and therefore you have to live it to your fullest. However, in Eastern religions they believe in things like reincarnation and Karma, and that people come back in different lives. They also don’t believe in God. Instead, they believe in an ultimate reality that they base their religion on. While I understand the idea of it, I still find it very hard to believe in. However, it does seem very interesting and I am excited to learn more!

On Tuesday we had a guest speaker in religion class. Michael Baughman is a pastor in the Methodist church that is located in Dallas, Texas. However, he does much more than preach. He also goes on mission trips, is somewhat of a social media expert, and also knows a lot about pilgrimage. I found his explanation of pilgrimage very interesting in the fact that it was a little different than the models of pilgrimages that we have already learned about. I guess it goes to show you that no matter what model of pilgrimage you think is right, everyone still has their own different perspectives on the subject. I also liked how he gave us a lot of examples of pilgrimages that Christians can take. I found myself thinking how cool it would be to go to a place like Canabarry even though I’m not the most dedicated Christian in the world.