steve-o
Introduction To The House of Carr
Introduction To The House of Carr

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Easy, Rider

I'm not a jerk. I hope Ben Roethlisberger is OK. But I gotta say: he's not too bright. This guy thinks he should be running a no-huddle offense? If he doesn't know riding a motorcycle is crazy, he's not ready to call his own plays at the line of scrimmage. Don't get me wrong, I understand the allure of hogs; This is the time of year that I get really tempted to get one. Who wouldn't? The weather is ideal, the gas mileage is killer, and, being honest, it makes you look like a stud. But all it takes is a Big Ben-type story and I come back to reality that it's a dangerous hobby.

All it took to convince me was to have a friend get into an accident. Larry's brother Brad had pins in his arm, teeth knocked out, and could very well have died after getting into an bike accident at the expense of careless driver. And Brad is one of the smartest guys I know. It's not even about wearing a helmet or being an experienced rider. As unpredictable as motorists are, I sometimes feel unsafe being in an SUV, let alone fully exposed on a bike.

I have some really close friends who are bikers that are going to get pissed at me for saying all this, but I wish they would find a safer hobby.

Just had to be honest.

WE SUCK!

There's still 25 minutes left in the match, and I'd love to have to eat these words, but this is the worst US performance I've seen in 8 years [including the '98 in France where the US didn't win a game]. This was supposed to be the best US team ever assembled for a Cup, but they looked pitiful. DeMarcus Beasley was atrocious and Landon Donovan was invisible. There was no offense being generated from the wings, and the Czech's held strong in the middle. Pathetic. If they play like this throughout group play, they won't win a game.

Postscript: Yes, we ended up losing 3-0. Yikes. It was nice to hear Coach Bruce Arena echo my thoughts about Donavan and Beasley. With Italy beating Ghana 2-0, there's still a chance that we could advance to the next stage. But I watched their game and I'd be absolutely shocked if they pulled off two wins. It's all really too bad because this result is going to play right into the hands of American media's bias against the sport. I will give the post-game quote of the day to Woody Paige at ESPN who said, "The United States still might not have won a [World Cup] soccer match on European soil, but at least we won two wars there."

All Day I Dream About Steve

It's probably not a big deal to a lot of people but I'll admit that I was a tad disappointed this morning when I read that UC will be switching over their athletic uniforms to Adidas [read acronym above]. I write this while wearing my Jordan [Nike subsidiary] UC basketball shorts which, by the way, are freakin' awesome. This move was sure to happen once Huggins was tossed, and I look forward to seeing if K-State gets Air's company to do their new uni's. Here's some irony: I spent all of last college basketball season ripping on how ridiculous Louisville's basketball jerseys looked. Of course, they were designed by Adidas.

I'll do my best to reserve judgment, but I hope they don't screw-up a good thing.

Saturday Afternoon Confessions

  • The new U2/Mary J Blige version of "One" makes me want to puke. And it has nothing to do with U2 or the song.
  • The Belmont is sorta anti-climatic. This has been a rough racing season. Not sure I'll watch the race.
  • Watched a lot of World Cup this weekend. England looked horrible. Peter Crouch is not the answer up front. "Help me, Wayne Rooney, you're my only hope." Speaking of which . . .
  • I played horrible in my games this weekend. I'm not sure it was as much me but that my teams were crushed. It was ugly.
  • The Reds lost a heartbreaker last night, but they played horrible. So maybe they can start another 8 game win steak tonight.

MTV Movie Awards

I watch these award shows because they're a great way to get a pulse on pop-culture. And I do like to share, so I feel it wasn't wasted time. I guess the main observation of the night [shocker here]: sex still sells. I can't wait for the year when Amish is in. A secondary observation: MTV has no idea what their demographic is. While they wheel out all these teeny-boppers, they still put Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, and Keanu Reeves out there. It's confusing. They either need to pander to the first MTV generation who refuse to go quietly into the night [and watch VH1*] or kick us to the curb. I wonder when the station that prides itself on relevance will one day become irrelevant. Other thoughts:

  • I guess Jessica Alba is now the "it-girl." I find her rather obnoxious, but I'm not a teenage boy either. A couple of their staged bits were humorous. And whenever they bring out Flavor Flav, it's an instant classic.
  • Here's [still] the verdict on Christina Aguilera: great voice, embarrassing sex pot.
  • Who is Gnarles Barkley? I'll give you a hint: Chumbawamba, Gerardo, and Right Said Fred.
  • If you were curious, T.I. was there, and no one was shot.
  • Jaime Foxx totally ripped on Jessica Simpson's sans Nick-ness and got away with it. Is he becoming untouchable? That's a long way from In Living Color. Speaking of which . . .
  • Jim Carrey won a lifetime achievement award and I realized that the only one of his movies I haven't seen is Me, Myself, And Irene. And that omission was no accident.

Really, this might have been the worst show they've ever done. Or maybe it was the best because I'm really not in their demographic.

*I guess I've almost made the VH1 transition, because I never miss Best Week Ever.

2,000 Words

A couple of unrelated pics for you, taken by my father-in-law with his freakin' awesome camera. A good photographer with a good camera gives you great pictures. He just wishes he had the camera when he was in London, Paris, and Sydney. First, here's a picture he took of Clemens single A warm-up with the Lexington Legends. I swear, this could've been published in the paper.

And the second one I've had for a few weeks. Last time we were in Lexington, Dave and I were out and saw this church sign. We laughed and he said he's get a pic of it. I'll leave it up to you to interpret what it really means.

Feliz Cumpleanos!

Happy Birthdays are out today . . . - To elder my brother, Chris-toff [remember The Truman Show?], turning the double "3". You are now as old as Jesus was when he died. Congrats.

- To Duebber, worship leader at Impact, now halfway through his twenties. To you I say, life gets no better, you are beginning to deteriorate, so pray for death.

-To Martha Hill, mother of Emily and Melissa, turning a distinguished. . . yeah, I'm not that dumb. I'll just save the sarcastic remark so you still think I'm a gentleman.

-And to my nephew Samuel [a day early], hitting a nickel. Since you're unable to read yet, I say to you, "Your father is wasting away your college fund at Argosy with your imaginary family, so pee on his computer."

Aren't birthdays a blast?

06.06.06

Happy anniversary to my parents today. I doubt they thought, on their wedding day, that their thirty-sixth anniversary would have such a dark side. This being the "dreaded day of the devil," highlighted by a marketing campaign for the The Omen Remake, I've come to a conclusion. I've decided that all the signs are there: I, friends, must be Damien, i.e. Satan's spawn.

My day has proved it because strange, coo-coo things happening to me could have no other explanation. Note the following:

Example One: Still trying to wrap up the paperwork on my car break-in, I head to the police station. I wait half-an-hour in the dingy place, only to be told that I could just telephone it in [contrary to what I was told yesterday]. I then proceed to the westside to talk to my insurance agent [who later convinces me that it's not worth filing a claim on the stolen items, so the trip was unnecessary]. As I get off the exit, I can feel my car handling differently. Knowing it's a flat tire, I somehow make it to a nearby auto-shop where they fix my tire. I thought it was most likely broken glass from the break-in that caused the flat. Not so. It was a busted valve stem. Just so happened to bust the day after the robbery. Crazy.

Example Two: While on the westside, I stopped by to see my parents to wish them a happy anniversary. Leaving my dad's shop, I get on River Road for a scenic drive back into the city. As I'm cruising down the road, alongside other cars, I see a critter in the road ahead. A groundhog has ventured out into the roadway. Because of the traffic around me, slamming on the brakes was not an option. I gripped the way and tried to maneuver over the creature. Three of my wheels avoided it. Yes, I killed Sonic.

So both inanimate and animate succumb to my powers. This must be pointing to the only likely response: I am the Antichrist. I wonder if I get a free t-shirt for that . . .

And the day's not over yet. Stay away from me. And don't look at me. It's all for me.

Here's The Inswinger

For the majority of Americans, this Thursday doesn't mean much. But for the rest of the world, it means everything. June 8th marks the beginning of World Cup 2006. Soccer's greatest event, which takes place every four years, is being hosted by Germany. I get excited because I'm a soccer aficionado and this event displays the highest level of global competition.

While I'm passionate about the game, I realize that I will spend the month unable to talk about it to anyone, because no one I know cares. That being said, I'm still going to use this space to make my predictions on how the tournament will pan out.

First, it doesn't look good for the Red, White, and Blue. They have a difficult group which includes the Czech Republic [2nd best team in the world] and Italy. Since only two teams from each group can advance, this doesn't bode well for the US. If they could pull it off, it would be huge.

Second, I can't pick Brazil to win. That would be like picking the Dream Team to win the 1992 Olympic Gold Medal. So gimme some credit for stepping out here, and not picking the Brazilians.

Finally, it's tough to pick the second round match-ups because there's different seeding if you finish first or second in your group. It's not like the NCAA basketball bracket, so my round of sixteen match-ups could be off. But still, I try.

Group Winners: A- Germany, Ecuador B- England, Sweden C- Argentina, Netherlands D- Portugal, Mexico E- Czech Republic, Italy F- Brazil, Croatia G- France, South Korea H- Spain, Ukraine

Round of 16 Winners: Germany Argentina Czech Republic France England Netherlands Brazil Spain

Semifinalists: Argentina Czech Republic England Brazil

Final: England vs Argentina

Winner: England

Insert obligatory David Beckham picture here:

About The Emergent Church

Scott sent me an email concerning Michael who's trying to figure out this whole Emergent phenomenon. He's looking for views from both side of the movement, so I thought I'd throw up [pun intended] some stuff here. Maybe you've heard of Emergent and have wondered what all the fuss is about, or maybe you're totally unfamiliar. Either way, I hope this is post is helpful. I attended one of the first Emergent church gathering, and have followed it since my college graduation so I'm rather familiar with the whole thing. And for my hardcore theologically-minded readers, keep in mind that I'm trying to make this accessible to readers from all backgrounds, so refrain from trying to critique my critique.

Emergent started from a group of churches trying to do ministry in a postmodern world. But during the past few years it's become much much more. Those involved began to explore theology and church history, seeing if the way we've been thinking about God/Jesus/Church was actually Biblical or societal. The source of the debate raging now among "Emergents" is how far can you go to make the gospel acceptable to the masses.

What really brought the issue to the forefront of evangelical discussion was Brian McLaren's book, A Generous Orthodoxy. McLaren, a literary professor turned pastor, is seen as the lead voice of Emergent. He enjoys questioning everything in an effort to stimulate discussion, but in doing so he's offended many conservative pastors and theologians. And since Emergent won't come out with any official kind of statement of faith, they invite more criticism.

For another insider's perspective on Emergent, read Tony Jones' defense of it here. Tony is national coordinator of Emergent and has been trying to deflect the heat that McLaren is taking for his views. Unfortunately for Tony, his best efforts have brought even more controversy. Definitely check out the Emergent website to get a feel of what they're about.

There are, however, some opponents trying to make a distinction between Emergent and emerging churches [you might not think capitalization would mean much but, in this discussion, it's making a world of difference]. These people are all for being missional [missionary-like, or adapting the gospel to our culture], but are leery of doing at the expense of Biblical authority. Mark Driscoll, pastor from Seattle, offers up an explanation of this view here, and Ed Stetzer, church planting guru, has an objective critique here. Also, D.A. Carson has written a book against Emergent entitled, Becoming Conversant With The Emerging Church.

These people against Emergent believe that the movement is nothing more than a rehash of liberalism. Whether or not this is true, there is a bigger fight abrewin'.

I have opinions about all this that I will keep to myself for now in keeping with Michael's request. But I hope this helped.

Legendary

Me likes baseball, in case you didn't know. Last year we had the opportunity to watch Roger Clemens pitch against the Reds down at Great American; he got the victory and even hit a double. There were about 18,000 empty seats.

Compare that to the lunacy taking place down in Lexington. Yesterday Clemens signed with the Astros [nice gig: $12million to play half a season] and it was announced that he'd be starting his warm-up with the Lexington Legends on Tuesday. Within an hour, they sold 1,000 tickets. By the time of Tuesday's game, they'll likely break an attendance record with 9,000+ in attendance.

We thought we might have a chance there, but the in-laws were on vacation and weren't able to hook us up. But my father-in-law who's never seen Clemens live will get the chance to see him, so I'm really excited for him.

Thinking about this, here's all the great non-Reds pitchers I got to see play in person: Steve Carlton Phil Niekro Greg Maddox Tom Glavine Randy Johnson [struck out 14 and took the loss] John Smoltz

The guy I wish I could've seen that I had the chance to would've been Nolan Ryan. The guy I still want to see is Pedro Martinez.

And I still remember the first time I saw Pete Rose play, thank you very much.

I Used To Miss The 90's

We're watching the movie Milk Money- and not for its content. The movie was mostly filmed in the Cincinnati area so it's been fun to try to figure out the locations of different scenes. During my junior year of high school my alma mater had to reschedule a home football game so as not to interfere with some local filming. The "wetlands" in the movie are actually the westside of Cincinnati. Go figure. Oh, and I don't see how ambient noise from a football game could've made this movie any worse.

Two thoughts here:

1) Milk Money is Pretty Woman with a less affluent slob, plus some kids thrown in. Which leads me to . . .

2) What was up with the 1990's movies that used prostitution as a background for love stories? Who knew the relationship between a man and purchased sex partner could be so touching [no pun intended]?

Those were some strange times.

Stuff To Chew On

Some interesting things on the web to peruse this today, such as:

  • An Ohio Christian Camp [Round Lake, if you know it] offering a video game week. Camper of the week wins an X-Box. Seriously. I love the idea, though! Halo 2: KILLIN' FOR JESUS!
  • Interesting review of a Beth Moore book. At the old megachurch I was at, Beth Moore was ranked below the trinity but above the virgin Mary. I'm always leery of celebrity worship among Christians, and many enjoy services at the altar of Ms. Moore.
  • And this video from a naughty MTV show, but I found this bit rather funny.

More later.

It's Not That Bad

When Kelly and I began telling people about our "reverse sprawl plan" in order to start Echo, the one question I was immediately asked by many people was, "well, where will your kids go to school?" And when I'd reply Cincinnati Public Schools, people looked at me as if I was planning on committing child abuse. In Cincinnati, the city's public school system is an object of scorn for suburbanites that associate CPS with a prison system. While there's definite room for improvement, the reality is: some schools are doing a great job.

Among them is the high school up the street [of which Larry Budde is a grad], that's one of America's best schools. And I refer you to Jon Weatherly's blog as he explains how CPS has done well for his family.

I'm just saying that there's no way our city schools can improve if we take all the kids with values and move 'em to the 'burbs and private schools. Starting new churches in our city is important, but until Christians are integrating into established systems nothing will change.

What Decade Is This?

For at least another four months we have Time Warner's digital cable [thanks to a special promotion]. I sometimes turn on the music stations while I get some work done, enjoying the benefits of various tunes with no commercial interruption. And since it's just me and the kid today, as Kelly's at work, I turn on the Arena Rock station. Kelly can't seem to concentrate with music blaring, but I keep it rocking. Nothing like a little Bon Jovi, Poison, or [now playing] Night Ranger's Sister Christian [MOTORIN!] while writing a sermon on Romans 2. So after an Alice Cooper song I hear a familiar singer. As I lift my eyes from the laptop I'm shocked to see that it's none other than Stryper. For those of you unfamiliar with Stryper, they were the first Christian band to go mainstream in the mid 80's. The pushed the buttons of what was acceptable to church folk with their 1986 album, slyly titled, To Hell With The Devil [they were so hardcore!]. But like many big hair, 80's bands, they fell off the face of the earth by the end of the decade, without even a Behind the Music to hang their hat on. Stryper was no more.

OR SO I THOUGHT!

The Stryper song playing on my Time Warner channel was actually from an album they released just last year! No way, I thought, but it's true. I had to look it up online just to make sure. From Wikepedia:

"Stryper's latest album, Reborn, was released in August of 2005, and was the band's first recording of original material in 15 years. The new album received a positive response from fans and critics, some of whom labeled Reborn as one of the best albums of that year."

And now you know that Wikepedia is totally objective. Proclaiming a Stryper album made in 2005 as one of the best albums of that year? To that, I appropriately [and slyly] ask, "What the hell?"

p.s. As I get ready to publish this, I'm blessed to hear Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer, the greatest song ever. Yes, there is a God and He loves me.

Too Much Free Time, Steve?

Not quite. A lesson for all you custom-template bloggers out there: backup your template.

I was adding a few new friends' links on Friday and inadvertently took out some vital template code. Most of the weekend the blog was out of wack. And since the free template I downloaded months ago is MIA, I decided to go all the way and give it a new look.

I think this is the fourth template I've used in a year and a half. By far, this the most custom I've ever made it, so I hope you enjoy it.