Sports fans unite! This is a clip of Sarah Palin anchoring sports (she was unmarried then — her maiden name is Sarah Heath) on Channel 2 in Anchorage in 1988.
Huzzah!
Monthly Archive for August, 2008
This is pretty serious stuff.
I’m sitting here watching a press conference from New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on WWL’s website, and he’s telling everyone to get the heck out of New Orleans tomorrow morning beginning at 8. Jefferson Parish West Bank will evacuate at 8 AM, East Bank at noon — and in Nagin’s own words “if you stay, you are on your own … no services will be available to you.” Nagin didn’t mince words, and he said “you need to be scared … get your butts out of town.” Direct quote there, I’m not kidding.
Gustav is predicted to be larger than Katrina was in 2005 when it makes landfall, and by this press conference you can see that Nagin, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and all authorities are sparing no expense in taking every precaution. News stations in New Orleans are broadcasting emergency info and news 24/7 and helping people with essential information and interviews with officials who are calling this the storm of the century.
The storm is predicted to be so powerful that Baton Rouge (80 miles inland) could potentially face hurricane-force winds of 100 MPH or greater. That doesn’t bode well for New Orleans, the Louisiana coast and the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast. The storm’s footprint is already 900 miles, according to Nagin during his press conference.
My brother, Jason, is stationed at Fort Polk and I will be relying on him to get me some info on how it is down there, three hours west of NOLA. Hopefully the storm doesn’t affect him and the folks at Polk too badly.
Here in Springfield, Missouri, the Red Cross has set up a shelter at Remington’s on Republic Road if evacuees choose to travel this far north. They need volunteers, so if you wish to be prepared to help some people in need, please call the Red Cross at 1-866-206-0256, ext. 200. Leave a message and they’ll get back to you.
For the rest of us, let’s be in prayer for the folks of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. This is a very dangerous and potentially catastrophic situation and we need the Lord to intervene.
The view of Hammons Field from my seat in the press box.
What a game to end the home schedule this season. I’ll point you to a recap on the Springfield Cardinals site — the Cards won 6-5 in 13 innings to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. Over 9,000 packed the park for the game and they got to see some good fireworks too.
I really enjoyed being able to shoot video and help our sports guys out with Cardinals footage this year. Everyone was really nice and very sociable, from general manager Matt Gifford and manager Pop Warner to each one of the players. In fact Jose Martinez, the Cards’ second baseman from Venezuela, was speaking to us tonight about how he’s going back to his hometown after this season to play winter baseball, then we talked about his foot injury for a bit. Simple stuff like that made the Cardinals experience really neat.
Hamming it up with everyone in the press box was neat as well. Enough said there!
Here’s to hoping the Springfield Cardinals make the playoffs via a miracle — but if not, it’s been a great year and I had a great time every chance that I got to shoot footage at Hammons this year.
So we all know by now McCain’s pick for vice-president is Sarah Palin, the little-known governor of Alaska who has a reputation for being somewhat of a political maverick, and one who broadly appeals to the far right-wing crowd. Of course we’re all surprised at the pick, but should we really be given the circumstances that McCain is facing?
Let’s take a look here:
- It’s a wonderful tactical move. If Obama’s supporters point to her inexperience in the arena of politics, the GOP can point the finger right back at Obama’s inexperience — and it will be impossible for the Dems to give a rational response.
- Far right-wing voters should be satisfied. For all those who were complaining that McCain leans a little too far left for them, Palin should put those fears at ease. She’s staunchly anti-abortion (she didn’t even abort her own baby when she and her husband found that it would have Down’s syndrome and that’s more than admirable), opposes same-sex marriage yet still is receptive to gay and lesbian concerns about discrimination, and she’s a member of the NRA. Need I say more?
- She’s a bit of a maverick. She upset Murkowski in the GOP governor primary, then went on to defeat the incumbent governor. Take a further look back, and she started humbly, serving on the Wasilla, AK city council, then defeated the incumbent mayor — and from there it snowballed. She became a big-time whistleblower and worked her way up the ladder in Alaska politics…and wa la lee, here she is as the GOP veep candidate.
There are more reasons why Palin is a genius choice for McCain, but overall I believe that this helps restore the credibility of the Republican party to those (such as myself) who believe it has lost touch with its constituents.
Palin just increased McCain’s credibility for President 200%. I see a lot of Mike Huckabee supporters who said they would never vote for McCain, crossing over and voting for him now due to Palin being the VP pick. I can see a lot of right-wing independents voting GOP in this election too because this is simply a refreshing turn of events for the party as a whole.
This goes without saying, but we are in for a real dogfight over the next couple months, folks.
For this version of the 54321, I’m bringing back some old-school Christian tunes I grew up listening to and that I am a big fan of, admittedly.
- The first track is from Mylon & Broken Heart, one of the best Christian rock bands out there. Mylon’s back story is amazing, as he had been in rock bands all over the place, wrecked his body through a nasty drug habit…and later found Christ and decided to share the Word through his music. If you can find some of that music in Christian bookstores, snap it up — it’s good stuff. Tight harmonies, awesome synths, and the guitars wailed…good message too.
- Petra brings us the second track, “Not Of This World.” For those of you wondering, this was recorded when Greg X. Volz fronted the band — I prefer Volz’ vocals to John Schlitt, particularly because he gives the band a Pink Floyd vibe, only with overtly Christian lyrics. Petra was the longest-running rock band in Christian music history and I was saddened to see them hang it up after 33 years in 2005.
- “The Throne” by Michael W. Smith was one of the first Christian songs I can remember hearing on the radio (we received Seattle station KCMS through a translator based in Longview, WA), and I heard it often. Of course it was a radio-edited version as this one is 6-minutes long. I always liked the sound of it and it never struck me until later that this was a full-on worship song. As a side note, Smitty’s album I2(EYE) was one of the best in Christian music history, in my opinion.
- No list of great old-school Christian vibes would be complete without DeGarmo and Key. Their lyrics were simple but they were awesome musicians, and great innovators for the CCM genre at the time. Their song “Six Six Six” was shown and mistakenly banned on MTV for being “too violent” (there is a part in the video where a man representing the Antichrist is on fire), and for that it deserves a spot on The 54321 this week. Dana Key now pastors a church in Tennessee, by the way.
- The fifth track in this week’s installment is for my mom. She always loved listening to Margaret Becker, much to my dismay, on trips to Longview for groceries, etc. The worst was when we would drive to church fifty miles away, and with all of us piled into the family car, she tortured us with non-stop Maggie B. Now that I’ve matured a bit, I can actually appreciate the music I once loathed, and the lyrics portray a good message so I’m including it here. Plus Mom is cool.
Ah, for the good old days of Christian music. These tracks bring back a ton of memories so this is a special 54321 for me and I hope you enjoy it too!
Rest in peace, Duck. (Photo credit: Blazers.com)
Terribly sad news for Portland Trail Blazers fans today as Kevin Duckworth, a center for the team from 1986-93, has died while spending time at the Oregon coast. Here’s the press release from the Blazers web site:
BLAZERS GREAT KEVIN DUCKWORTH, TWO-TIME ALL-STAR, DIES
“Duck” starred for two-time Western Conference ChampsPORTLAND, Ore. – Kevin Duckworth, 44, a two-time NBA All-Star who starred on Western Conference Championship teams in Portland in 1990 and 1992, passed away Monday evening in Gleneden Beach, Oregon.
A member of the Trail Blazers from 1986-93, the 7-footer – affectionately known to Trail Blazers fans simply as “Duck” – also played for San Antonio, Washington, Milwaukee and the Los Angeles Clippers during his 11-year NBA career.
“Today is an extremely sad day for the Trail Blazers family,” Trail Blazers President Larry Miller said. “Kevin will be remembered by fans as one of the most popular and recognizable players to ever wear the Blazers uniform, but to people who knew him, he’ll be remembered as one of the warmest and biggest-hearted.”
Duckworth remained in the Portland area after his playing career ended, where he was an avid fisherman & outdoorsman, and a skilled carpenter. He was on the Oregon Coast representing the Trail Blazers as a Heritage Ambassador on the team’s 19-city Statewide Summer Tour. The cause of his death is unknown, and will be determined by a Lincoln County Medical Examiner.
A second-round draft pick of the San Antonio Spurs out of Eastern Illinois University in 1986, Duckworth was only 14 games into his NBA career when he was acquired by the Trail Blazers from San Antonio in exchange for Walter Berry.
One season later, the 7-foot center was thrust into the spotlight because of injuries to Steve Johnson and Sam Bowie. Duckworth responded by averaging 15.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, establishing himself as a pivot presence instrumental in Portland’s emergence as one of the NBA’s dominant teams.
Duckworth remains the 10th leading scorer (7,188) and rebounder (3,327) in Trail Blazers history, compiling averages of 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds in 527 games with Portland. During his tenure, Trail Blazers teams compiled a record of 356-193 (.648). In 684 career NBA games, Duckworth scored 8,085 points (11.8 ppg), grabbed 3,945 rebounds (5.8 rpg) and shot 46.8 percent from the field.
“This is a devastating loss,” said Traci Rose, Trail Blazers Vice President of Community Relations. “To this day, Duck is adored throughout this state and remains a brother to his teammates and to Trail Blazers staff. We will forever miss our beloved 00.”
Information on memorial services will be announced as it becomes available. Duckworth is survived by his mother and sister.
Portland media is all over this story as well. Of note on the KPTV page is the KXL interview with Bill Schonely, the famed longtime Blazers broadcaster.
Prayers go out to Duck’s family and friends at this time.
There is a song we’ve been singing at JRA for the past few weeks now, originally performed by the famed Hillsong worship crew out of Australia. The buzz was that the pastor that wrote the song, Michael Guglielmucci, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit when he found he was stricken with cancer.
We’ve all been had!!!
Guglielmucci has admitted that he really actually wasn’t fighting cancer. Here’s an excerpt of an article from The Australian detailing the revelation:
It appears Mr Guglielmucci, who was a pastor with one of Australia’s biggest youth churches, Planetshakers, may even have deceived his own family.
“This news has come as a great shock to everyone including, it seems, his own wife and family,” Hillsong general manager George Aghajanian said in an email to his congregation yesterday.
“Michael has confirmed that he is not suffering with a terminal illness and is seeking professional help in Adelaide with the support of his family. We are asking our church to pray for the Guglielmucci family during this difficult time.”
The Advertiser was told last night Mr Guglielmucci may release a statement on the situation.
The Australian Christian Church said Mr Guglielmucci’s credentials immediately were suspended once he told the national executive that his cancer claims were “untrue”.
Mr. Guglielmucci, the local Applebee’s wishes to see you for a job interview today. You are scheduled right after a heavily tattooed man named Todd Bentley. We heard Bentley makes good Kool-Aid and we may hire him on the spot…you two as a team would be GREAT.
As for us singing the song at JRA, can we just kill this song off now? The words are true but I personally don’t see how it can be anointed when it was written by a liar…
UPDATE 11:11 AM — Turns out the guy has an insatiable appetite for porn too. Where is the accountability?
My mantra remains the same — keep prayin’, folks. Pray for the disgraced and once again, pray for those that have been duped.
Dateline: August 25, 2008. Location: Springfield, Missouri.
I snapped this photo of the most beautiful sunset I’ve seen since moving to Springfield, and what a sight it was. This was driving west (of course), but behind me to the east was a wall of dark clouds. Just the vibrance of this sunset was so amazing…I could have sworn the sky was on fire.
(Click on the photo to view it in my Flickr album.)
Well, the Olympics are over and just like every other time it ends, I’m sad to see them go. Especially with the wonderful job NBC and Beijing Olympic Broadcasting did to bring the Olympics to everyone via the Internet.
This was the first Olympics that I barely watched on TV. In fact, I made it a point to watch a lot of the sports that never really gained much exposure, such as the triathlon, table tennis, water polo and cycling. It was all pretty exciting, especially the water polo, as the U.S. men’s and women’s team both took home medals — relatively unheard of for our Olympic teams.
Even in sports the U.S. don’t field teams in, such as handball, the excitement and passion were clearly evident. Who wouldn’t be compelled to see Iceland push for its first summer Olympic gold in a final that they heartbreakingly lost to France? What a great game and a great tenacity shown by an Iceland team that seemed to captivate its audience at the handball venue. Amazing stuff.
The best event to watch, as over-hyped as it was, was the men’s gold-medal basketball game. It was as good as advertised, with Spain nearly pulling the upset but the U.S. winning the gold and putting everyone’s mind at ease. It was a win-win for me because I also enjoyed seeing Rudy Fernandez, the new shooting guard for the Portland Trail Blazers — and whoa, did he put on a show for Spain. Did you see him throw down a dunk OVER Dwight Howard? Absolutely sick.
Here’s something crazy, but I’m going to put in an application to volunteer for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. It would be nice to experience them firsthand, and since the Winter games are my favorite I would love to help out the athletes, officials, spectators, anyone any way I can. And since Vancouver is close to home I can visit friends while I am at it.
The Olympics this year were awesome, and I hope that China improves its quality of life for its lesser-fortunate citizens as a result of the exposure it has gained from the world. Watch out America, China is what we were in the 1920s.
To shave, is the answer.
Before and after photos are below.
Oh the humanity. What have I done to myself?
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