My February 2017 Running Report

In February this year my running mileage increased substantially from the previous month, greatly helped out by the unintended 14.2-mile run I managed to swing during this past Sunday morning's Five Points of Life Half-Marathon...read that day's article for details. By the way, my official finishing time in that race was better than I had anticipated, at 2:24:39...you can see the complete race results (I ran in the men's age 60-64 category) through the following link: [link]...

So after two years, I finally got around to finishing another half-marathon, although it was fraught with numerous obstacles.  But the main thing is that I ran it and completed it...whew, glad that's over!  Now I can get back to a reasonable running regimen.  But wait, there's that local Run for Haven 10K race coming up in a couple of weeks that I've run the last couple of years in Tioga, a few miles west of Gainesville.  Who knows, maybe I'll do better in it this time around: I think this race is starting to become an annual habit for me, in spite of it being held late in the afternoon when temperatures are the hottest...

Anyway, as I was saying, my total running mileage for this past month increased substantially over January's total, reaching 123 miles, with the upsurge credited to that recent half-marathon plus my gradual recovery from the upper-respiratory viral infection I suffered last month...with an annoying, lingering sensitive throat prone to coughing.  I somehow unwittingly managed to run on every day of February, and of course my longest run was for that strange 14.2-mile jaunt on race day...

I'm feeling a bit on the optimistic side about my future running prospects, but I need to train intelligently and have some ambitious but realistic goals set in front of me to pursue.  The weather, already very warm for this winter season, is only going to heat up in the next few weeks and I need to take that into account when I go out to run distance on a regular basis.  Then again, there's always a treadmill waiting 24/7 for me at the gym...and mixing up the routine with walking and bicycling (plus a little swimming) may be the way to go for the future... 

Just Finished Reading Maria Semple's Today Will Be Different

I am an avid reader, as you probably already know if you've read this blog for any amount of time.  Yet I've hardly begun to scratch the surface of all that is out there to read.  Take Maria Semple, for example.  A few years ago she had a blockbuster bestseller with her novel Where'd You Go, Bernadette, but I had neither heard of her nor of this book when I selected, almost at random, her 2016 work Today Will Be Different from my local public library's shelves.  So I had no idea what I was in for...as it turned out, my reading experience with this book was refreshingly different...

The premise of Today Will Be Different is basic enough: Eleanor, a fifty-year old woman with a background in the TV industry, who with her long-time physician husband has carved out the yuppie dream in suburban Seattle, has woken up one morning and resolved that "today will be different".  Her idea is, of course, that she is responsible for what goes on in her life and, by consciously deciding to do a lot of little constructive things, she will improve her life...sounds like something I would do, something easier decided than implemented, though.  Instead, it seems that with each succeeding hour her life is unraveling...her little boy Timby is having problems at school and manipulates the staff there...and later his pediatrician, into being released so that he can tag along with mommy all day... which doesn't make mommy very happy.  And then Eleanor discovers that her hubby is apparently on "vacation" from his office...without telling her and leading her to suspect that he is having an affair.  So instead of a positive, self-controlled day, Eleanor slips further and further into melancholic introspection about her family, including remembering her estranged sister Ivy.  Along the way, she interacts with different folks she encounters, displaying a tendency to abruptly, emotionally scream at people in public settings and doing all sorts of crazy, impulsive things.  And I'd better leave off here in case you might want to read this story for yourself...

Yes, Today Will Be Different contains a lot of introspection from the viewpoint of someone who has inner conflicts between her previous role with her career and her current one as a homemaker...with regrets abounding about her past, vulnerability about the present, and uncertainty about her future.  I found that, in a general sense, I could be sympathetic to Eleanor's situation and yet also feel that she was in a great way responsible for the predicaments she found herself in.  And she was also a little bit too much of a drama queen to boot. Furthermore, I had some difficulty in feeling for this relatively healthy and wealthy middle-to-upper class person with her assumptions and prejudices...and discontent.  But that's not to disparage the author, who I believe honestly depicted a flawed...and often quite funny...character...

It isn't often that I would recommend that a book I read be adapted to the screen, but I think that, with the proper casting and direction, Maria Semple's Today Will Be Different would make quite a good television movie.  I read some reviews online for this book and discovered that many who read it and her earlier novel Where'd You Go, Bernadette found that they had far too many similarities, which detracted from their enjoyment of the latter.  Still, maybe someday I'll get hold of Semple's more widely known work and try it out for size...

Ran Today's Five Points of Life Half-Marathon

This morning I ran my first half-marathon race in two years, finishing my hometown of Gainesville's Five Points of Life event for the fourth time in eight years.  It was also the race I was the least prepared for, having not consistently trained for that 13.1-mile distance as I have in the past with regular runs of five to ten miles...and it was reflected in my final finishing-line-crossing time of 2:26:08, easily by far my all-time slowest half-marathon.  Looking back on it, I had no business in running it, but I did it anyway.  But I probably would have come out of it with a better time had a number of mishaps not beset me, beginning with the race's start...

I had read somewhere that the Five Points of Life Half-Marathon, which runs concurrently with the marathon event, was set to begin at 7:30 am...my mistake was not to back up this observation.  I got up early in the morning and timed everything to reach the race site's parking lot (behind the Orthopaedic Center off SW 34th Street) around a half-hour before the start...it was a nippy 47 degrees and I didn't want to spend too much time standing around shivering before the race, but I still wanted to use their bathroom facilities. I found some empty remaining parking spaces in the back and noticed the lack of runners mulling around when I got out of the car.  And then I heard the national anthem being played and, still a half-mile from the starting line, I realized I had made a huge mistake: I nearly sprinted the distance and reached the race just as it was beginning, filing into the crowd of entrants near the rear.  I was already winded before the race began and I needed to go to the bathroom!  Still, I kept my head, found a volunteer pacer for a slower pace than I had planned, and flowed with my circumstances.  I eventually did find a portable bathroom after about two miles, but I had to wait about five minutes in line to get to use it.  When I emerged, my pacer was way down the road and I knew it would take a while to catch up.  A mile or two later I found myself succumbing to a severe coughing attack and had to stop and walk for another five minutes or so, wondering whether the race would end in this ignoble fashion for me.  But I persevered and eventually caught up with my pacer, who was running the full marathon at a five-hour pace...meaning that sticking with him would give me around a two-hour thirty minute half-marathon time.  I had planned to follow someone pacing for a 2:15 time but after that initial rush to begin the race, I settled into a more pragmatic strategy.  I stuck with the pacer's group then for most of the remainder of the race and appreciate the great job he did.  He was always looking around him and asking how runners in his contingent were doing while pointing out hydration stations with Gatorade and water and turns in the course.  I was sorely reminded of the hilliness of this course and began to suffer a bad cramp in my right thigh right near the end of the race while going (again) uphill on Fraternity Row.  My pacer pulled up beside me and walked with me, asking if I'd like him to stay with me to the end.  But although I appreciated his concern, I told him this same thing happened two years earlier and I would be fine.  So he went on ahead to pace his marathon distance and I recovered after yet another five-minute walking break to finish this difficult race.  Yet I'll say one thing: in spite of me running a fast half-mile just before the race began, getting sidetracked waiting at the porta-potty for five minutes and having to stop and walk for a total of about ten minutes due to coughing and cramps, my energy level remained strong to the end.  Several hours later, my legs feel sore, but that's normal...I'm definitely going to take it easy with the running for the next few days.

As for the total distance I ran and my final time: the (fast) half-mile I ran just before the race added to the total mileage, but then I discovered on my android phone GPS tracker that I had covered 13.7 miles during the race!  So my run was actually for a total of 14.2 miles.  As for the finishing time, as I had mentioned, I crossed the line at 2:26:08...but it took about 30-40 seconds at the race's beginning to even reach the starting line.  Whether that will be taken into account when they tabulate my "official" time, I don't know.  Not that it really matters...I'm just happy I stuck with the race through all the adversity and finished it with my head held up high.  Having supportive people around me was a real help, too.  Oh, and if you're wondering what the photo is that I included with this article, it is the view in front of us running westward on SW 2nd Avenue, during the second half of the race, in the direction of the University of Florida campus...

Farewell, Alan Colmes

Alan Colmes was one of my favorite opinion makers on television and radio...and he passed away on Thursday from lymphoma at the age of 66.  Whenever he was a guest on a FoxNews Channel show, I would always look forward to hearing his take on the topic being discussed.  And seeing how Fox, despite its ridiculous claims to "fair and balanced" journalism, was very biased in favor of the Republican Party's talking points, it was fun to see Colmes consistently stand apart from everyone else...not necessarily to espouse a liberal/leftist agenda, but rather to inject some healthy, blunt realism into the on-air discussions.  For many years he had cohosted the Hannity and Colmes show, and later had his own talk show on Fox News Radio that I used to be able to pick up on a weak local AM station here in Gainesville.  On that show he would interview guests from all political persuasions, always treating them with professional dignity while standing true to his own beliefs.  Because Colmes was employed by Fox and had many conservative friends there, some on the political left criticized him as if he were some kind of traitor to their cause.  That's a shame...I think each of us has our own set of beliefs and the right to choose whatever form of venue in which to express them, and none of us owe allegiance to others who arrogantly claim to have an inside track to legitimacy on any side of the political debate...

Alan Colmes was a blessing to us while he was here...I'll miss him.

Quote of the Week...from Bryant McGill

One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.
                                                                                               ---Bryant McGill

I had never heard of Bryant McGill before I read this quote of his.  He is something of a pop philosopher/motivator who has devoted the recent years to promoting human rights across the world.  He sounds like someone whom I would be interested in following...I understand he's written a few books.  Well, knowing that he seems to be generally esteemed and respected is the main thing for today's purposes.  After all, if someone...say, Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot, had written the above, I don't think I'd be using it!  But then again, I doubt that villains of this ilk would have authored such a quote since neither was terribly interested in hearing what others had to say, being ruthless dictators that they were...

What exactly does it mean to listen to others, anyway?  It's not quite as straightforward as it may seem on the surface, for listening is not really a passive form of behavior.  Listeners are actively communicating interest, directing the flow of the talker's speech, and carefully remembering as much as possible.  Also, sometimes listening is a bit of a tight-rope act when someone is saying things with which you disagree: respect who's talking and, for their sake, honor their viewpoints, but don't compromise your own beliefs...

Of course, there are a few folks who dive directly into their favorite topics of discourse and go on endlessly with their opinions.  With these, who can come across as relentless bores, I think the listener's trick is to catch them off guard and get them talking about themselves...but not about their favorite talking points.  I've seen good listeners in action: they are patient with whom they are conversing, they almost never directly dispute what they are saying while searching for places of affirmation, and display their interest and affection by remembering and recalling the speaker's own personal interests and endeavors...and asking about them and how they are doing.  You might think that good listening is something that introverts might do better than extroverts, but being an introvert myself, I would beg to differ with that assumption: I know I can do much better listening to others than I am currently doing.  You not only need to value people in general, but you also need to want to seek them out proactively and draw out what they think is the most important to them...that sounds like awfully extroverted behavior to me...

I don't think one needs to be like Larry King to be able to effectively listen to others: just keep it simple, ask for clarification when you don't understand what someone says, and try to put to memory what they said.  I know this from personal experience: not from me being a good listener to others, but from others being good listeners to me.  Oh, and it would go a long way to remember people's names, another sticking point with me...

2/19 Sermon on the Life of Joseph, Part 6

Forgiveness is the theme of the most recent installment of Pastor Philip Griffin's series on the life of Joseph from the book of Genesis, presented last Sunday at The Family Church in Gainesville...and titled Upcycling: From Trash to Treasure.  The Biblical text of focus is Genesis 42:6 through 45:8, which you can access in the New International Version via Bible Gateway through the following link: [link]...

Jacob's favorite son Joseph, presumed dead, is now in charge of much of the governing of Egypt, and his interpretation of Pharaoh's dream...of seven future years of famine...is now coming true. But he has prepared for it and Egypt has vast storehouses of grain that attract those suffering from surrounding famine-stricken areas...including the homeland of Jacob, who sends his ten older sons to Egypt to buy some and bring it back.  Joseph meets with them, but they don't recognize him and he tests them to see whether they have regretted and repented of their earlier treatment of them...moreover he is concerned about the safety of his little brother Benjamin, also favored over the others by their father.  After his brothers "pass" his test, Joseph reveals his true identity and expresses his forgiveness of them...after all, God used their bad aims for good and placed Joseph in a position to ultimately save his family...

In applying this passage, Pastor Philip stressed that forgiving is not the same as forgetting...after all, "it is precisely because we cannot forget that we must forgive". Neither does it mean wiping the slate clean, so to speak, and trusting the transgressor as if they have never done anything meriting forgiveness.  Forgiving someone, after all, is the act of the forgiver and doesn't at all imply any change for the better...or any contrition...on the part of whom they are forgiving.  But, as Philip continued, it does mean relinquishing one's right to get even and exact revenge.  That doesn't mean, though, that what was lost shouldn't be grieved: on the contrary, grief is a process to get over the loss in order to it from being in control.  Joseph made a point of expressing his forgiveness to his brothers...when advisable, letting others know that you have forgiven them is a good idea...although I would like to add a caveat to this.  For if you approach someone who isn't even aware that they had done anything wrong, then telling them you forgive them comes out sounding like a manipulative sort of accusation...

Finally, Pastor Philip recognized that forgiveness isn't just a decision one makes one time...it often needs to be repeated and reinforced.  But not, in my opinion, in such a way in which it serves as a verbal weapon of aggression in order to continually remind the offender, long already supposedly forgiven...

I have my own views on the subject of forgiving, having been on this planet with my fellow humans for some sixty years and having experienced quite a variety of offensive behavior against me...with myself guilty as well of some against others.  When it comes to forgiving others, there are some transgressions that are so egregious that they are literally criminal...the need to forgive is very clear in these cases.  On the other hand, if you have allowed yourself to fall into the habit of seeking fairness in every social situation and collect offenses the way others collect coins or stamps, then this notion of always forgiving others, in a way, only reinforces the justice trap you have allowed yourself to become ensnared within.  So as one final caveat to the above excellent message from Pastor Philip, I would like to add that it might be a good idea to first pray to God for discernment as to whether someone's transgression against you is really a transgression at all...and for the ability to see yourself from their point of view...

If you'd like to watch Philip Griffin's message, here is a link to the church's YouTube video website: [link]. The Family Church, located at 2022 SW 122nd Street, holds its Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11 and has discipleship courses and family groups available as well.  And the praise music is very inspiring!

Just Finished Reading Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus

Erin Morgenstern is an emerging writer who wrote her first and only (so far) book, The Night Circus, as an entry in a book-writing contest.  It was published in 2011 and has received critical acclaim.  Never having heard of the author and novel before, I discovered it through the simple and time-tested expedient of browsing though the shelves of my local public library.  Seeing that it did not appear to be part of a series, I checked it out...in order to check it out.  And I've just finished reading it...

Spanning mainly the years from 1885 to 1902 and initially centered in London, England, The Night Circus has two intertwining stories that inevitably come together as they progress: a boy and girl have each been chosen, by elderly magicians...who possess the ability to perform real magic...to be the combatants in a contest of magic against each other.  In the meantime, a new traveling circus is being organized, one that combines illusion, acrobatics, fortune-telling, and thrilling settings to dazzle the customers.  And the Night Circus does dazzle, always mysteriously suddenly appearing unannounced in a field somewhere and then opening its tents from sundown to sunrise until, a few days later, it suddenly disappears, only to set up its operations outside a different town.   Marco and Celia, the two contestants, find themselves involved in the circus, with the former working as an assistant to the circus's producer, forming a huge bonfire that bestows magical effects on it and its performers...and the latter as one of those performers, an illusionist who disguises to the enthralled spectators the fact that her acts are truly magical.  Neither Marco nor Celia, although bound to participate in the "game", know anything of its rules...eventually they discover each other as their opponent...and unwittingly grow closer and closer, to the consternation of their "sponsors"...

Ultimately, the most compelling and sympathetic characters in The Night Circus are introduced in the middle of the story:  a teen-age boy, Bailey, and the young circus-born twins Poppet and Widget, who form strong friendships with each other and play an increasingly important role in the resolution of the intensifying crisis...

I have mixed feelings about this book.  Morgenstern's narrative style to me seemed too stiff and presumptive...on the other hand, the characters' spoken dialogue was amazing...especially that of Widget, a master storyteller with a magical gift of empathy.  As with any tale in which the author attempts to create a new "universe", there is a necessary balance between going too far to explain everything, bogging the reader down in details...and not going far enough, creating the danger of too much confusion.  Maybe, just maybe, The Night Circus erred a little on the side of not saying enough.  Still, I recommend it and am looking forward to Erin Morgenstern's next book.  I've also read that there may be a movie in the works, based on The Night Circus...

SpaceX Rocket Launches Successfully from Canaveral After Delay

Sunday morning the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Dragon spacecraft containing supplies and experiments for the International Space Station, successfully launched after a day's delay.  The original 10 am Saturday launch target from Cape Canaveral was scrubbed at the last minute when a technical complication arose...SpaceX CEO Elon Musk himself made the decision to back off the launch...better to be safe than sorry.  This pioneering company has already had its share of setbacks, including a launch pad explosion last year that destroyed a $250 million satellite. The plan is to eventually transport people into space using the Falcon 9 and Dragon, but I think the company would like to first drastically improve its reliability...

Our previous president, Barack Obama, is often accused by those on the political right of being a socialist and wanting more and more state control over businesses.  Yet in 2010 he essentially privatized our space program by first ditching the plans of his predecessor, George W. Bush, which involved a highly centralized project to establish a permanent moon base, and then placing the future of space exploration into the hands of private companies, SpaceX rising to become the most notable and ambitious of them.  Their goals are very bold: to send a manned mission to Mars and back within ten years and to follow that by settling the Red Planet in the 2030s.  But wait...here comes yet another president onto the scene...

Donald Trump hasn't spoken much about the American space program, except to criticize Obama for scrapping Bush's Constellation moon project.  Does he intend to continue along with his immediate predecessor's privatization/Mars goals or will he veer off in a different direction?  Being pretty gung ho about space exploration, I'm hoping he'll do both: keep our eyes set on Mars while returning to the moon in a more permanent fashion.  But we really don't know what our new president will do, do we?  After all, during the final days of his first presidential campaign in 2008, Barack Obama traveled through Florida and assured the people in the Space Coast area that he would not upset his predecessor's plans...and then proceeded to renege on his word once he stepped into office.  If Trump wants to change my opinion of him in a positive way, he at the very least will not backtrack the way Obama did and will honor the continuity through successive administrations that our space program so desperately needs...

Decided to Stay an Extra Day at Daytona Beach

Well, Melissa and I were enjoying the beach and hotel so much here at Daytona Beach that we decided to extend the stay to a second night...we'll definitely be heading back to Gainesville tomorrow.  I enjoyed the pool and swam some laps...maybe it's time to resume that form of exercise regularly at my gym, which features a great indoor pool.  I also ran 4.5 miles on the beach, this time using a free GPS mileage-tracking android app I just installed last night.  This should make it a lot easier to be creative about my future running, walking, and biking...no need anymore to map out a course in advance and measure its length...

It's a good thing to have at least one full day to enjoy at the beach...checking in one afternoon and leaving the next morning seems a bit incomplete.  We spent a great deal of time outdoors, and it was refreshing and invigorating for both Melissa and me.  The two of us enjoyed a twilight/early evening walk down the beach after flying a little kite that she had recently purchased (that's what I'm doing in the above photo).  And tomorrow morning we'll still be here, although the emphasis will be more strongly task-oriented as we pack up to go back home.  Yes, we need to get away like this more often...

Short Stay at Daytona Beach

For the extended President's Day weekend, Melissa and I decided to drive over to Daytona Beach and stay overnight at our favorite hotel here.  The above picture was taken in the late afternoon from our sixth floor balcony...that big shadow is of our hotel over the beach and water.  The patrol car is going by announcing the impending closing of the beach at night to automotive traffic.  I haven't been in the pools yet, but I did get in a nice 2.6 mile run at sunset along the shore to the Daytona Beach pier and back...the beach seems almost deserted, in sharp contrast to what it's like in the summertime or during major holidays.  I'm now writing this from that same balcony at night, overlooking the lighted pool and a burning fire pit warming up the surroundings...it is just a little bit on the chilly side right now and pretty breezy...still, for February this is warm...

We'll be leaving here for Gainesville sometime tomorrow afternoon.  I plan to make good use of the pool and get in another run...although temperatures are expected to climb into the 80s.  Yes, it's wintertime, or so they say...hard to believe with this unseasonably warm weather.  But for our purposes, Melissa and I are enjoying it all and appreciate the chance to take in a little break and a welcome change of scenery...

Just Finished Reading The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

It took a little while, but I finally just finished reading The Fall of Hyperion, the second book in Dan Simmons' four-volume Hyperion Cantos series.  As is often the case with this genre of literature, the author has created his own universe of the future, complete with intricate details about how humankind left the Earth and settled other star systems.  With Hyperion, there are two waves of space settlement, one coming before the "Big Mistake" that eventually turned the Earth into a black hole (don't worry, folks...we all still have about twenty more years left)...and the other a more massive hegira from our doomed planet, done out of the necessity of survival.  AI, or artificial intelligence, has developed so much in the early 21st century (this novel came out in the early 1990s) that humanity has become totally dependent on it without being to control it any longer.  After the disaster, the AI's "Technocore" bestows a gift on humankind: the farcaster, a device that allows instantaneous travel between worlds of systems light years apart.  With this technology, the second wave of space settlers terraforms planet after planet, in the process destroying indigenous life forms and imposing their own images of "old" Earth wherever they go.  Meanwhile, the first wave has gone down a different path, choosing instead to adapt to the different environments of the worlds they settle by changing themselves through genetic manipulation.  These two groups of humanity eventually descend into war against each other...and the remote outpost planet of Hyperion...controlled by that second-wave called the Hegemony but sought by the Ousters...turns into the focus of attention as seven pilgrims are chosen to visit the enigmatic Time Tombs there to solve the mystery of their anti-entropic fields and seek out the monstrous Shrike.  I know, I know, there is way too much stuff here to digest and I haven't even gotten around to the characters...but Simmons is relentless with his detailed descriptions and explanations for everything, often using terminology that is nonexistent in our present "real" world.  Like I said, it took me a while to get through both books...and I'm only halfway through with the series...

What saved The Fall of Hyperion for me is how well Dan Simmons developed his characters...and what distinct personalities each of them has!  The poet, the professor, the warrior, the diplomat, the priest, the detective, and the ship's captain form complex relationships with one another...and each comes from his or her own special background that brings them together on the desolate landscape of the Tombs.  But there is more: one of the AI entities in the Technocore has created a resurrected persona of the famous 19th century poet John Keats in the form of a "cybrid", i.e. a fully human entity whose essence is nevertheless AI.  This character dreams the experiences of the pilgrims on Hyperion and reports it all to the Hegemony's leader, a striking personality who models herself on Winston Churchill... 

Even after reading The Fall of Hyperion, I'm left scratching my head over what it all means.  There is definitely here the kind of atmosphere reminiscent of the Terminator and Matrix movies, where humanity has foolishly relinquished its authority over its own developed technology and has to suffer the consequences.  But I'm still not quite sure what the heck the Time Tombs were all about, what the point was about one of the characters pulling a "Benjamin Button" and physically regressing from adulthood to infancy...and what exactly was this empathetic entity from the future that everybody seemed to be looking for?  Hey, I know...you can read it for yourself and then explain it all to me!

Quote of the Week...from Winston Churchill

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.  
                                                                     ----Winston Churchill

Because President's Day is coming up...between the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington...I was tempted to select a former president for this week's quote.  But then I saw the above saying of the great twentieth century British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and I changed my mind...because, like other quotes on this blog, it seemed pretty profound...

There is a "counterquote" to the above, one of W.C. Fields' most famous comedic lines: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it." Well, for many things it is this quote of Fields that applies, and for a few it's a good idea to heed Churchill.  After all, in any challenging ongoing endeavor the underlying motivation for it is crucial as to whether, when confronted with repeated failures, I can maintain my enthusiasm for the project or lose interest for lack of positive feedback.  Sometimes after all, we can choose to pursue something unwisely and we need to have an inner mechanism that allows us to see the "writing on the wall" and change our focus to something else that dovetails with where we want to go.  On the other hand, experiencing failures, especially at the beginning of an undertaking, can serve by itself as an excuse for quitting.  Just be aware that, like anything else in life, failures can serve as lessons for improvement or signals to change what you're doing to something else.  There's nothing inherently wrong in changing your mind as to what you want to do...in a way, that's learning from failures as well.  But Winston Churchill's quote looks back from the vantage point of having been successful...and that view sees that success as having been built upon a foundation of many, many failures...each one providing instruction and direction to the ultimate goal...

2/12 Sermon on the Life of Joseph, Part 5

The Family Church here in Gainesville continued its Sunday morning message series titled Upcycling: Trash to Treasure, as Pastor Philip Griffin focuses on the life of Joseph from the Old Testament book of Genesis.  We've reached the point in the story when Joseph is in prison based on a false charge.  But he refuses to become bitter and makes the most of his confinement by ministering to others around him.  After interpreting Pharaoh's cupbearer's dream for him, Joseph asks him to remember what he did and speak on his behalf to Egypt's ruler...but the cupbearer forgets and Joseph continues his imprisonment.  Eventually, though, Pharaoh himself has his own unsettling dreams and his cupbearer finally remembers Joseph and recommends him...ending his long wait in prison and abruptly changing his home to that of a palace... 

Pastor Philip pointed out that when God wants to use someone, he will make them go through a period of waiting...this is borne out multiple times in scripture.  And the end of that waiting period may well come about just when it seems that there is no way out of it.  Waiting builds character...including, of course, patience...and can, after it is over, give us greater confidence in God that he will provide the desires of our hearts...as the pastor explained.  And the big picture of what God has in store for our lives becomes clearer...

The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street and holds its Sunday morning services at 9:30 and 11.  You can watch Pastor Philip's message on the church's YouTube video site...just click on the following link: [link].  And now here is the Bible text discussed here: Genesis 41:15-52 through 42:1-5, in the New International Version, courtesy of Bible Gateway:

^41 15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”
¹⁶ “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”
¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, ¹⁸ when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. ¹⁹ After them, seven other cows came up—scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. ²¹ But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up.
²² “In my dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk. ²³ After them, seven other heads sprouted—withered and thin and scorched by the east wind. ²⁴ The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.”
²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. ²⁷ The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.
²⁸ “It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, ³⁰ but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. ³¹ The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. ³² The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.
³³ “And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. ³⁶ This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.”
³⁷ The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. ³⁸ So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?”
³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰ You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”
⁴¹ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” ⁴² Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.
⁴⁴ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.” ⁴⁵ Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.
⁴⁶ Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. ⁴⁸ Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. ⁴⁹ Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure.
⁵⁰ Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ⁵¹ Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” ⁵² The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”
⁵³ The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. ⁵⁵ When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.”
⁵⁶ When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. ⁵⁷ And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.

42 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” ² He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”
³ Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. ⁵ So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also.

Framing the Years

When I look back on my early childhood, I know that back then I was aware of the passage of time: days, weeks, seasons...and even years.  But the actual time in my life when I first consciously became aware of how time is specifically numbered, i.e. by one's age, the calendar year, or grade level in school is problematic.  I can pinpoint events that happened when I was two to six years old: I remember the events but not necessarily the designated time in which they occurred...that I may have retroactively inserted into my memory.  I think I remember people telling me when I became three years old...and from then on I counted the years that way.  When I entered first grade in September 1962 (skipping kindergarten), my teacher Mrs. Parsons...perhaps the best one I had ever since...often had us pupils write the dates, including the year, on our papers.  And when my grandfather Papa (my mother's father) died on Christmas Day 1962, it was an important date marker in my mind.  As I grew older and progressed through school, my grade level and the calendar year were the dominant means by which I regarded the years, my age fading more and more into the background...I think that tended to set me apart to a great degree from my peers.  When I began to follow popular music and prime time television in earnest in 1964, and politics and sports in 1968, the calendar year designation became stronger with me.  Of course, after my school years grade level was meaningless and I was left with my age and the calendar year to frame time, along with the ages of my wife and children and how long we've been married...

Until I turned sixty last October, the year number has been my dominant point of reference in referring to the passage of time.  I not only tended to refer to events happening in the world around me in terms of the calendar year, but also those in my personal life.   But I know that I am entering a period in which my age will progressively matter more and more, although I would have preferred to just continue focusing on the calendar year to mark the passage of time. After all, there is that ultimate, unknown...but eventual...cap on one's own age somewhere in the approaching future while the calendar year just keeps going on and on and on...

Happy Birthday, My Dear Melissa

We've come around the calendar once again to one of my very top favorite dates of the year: the birthday of my adorable, beautiful wife Melissa.  What a blessing to have had her in my life all these years!  Happy Birthday, Sweetheart...and of course happy St. Valentine's Day as well!

Mixed Feelings About Warm Winters of Late

Here we are entering the middle of February, and I hear there are snowstorms in the northeastern part of the country.  Meanwhile, here in Gainesville it is a sunny, clear 78 degrees...little indication of winter as many trees and shrubbery continue with their greenery, unlike in years past when pretty much all you saw were bare branches everywhere.  And I also used to be able to go from late November until early March without the need to mow the lawn...forget that now, as well.  As far as I can remember, early 2011 was the last time we had a cold winter...I know that because back then my car's horn would get stuck around 28 degrees and suddenly go off honking uncontrollably in the early morning hours on a number of occasions.  Well, there's no danger of anything like that happening here anytime soon.  And then there was the first half-marathon I ever ran, the Five Points of Life Half-Marathon here in Gainesville on the morning of February 14th, nearly seven years ago: the temperature at starting time was a frigid 25-27 degrees.  The 2017 edition of this race will be held in less than two weeks, and I expect much warmer conditions.  Don't get me wrong: I'm not complaining too much about it being warmer, but I'd at least like for the highs not to rise too much beyond 70, at least for this season.  But of course, I'll take this current weather any day over the snow and ice in the north...

Watching the Grammys Right Now on CBS

I've been doing something this evening I have steadfastly avoided over previous decades: watching the Grammy Awards on TV.  It started at eight and, at this writing, there is still about an hour and a half left.  Late night talk show host James Corden is doing a good job hosting it...so far I've only heard one direct political barb against our new president, with Corden inserting it into an almost undecipherable opening rap/rant.  The nominees, by and large, are the usual bunch of established acts like Adele, Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, Alicia Keyes, Carrie Underwood, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Keith Urban, while a few new ones...most notably (to me) Lukas Graham and Twenty One Pilots, are talented and have some good music out there.  Most of the winners this year are no surprises...literally, they've been announced in advance, maybe so that an astonished, dismayed, and drunken Kanye West won't once again rush up onstage in anger in case Beyoncé fails to win in a category...as a matter of fact, I haven't yet seen our first declared candidate for president in 2020.  But there are a few categories, it seems, that will have to wait for the final announcement...so Trump's successor Kanye may be waiting in the wings somewhere.  As for Beyoncé, she is a consummate, talented performer with a great singing voice; my problem is how so intensely many seem to idolize her...then again, I grew up during the Beatlemania years and some folks were more than a little nuts over them, too.  And sorry, I've never been able to figure out Adele and her popularity...I think Regina Spektor should instead be a number one hits superstar, up for multiple awards. Unfortunately, she seems to be nominated for nothing this year in spite of her great album from 2016 titled Remember Us to Life.  I was very heartened to find out that the late David Bowie won multiple awards, including one for best rock song, Blackstar, which to me is truly the best song from 2016.  He also won for best alternative rock album, also titled Blackstar...

No, I don't care for much of the music being aired here on the Grammys...but I believe that the way this show has been conducted (so far) is far classier and more professionally done than were the MTV Video Awards a few months ago, one of the more unpleasant (putting it lightly) spectacles ever to disgrace my television screen...

Just Finished Reading The Ethical Assassin by David Liss

A few days ago I was browsing the shelves of my local public library and happened to come across a David Liss novel.  Never having heard of him, I decided to check it out and see how good a writer he is.  Well, I just finished reading The Ethical Assassin and...yes...Liss is a good writer, the book was enjoyable...and I left it feeling a little unsettled...

About sixty years ago, a blockbuster film, Giant, came out starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean.  It was ostensibly a love triangle intrigue about two young men in the old oil drilling days in Texas, vying against each other not only to strike oil, but also for the woman they both loved.  But a funny thing happened in this movie as it progressed: it turned into a different film, about a completely different subject...and the characters were also seen in a different light regarding how they treated it.  Something similar happened with The Ethical Assassin: it is initially a tale about a young man, Lem Atlick, selling encyclopedias to fund himself for college, who in a run-down trailer park witnesses the sudden, brutal gunning down of a couple with whom he was successfully closing a deal. But the assassin leaves him alone, although he forces him to leave his fingerprints on the murder weapon in order to ensure his future silence.  The rest of the story deals with the strange, nervous developing friendship between the two, the nefarious goings-on in that rural north Florida community...and that "different" subject I alluded to before, which turns out to be the key to the mystery about the assassin's motives, as well as to that unsettling feeling I got...

David Liss, with this book, gives me the impression that he is very familiar about northern Florida...especially the outlying rural areas and the culture of the people living there.  But as far as I know, he never lived here...although his Texas residence may also provide some insight and material.  It was still interesting to read about a hog farm on the outskirts of Gainesville...and the heart of the story takes place in a rural area a few miles from Jacksonville.  This is definitely not a promotion for my home state: as a matter of fact, the protagonist repeatedly stresses how much he hates it here and can't wait to leave.  But I'm not taking umbrage at his invective...Florida does have its crappy aspects, sorry to say...

Liss, in this book, also uses a device I've notice lately in several novels...including that Fall of Hyperion science fiction book I mentioned that I was reading: much of the story is told in the first person by the protagonist, but then other sections are told in third-person narrative form while getting into the mind of different other characters.  This third-person "mind-probing" writing approach dominates a lot of literature...George R.R. Martin swears by it in his Song of Fire and Ice ("Game of Thrones") series.  I wonder though, whether The Ethical Assassin could have been written completely in the first person, with insights into the other characters provided through the protagonist's experiences with them.  But I also recognize that, with at least one of them,"B.B", Liss had a side issue to bring out that necessitated this character's viewpoint to be fully expressed through his thoughts...

So by all means read The Ethical Assassin by David Liss.  You may or may not like it, but it isn't too long of a book and does provide some memorable characters, exposes and discusses an important issue, and brings to life some of the not-so-enjoyable aspects of living in northern Florida...

Quote of the Week...from Vince Lombardi

Confidence is contagious...so is lack of confidence.     ...Vince Lombardi.

The immortal (meaning he's dead) Green Bay Packer football coach Vince Lombardi is well-known for his words of wisdom that have inspired many, not only in the sports world, but also in business, education...and life in general.  Tying them all together is the importance he placed on people taking personal responsibility for their actions, instead of going through life passively and playing the blame game for their failures.  The above quote is in harmony with this worldview in that confidence is an attitude which one can freely choose to adopt...or reject.  It's easy to ride the waves of momentum, when everything around you is working in your favor...but when they come crashing down and you're knocked off your position and left floundering, you need something deeper to draw from.  And, in keeping with the sport of football, that's how I saw the outcome of last Sunday's Super Bowl contest between Atlanta and New England.  The Falcons built up their early lead with a lot of momentum, but could not sustain their level of confidence...while the Patriots, led by their supremely-confident quarterback Tom Brady, never lost it...even when things were seriously going against them.  And when things started to turn against Atlanta, a little lack of confidence turned into a tsunami...

A lot of quotes I put up here weekly are about individual decisions, but Coach Lombardi's quote concerns itself with how we deal with each other in a social setting and how our words and actions closely affect those of others around us.  If they are positive, empathetic, and supportive, then this will be reflected among the people...and if not, that will also be the case, albeit for the worse.  Sometimes I feel that what I say and do is pointless and irrelevant to others, but if Lombardi is right, then it's nearly impossible to go through life without strongly affecting the lives of those I encounter...even unwittingly.  So why not choose the attitude of confidence?

2/5 Sermon on the Life of Joseph, Part 4

At The Family Church here in Gainesville, Pastor Philip Griffin has an ongoing Sunday morning series titled Upcycling: Trash to Treasure and which examines the trials and triumphs of the Old Testament figure of Joseph, with the aim of deriving lessons we can apply from them to our own lives.  Today's sermon, When Life Isn't Fair..., focuses on the section of the story in which Joseph is wrongly imprisoned for attempting to sexually assault the wife of his master Potiphar...for which he is completely innocent.  The passages are Genesis 39:20-40:23, which you can read at the end of this article.  In looking at Joseph's response to his imprisonment, Pastor Philip states the importance of ministering to others where you are and to look for growth opportunities, even if you are, for a season, in a dungeon...even if it is a figurative one.  But while glorifying God through your adverse circumstances, realizing that your character is thus growing deeper roots that will ultimately make you stronger and more resilient in the long run, you still should not settle for remaining down in that dungeon, either.  And ultimately, after all is said and done, realize that life on this world isn't necessarily fair and that you shouldn't depend on fairness as a guide to how you react to others or choose to conduct your own life.  Instead, as our pastor stresses...accept that God is good, even through the storms...and that he is faithful and fair "even when others aren't"...

This message made an impact on me, as I could easily sink into an attitude of utter cynicism and even despair for the way I perceive myself having being treated in my past by others, especially as a child.  Yet here I am, with the choice to live in the present and rely on God for his true fairness.  You can see it for yourself by clicking on the following link to The Family Church Videos website on YouTube: [link]...

And here is that passage from Genesis 39:20-40:23, in the NIV and courtesy of Bible Gateway:

³⁹²⁰ Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.
But while Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹ the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

40 Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³ and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.

After they had been in custody for some time, ⁵ each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.
⁶ When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”
⁸ “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.”
Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
⁹ So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, ¹⁰ and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹ Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”
¹² “This is what it means,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. ¹³ Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. ¹⁵ I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”
¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread.¹⁷ In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”
¹⁸ “This is what it means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹ Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh.”
²⁰ Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: ²¹ He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand— ²² but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.
²³ The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Not a Political Party-Liner

I wonder if you've had this experience: you're at work, school, church, a store, or out in a coffee shop...and an individual starts to go off on a political rant, repeating talking points he or she heard from the radio or television, complete with the exact same derisive nicknames their media "hero" levels at members of the "other" political party.  I've had this happen quite a lot, actually, and it is disturbing.  Here's why...

In our system of political government, we have to deal with the reality of a binary choice between the Republican and Democratic parties.  Now as an individual citizen of our great country, I have different opinions on various issues, some of which directly affect my livelihood, some of which I believe concern my country's general welfare...and some of which are more philosophical and ethical in nature.  My positions, from issue to issue, will vary from one party's stance to the other...and sometimes neither party will take "my" side.  So when I look at the "good guys vs. bad guys" mentality of today's political discussions, with folks acting as brainless robots cheerleading their own party while personally demonizing those leaders and opinion makers on the "other side", I feel discouraged...not just at our political leaders, but at the gullible, intellectually lazy dunces who seem to control the political dialogue in America, among our leaders, media figures...and especially the populace.  Discussions should not be personally aimed but rather issues-oriented, with the aim of educating and persuading others about problems and proposed solutions.  And there's nothing wrong with admitting a lack of knowledge on an issue and asking someone to explain it for you.  But when someone I'm with suddenly goes off into a lot of recycled invective against a particular party without actually conveying anything of substance, well, that leaves me cold...

I've stated before that I was focusing my attention on a couple of different media opinion makers, radio's Mark Levin on the conservative side and television's Rachel Maddow on the liberal side.  Levin repeatedly espouses the principles that guide his take on the issues and politics and he is by no means a cheerleader, either for the Trump administration or the Republican Party.  On the other hand, although I appreciate her show, Rachel Maddow has sadly shown little proclivity to enunciate any guiding principles of her own other than the party line, and her presentation is exactly in lock-step conformity with the Democratic Party, whatever the issue.  Nothing inherently wrong with that per se...after all, she is refreshingly civil in her demeanor to others with differing opinions, and I'll continue to enjoy her show.  But I'm thinking of following someone else on the political left...someone who takes on the issues, lets people know where they're coming from, and isn't afraid to stray from the "party line" when they feel that it is appropriate to do so.  My choice: Bill Maher...

Just Finished Reading 11th Hour by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

The book 11th Hour continues the "count" down the Women's Murder Club series, by this point a well-established collaboration between James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.  I just finished reading it, and it was enjoyable and flowed easily and quickly.  The two main story lines were a rogue cop ambushing drug dealers and the discovery of seven unearthed female skulls, dug up from a garden at a famous actor's estate.  Lindsay (homicide investigator), Claire (medical examiner), Cindy (newspaper reporter), and Yuki (assistant d.a.)...close friends and members of the informal Women's Murder Club, progress along with their respective personal lives as well...it's probably a good idea for me not to share the details in case you might be interested in pursuing this series.  But I will say that the protagonists are very likeable and I can easily sympathize with their different struggles and rejoice in their victories...although, of course, they're all completely fictional.  Lindsay Boxer is the main character and works for the San Francisco Police Department, so in reading these books I'm also getting a flavor about what it's like out there in 49ers country...

One thing I like about this series is that the books, along with being comfortably short, present mysteries that make me try to put together different clues and guess the solutions.  Sometimes I'm on target with my conclusions, and sometimes...well, the authors always get the final say on things, don't they...

I'm sure I'll be reading the next Women's Murder Club book soon...titled "12th Something or Other", but in the meantime I'm going to start on my first David Liss novel, titled The Ethical Assassin.  I'm also still reading the science-fiction Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons and have started Frank Peretti's The Oath...

Unprecedented Super Bowl Choke Leads to Patriots Win

Leading by an apparently insurmountable 28 to 3 in the third quarter of yesterday evening's National Football League Super Bowl, it looked like an unexpected rout in the making for the underdog Atlanta Falcons and their first ever league championship.  But their defense, which had an edge over the New England offense for most of the game, was tiring...and from then on, in spite of still harassing Patriot quarterback Tom Brady on a number of occasions, it was the New England offense that was the driving force in the game.  That still would have left Atlanta with a victory had they not made a number of crucial mistakes, the worst being with just a few minutes to go in the fourth quarter and their MVP quarterback Matt Ryan having guided his team into good field goal range, within the Patriots' 25-yard line.  All he had to do was then repeatedly hand the ball off and try to pick up a couple more yards...but even just staying put would have given the Falcon placekicker a highly probable field goal and would have put Atlanta up 31-20, with time running out for their opponents.  Instead, Ryan foolishly dropped way back to pass...about 15 yards...and was sacked.  The following play Atlanta was called for holding.  Eventually they had to punt and the Patriots put on their game-tying drive, eventually winning in overtime after they won the coin toss, received the kickoff, and methodically drove straight down the field for the final touchdown...

I'm not a New England fan, but I admire how they played together and how poised Tom Brady was under such pressure and adversity.  I agree with him: it was his greatest victory.  Fortunately, I'm not an Atlanta fan, either...although I wanted them to win yesterday.  Hey, maybe they'll be so demoralized after this loss that they will flub up next year and Tampa Bay will win their division.  Why not...after all, Carolina screwed up this past season after their disappointing Super Bowl result the year before...

Leicester City's Rollercoaster Ride Through English Soccer

I began to follow English Premier League professional soccer in the fall of 2014...its season is like that of basketball and hockey, a hyphenation of two years.  So this 2016-17 season is the third that I've been a fan of this sport as it is played on the most elite level.  And without a doubt, the dominant story so far has been the tumultuous run of the Leicester City Football Club, nicknamed the "Foxes"...although West London's Chelsea team, which stands poised to win its second league title in three years, might want to argue with that conclusion...

In most pro soccer leagues in the world, including here in the United States and Canada, there is a hierarchy of leagues, with the top-flight premier league at the top, naturally sporting the best teams.  Then there are leagues #2, #3, and so forth...depending on how many a country may have.  England's soccer establishment is so entrenched that it has more than 20 levels.  Well, in most countries (but not ours) there is movement between these leagues: for example, each year the three worst finishers in the twenty-team English Premier League are relegated (demoted) to England's second-tier league, which is deceptively called "Football League Championship"...and that league in turn promotes its top three finishers up to the Premier League to replace them.  In the 2013-14 season Leicester City, traditionally a second-tier team, ran away with the Championship title, which earned them promotion into the Premier League the following year.  But in 2014-15, they were struggling greatly, and as late as April were deeply mired in twentieth (and last) place, almost certain to be relegated back to their former league.  And then inexplicably they caught fire and won seven of their last nine games, earning them a 14th place finish and a pass to play again among the "big boys"...

Which brings us to last year: for the 2015-16 season Leicester City hired a new manager, Claudio Ranieri, and they quickly surprised everyone by rising to lead the league from the start.  Part of this early season success was due to a scoring frenzy by their striker, Jamie Vardy, at one stretch having scored 13 goals in 11 games.  Eventually, though, it was thought that the Foxes would finally settle down to a lower place in the standings...instead, their defense took hold and they coasted easily to the title even as their offense cooled off.  And since there is no playoff system in English league soccer, Leicester City won the league championship with 23 wins, only 3 losses, and 12 draws.  And now we come to this 2016-17 season...

With the same manager and core lineup of players, Leicester City has floundered in mediocrity.  The same Jamie Vardy, after 24 games, has only one goal to his credit and, what's even worse, that intimidating defense of theirs has completely disappeared.  They have not only been losing games, but they have been losing them by embarrassing margins.  Leicester City's record at this writing is only 5 wins, 13 losses, and 6 draws.  But even more ominous is that they are in 16th place and only one point ahead of the dreaded relegation zone.  And they are on a four-game losing streak at that...

Next week Leicester City will play Swansea, currently in 17th place.  Should the Foxes fall to them, it is considered a certainty that Ranieri will be fired...and Leicester City may well be on the way to relegation, just one year after they won the entire Premier League championship and three after they were promoted.  What a rollercoaster ride!

You can follow English Premier League soccer on NBCSports and NBC.  Check out your TV schedule for the channels in your area...Gainesville has them on Cox Cable channels 33 and 9, respectively.  The games are shown live on Saturday and Sunday mornings, with another usually shown on Saturday afternoon...