Not The Old Days

How Much More?



College sports keeps throwing up signs that ought to stop us from believing in their virtue, and yet we keep running right through them. How much longer 'til we reach a tipping point?
 
This is one of the articles on an ESPN site this morning. Brought some thoughts to me that I'd like to share.
 
Now I can speak because I played, I coached, and I watched the game but also experience the game.
 
The people that mean most to me outside my family are my old teachers and coaches. I never had to worry about one of them mistreating me or leading me in the wrong direction. Never! They spoke the way people of influence should. They acted the way people of influence should. The dressed the way people of influence should. They expected of me like people of influence should. I was surely inspired by many people in the spot light because they had done things that I thought were unattainable for me. I knew that as I began to have opportunities to be a part of the "TEAMS" there was more expected of me than just the average guy. I signed my first autograph August 1972. I remember the thought, "you want my autograph? Why do you want my autograph?" I wasn't a starter for the Bulldogs but this young boy seems to think because i was a player for Mississippi State I was worthy of him having my autograph. It was a great day for me. I quickly developed "my autograph" that of course contained a scripture verse, Phil. 4:13. For the next 3 years i was called upon to speak for the MSU Fellowhsip of Athletes across the state of Mississippi.  It was a privilege to represent the University, my fellow players, and our LORD. Later I began to coach and teach young. I knew the responsibility people had placed on me coaching their sons and daughters. I do not think they ever doubted me efforts to protect their children in every way. Today those kids are my other sons and ddaughters. I will never forget them. I may not recognize them because they are big people now but their memories are that of more than just kids i taught or coached. In 1989 i began my administrative career and I missed the coaching but because of the position I held I felt greater responsibility not only to protect but to guide into the future. Have I failed? Yes, many times but there are a lot of wins. Have I lost some? yes, too many. Drowned, shot, car accident, prison, drugs, gangs, guns, hateful parents, rape, murder, and more.
The WINS, oh yes!!! Doctors, lawyers, truck drivers, business men, pastors, military, professors, teachers, coaches, assistant principals, principals, therapists, mothers, daddys, and more that really count to the world.
 
Everybody can play sports of one kind or another. It makes no difference in their size, shape, speed, or color. I had one boy, name was Pit. To small to not be in some body's shade, but what a heart. I was afraid to let him play his first year because he was so small but turn him loose and he was like a dog after a rabbit. he might caught the rabbit and the rabbit drag him around but he was never letting go. GREAT KID! 
 
OK, rambled some but my rant is related to  College athletes now. What is wrong with college football?
 
LIST ALERT!
1, NO ATHLETIC DORM
2. HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS TO MUCH LIKE COLLEGE
3. PARENTS THAT HAVE LEARNED THE VALUE OF A SCHOLARSHIP
4. PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
5. TV
6. EGOS
7. CHEERLEADERS DRESS LIKE "HOES"
8. CHEER TEAMS, DANCE TEAMS DRESSED LIKE "HOES"
9. SUGAR DADDY ALUMNI, FRIENDS OF THE UNIVERSITY
10. DRUGS
11. MONEY!
 
It doesn't take a genus to see the signs that the entire NCAA program in way out of control. THE TIPPING POINT? TOO LATE!!

Jo Po Oh No!!!

Failure in his own eyes??

OK! Good Grief!!! What else is going to happen this football season?? Maybe Delta State is going to reveal that there successful program is because they have a special CORN/Marijuana cross that all the players eat before their game.

That is just about as far out as i would have expected Jo Paterno being in the situation he is today. Saddens me to think that he would not have done any more to prevent this than he did.

I am adding this article that says it all. HOW SAD IT IS!


Paterno failed Penn State more than any coach has ever failed a school, and that’s not the worst of it.

Joe Paterno professed to be part of the larger university community, but in truth, he believed the university was there to serve him, Richard Justice writes. (Jamie Squire/Allsport)

Joe Paterno didn’t do the right thing then, and he wasn’t going to do the right thing now. He was going to do it his way. He was going to please himself, and to hell with anyone who thought he should do it otherwise.

In the end, he seemingly couldn’t understand how he failed the school he professed to love so much. He just didn’t understand that he could not coach another game, that he could not stay at Penn State another hour.

Paterno simply didn’t understand that it would have been unspeakably offensive for him to coach again. How would the victims have felt? How would their families have felt?

How have they felt the last decade when they believed no one would ever be held accountable? They must have felt that Paterno was the law and order in Happy Valley, and that no one — no district attorney, no cop, no one — would challenge him.

Indeed, that’s one of the lessons of this story. Paterno became accountable to no one, and isn’t that sad? He was the moral compass of State College and of Penn State.

He earned that status by winning games, graduating players and not cheating. He seemed different from so many of the others because during his 46 seasons, Penn State proved it could win with honor.

Somewhere along the way, Paterno’s value system became distorted. He had more power than any school president or mayor or athletics director, and because we assumed he always used it for good, because we believed the things he said about winning with honor, we allowed his power to grow and grow and grow.

Paterno built what appeared to be a model program, but he also built a program around secrecy and arrogance. No one crossed Joe Paterno. No one challenged Joe Paterno.

Paterno professed to be part of the larger university community, but in truth, he believed the university was there to serve him.

Someday, he may tell us why why he allowed an alleged child rapist to have his run of the football facilities. Paterno was given an eyewitness account of his most trusted assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, engaging in sexual behavior with a 10-year-old child.

Even if Paterno thought the best of his assistant, even if he doubted he would ever harm a child, he had the moral and ethical responsibility to send him home and bar him from the campus until there was a thorough investigation.

Only Paterno didn’t do that. He allowed Sandusky to bring children onto the campus, allowed him to continue to be treated like a VIP. If Joe Paterno wasn’t an enabler, he was very, very close.

Maybe Paterno refused to believe what he’d been told. Maybe he believed he owed Sandusky such a debt of gratitude that he simply couldn’t bring himself to do the right thing.

In not acting, Paterno failed the victims. He allowed Sandusky’s crimes to continue. Against children with no voice. Children without fat bank accounts. Children who were not blue-chip recruits. Here’s hoping those children haunt Joe Paterno for the rest of his life.

Sure, he failed Penn State, too. He failed his university as badly as any coach has ever failed a school. Every other scandal — Ohio State, Miami, SMU, Baylor, UNLV — seems irrelevant compared to this one.

After all the years in which he was the college coach, the college educator, others were measured against, his career ends in shame. All those years, all those records, all the good, now will be a footnote to the horror of the crimes against children.

Now that Paterno is gone, Penn State can begin to repair itself. But it won’t happen quickly.

It will take time to replace the leadership and to find new people, and even after the new people are in place, even if they’re good and honest people, the legal case will continue for years, and when each new chapter is written, the world will be reminded of the crimes that took place at Penn State, of the the crimes that people like Joe Paterno failed to respond to.

Someday, Penn State may get its reputation back, but it’s unlikely to ever be what it once was. Joe Paterno has stained Penn State forever, but at least he’s gone.

It must be tough being a football god or thinking you are a football god.

Great Riddle

A RIDDLE

Only 5% of Stanford University graduates figured it out! Can you answer all seven of the following questions with the same word?

1. The word has seven letters....

2. Preceded God...

3. Greater than God...

4. More Evil than the devil...

5. All poor people have it...

6. Wealthy people don’t need it....

7. If you eat it, you will die.



Did you figure it out?







Try hard before looking at the answers

Did you get it yet?

Give up?



Brace yourself for the answer....



The Answer below:




NOTHING!



NOTHING has 7 letters.

NOTHING preceded God.

NOTHING is greater than God.

NOTHING is more Evil than the devil.

All poor people have NOTHING.

Wealthy people need NOTHING.

If you eat NOTHING, you will die.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Great weekend for College football. If you like that kind of stuff. Of course I watched the highly talked about Alabama LSU game. Well, I watched some of it. I knew going in that Alabama had the best defense I've ever seen on a college team but expected the LSU Tigers to test it. Before the game i was predicting a 27- 21 Alabama victory but as I watched the game stretch out I knew that two factors would determine the real winner. One: Coaching decisions (right thing at the right time) and two: team execution (doing what should be done at the right time.)

Now I must say my love for the game greatly diminished after playing for 10 years. it occurred when i went to a game what i watched the team I had played on play against I don't remember who. What happened you ask and I know you asked. I heard what YOU say when things don't go just wonderfully on the field. The shouting at, the talking down to, the blame, OMG! I never had any idea of what was going one up in the stands while I was playing as hard as I could with a sprain knee, a pulled groin, a hiper extended elbow, cuts over my eyes or some virus that caused me to loose 18 pounds in one afternoon. OK, there it is. That is why many old player don't go to games and that is why I don't enjoy going either. Of course you engineering majors, the liberal arts folk and business guys love the trips back to campus. To some folk it is more that some drinks, some chicken, some dip you can't pronounce and some special chips that you can only find and get at that "place" and they actually taste like the Kroger brand.

I can go for the snacks and even seeing some old friends but the hike, the climb, the noise, the excited red-necks that must not have a life outside of the seasonal killing off of live animal, football, putting bigger wheels on there trucks and the making of babies. THAT IS NOT FOR ME!.

OH, back to the game. I can sum up the entire night by saying this. You may see another game in your life time that puts two teams of close match as these two were but you probably will never see two teams as good as those to teams ever play again. NO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NOTHING. THESE ARE THE TWO BEST TEAMS IN THE COUNTRY AND WE'LL PROBABLY NEVER SEE A SO CLOSELY MATCH GAME OF GOOD ATHLETES AND COACHES AGAIN. It only happens twice in each EON.

Be that a it may be, Les Myles is the luckiest Coach ever right? Of course right, but luck has nothing to do with execution by players. Doing what you have been coached is what make things look like luck. The players for LSU won this game because they did what they were supposed to do when it counted. Whether first play or last execution execution execution.

Nick, tough game bro, but kick, kick, kick. Nick please!!  50+ yards to give field position away. Nicky baby!?!?! No national championship for you.

Lastly, if you want to have fun and get a few laughs go to the park when the first and second grade soccer teams are playing. Carry a cooler and some samwiches. the parents and kids will give you a laugh if the parents don't. You might get a since of what sports are all about anyway.

WAIT! one more thing to ponder. It has to do with two people. One is a Bama student. J Finley, a senior majoring in telecommunication and film. he is mentioned in this article related to the cost of a ticket for the Bama LSU game.

Most Alabama students paid $5 for a ticket to Saturday’s game against LSU, but for some fans, the cost of attendance may be hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Statewide website AL.com reported there were two tickets for sale on Stubhub.com for a seat in row 25 of the lower level north end zone for $10,423.14 each. The tickets are no longer available.
Will Flaherty, director of communications for SeatGeek.com, a search engine that pulls together ticket listings from all major secondary ticket websites, said the average ticket price of sold tickets on their website is $606.

For comparison, tickets to Game 7 of this year’s World Series averaged $601 on SeatGeek, tickets to Game 5 of the NBA Finals averaged $686, tickets to last year’s BCS National Championship game averaged $1,351, and tickets to last year’s Super Bowl averaged $3,067.13, Flaherty said.

“This is a demand we’ve never seen in our two years of doing this,” Flaherty said. “The ticket prices are astronomically expensive, but there are tickets still available. I think it really speaks to just how great these two teams are. They have two loyal fan bases and are a drivable distance away, which really allows people to spend more money on their game tickets.”

Many UA students have posted their tickets on websites such as StubHub.com and Facebook Marketplace to make a profit.

J Finley, a senior majoring in telecommunication and film, said he was selling his ticket to Saturday’s game for $300.

“This ticket and game tickets in general are a great source for extra income,” Finley said. “I don’t have a job, so this is basically like my paycheck. This ticket is one of the most valuable tickets I’ve sold in my four years of flipping tickets. I’d rather watch the game in the comfort of my home instead of standing up for three hours.”

UA student Corey Neill said he was asking for $300 because that’s how much it’s worth to him to miss the game.

“I could definitely use the extra money for bills, but I would also love to go to the game myself,” Neill said. “I can remember paying $230, including an upgrade fee, to go to the Tennessee game when I had just transferred in and feel like this is a much more important game. I think it’s a lot of money for one game, but at the same time, I could see myself spending just as much if I didn’t have a ticket.”

Doug Walker, associate athletics director at the University, said the face value of tickets to attend Saturday’s game is $85, regardless of whether the seats are on the 50-yard line or in the upper deck.

The other person.... I don't know his name. He is one of the 34,000 children that die daily of preventable diseases. One of those that live without fresh water. Makes you want to question how many tickets does it take to put a fresh water well in a nation to provide water to those in need. 59!

MONEY MONEY WHO'S GOT THE MONEY??!!

Got this from a friend and had to post it. It is so true that it hurts and this is only a part of the story.

Learning from Obituaries....


It seems that every couple of days New Orleans loses one of its treasured

ENTREPRENEURS .


Lets get the players straight before we go on with this.

interpretation of data not verified but...



LARMONDO "FLAIR" ALLEN

His Companion: Kawanner Armstrong

His Sons: Christian Allen

Kwan Allen

Larmondo Allen, Jr.



His Daughters: Deidra Allen

Larmenshell Allen

Lamonshea Allen

Larmomdriel Allen

Larmerja Allen

Korevell Allen



AT AGE 25 - He had 9 Children.

(Could Kawanner Armstrong Possibly Be The Mother Of All Of His Kids?)


His Father: Burnell Thompson

His Mother: Esther Allen

His Stepfather: Bruce Gordy





His Brothers: Burnell Thompson

Edgar Thompson

Wil Willis

Danta Edwards

Reshe Edwards

Mattnell Allen

Burnell Allen

Lester Allen





His Sisters: Shannail Craig

Lekiksha Thompson

Gwendolyn Carter

Jessica Willis

Katina Gordy





Grandparents: Delors Allen

J.C. Allen

Anna Laura Thompson

Will Thompson





So, lets see now...



His Father, Burnell Thompson, fathered his brothers Burnell, Edgar and his sister Lekiksha.

His Stepfather, Bruce Gordy, fathered his Sister Katina.

His Mother, Esther Allen, must have been unwed when she gave birth to: Larmondo, Mattnell, Burnell and Lester.

We don't know who fathered Wil Willis and Jessica Willis, or Dante and Reshe Edwards.

Lets hope sisters Shannail Craig and Gwendolyn Carter are married.



GOT THE ABOVE ALL STRAIGHT?

********************

NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY



He was 25 and had 3 sons and 6 daughters.

NINE welfare recipients collecting $950 each.....

That equals $8,550 a month!!! Now add Food Stamps,

Free medical, Free school lunches, and on and on

Do the math ... $102,000+/year.

Anyone out there, sittin' on their butt while reading this e-mail, making A HUNDRED GRAND doing nothing?



Now that, to me, is a real Entrepreneur. (ALSO, BECAUSE OF THEIR FATHERS DEATH, ALL OF THE KIDS WILL COLLECT

SOCIAL SECURITY UNTIL THEY ARE 18) EVEN BETTER ... IF "FLAIR'S" THIRTEEN BROTHERS & SISTERS FOLLOWED HIS ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGY--THAT'S AN ADDITIONAL $1.3 MILLION PER YEAR BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE! IF ALL THIRTEEN BROTHERS AND SISTERS CAN DUPLICATE HIS FEAT OF 9 WELFARE STRATEGISTS THAT BREEDS 117 NEW RECIPIENTS COLLECTING $100,000/YR!!...OR AN ADDITIONAL $11,700,000PER YEAR... &THAT'S ONE DAMN FAMILY (And demands 100% the Taxes Paid by 1,000 avg. taxpayers)



And THAT is why this once great country is BANKRUPT!

GIVE ME YOU MONEY AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIKE IT

I got his from a friend today. goes with the Walden belief that we got money and we have needs.  I mean i don't like the idea of giving people something for nothing.that's right welfare, medicaid. I mean why should i pay for something that the Government pays for those lazy people that don't try to do anything. I met a person one time that said that they had to be careful how much money they made because they would loose their Medicare benefits. PLEASE! We are setting up a future of lard ass lazy do nothing people while the rest of us work our butts off.

I mean i don't want poor people going without basic needs but there is a difference between poor and lazy-ass people that sit on their cough growing butt all day watching premium channels of their big screen TVs.  Please use my taxes for the poor and proper stuff. NOT FOR THESE GUYS!

Below are the actual voting records of various Arabic/Islamic States which are recorded in both the US State Department and United Nations records:




Kuwait votes against the United States 67% of the time



Qatar votes against the United States 67% of the time



Morocco votes against the United States 70% of the time



United Arab Emirates votes against the U. S. 70% of the time.



Jordan votes against the United States 71% of the time.



Tunisia votes against the United States 71% of the time.



Saudi Arabia votes against the United States 73% of the time.



Yemen votes against the United States 74% of the time.



Algeria votes against the United States 74% of the time.



Oman votes against the United States 74% of the time.



Sudan votes against the United States 75% of the time.



Pakistan votes against the United States 75% of the time.



Libya votes against the United States 76% of the time.



Egypt votes against the United States 79% of the time.



Lebanon votes against the United States 80% of the time.



India votes against the United States 81% of the time.



Syria votes against the United States 84% of the time.



Mauritania votes against the United States 87% of the time.



U S Foreign Aid to those that hate us:



Egypt, for example, after voting 79% of the time against the United States,

Still receives $2 billion annually in US Foreign Aid.



Jordan votes 71% against the United States



And receives $192,814,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.



Pakistan votes 75% against the United States



Receives $6,721,000,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.



India votes 81% against the United States



Receives $143,699,000 annually.

OUR GOVERNMENT IS WILLING TO SEND MONEY TO THESE COUNTRIES EVEN THOUGH THEY DO NOT LIKE US. ?

Good Grief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!