fastpitch natalie

Natalie is on the 7th grade softball team at Garaway. Her first game was a couple weeks ago so this post is a bit over-due. The league they're in is for girls 14 and under. Natalie, because of when her birthday is, could have still played in the 12 and under league this year but instead, she's playing "up."

At the first game the other team had a pitcher who was flat bringin' it. Natalie was batting lead-off. And I'm thinking, oh man, how's she gonna catch up to that heat? Well I'll tell ya how she caught up to it...she spanked the first pitch of the game over the first baseman's head for a solid base hit.

On her second at-bat she grounded out hard to the shortstop. The third time up, well, Leslie Yoder got a nice shot of what happened the third time up:

Yep. She got plunked by the flame-thrower. You can see the ball on its way to the ground after it drilled her in the side of her butt. Yeah...it left a mark...but she scored later...and had to slide at home, leaving a matching mark on her other butt cheek.

They lost the game...but they've picked up the pace recently, winning each of their last two contests.

And just for good measure, here's a pic of Natalie pitching in the same game:

It's so much fun to watch her play.

newpointer headed to long-drive national championship

Ryan Kirkbride is one of the guys I meet with on a regular basis. We get together and download life. We talk about how to be better husbands, better dads, and better followers of Christ. It's really cool to see God at work in Ryan's life. He's growing spiritually. He's growing as a leader. And check this out: he's growing as a golfer.

Back in April Ryan won (easily) a regional long drive qualifer and now he's headed to Nevada to compete in the nationals. Dude can just absolutely smash the ball.

Ryan recently asked me if I could get him a NewPointe golf shirt (he wants to wear it in the nationals).

The Times-Reporter did a story on Ryan that's in today's paper. You can read it here: Area golfer headed to driving competition.

Go get 'em Ryan! And remember: If God is for you, who can be against you? You can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens you!

By the way, I had lunch with Ryan yesterday. The question he's wrestling with right now is: How am I going to get that big cardboard check onto the airplane? I asked him if he has to endorse the backside of it with a giant magic marker. I guess he'll just have to cross that bridge when he comes to it. :)

andrew meets trent edwards (part 2)

Part two takes place at my cousin's wedding reception. The hour was approaching ten o'clock. The family and I were ready to head back to the hotel. I asked Andrew if he wanted to say goodbye to Trent before we left.

I didn't have to ask twice. Andrew rushed over to where Trent was standing. Trent bent down, held out his hand for a high-five from the monkey-boy and said, "Hey Andrew, what's up?" (he remembered his name...very cool).

Andrew says, "See you at the picnic tomorrow!"

Trent replied, "Aw, buddy, I'm not going to be at the picnic."

Andrew shot back, "Where you gotta be?" As if to say, "Hey, you're the quarterback of the Bills, you can do whatever you want. And what's more important than a wedding party picnic?...Duh!"

Trent informed Andrew that he had to fly to California for another wedding. Andrew seemed cool with that. Especially after arriving to the picnic to have this waiting for him:

Yes, it's signed by Trent Edwards. Yes, Andrew is now the world's biggest Bills fan. Yes, it looks like I'm going to have to take him to a Bills game this fall (as if I'm complaining).

The hard part was trying to convince Andrew to leave the mini helmet in the display case instead of taking it out and letting his teddy bear wear it (that's really what he wanted to do).

andrew meets trent edwards (part 1)

Last week we went to my cousin's wedding in Buffalo, NY. The guy she married works for the Buffalo Bills. He's good friends with the Bills' starting quarterback, Trent Edwards. In fact, Trent was one of the groomsmen in the wedding.

Andrew has GOT to be the biggest five-year-old football freak on the planet. He LOVES football. He knows all the NFL teams, and he has things pretty much figured out like: love the Bengals, hate the Steelers, and the Browns stink (that's my boy!). He also would tell you he's a fan of the Eagles, Dolphins, Falcons, and Packers (he can't pick ONE favorite). Anyway, you can now add the Bills to the top of that list.

He couldn't wait to meet the Bills' QB...talked about it for weeks. So finally, after the wedding, I say to Andrew, "Do you want to go meet Trent Edwards?" Duh. So we went over and introduced ourselves. Trent was super-cool. Andrew was diggin' it. Here's a pic of Trent, Andrew and me...

Shortly into our conversation, Andrew informed Trent that he had a question for him.

"What do you want to know," asked Trent.

Andrew's question: "DO YOU KNOW BRETT FAVRE?"

Classic.

faster pastor (the sequel)

Yes, I'm racing in the Faster Pastor race at Midvale again this year. Last year I finished third (out of ten). This year...I'M IN IT TO WIN IT! Of course, because we start single-file, where you place has more to do with the luck of the draw for starting positions than it does with how you drive. But it's still a lot of fun.

The race is THIS SATURDAY (May 17). The action starts at 6:30 p.m. The pastors will race sometime around 8 p.m. And you're all invited! They tell me that if you bring your NewPointe weekly (bulletin), you'll receive $2 off admission.

Stay tuned for race results. And oh, by the way, if you've got any great racing tips, please feel free to pass them this way.

Here's a link to the Midvale Speedway webpage. http://www.midvalespeedway.com/

the softball story...now with video

Last Thursday I posted a link to an incredible story about sportsmanship and grace. Here's a great video that's now available. It's a great reminder of what winning is really all about.

cool story about sportsmanship

Someone directed me to this story this morning: Unique Display of Sportsmanship

Now I'm telling you about it because it's definitely worth reading. Goosebumps.

welcome to kumler field, home of the cougars

Over the weekend we visited the ol' stomping grounds to attend a family wedding. Every time we visit Jenny's folks, we drive by our high school. The football field is visible from the road. And every time Andrew (our little football addict) asks, "Daddy, is that where you played football?" I always answer, "Yes." And Andrew is always so fascinated by that.

This time, we had time, so we decided to stop and let Andrew check things out up close. The gate was open so we helped ourselves to the field of dreams...

Andrew thought it was the coolest thing ever. I had him run a couple of routes to the end zone as I threw passes to him (of course, he already had his football with him).

Home of the Cougars. Home of my glory days. For the record, my senior team was 7-3 (barely missing the playoffs).
Who knows...maybe Andrew will get to play in the state playoffs someday. Hey, a dad can only hope, right?

oh so close...

Took the fam to watch the Ohio division 3 state championship game last night at the Schott. The Garaway Lady Pirates had an incredible season, going 24-3. Unfortunately one of the "3" was last night's game. The Pirates fought hard but in the end Versailles was just too big and too athletic. Congrats, though, to the Pirates on a GREAT season.

The pregame hype...

Team introductions...

Trophy presentations...

Andrew proudly declaring, "We're number two!"

The boys team is still in it...they play this weekend in Columbus. How cool is it that the Garaway boys and girls both made the final four?!

Also, congrats to the Hiland Lady Hawks...State champs again! Way to represent the IVC!

tough love and hard lessons

My buddy Brian sent me a link to a newspaper article about a future Buckeye hoops player, Jared Sullinger. Here's the gist of the story:

Sullinger is one of the top players in the nation. His team was storming toward a state title. His coach (who is also his father) suspended Sullinger for one game for failing to keep up with his schoolwork. Sullinger's team lost...a game that they no doubt would have won had Sullinger played.

Here's a quote from the story:

His absence mattered, but it wasn't what mattered most to his coach and father, Satch Sullinger, whose decision to suspend his 15-year-old son offers food for thought.

Sullinger said he sat his son to send multiple messages:

• Effort is more important than achievement.

"You can't be successful when your assignments are not turned in, when you say you're doing your homework and you're not," he said, referring to Jared.

• Building an established winner takes more than winning one game in an established building.

"I'm building a program, not trying to win a district semifinal at any cost," he said.

• Lessons learned today pay dividends later.

"Nobody who goes through this program again will ever do it (slack off
on studies), because they all know they can't survive if they do," he said.

Sullinger stressed that his program is about fairness, character and accountability.

Strong. Admirable. Courageous. And a great example. You can read the full story here: Tough love drives home hard lesson at Northland

with sympathy

I haven't blogged about the Buckeyes losing to LSU last week. I've tried to block it from my memory. You know, there are just some things you'd rather forget. And then I got this in the mail today:

When I opened the envelope I thought, huh? Then I opened the card.

It's from Sherry and Duane Degenardt, die-hard Texas Longhorns fans (and part-time Ohioans). They knew I'd been mourning the loss.

I have some history with Sherry and Duane. Last year when OSU played Texas, we made a bet. I won. They had to wear Buckeye jerseys to church on Sunday (some of you may remember).

Anyway, it's nice to know someone cares during this difficult time.

the day i repo-ed the OSU football coach's car

With the college football bowl season winding down, I'm reminded of some fond memories of my newspaper days in Columbus. I worked for at the Columbus Dispatch for about five years, supervising the classified advertising key accounts staff. Working with the car dealers was one of my main responsibilities. Part of those responsibilities included entertaining our clients and just basically schmoozing them from time to time. This allowed me to develop some great friendships with many of the Columbus dealers. One of my favorite friendships was with a guy named Phil. He was the general sales manager at one of the Buick dealerships.

In January of 2001, Phil and I were due to have lunch together and talk business. A day or so prior to our meeting, Phil called me to ask if I'd be interested in riding to OSU head football coach John Cooper's house to get his car. Coop had just been fired by Ohio State and part of his "package" included the use of a sweet Buick Riviera. It was Phil's responsibility to retrieve the car for the company.

Of course, I agreed to go with Phil. Heck, it meant a trip to John Cooper's house and the opportunity to drive his car. So Phil picked me up and we drove over to Coop's house.

I'd always heard that Cooper's house was ridiculously huge. When we arrived on his cul-de-sac, we saw the Buick in the driveway. The house was large and nice but not as big as I expected. We rang the door bell (no the OSU fight song did not chime). Nothing. Where's coach?

Phil said, "He knew I was coming, I wonder where he is."

After a few minutes, Coach Cooper emerged from the side of the house wearing a denim shirt and unlaced snow boots that he had obviously just slipped on. He said, "Hey guys, this is not my house...but it is my daughter Cindy's house. My house is over there."

He pointed next door and...DANG! His house was ginormous. It lived up the hype. He continued, "This is the car, though. I parked it in Cindy's driveway. It's all ready to go."

He handed the keys to Phil and then Phil tossed the keys to me. Sweet! I get to drive Coop's car!

Coop was not in much of a chatty mood. After all, he'd just gotten fired and, well, we were taking his car. So we said goodbye and we got in the cars.

Phil backed out on to the cul-de-sac to wait for me. I began backing out. What I've failed to mention to this point is that it had recently snowed in Columbus. About an inch--enough to cover the ground...and the driveway.

As I was backing out, I looked to my left and saw a big tree. I thought to myself, I don't recall that tree being on that side of the driveway. As I paused to recalibrate, I realized that I had just driven through John Cooper's front yard. See, the driveway was curved...and I missed the curve on the back-out.

I pulled forward, and after some fancy maneuvering, backed the car out on to the street.

I can just picture Coach Cooper watching all this from his big picture window, and cussing me out.

I expect to read about myself in his memoirs someday. It may look something like this: "I knew it was all over when, not only did they come take my Riv, but the dude turfed my front yard."

In case you're curious, yes, I did check in the glove box. Nothing too interesting...a couple documents from the OSU athletic department but not much else. The way they got hammered by South Carolina in the Outback bowl a few days prior, I half expected to see the OSU game plan in the glove box...with Cooper thinking, Where did I put that darn thing?

And that's my story of the day I repo-ed John Cooper's Buick.

john maxwell helps the buckeyes

I read this in the Sunday edition of the Canton Repository:

John Maxwell, an expert on leadership skills, has written plenty of books to help others develop those qualities. A few years back, OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel used one of his books as a summer reading project for his team. This past summer, Tressel and his players read “Talent is Never Enough.” Tressel asked Maxwell to speak to all the school’s teams. He offered three general principles:

• The significance of one: The No. 1 is truly too small, and no one has ever accomplished something great alone.
• Dreams are free: Dream anything you want to dream, but the journey is not.
• Make good choices: Make decisions that support your dreams. Don’t overestimate decision making and underestimate decision management.

Maxwell also rode the team bus from Columbus to Ann Arbor for the Michigan game.

am i the problem?

So here's the thing...I've been to two Ohio State games in the past three years...that's it...a grand total of two.

Interestingly, the Buckeyes have only lost two home games in the past three years. Guess which two? You got it.

Coach Tressel is going to ban me from the stadium.

People were asking me at church today if I was disappointed. Yes, obviously I wanted to see them win. I thought we had a legitimate shot at playing for another national title. But if you'd have asked me at the beginning of the season if I thought the Bucks would have been 10-1 after the first 11 games I'd have said "no way." It's been a great season. And...beat that team up North next week and we have ourselves yet another Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose Bowl. That's still a great season by anyone's standards.

I had a blast at the game. Even ran into some NewPointers...

That's actually the spot where we tailgated. Literally right next to the stadium. Unbelievable. I wanted to get more photos but my camera batteries ran out. The rest of these pics were taken with my cell phone inside the 'shoe.

The incomparable Script Ohio:

Here come the Buckeyes!

Great seats huh buddy?

go bucks!

I'm going to see the #1 team in the nation play today. I'll give a full report (with photos) some time tomorrow. Go Bucks!

the '72 dolphins just don't get it

The 1972 Miami Dolphins are the last (and only) NFL team to win every game in an NFL season. Every year they root for current NFL teams to lose so their record stays in tact. They have an annual tradition of getting together for a party and popping champagne corks to celebrate when the last undefeated NFL team falls each season.

This season it's looking more and more like the New England Patriots could, indeed, run the table. And so the '72 Phins are rooting hard against them.

I think they're missing the boat. Wrong approach, if you ask me. See, I think they should be cheering for the Pats to do it. Why would you ever, really, root against someone else's success? In their case, it's just so they can keep feeling superior to everyone else. To me, the 72 team doesn't paint themselves in a very good light. They come off as petty and mean-spirited.

What if they did this: what if they cheered for the Patriots to break the record? What if they took the approach of we want to see someone else enjoy the kind of success we enjoyed? What if they actually offered to help the Patriots in any way they could...advice, motivation, etc.? What if they did that? If they did, I think they'd be more remembered for their generosity and kindness than just the fact that they were a great football team. My question to them: Do you want to be remembered more as a great person or just a great football player?

I hope I'm able to avoid the place where I'm pulling for others to fail. Let's be people who help others succeed. Let's be people who try to find ways to move the ball further down the field than we've been able to move it.

saturday's trifecta

As most of you know, I'm a huge Ohio State Buckeyes fan. And, being a Buckeye fan, it doesn't get much better than than this past Saturday when the Buckeyes won, Michigan lost (embarrassingly), and Notre Dame got spanked. I call it the trifecta. It was a great football Saturday.

Speaking of that school up north...check out the t-shirts that are selling like hotcakes at Appalachian State...

Yeah, App St...that's what we Buckeye fans have been wondering for the past six years. Order your Michigan Who? t-shirt here.

coach, wrong ball

My friend Kyle Miller emailed this video to me. Brilliant.

race results

First off, thanks to all who came to watch the race last night. There was a nice contingent from NPCC on hand. If you weren't able to be there, here are the highlights: I drew the #4 spot for the start. Not great, not bad. I finished in 3rd place. I really didn't drive all that impressively. It got ugly on a couple of turns. But man, did I have a blast! Big-time fun. Makes me want to be a race car driver. Really...I could get into that. I'd like another crack at those guys. Now that I've got a race under my belt, I KNOW I could do better next time (I'm sure all the other guys think that too). The best news: I'm still alive (and, I managed not to wreck the car I borrowed). Danny raced too. Poor guy got a bad draw (started 10th but managed to finish in 8th).

faster pastor

I'm racing at Midvale Speedway Saturday night in a race called Faster Pastor. Area pastors are going at it to see who's fastest. This is the third year Midvale has held the race...but the first time I've actually agreed to participate.

In years past I've not really been interested. Then a few months ago someone told me about how much fun it is to race in that thing...like crazy-fun. So, I told myself that if I'm asked again this year, I'll say yes.

So I'm racing Saturday. The crazy thing is this: I know NOTHING about racing. I don't even watch racing on TV. I expect to get smoked. But I expect to have fun, too. I promise you this, I won't be wimpy about it. If you come to the races, expect me to be aggressive. If I'm in it, I'm going to give it my best shot.

I talked to a friend yesterday who tried to give me some racing tips. He lost me. I'm just clueless. He was using all this race jargon...and I don't speak it. So if you want to offer some racing tips (and can do it in English) please leave a comment. :)

I had to fill out some paperwork to be able to race. One of the questions was: Do you need us to provide you with a fire suit. FIRE SUIT? What? This is serious!