Sports

The streak continued as I picked up my third consecutive loss this week, 68 to 63. It seems I'm whining every week about what could have been. I'm sure Scott F. can make his own list of many points that should have been (for example, Matt Jones-Drew scoring twice while he had him on the bench). It was kind of annoying, though, when I noticed that 3 of the 9 "Bad Breaks for Week 5" that Ladd Biro listed had happened to me:

• Chester Taylor, RB, Vikings. Three carries from inside the Lions' 7 were stopped at the 1.
• Steve Smith, WR, Panthers. Dropped a sure TD catch in the end zone, and later took a 20-yard reception to the 1.
• L.J. Smith, TE, Eagles. Tackled at the 1 after a 60-yard completion. Then botched the next pass for a TD.

Any one of those could have given me the victory. I also achieved another new low. More than once I've had a player score zero (like the couple times I've started inactive players), but this week I actually had a player finish with negative points (-0.19, Kevin Faulk, -1 rushing yards, 15 return yards, 1 fumble lost). And my kicker (Jonathan Hall) scored a lousy 3 points while Scott's scored 19.

On Saturday Grandpa B, the boys, and I went to the Northwood Auto Show and also saw the end of the Northwood football game. Earlier in the week, Finn had received a letter from one of the Timberwolves' back-up quarterbacks (number 6, junior Eric Chrisinske) as part of the Timberwolves Kids Club. Finn was VERY excited to receive a letter from a quarterback. Well, after the game today, we went down on the field and met Eric. The boys had their picture taken with him. The later afternoon was spent watching the Tigers on TV with Grandpa B. The Tigers eliminated the Yankees! Tomorrow is the quarterly business meeting at church, so I spent a bunch of time today putting together the treasurer's report. Tonight, we watched the Vols whip the Bullodogs. Here are some photos:

Today was the big soccer game: Elliot's team played David's (a friend from church). Elliot's friend Justin was on the other team too. The Kickin' Chickens won 5-3, and Elliot scored twice. Several folks from Wheeler Road came to watch the game. Here are some photos:

The recent news stories about the death of Byron Nelson reminded me of another coC/golf connection: Kenny Perry. I had heard a little bit about it from my brother-in-law who works at Lipscomb, so I did a bit of research (and edited my first Wikipedia entry). From Wikipedia:

Perry was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. He attended Western Kentucky University and turned professional in 1982. He failed in his first two attempts to qualify for the PGA Tour at Q-school (Qualifying school). He missed by 1 stroke one year and received word that his wife had gone into labor during the fourth round the next year. In 1985 a Franklin, Kentucky businessman and Lipscomb University graduate loaned him $5000 for a last shot at Q-school. Rather than repay the loan, he was asked to give a percentage of his tour earnings to Lipscomb University if he qualified. He tied for 40th at Q-school, earning his card with a two-shot cushion. Perry and his benefactor agreed on 5 percent, and he has maintained that commitment to the university ever since in the form of a scholarship for residents of Simpson County, Kentucky. In his first few seasons he found it a struggle to retain his qualified status, but he attained his first win in 1991 at the Memorial Tournament. Two more wins followed in the mid 1990s, another in 2001, and three victories in 2003. He was in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for a short time. Perry won in 2005 at the Bay Hill Invitational and the Bank of America Colonial. In 2006 he became the tenth man to reach US$20 million in PGA Tour career earnings in addition to taking an 8-week break from the tour to recover from knee surgery. He is a deacon in the Franklin, Kentucky, Church of Christ.

From an article of the same title by John Branch in the NY Times:

The league has long had an uneasy relationship with crowd noise, and may soon embark on its latest quest to overcome it - not by hushing fans, but by allowing visiting players the benefit of a helmet-to-helmet wireless communication system... With no reasonable way to curb enthusiasm without appearing stodgy, Roger Goodell, the new N.F.L. commissioner, is floating another idea: placing microphones in quarterbacks' helmets and speakers in the helmets of other offensive players, so that play calls and snap counts can be heard despite the din. Quarterbacks now have earpieces that allow them to hear coaches, but the transmission is cut with 15 seconds left on the play clock. Goodell said he believed that noise should lift a defense, not interrupt an offense. He said he did not want to hush the crowd, just limit its impact. "That's what our game is about: our athletes and coaches playing at the highest possible level and being able to execute their game plans," Goodell said Sept. 6, during his first news conference after succeeding Paul Tagliabue. "To some extent right now, I think we are hindering that a little bit, because they come into an opposing stadium and they are not able to put the full offense in, they are not able to run plays in, they are not able to change the plays at the line of scrimmage."