Sweet Emotion's Humble New Year's Wishes

With New Year's fast approaching, I thought I would reveal my wish list for the new year. I think its safe to say that though I (Brian) am authoring this blog, the wish list goes for Sweet Emotion as a whole.

1) Tom Brady, Bellichick and the Patriots lose. I am ready for the Patriots hysteria to come to an end. I would love nothing more than for the Patriots to lose to the Giants in the final game of the season and then take an early exit from the playoffs. Of course, that scenario will only bring forth an unending series from Sportscenter about "Will any team ever go undefeated again?" But that is a whole lot easier to swallow than a 7 week series on "Are the Patriots the greatest team ever?"

2) LSU destroys Ohio State. I'll be honest, much to the chagrin of SEC lovers, I don't think it will be like last year. Ohio State is coming into this game with a chip on their shoulder from last year's embarrassment. Here's to a New Years wish that will once again humiliate the Big 10.

3) Neither Senator Hillary Clinton nor Senator Barack Obama wins the 2008 presidential election. Sweet Emotion has yet to endorse a candidate (hence the stalemate in the GOP), but I can assure our readers it will be neither Senator Clinton nor Senator Obama. The Iowa primary on January 3rd will be interesting. More to come from Sweet Emotion.

4) A Wikipedia appearance from either Sweet Emotion or one of its authors. How I wish wikipedia had been around in my high school days. The fact that I can look up all I ever wanted to know about game show legend Marc Summers at just a click of the mouse is amazing. Wouldn't it be great if Sweet Emotion made such headlines next year that it landed itself permanently in the records of Wikipedia. Though our chances are slim, if one had to bet, Alex would be our best hope. With his seminary career coming to a close, he will soon be making headlines across the country.

5) Become fluent in playing Guitar Hero III on the Hard level. Yes, I did receive Guitar Hero III for Christmas. Yes, it is amazing. Yes, I stayed up till midnight playing last night. And yes, my mom stood in line with other mothers to purchase it for me. Other mothers were chatting about how excited their 10 and 8 year old son would be when they received it for Christmas and my mom proudly said "my son is 26 years old." p.s. I played Pearl Jam's "Evenflow" last night....I had a face melting performance

6) Ole Miss makes the NCAA tournament, College World Series, and a bowl game all in one year. (ok, Alex is probably not in on this one). I'm not sure which is more unlikely, this wish or #4. The most likely appears...appears to be the NCAA tournament. Next would be the bowl game...simply because the odds are much greater. And least likely to happen would be for the Rebels to actually advance past the super regional.....Ok, I know this wish is too much to ask.

7) The BCS comes crashing down.

8) The "feminization" of men comes to a stop.

9) Mario Kart and Smash Brothers for Nintendo Wii lives up to its hype.

10) Movie Theater and Gas Prices somehow plummet. *** to go along with that...people quit thinking its cool to be disturbing in movie theaters.

11) A church basketball title. (I know...its embarrassing, but its all I've got left).

12) My nephew Graham's first words are "Brian, you are the greatest uncle I could ever hope for."

13) A new "scientific" breakthrough shows that talking contributes to global warming. The discovery forces former Vice-President Al Gore to quit babbling ridiculously about it.

14) Allen Iverson (A.I.) becomes bored with basketball and decides to take up football and thus dominates two sports.

That about sums it up for me... Let's hear from you. Thanks for being with us another year and we look forward to serving you in 2008.

Genealogy Thoughts

The celebration of Christmas is almost here. And with the holiday necessarily comes a flood of thoughts, activities and traditions. Various circumstances has brought my attention back to the beginning of the New Testament. Matthew opens his Christmas story and the whole of the New Testament with the genealogy of Jesus. Let's be honest, those 17 verses filled with name after name can get repetitive. However, what a grand reminder it is of the glorious Savior we have in Jesus.

Is it not shocking that the one man who could choose His family tree, chose to put such names as Tamar, Jacob, the wife of Uriah (Bathsheeba), and Rahab in it? Tamar bore a son through a deceptive, incestuous relationship. Jacob was a deceiver. Bathsheeba was the product of King David's lust and murder. And Rahab was a prostitute in the pagan city of Jericho. Yet, Jesus proudly says, "I want them in my family tree." What a Savior we have that is not ashamed to call helpless, filthy sinners to be in his family. Matthew 9:13 "...For I cam not to call the righteous, but sinners." Christmas is a glorious reminder of the God who saves undeserving sinners as myself by sending His Son to die in their place. If you have received Jesus by faith, He is not ashamed to have you in His family.


I hope its not inappropriate to switch from the Christmas message to an upcoming movie. But we cover all of life here at sweet emotion so I must share my excitement. Christian Baele helped save the Batman sinking series a few years ago with "Batman Begins." And the second installment comes out "summer 2008." I'll admit, when I heard Heath Ledger was going to play "the Joker", I thought it was some kind of joke. But I dare say, he looks pretty cool. There is no way he will have as many memorable lines as Jack Nicholson (Where does he get those wonderful toys, It's as though we were made for each other. Beauty and the Beast. Of course, if anyone else calls you 'beast' I'll rip their lungs out)...but I am pretty excited.

The All "I can't Stand You" Team

In the wake of the NFL's pro-bowl selections (which by the way made me smile to see Sean Taylor selected to it), Sweet Emotion presents its "We can't stand you" team. This team consists of players measuring up to qualifications such as: incredibly annoying, extremely overrated, flat out Jerk, or a Whiner. Each player will be qualified for his selection with either a Tom Cruise (very annoying b/c blabs his mouth too much about nothing or something else just about him), a Ben Affleck (gets attention for no good reason, extremely overrated), a Sean Penn (He whines and complains about everything, you just want him to shut up), or a Colin Farrell (He is just a full of himself Jerk).

Offense

QB - John Kitna/Jake Delhome - These conflate together as a Tom Cruise and could be combined with a Ben Affleck. How everyone at ESPN and Sports Illustrated kept thinking that Carolina could win a super bowl with Jake Delhome is beyond me. John Kitna's "We're going to win 12 games" really gave Len Pasquerelli the same rxn Matt Lauer got from "you don't know the history of pyschology, I do!!!".

QB - Donovan McNabb - This is an obvious Sean Penn. He is the biggest Whiner in sports, and yes....he supercedes Kobe Bryant.

RB - Lamont Jordan - This guy groaned about a lack of playing time in NY, demanded a trade and has done almost...wait....absolutely nothing in Oakland. Shut your trap you Tom Cruise!

RB - Sean Alexander - This is a classic Ben Affleck. Maybe the worst NFL MVP of all time on one of the worst Super Bowl Teams of all time. He has never been as good as his stats, also he played college ball at 'Bama, another reason to hate on him.

WR - Hank Basket - Most of you may be wondering who in the world this guy is, he epitomizes the talentless Philadelphia Eagles WR corps who screams and rants about the media's valid scrutiny of Andy Reid's pathetic eye for WR talent. The best way to classify him is a Sean Penn.

WR - Steve Smith - despite his talent and play-making ability, pathetic attitude and loud mouther. Welcome to the Tom Cruise Family.

WR - Jabaar Gaffney - He is a classic Colin Farrell, what a jerk.

TE - Jeremy Shockey - Ditto. I don't even need to keep talking.

TE - Jeremy Stevens - Maybe a combination of everything but Ben Affleck, b/c I don't know anyone who thinks he is good.

OL - John Runyan - umm, he played at Michigan. That makes him a Tom Cruise.

OL - Luke Petigout - umm. he played at Notre Dame and was supposed to be a "lock" for the Giants at LT, he was terrible and signifies mediocrity. Notre Dame - Ben Affleck Connection is pretty standard.

K - Mike Vanderjagt - This guy may not be in football right now, but I had to still bring him up. He is all 4. Maybe even the poster-child for each category. He is a white guy with earings.

Defense

DL - Warren Sapp - A standard Colin Farrell, I hate this guy.

DL - Shawn Merriman - Another Colin Farrell, plus he cheated with Steroids.

DL - Hollis Thomas - Ugly, Fat, druggy, overrated. He is a unique Horatio Sans.

LB - Matt Vrabel - He played at Ohio State, and now the Patriots, and he embodies the Billichick attitude on the field. He reminds me of Colin Farrell in S.W.A.T.

LB - Teddy Bruschi - I just don't like him, he annoys me, like when Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah's couch. He just annoys me.

LB - Lofa Tatupu - Same as Bruschi, he just annoys the crap out of me. He is a northwestern Tom Cruise.

DB - Charles Woodson - He is still complaining about the 'tuck rule', its as if that game was last year. He is the defensive Sean Penn.

DB - Brian Dawkins - He has the worst post-game attire I have ever seen. His 'flexing' annoys me, everything annoys me about him, but I think he has been vastly overrated in his career. I'd make him a Ben Affleck.

DB - Asante Samuel - This guy drives me crazy, probably b/c he is so good. I just really don't like him. I've got nothing else on him, so I'd have to make him a Tom Cruise.

DB - Rodney Harrison - As simple as I can say it, "I CAN'T STAND YOU". But he really is best described as a combination between Colin Farrell and Tom Cruise.

Life Time Honorable Mentions

BILL ROMANOWSKI - An Absolute Pyscho, throwing a punch at Tony Gonzalez, kicking Larry Centers in the head, breaking Kerry Collins' jaw. He also spit in J.J. Stokes face, and broke teammate Marcus Williams' eye socket (forcing him to retire) by punching him during a Raider's practice. He was a Colin Farrell, before anyone heard of Colin Farrell.

Chris Weinke - most pathetic collegient athelete of all time.

Joe Theisman - not sure if he belongs in as a player or an Analyst. Both could apply. I miss Luke telling me over and over how much he hates him.

Coaches

Bill Bilichick

Mike Holmgren

Andy Reid

Mike Martz

Announcers

Brian & Greg Gumbel

MNF Crew

Brian Baldinger

Boomer Esiason

Chris Collinsworth

I have to say that this list was compiled by me and not Brian. Brian may have some adjustments to it and you may have some extreme objections or additions. So Who's on your team?

"It was the world's first!....I promise."

Ole Miss' old blogging 'punching-bag' and current Tennessee offensive coordinator has accepted the HC job at perinnial super-power DUKE. Turning this program into a winner will be as tough as Billy Martin trying to convince Judge Henry E. Hudson that Michael Vick is truly "sorry". Lucky for Cutlcliffe, when Duke posted the job on their website (not making that up) winning was not a requirement of the incoming coach. So what does this mean for Tennessee? This situation probably echos the Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Janeanne Garofalo break up and claim that it was completely mutual. Cutcliffe did what he was brought in to do, turn Erik Ainge into a quality QB, and that he did (by the way, it's an absolute disgrace that Ainge was not All-SEC last year and 2nd team this year - Andre Woodson is a joke). With Ainge graduating and Tennessee in real need for some new flavor, a change is welcomed. Tennessee was not looking to make any change, but as it is happnening no one is freaking out. From Cutcliffe's perspective, he was in a dead-end job where he was never going to get any promotion. He loves Tennessee and Tennessee will always love him. But when Ronald Regan's 8 years were up, no one tried to change the Constitution to keep him in office, it was time for change.

Tennessee will hopefully promote WR coach Trooper Taylor or lose him to Baylor. If that happens, Fulmer will have to spend his whole off-season finding new coaches and not have any time for recruiting a class that is already lacking. So the future is uncertain in knoxville, but we do know that Cutcliffe is leaving the SEC for the first time in 25 years. So long ol' Cut, Vol fans wish you the best, thank you for your services, and hope you can take Duke out of the basement of College Football. Borrowing the words of Miracle Max, "Have Fun Storming the Castle!"

Can it get any tougher?

Arkansas hit the jackpot by landing Bobby Petrino. They were rejected 3x by mediocre ACC coaches and then rode the "Michael Vick Fiasco" wave from Atlanta to Little Rock. What seemed to be a potential disasster and looked like they might promote some local junior high defensive coordinator turned into another successful college coach coming to the SEC.

OK, seriously, has there ever been a conference that had as many good coaches at one time as the SEC will have next year? There are no more "Barney Fife's" roaming the sidelines on saturday's in the south. Maybe the weakest link in the SEC West is.....Sylvestor Croom??.....nope......Les Miles???....potential national champion........Houston Nutt??.....doubtful. You tell me? The east is stacked as well, Bobby Johnson has talentless Vanderbilt as tough as they are ever going to be, Rich Brooks has turned Kentucky around. Who's next? Is Bill Parcells going to come out of retirement and succeed Spurrier when he gets bored at South Carolina?

If LSU wins the national title, you will then have 5 different coaches who have won national titles (should be 6 with Tubberville and Auburn, so we will call it 5.5 coaches who have won titles). Mark Richt has been to 3 BCS bowls in 7 years, Petrino had people picking Louisville to be the National Title game for several years - he had to settle for an Orange Bowl victory at a basketball school.

So who is the "weak link" of the SEC now? The great thing about this off-season coaching carousel is that Michigan is looking more and more like the biggest loser. I'm loving seeing coaches left and right turn down that job. I hope they get stuck with someone fatter than Charlie Weiss and more scared than Lloyd Carr. Did anyone see the AP All-American team that had 3 Michigan players on it (a team that didn't have enough talent to beat 1-AA Appalachain State). Hail to the media's-valiant!!

those dadgum Patriots

My feelings towards the Patriots are very much rooted in David's words from the Psalms, I hate them with a "perfect hatred". These feelings are obedient as I am only "hating what is evil". As much as I do despise this team (more than any other assembled team in sports history), I do recognize them as a very talented and well put together team. They do everything right. Nothing more needs to be added to Boomer Esiason's or Chris Collinsworth's love-affair with the Patriots, but there are some things that have not been mentioned about this season they're having. I keep asking myself why........

1) Have the Patriots been able to avoid injuries, they have not lost a single significant player to injury. Every good team has had to overcome some injury problems (Dallas, Green Bay, Indianapolis,ect..), but the Patriots have not lost anybody. Surely someone has got to get hurt.

2) Have the Patriots been able to avoid turning the ball over in the NFL? I've seen several dropped Int's and fumbles that went out of bounds for the Pats - they almost never turn the ball over. I mean in the NFL if a ball is tipped or a poor pass, it's almost always Intercepted - how have the patriots avoided that?

3) Have the Patriots not had a letdown? This is probably due to incredible coaching and personal motivation, but in their 13 games they have not played an "off" game. Surely once they will just not have their magic....surely.

When I see Billichick on the sidelines I'm reminded of evil sinister British Colonel Tavington from the movie The Patriot. I imagine Billichick thriving in the humiliation of each coach he embarrases, "You know, it's ugly business doing one's duty... but just occasionally it's a real pleasure." I watch him reactionless on the sidelines, mumbling into the headset, yet giving viewers at home the faintfull feeling that he knows more than you and your coach. If I was an NFL headcoach and lost to him, after the game was over when I had to shake his hand I would grab his 'dead-fish' hand shake as tightly as possible, yank him towards me and whisper in his ear..."Before this war is over, I'm going to kill you."

Surely before this season is over, someone will get hurt. Brady, Moss, somebody....something has to go wrong. I can't take anymore Chris Collinsworth or Boomer Esiason. I honestly think they will either lose one of the last three games of the regular season or will lose in the playoffs. I'm considering fasting in hopes that this perfect season ends soon.

Change of Pace

Since our mission statement says we have a "reformed.... view on life," that means we take all of life into account here at Sweet Emotion. We even take a look at the small things in our world.

Today I want to briefly step back from the national football scene and appreciate one of the smaller pleasures in life...gum. Who would have ever thought the gum industry would explode into such a diverse arena. Alas, it is one of the many beauties of Capitalism. I write this blog, for the simple reason that my wife recently introduced me to "Stride" gum. Since I am sure you have pondered this question in the shower or while driving to work, let me help you with the answer. What is the best gum on the market?

6)Big Red - You buy this gum for two main reasons. The price for a pack is still well under $1 (sometimes even a quarter), and that fresh cinnamon, hot-blast taste that fills your mouth during the first 10-11 seconds of chewing. However, therein lies the weakness. The flavor is so short lived that one finds himself consuming a whole pack in 20 minutes. Another weakness involves the packaging. Stuff it in your pocket and you will end up with sticks of gum removed from the package and scattered at the bottom of your pocket.

5)Juicy Fruit - You purchase this gum for three reasons. 1) See above regarding the price. 2)Tradition - most every kid had a love for this taste, so it is always a blast from the past. 1)Taste - No other gum has been able to mimic the fruity taste of Wrigley's Staple favorite. However, the weakness is the same as Big Red. If Big Red's taste lasts for 10 seconds, then Juicy fruit lasts for 3...tops. One more side note, with Big Red and Juicy fruit, one still can ask for a stick of gum.

4)Big League Chew - There was no better gum to chew when sitting in the dugout during little league baseball. Reaching into the package, grabbing a wad and stuffing into your mouth made the most inept little league right fielder (it's where the weak kid always got placed) feel cool. Advantages - Unique packaging with a resealable top to ensure freshness, a cool picture on the package, the unique small strips of gum that enabled you to grab a handful of gum, the strong flavor, and the bubble blowing ability. Weakness - If it got too hot in the dugout, the gum lost its texture. Also see number 6 and 5 for short-lived flavor.

3)Trident White - The small cube of gum packs a powerful sometime tongue numbing taste. It has a package that enables the individual to stuff it in his pocket without harm to the gum. With it's tin foiled backing, one can simply pop out a piece to a friend's open hand. The biggest advantage of all is the unique ingredient known as Recaldent. Rumor has it that it recalcifies your teeth, thus filling in small cavities. Hey, I'm 26 and still have not a single cavity. Also a great breath freshener. Weaknesses include: Price is over a dollar and the package creates noise. (The noisy package creates problems in a church setting, or in a setting where you don't want anyone asking you for gum).

2)Orbit - I was a longtime advocate of Orbit. The packaging is enticing with the fold out back and layers of sticks on the inside. The taste lasts relatively long and their lemon-lime flavor tastes much like the old Gatorade gum (wow...that should have made the list). Orbit is solid all-around. Weakness: Price and the package is not durable,

1) Stride - My wife brought me home a package and I am sold. Sleek and savvy packaging makes you proud to pull it out in public. It has a unique double fold design that gives you sticks at the top and the bottom. However, what puts Stride gum over the top is its long lasting flavor. I've been chewing my current piece for 30 minutes and it continues to produce a strong flavor. I didn't believe my wife either when she told me (usually not a good idea). Weakness:Price.

This does not relate to college football, and I hope it does not anger our readers. I just thought we would take a quick break from the scene and look at some overlooked things in life.

p.s.
worst kind ever -- the Topps Baseball Card Package gum. Weakness: Too many to number. Taste was awful. Texture and makeup of gum - one could use a piece of Topps gum as a paperweight or even a hammer. The sanitation of the gum was poor. Something about opening a pack of baseball cards and seeing a square piece of gum laid bare.

A complete dissaster

I'm just going to continue the conversation we have going from the previous post. Here are my last comments.....

Georgia, Oklahoma, and USC all are hot teams. I think all those teams are better than LSU, but LSU won their conference and "survived" the most brutal regular season of all those teams. The only caveot with Georgia is that they are the only one of their teams that isn't a conference champion. I respect Mark Richt's comments for telling it like it is.

Andrew...how can you say the Pac 10 is not a good conference?? Oregon was hot until Dixon went down (which does actually say they were a 1 man team), Arizona State is pretty good, and of course USC is. I do think the Big 12 is the second best conference. It's not brutal, but it is not a 2 team conference this year like it has been for several years.

The biggest crap about this is how the BCS AWARDS Ohio State for not playing this past weekend. LSU deserved to be awarded for playing a championship game of a conference in which they were clearly the best team. I think the same with Oklahoma, they destroyed the #1 team in the nation. The BCS cannot continue to award these teams from conferences that don't have to play a 13th game. If Missouri didn't have to play that championship game, they would be in the NC game. I personally think it should be LSU vs. Oklahoma

....discuss.....