NFL: Week 1 Review

Review of Last week - my picks in italics, actual winner bolded.

Vikings at Saints

Dolphins at Bills

Lions at Bears

Raiders at Titans

Bengals at Patriots

Panthers at Giants

Falcons at Steelers

Browns at Buccaneers

Broncos at Jaguars

Colts at Texans

Cardinals at Rams

Packers at Eagles

49ers at Seahawks

Cowboys at Redskins

Ravens at Jets

Chargers at Chiefs

Pick record: 10-6

Upset of the Week: 1-0

Lock of the Week: 0-1

In my defense... If you had said a week ago that Indianapolis and San Francisco were going to lose their openers, you would have been laughed out of the room. Also, I should get a point for Detroit, who did win the game, but were screwed by the Refs.

I learned.... Don't pick actual game scores. My 30-35 guess for Min - NO was laughably bad.

X-Factor.... wasn't a factor. Brees had an alright game, and didn't come close to a devastating injury. Here's my question to you more learned football guys - what's the latest into the season that the Madden Curse has struck? At what point is Brees "safe?"

Tis better not to speak of... Fantasy football.... I lost by at least 25, when I last looked.

Random Thoughts: Invitations

A quick thought from Sabbath group last night…

I was reflecting with two of the guys about the difference between commands and invitations. Scott, who works for a sports club and frequently teaches afterschool programs, was talking about the noticeable difference in the behavior of his students when saying “Don’t do this” as opposed to “Hey, how about we do this?” The invitation seemed to work better. It’s anecdotal, of course, but you can probably also think of ways in which you see that played out in your own life.

We started reflecting on how our view of God through the years has changed in this regard as well. In the culture we grew up in, there seemed to be a message of “don’t” that was being told to us. People told us that God didn’t want us to drink, or smoke, or have sex, or swear. There wasn’t a message of “we invite you to do this” but rather a “if you do this, we will punish you.”As we’ve grown older, we’ve started to experience less of God telling us what not to do and more of God inviting us to grow with him.

This isn’t to say that there are certain decisions that are poor decisions. I think most of the reasons that the church communicated to us like that when we were younger were good reasons. They did have a good heart, but just poor execution. I think our challenge now is how to accept and forgive those mistakes, and move on, to create a world that is less about the don’t and more about an invitation to live together, in a beautiful mess.

Amish Proverbs: The Winner

So we had two entries for the Amish Proverbs contest. Here were the entries:

Derek: "Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't."

Jason: "Proverbs are best understood after you have failed to heed their wisdom."

And so the winner (by random draw) is...

Derek! You can claim your prize anytime. Thanks to all for playing.

NFL: Week 1 Picks

This year, I'll be attempting to make picks for every game. I've picked the playoffs well every year (mostly), so here's my first shot at regular season. At the end of the column, you'll find a Mortal Lock pick - you can bet on that matchup. Also, the X-Factor or Upset of the Week that may throw a spanner in the works

Also, I have no memory. I don't remember what I wrote two weeks ago about the NFL; just that I thought Cleveland would surprise. If I contradict myself, that means I was right at least once, so there.

Vikings at Saints: Defending Champions, at home. This will be a monster game, and Drew Brees has supplanted Manning / Brady and Former Favre as the QB to never bet against. Down by 20 in the fourth quarter and I'd still take Brees. So for this game, Brees wins in a thriller, 35-30. X-Factor: When will the Madden curse hit?

Dolphins at Bills: Dolphins. Seeing as neither of these teams interest me, I have nothing further to say.

Lions at Bears: In the battle for first most irrelevant in the NFC North... I'll take the Lions in a surprise victory. And Cutler throws up a foul-mouthed immature media storm when he gets sacked by Suh four or five times.

Raiders at Titans: Both these teams should improve upon their last year. Hard to pick in the first week - but I'll take the Titans because of homefield advantage.

Bengals at Patriots: Both teams have glaring weaknesses. Patriots have duct tape for a defense, and the Bengals have more reality TV shows than my wife has shoes. Safe prediction: Tom Brady. Oh, and that homefield advantage again.

Panthers at Giants: Giants are under the radar again - like the year they won the Super Bowl. Panthers are perhaps slightly overrated - losing Jake Delhomme helps them, but losing Julius Peppers does not. Go with the Giants.

Falcons at Steelers: There's some hype about Matt Ryan, but not as much as other young quarterbacks. I think Dennis Dixon struggles in week 1, and Atlanta takes them to task for it.

Browns at Buccaneers: Easy lay up to start looking like Nostradamus. Browns have more talent than the Bucs, plain and simple. If Jake really does rebound like I expect, this could be a shellacking.

Broncos at Jaguars: Will anyone in Jacksonville care if the Jags lose but Tim Tebow scores a random touchdown? I think this is basically a home game if for Denver if Tebow goes out on the field once. So then I'll take Denver.

Colts at Texans: Can you bet against Manning in the regular season? I can't until the fourteenth week. I'll take Manning.

Cardinals at Rams: Bradford should have a decent game, but Cardinals will still win. You can't overcome a talent deficit with one QB (See: 2009 Detroit Lions).

Packers at Eagles: Rough game for Kevin Kolb to start. I'm rooting against Aaron Rodgers now, because I traded him, and don't want to look like an idiot, but I think the Pack will not struggle too much here.

49ers at Seahawks: San Francisco by a mile. Seahawks don't have a coach; they have Pete Carroll.

Cowboys at Redskins: It amuses me to no end when Dallas falters. So in my Upset of the Week, I'll take the Redskins.

Ravens at Jets: Joe Flacco just got Housmanzhasd (or however you spell it) to go with Boldin. Which is good, because the Jets just got Revis back. Still, I think Mark Sanchez is vastly overrated and will see some definite sophomore blues. Ravens in a close game.

Chargers at Chiefs: Mortal Lock of the Week: Chargers. You know why? Because Philip Rivers has the drive to win. When has Matt Cassel ever shown drive? And no, picking up Leinart or Brady's dry cleaning doesn't count.

Random Thoughts: Ironic Word Plays

Just yesterday I realized I don't know the difference between the words "drama" and "melodrama."

Is melodrama just a (dramatic?) version of drama? If so, is that ironic?

Alanis Morrissette wrote a song called "Ironic" which did not provide examples of Irony. Is that Ironic? And if it is, does that make the song correctly titled, which means it's not ironic? I'm confused.

I believe Alanis is from Canada. I'm not really researching this at this point, so let's just pretend she is, even if she isn't. In fact, let's just scrap this whole point, because (ironically) I have no idea why being Canadian mattered. (It's ironic because it isn't ironic).

Ironically, this entire post has no point. It sprang from a mental discussion of the difference between being melodramatic and dramatic. Random thoughts, indeed.

Contest Update

Don't forget to enter a proverb to win a free book...

Free is good. Right now there's only one entry - reply to either this post or the original post to enter.

Mashups: Fantasy Football and Community

Authors note: Mashup is a series here at Thoughts on Life... The point of the series is to take something and view it was an allegory for something else. Mashups are intended to be funny and perhaps thought provoking. Today, we'll talk about Fantasy Football Trades and Community.

I just told you my fantasy football autodraft team. A decent, well rounded team. My largest weakness was my runningback situation, which was shallow to say the least. And then Dave Morgan offered me a trade.

I give up Aaron Rodgers (very great QB) and Beanie Wells (good RB with upside) for Joe Flacco (good-great QB) and Felix Jones (good RB) and Deangelo Williams (good-great RB). Now, normally, I just turn Dave down. Because Dave has so much more knowledge about Fantasy than I do, and I assume he's not dumb. Which means he's getting the better end of the stick. But I accepted this time.

Because I was viewing trades as a zero sum game. Dave gets positives, I get negatives. When in reality, a Fantasy Football Trade can be positive for both sides. Dave and I both met the needs of our teams. We both win, in a sense.

Community can work like this too. Sometimes, we can view community as a zero sum game - I give to you, and I lose. But what if we view it as more? We need to think of creative ways to be in community. Because if we view community as a zero sum (You get at My expense), then everyone loses.

In college, a group of guys (led by Dave Morgan himself) wanted to find a way to help homeless in downtown Grand Rapids. We had no money, so to give money or anything would physically be taking from us (although in that situation it would have meant less video games or something). So we found a creative situation - since none of us used all of our meal credits, we got food to go - and gave it to the homeless people. It was a way for everyone to win (except the university, who hated that we were using the meals that we paid room/board for).

What other ways can you think of to bring community out of the realm of zero sum?