How Bout Them Hawks?

After going down 3 games to none quickly against the Vancouver Canucks, a team that in the previous two seasons the Blackhawks had forced out of the playoffs, things didn't look good for the defending Stanley Cup Champions.


After backing into the playoffs on the last day, many people were hesitant to pick the Hawks against the team that had the best regular season record this year in the NHL, even if the Hawks had dominated them in the past.

After all, this was a different Hawks team, after so many players were forced out due to salary cap issues, and it seemed that this was a different Canucks team as well, one that was finally going to live up to all of the promise.

After quickly handling the Hawks in the first three games, it appeared that everyone was right.

However, in Hockey more than any other sport, going down 3 games to none doesn't guarantee anything.

Just last season, the Philadelphia Flyers became the third NHL team to come from down 3 games to none to win the series, and they did it while trailing 3-0 in game 7!

Win the 4-3 overtime win tonight, after embarrassing Vancouver 7-2 in Game 4 and 5-0 in Game 5, the Hawks become only the 7th team ever to force a game seven in the NHL playoffs after training the series 3-0.

3 of those teams went on to win the series.

The Hawks seem poised to be the fourth.

After all, momentum has clearly shifted in their favor.

Before Game 6 tonight, the Hockey Night in Canada host joked, "Chicago leads the series, 2 games to 3."

Roberto Luongo won the Gold Medal in the Olympics last year as the starting goalie for Team Canada.  He is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy this year, given to the league's best goalie.  He is in the second year of a huge 12 year contract.  He is both the present and the future of the Canuck franchise.  He got pulled after giving up 6 goals in Game 4.  He got pulled after giving up 4 goals in Game 5.  He was benched in favor of a rookie goalie in Game 6, then had to come in when that goalie got injured, and Luongo gave up the game winner in overtime to rookie Ben Smith.

Luongo is one of the best goalies in the NHL, but the Blackhawks are clearly in his head, and if he starts Game 7, you have to wonder where he will be mentally.

Going with the rookie, Cory Schneider who might not be able to play after suffering from cramps in the third period tonight, probably won't instill the Canucks with a lot of confidence either.

Not only is it almost unfathomable that the Canucks have somehow blown the 3-0 series lead, but the way that they have done it has to be incredibly demoralizing.

They were embarrassed 7-2 in Game 4.

Then they were blown out again in Game 5, and, to add insult to injury, they were also shut out, 5-0.  In Vancouver.

They played arguably their best game of the series in Game 6, but proving how far momentum has shifted towards the side of the Blackhawks, they still lost 4-3, albeit in overtime.

They have done almost nothing in the last week to show that they have any chance of slowing down Chicago and finally winning this series.

However, the beautiful thing about Game 7s is that absolutely anything can happen.

Even if you were at one point down 3 games to none.

If you enjoy hockey at all, this game is shaping up to be a classic, can't miss game.

The Stanley Cup defending Champions back from the dead.

The President's Cup winning Vancouver Canucks trying to prove once and for all they can somehow beat the team that has sent them packing each of the last two seasons in the playoffs.

One team will move on.

One team will go home.

And as the NHL has been telling us for the last two weeks...

History Will Be Made.

GO HAWKS!!!!

And may my playoff beard last another round!

Winter is Coming...

George R.R. Martin has finally announced the official release date for the fifth book in A Song of Ice and Fire, A Dance With Dragons.

The wait for this book has been incredible, but I believe that ultimately it will be worth it.

Martin's series is simply the best written fantasy series of all time.

While almost all fantasy (Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Wheel of Time, even Harry Potter) is at its heart a story of good verses evil, that isn't what Martin is about at all.

Some of the characters in the epic series are good, and some of the characters are not so good, but the characters that are good are capable of doing some terrible things, and the characters that are "evil" often have very good reasons for their terrible actions.

The thing is, there is no clear good guys or bad guys (and I really shouldn't use the term "guys" because there are some amazing and strong female characters in this series).

Martin tells each chapter from the perspective of a particualar character; you spend the chapter in their head.  He doesn't limit it to just the protaganists either.  You will get perspectives from all sides, and at times your alligences might change.

While there is no guarentee that the next book in the series will arrive anytime soon (the wait between the last book, the fourth in the series, A Feast For Crows, was released on November 8, 2005, over five and half years between it and the new one), the series, about to be five (very long) books strong, is well worth the read, even if it means you might spend the next five plus years waiting (not so patiently) with the rest of us for book six.

Good on You, Rob Bell

Don't swallow it uncritically. Think about it. Wrestle with it. Just because I'm a Christian and I'm trying to articulate a Christian worldview doesn't mean I've got it nailed. I'm contributing to the discussion. God has spoken, and the rest is commentary, right? - Rob Bell from the description of his book "Velvet Elvis"

I haven't really ever been the biggest Rob Bell fan.  Something about his whole presentation turned me off, so I haven't really ever sought him out.

Perhaps that was a mistake on my part.

He has built up a large following (including among many of my youth minister friends) with his short videos looking at various bible passages or theological hot topics.


His latest book, however, has riled up a lot of people against him.

The book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, apparently takes a universalist approach.

Oh, the horror!

Except, I believe in Universal Salvation.

Can a God of love really ever condemn someone, anyone, to eternal damnation?  I just can't see it.

Rob Bell makes the point in a promotional video for the book that under a traditional Christian understanding of Heaven and Hell and who goes where, Gandhi is in Hell.

Gandhi's in hell? He is?-Rob Bell

The announcement of this book and the promotional video caused Justin Taylor, a blogger for the evangelical website The Gospel Coalition, to respond calling Bell out for "false theology."

The problem is, there is no good proof that Bell's assertion of Universal salvation is actually false theology.

I think that a lot of the problem with this understanding from evangelicals and other Christians is due to the reading that they make of John 14:6.

Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'

No where does this verse say that only by believing in Christ will you be saved.  You could argue that perhaps Paul and other New Testament writers make that claim, but Jesus himself never says it.  In fact, all that Jesus says is that salvation will come through him, in other words through his actions, not through our actions at all.

And that is what the common Christian view of this Scripture seems to say, that it is our actions that matter, whether or not we accept Jesus differentiates whether or not we will be worthy of God's grace.

It isn't up to us.

The Bible makes that pretty clear.

Telling Rob Bell that his theology is wrong or false just means that yours is equally wrong or false.  Rob Bell is making the argument that God's grace will ultimately be given to everyone.  Taylor is making the argument that only a certain few are worthy of God's grace, providing they perform the requisite steps first, namely accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Taylor likes to talk about Paul and his views on false teachers in his post (although he takes the one direct Bible quotation he uses completely out of context, and then his reference to 1 Timothy is referenced as also being by Paul, whereas no modern Biblical scholars actually believe that Paul wrote this letter), but the more common theme throughout Paul's writing is the idea that it is impossible to do any work to gain God's grace, that God's grace is a gift that we cannot earn.

The idea of accepting Jesus Christ has become an earmark towards earning salvation in today's Christian rhetoric, and that is not the point of faith as Paul understood it.  By no means, as he would say.

Salvation is not something that can be earned, and that is the understanding of salvation that Taylor seems to be advocating.

I am completely okay with Justin Taylor, and all of the 26,600+ people who liked his blog post on Facebook, believing that there is a Hell (even if I can't believe in such a place, or at least the fact that anyone would be put there), and I'm okay with them having different understandings of what Scripture says.

I am not okay, however, with Taylor intimating that Rob Bell is a false prophet or teacher, or insinuating that those who listen to him or happen to believe the same as him are destined for Hell.

Just because others don't reach the same conclusions that you do after studying the Scripture doesn't make them wrong, anymore than it would necessarily make you wrong.

When you argue that it does you are guilty of ignoring other Gospel teachings, such as those found in Matthew 7:3.

Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?

I for one am looking forward to reading Rob Bell's new book, and perhaps finally giving him the chance he probably deserved all along.

Good on you, Rob Bell.

Quote of the Day

Been a while since we've done this!  I'm still alive, and my New Year's Resolution was to blog more, which currently has had Fat Train getting all of the attention, but I remember this site as well, and promise to give it some love.

I'm actually in the middle of a paper that is due tomorrow right now, but I saw this quote and thought I'd put up a few thoughts on it...

Everything you can imagine is real.
  - Pablo Picasso

I honestly believe that in a way this is true. It is real in your head, at the very least, real to you, if you will, but there is a part of me that believes that it is more substantially real as well.

There is a thought in Quantum Physics that some particles don't exist except when we are looking at them (or for them) at which point they do exist.

Clearly our minds do have some sort of connection to (if not some form of control over) the universe in which we live.

And we clearly don't understand completely the universe in which we live, much less rather or not it is the only such universe that there is.

It is completely possible (and perhaps even scientifically plausible) that everything that we imagine does truly exist in some universe, even if not in ours.

The Ridiculous Road to Respectability

TCU is headed to the AQ (automatic qualifying) Big East, starting in July of 2012 (just in time for the world to end... coincidence?) in all sports.

Part of me is ridiculously ecstatic in regards to this development, part of me dies a little inside due to the fact that we are going to be buying into a system that is so obviously corrupt, elitist, and illogical.

Put it this way, the conference that we are currently in (non automatic qualifying Mountain West) has two teams currently ranked in the Top 25 (us at three, Utah at 20 in the BCS, 21 in the AP) with two others also receiving votes (San Diego State would be at 32 in the AP and Air Force would be 33).  The AQ conference we are going to (the Big East) has one team currently ranked in the Top 25 (West Virginia at 24) and only one other team also receiving votes (Connecticut would be at 29).  The Big East currently has 6 teams that are bowl eligible, one more than the Mountain West does, but of those bowl eligible teams, only one of the six has more than 7 wins on the season, all but one of the Mountain West bowl eligible teams have at least 8 wins on the season.  West Virginia, the only of the bowl eligible Big East teams with more than 7 wins, only has 8 wins on the season.

The bottom of the Mountain West certainly appears weaker, with four teams with worse overall records than any in the Big East (Colorado St and Wyoming each at 3 and 9 and New Mexico and UNLV each with double digit losses), but there are two teams with only 4 wins in the Big East (Cincinnati and Rutgers), but then there is the fact that the Big East has one less team than the Mountain West overall, meaning that an additional cupcake can be added to the home schedule for each of the Big East teams.  So if you real close look at it, the bottom of the barrel for the Mountain West isn't really that much worse than the Big East.

I think that it is safe to say without much doubt that the Mountain West is currently a superior conference when compared to the Big East in football.

That being said, the Big East has an automatic spot in a BCS bowl, meaning that their teams can get into a BCS bowl despite losing a game or two (and, in fact will get a team in this year with at least 3 losses, and probably one with at least 4) which for some reason makes the powers that be regard them as having faced stiffer competition and more worthy of National Title consideration.

It is very rare for there to be lots of teams with zero losses on the regular season.  Last year, there were 5.  That isn't normal.  The reason that I am glad that we are moving into the Big East is that had there only been 3 teams at the end of the regular season last year (as will be the case this year assuming Oregon and Auburn win out, which certainly is not a given) Cincinnati would have been in the National Championship game over us.  Simply because they came out of the Big East.  The final rankings had them at 9 after they got completely embarrassed by Florida.  We also lost our bowl game, but finished at 6, meaning when it was all said and done, no one really thought that Cincinnati was actually better than we were, but they would have been in the National Championship game based solely on the fact that they were from an AQ conference.

The way things stand this season, it might not matter if we were in an AQ conference or not.  If we were undefeated in the Big East right now, we would still be third behind an unbeaten Auburn and an unbeaten Oregon, but I can tell you this, there wouldn't be any talk of us possibly getting left out of the National Title game if one of them slipped up on Saturday.  Right now, there are people saying that it could be that Wisconsin will jump us or that Auburn would remain ahead of us even with a loss.  Personally, I think that if either of those teams slip up, we will get our chance, but there would be no question that we would get our chance if we were already in the Big East, despite the fact that the conference we are currently in is better.

That shows how ridiculous this system is, and how we really have no choice but to take the opportunity to put ourselves in the system, make ourselves one of the haves instead of remaining co-ruler of the have-nots with Boise St.

Take a look at them for why this move had to happen.  They lost to a very good Nevada team in overtime for what will be their only loss of the season, but they will be in an early bowl game probably against the third place team from the MAC.  That is horrible.  They deserve much better than that.  In BCS bowls in their place will be an at least 3 loss (but probably 4 loss) Big East team, the ACC Champion which will either be 2 loss Virginia Tech (who lost to a D1-AA team and, yup, Boise St) or a three loss Florida St team, and the Big 12 Champ which will either be a 2 loss OU or a 2 loss Nebraska.  None of those teams deserve a spot over a 12-1 Boise St.

This system is corrupt and unfair, and to get to a National Title game as a non-AQ requires that there be at most only one undefeated AQ team and a preseason ranking inside the top 10.  Anything else makes it impossible, and even when these criteria are met it isn't a guarantee.

As much as I hate this system, and will continue to, it will be nice to be on the side that benefits from the corruption for a change.

This move will also prove hugely beneficial to both the men's and women's basketball programs and the baseball program due to the better TV exposure, more respectable (unquestionably in basketball) conference, and (again, especially in basketball) access to better recruits.  Right now, it has been quite some time since our men's basketball team has been respectable (although they currently sit at 5-2 after beating USC yesterday... GO FROGS!) and there will probably be some tough games in the beginning, but with the chance to get to play perennial NCAA tourney teams such as Pitt, Georgetown, Syracuse, Connecticut, and Notre Dame every year  I truly believe that it won't be long before our men's basketball team gets serious and can contend even if not actually win the conference.  Trips to the Tourney won't be out of the question and on years we don't make it to the big dance, the NIT won't be a terrible consolation prize.  As for the women's team, no more 25 win seasons followed by a 12 seed.

The positives far outweigh any negatives (and travel isn't really a negative because we will actually travel less in the Big East than we would in the soon to be reconstructed Mountain West) so it is hard to not like this change.

I just wish the system wasn't one that made it totally necessary.

Go Frogs! (And go South Carolina and Oregon St this weekend!)

The Min-Centaur

So, a friend of mine has a D&D group every Sunday night here on campus.

Now, I think we can all agree that I am a nerd. I am obsessed with Sci-Fi (as opposed to SyFy the ridiculous renaming of the Sci-Fi Network, but that's another post and probably should be on Fat-Train) most of my non-scholastic reading is in the fantasy genre, I have spent numerous hours playing through every possible scenario in every Bioware game, and I am an expert on the entire universes of Marvel and DC, but in my life I have actually never played Dungeons and Dragons.

I know. It's actually rather surprising to me as well.

Ever since I've found Wil Wheaton's blog (oh yeah, I really love Star Trek too, and so it shouldn't be a surprise that I am a fan of the blog from the guy that played Wesley Crusher) I've had a little more interest in getting involved with this style of gaming.  Wil does a great job in some of his posts talking about why games such as D&D are important and those posts certainly have me more intrigued with the idea of joining my friend's game.

However, I have standards.

By which I mean that I'm going to do it my way, and in as original way as I can manage.  If I'm going to finally play D&D when I've gone through my whole nerd life without ever playing D&D, I'm going to do it right.

My friend told me the different character types I could use in the game, and it included minotaurs (a torso of a bull but a man waist down) and centaurs (torso of a man, but the body of a horse below the waist), so clearly, I decided that my character should be a Min-Centaur, having the torso of a bull (like a minotaur) but have the body of a horse below the waist (like a centaur).

He has yet to agree to let this type of character into the game, and therefore I have yet to play D&D, but that hasn't kept me from imagining some back story for my character.

He is a loner, having no idea who his parents are; he is rejected by both the minotaur society and the centaur society as a freak.  Throughout his life he has made his own way, and been forced to learn to fight in order to protect himself from all of those who would see it as a huge mark of honor to kill this unique "monster."

Of course, he would also have a heart of gold and be fiercely protective of all those that he considers to be outside of the norm and discriminated against.

I hope that my friend reconsiders and allows my Min-Centaur into the game, because I think that there are many possibilities for this character to grow and add to the overall story of the game that my friends are playing.  And if I'm going to finally break down and play D&D, it is with this type of storyline potential that I want to engage the game.

And as original an idea that the Min-Centaur seems to be, as my friend Justin points out in a recent blog post of his own, "There is a new kind of law since the advent of the internet that if you can think of something, it's already on the internet."  And that turns out to be true about the Min-Centaur as well.

So, I will close with a pic I found of two of these magnificent creatures.

JOSH TOULOUSE SMASH!

I'm an adult on the Youth Ministry Council for the Trinity Brazos Area, which is just a lot of words saying that I help the high school youth on the council plan and execute the CYF (high school age) events for the TBA.

Our first event with this council was Fall Retreat in December, and Adam (another adult on the council) decided we needed a more creative way to present the rules for the events. I agreed, and as the person on the council with a film degree, and the only one with an awesome Canon XL-2 video camera, I agreed to help put together a rules video using a bunch of Adam's action figures.

We shot the first one the night before the event was going to begin, leaving me little time to edit it, and so I'm not in love with how the first one turned out, however, the idea was funny enough, and it went over very well with the youth, plus it was a ton of fun to make, and that is really the important thing.



For the second video, for Mid Winter which was this very weekend, we shot it on the Monday before which allowed me all week to edit it, and therefore I am much more excited about the finished product.



It was over twice as long which meant that I had to split it up for YouTube, so the outtakes, which at the retreat were shown with the video, are here in their own video.



Again we had a lot of fun getting together to shoot the video, and although it was a lot of work, I really enjoyed editing the video, and again, the youth really enjoyed it, so overall, the project has been a great success.

I also really enjoy the fact that there is a major storyline developing throughout these videos, and I have already begun work on the story for the culmination of what will be the Rules Video Trilogy, with the final video debuting this summer at CYF Conference.

I'll post it here afterward.

Remember, Follow the rules or JOSH TOULOUSE SMASH!