JOLLYBLOGGER

The Question that Now Haunts Me

The question that now haunts me . . .

What was Belichick thinking?

The Story of Mark Herzlich

Here's a story that relates to two of the most significant aspects of my life - football and cancer.  It was because of football that I met the man who would lead me to Christ and have probably the greatest impact on my life - Jim Scroggins.  And, as all of you who have followed me over the last year know, cancer has also had a great impact on my life. 

So, here on football Saturday, I hope this story encourages you.

Baltimore - A Great Place to Be if You're a Crab

I"m goofing off here getting ready to go to a show my daughter is in tonight - reading a tribute to Jim Murray, the greatest sportswriter of yesteryear, by Rick Reilly, the greatest sportswriter of thisteryear.  Murray had lots of opinions about different cities in America.  Here's what he said about Balitmore: 

"...a guy just standing on a corner with no place to go and rain dripping off his hat.  Baltimore's a great place to be if you're a crab." 

Badda bing, badda boom

No, I haven't neglected to celebrate!!

For those of you who wondered - no I haven't forgotten how to celebrate.

Tebowism # 12,476 - Tim Tebow can reverse the SI cover curse.

A Little Humor for My Fellow Baltimorians (not Balti-morons!)

The Freakonomics guys went looking for good sports quotes the other day.  Here's one that my fellow Baltimorians may be able to relate to:

Jack Warden: “You a Yankees fan?”

Jack Klugman: “No, Baltimore.”

Warden: “Baltimore?  BALTIMORE!?!??  That’s like being hit in the head with a crowbar once a day.”

– Twelve Angry Men (1957), a quote that has become depressing accurate these past 11 years

Memo to the World - Don't Talk Trash to Michael Phelps

Here's a tip - if you are swimming in a race against Michael Phelps or a team that he is on, don't talk trash.  Don't say silly things like "we're going to smash the Americans," or "it would be good for the sport if Michael lost."

You'll only make him mad and he'll have to humiliate you and make an example of you. 

That's all.

Danny Wuerffel Tribute

Hey folks, been a little busy here in Jolly-land lately so sorry about the lack of posts, but here's a fun one, well fun for me anyway.  Right now we in the month of August, which is kind of like the beginning of December - a time of sweet anticipation, yet a time of agonizing delay - yes that's right, it's four weeks till the kick-off of college football.  Will it never get here? 

Well, to keep myself from going insane, I'm reconnecting with my Gator roots and today I just thought I'd share a video of the consensus greatest college quarterback of all time - Danny Wuerffel.  It's possible that Tim Tebow may someday pass him as the consensus greatest of all time, but for now Danny still stands head and shoulders above all the rest.  Here's a great YouTube Video tribute for Danny:

That was fun watching - no one could put the ball where it needed to be better than Danny. Also, here's a pic that me and my girls got with Danny at the PCA General Assembly this year.

This photo, by the way, was taken by my good buddy Tony Stiff from Sets-N-Service.  It is unfortunate, but Tony is a Cane, and he had the impertinence to say "Go Canes" to Danny.  But the power of the Holy Spirit enabled Tony to take this pic of the Jolly-fam with Danny.  Curiously, Tony didn't ask for me to take a pic of him and Danny.

And, to keep up with what Danny is doing now, he is now heading up Desire Street Ministries.

Rick Reilly on His Father

As many sports fans will know, Rick Reilly, a.k.a "America's Greatest Sportswriter," has made the jump from Sports Illustrated to ESPN.  He had a six month no compete clause with SI that is just now ending and he has his first column up at ESPN the mag.  It's a reminder of why nobody, but nobody is better than Rick.  It's the story of his relationship with his dad and offers a picture of grace, responsibility and redemption us religious types would find hard to beat.

Here's  one tangential snippet, and you'll need to read the rest of the article to see how it ties into his relationship with his dad.  But I thought this was a terrific illustration of personal responsibility.

Golf taught me the lessons my dad never did, including the best one: You play life where it lies. You hit it there. You play it from there. Nobody threw you a nasty curve or forgot to block the defensive end. I learned that my mistakes were mine alone, not my boss', not the cop's and, as much as I hated to admit it, not my dad's.

Read the rest.

All Hail Coach Gags!

I know this may come as a surprise to some of you because I tend to keep my team loyalties under wraps here, but I am a big Florida Gator fan, being a grad and all.  And because of this, when it comes to sports and coaching I revere Urban Meyer.  I cannot come up with enough superlatives to describe what he has done and is doing with the Gators and I read everything I can find on him.  Maybe I'll blog about urban some other time, but today I want to mention my other favorite football coach - John Gagliardiof St. Johns University in Collegeville, MN.

I became enamored with him when i read the book "The Sweet Season" by Austin Murphy.  I never thought I would say this, but that book has vaulted over books written by the venerable Rick Reilly to become my favorite sports book. Because of this book, I dragged my wife away for a day on our trip to Minneapolis last year just so I could see the campus and the field where John Gagliardi coaches the St. Johns Johnnies. 

so, imagine my delight in finding the video below on YouTube where Coach Gags talks about his coaching philosophy.  He is an anachronism and has a coaching philosophy which should be guaranteed to bring failure to any program.  But somehow it doesn't.  Did I mention that he is the winningest  college football coach of all time.  He left Bear Bryant in the dust years ago, Bobby Bowden and JoePa will never come close to him in terms of wins, and in recent years he has surpassed even the great Eddie Robinson.

I love what he says here - he just does what he thinks is right for them.  He doesn't even know what other football programs do.  I loved the question about why he doesn't have a whistle and other things.  His answers are basically somewhere along the lines of Napolean Dynamite - "because I felt like it." 
The
He doesn't micromanage his players - there is no compulsory weight training.  He encourages them to lift weights, but only if they want to.  And he says there first rule of thumb is that there is no single way to coach football - there are many different ways to get the job done.

This is refreshing to me.  I am not a high intensity person and I don't respond well to high intensity leaders.  I do know it works though - Urban is the epitome of high intensity leadership.  And he gets players who respond well to that and he turns them into champions and for that I give him the highest respect. But Coach Gags is a welcome example for people like me who aren't built that way.   

 

I haven't been feeling well today

Today has been a weird day.  I haven't felt well.  I've been sleepy.  I've been lethargic.  I've had no energy.  I had to come home and take a nap at lunch.  Weird?  I don't know why.

Oh wait a minute, I do know why.  Major League Baseball opened its season today and the world is now flooded with snooze ions.