Osgood was great tonight in net for the Wings. So in his honor I think it's time for some good old Avs/Wings nostalgia.

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Last night was the first night of the Stanley Cup playoffs for Detroit. They came away with a 3-1 win against Central Division rival Nashville.

If your computer uses a widescreen and you want to keep track of the Stanley Cup bracket, check out this wallpaper I've made for Hockey fans just like you.

I love this time of year, GO WINGS!

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In the true spirit of Advent we saw a glimpse of the inbreaking Kingdom of God yesterday when the Broncos hammered the Chiefs 41-7. Even if this season turns out to be a loss it will warm my heart during this cold winter to think back on what happened yesterday when the Broncos flat out embarrassed the Chiefs. The way Cutler has been playing, I'm looking forward to a lot more of this!

This post is dedicated to Brian Postlewait, Mike King, Jason Sturdevant and all my other Chief loving friends... love you guys!

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I saw this commercial the other day and laughed my head off. This sums up years of draft day frustration. Yes - Chad, Jeff and Sammer - I am calling you out.

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Madden 08 is only two and a half days away. I for one am giddy with anticipation.

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Well last night the Red Wings gave up the ghost to the Ducks. They sure made it interesting rallying back from a 4-1 deficit to make it a 4-3 game with three minutes left in the game. Oh well... good season and a much deeper run in the playoffs than in the past several years.

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Labels: Funny, Sports

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Well the wings won in double OT last night to advance to the next round. Tonight we'll find out if they play San Jose or Dallas. Go Wings!

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Beautiful.

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I'm taking a break from researching for a term paper to rant about two of my favorite things: Hockey and Graphic Design. I've got hockey on the brain because as I'm sure everyone in America knows... the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin tonight. But how does graphic design come into the mix you ask?

The Buffalo Sabres, that's how. They introduced a new logo this year, which is beyond comprehension in it's complete encapsulation of all things lame. I came across this news via a graphic designer's website dedicated to getting his logo put on the Sabres jerseys, and I've got to say he has done some great work.

Below are three logos. First the original Sabres logo, dated but still classic. Second the new "evil flying banana slug with horns" logo. Thirdly, John Slabyk's modern interpretation of the classic logo. In a word - awesome. If you care about hockey and you care about web design you can even sign his petition to have the logo changed.

Labels: Graphic Design, Sports

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I have recently been hearing a LOT about Tony Dungy's faith. When I say a LOT, I don't mean in content but in frequency. This usually happens when anyone on a Super Bowl winning team goes to church or prays or if they've just read "Wild at Heart."
(Seriously. Jon Kitna read "Wild at Heart" during his "comeback" with the Bengals a few years ago and Christians went nuts over him)

We Christians go batty when celebrities turn out to be Christians... or if Celebrities have even read a Christian book. Why? Does this mean for instance that the Colts are a Christian team? Does this mean that good Christians can't root for their own godless football teams because Tony Dungy prays? Woe to me and my heathen Broncos! No, I don't think its about that. We hear about these celebrity Christians because like most Americans, Christians are obsessed with celebrity. We bow at the cult of celebrity with the rest of our VH1 viewing countrymen.

What is it about Christians going batty for Celebrities becoming (or turning out to be) Christians? Evangelicals spend a lot of time and energy maligning Hollywood and celebrities but as soon as one of them turns out to be "one of us," then all criticism is laid aside and we get them a book deal and tv time as soon as evangelically possible. It seems to me that the reasons throngs of people are obsessed with celebrities are the same reasons that Christians are also obsessed with Christian-celebrities. Celebrities are people used to live out vicarious fantasy lives. Why do so many people care about who Paris Hilton is dating? Because in some way or another her dating life is either a vicarious way for them to be in a relationship or is a false promise that they can one day also be that famous, that adored and that rich. We fawn over celebrities not so much based on their merit as much as the hope that one day we too can be like them.

This is a problem for Christians because our Lord did not come to show us 7 highly-effective habits for our best life now! He revealed the upside-down Kingdom of God where the poor and marginalized are first class citizens and the rich and famous are last. While the "saints" of popular culture tell us that we can be anything we want to if we just work hard enough, or are shocking enough or have the right body, Jesus tells us that we can be his disciples if we are willing to give all that up. Jesus' message is in direct competition with the celebrity-message.

The problem is that we are a people so shaped by celebrity we tend to buy into the unspoken assumptions that come along with it. We start to think that "successful" people are famous, rich and beautiful. We define success by how high one can climb on the social ladder. Celebrities obviously fit this model of success. So when a Christian becomes a celebrity or better yet, when an already-Celebrity becomes a Christian, in some kind of round-about way it legitimizes our own faith. "See, Christians can be successful too! We're also cool and famous!"

One of the many problems with holding up the image of a celebrity Christian is that we rarely examine the content of their faith and certainly don't hold them to much of any standard. It is not their theology or lived out practice that makes them a good example, it is their status as a celebrity. We Evangelicals particularly fall into this trap because we think that celebrity Christians are automatically great evangelists based on their fame alone. Walk into any Christia... I mean Family Christian Bookstore and see how many celebrity Christian books you find on the shelves. Chuck Norris, Kurt Warner, Stephen Baldwin, Joe Gibbs just to name a few. And why? Because we think we can harness the power that comes with the cult of celebrity (and I mean cult in the most literal sense) for evangelistic good. It's a nice idea, but it's wrong. As Marshall McLuhan said, "the medium is the message." If we think we can take the cult of celebrity with it idolatrous tenancies and preoccupation with wealth and fame and just plug Christians into that model and still be true to the gospel we're sadly deceived. Instead we will produce a "gospel" that will be overly spiritual (to the point of being gnostic) and reinforce our own desire for wealth, fame and influence.

This is the same kind of mentality that says to youth pastors, first reach out to the "cool" kids because where they go, the rest will follow. The problem with this is of course that it's counter to what Jesus taught us! He tells us to reach out to the least of these, the unpopular, the uncool, the nerds, the kids who don't bathe as often as they should because the Kingdom of God looks like these! The "good news" is not that unpopular kids or unemployed adults can become Christian and then climb the social ladder to the places where Tony Dungy and Chuck Norris reside. The gospel is that even when the world says you're unsuccessful, lame, oppressed, poor that Jesus meets you there... Jesus lives there and that the Kingdom of God is not like this world. The first shall be last in his Kingdom and the last shall be first! The gospel says that it is more honorable to hang out with dying people who can't help you network, who won't ever write you a good reference than it is to win the super bowl.

When we don't examine their theology or lived out practices beyond statements like "George Bush goes to a study on the book 'The Prayer of Jabez' every month," we get what we deserve, a Christianity more concerned with celebrity than with discipleship. The above quote is enough for a great deal of Christians to believe that Bush is a Christian in the exact same way they are a Christian, that he is concerned with discipleship and becoming more and more like Christ every day but going to a Prayer of Jabez study does not a disciple make! Now, I'm trying really hard not to say "George Bush is not a Christian." I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that if we really think he is a Christian and are going to hold him up as an example for other Christians we'd better know more of his story than "he read the Prayer of Jabez."

"It is through your kneeling and holding hands that they shall know you are my people."
- Jesus?

It is this same rush to claim someone as our own that results in Enlightenment-deists who denied the divinity of Christ, like Thomas Jefferson and other "founding fathers" to be held up as Evangelical heroes. Few bother to examine what they actually believed and lived, it's enough for us that Jefferson mentioned a "higher power" once and we're happy to claim him as our own.

Maybe our "Christian celebrities" should be people like Shane Claiborne and Mother Teresa rather than already-celebrities who happen to be Christian. Christian Saints are witnesses to us that following Jesus into the dumps, to the margins of society is what the Kingdom is all about. Christian martyrs are witnesses to us that we too can one day resist living on the world's terms, that we can live in the way of Jesus even if it means we will be killed for doing so.

So is it nice that Tony Dungy is a Christian? Sure. But Tony Dungy and You and I are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ and that journey does not end in celebrity. It is not a journey of "climbing the ladder" but it is a journey of humility, of faithfulness to God in the way of Jesus. So all of us Christians, Tony Dungy included, need to keep our eyes fixed on the example of the Saints, of the martyrs and most importantly of our Lord, and not that of celebrity-Christians.

Labels: Funny, Sports, Theology

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Wow. I'm still in a bit of a dream-like state after watching what was the most exciting bowl game (if not football game) I've ever seen. Aside from the "Cinderella story" surrounding Boise State's season this year, I'm marrying into Boise State fandom (and what a time to do it) so tonight's game was even more speical for me. As a long-time New Mexico Lobos fan (formerly of the WAC now in the Mountain West) I know all to well the lack of respect WAC teams like Boise State get. We're not Pac-10 or Big-10 or ACC teams, nor do we play them that often so we've always been seen as the "kid brother" in College football. But this year Boise State went undefeated, climbing all the way to #8 in the BCS rankings, good enough to get them into a BCS bowl game. Finally some respect. But NOBODY expected Boise State to actually beat Oklahoma, a longtime football powerhouse and National Champion contender. NOBODY... except Boise State themselves.


After an amazing first quarter where it looked like Boise might blow-out OU, the Sooners fought back to tie the game up with less than 1:26 to play. The Broncos quarterback, Zabransky threw a bad pass on the first play of their drive, it was picked off and ran back for a touchdown. Now with a minute left the Broncos were driving to tie the game instead of putting it away. A few solid passes by Zabransky had them back in the game, but with 0:18 left on the clock they were still 50 yards from the endzone.

It's 4th and 18 with 0:18 left in the game, the Broncos need a touchdown to tie. Zabransky throws a 16 yard pass to Drisan James at Oklahoma's 35, and James pitches the ball to Jerard Rabb running the opposite way and around the defense, diving into the endzone with 0:07 left in regulation.

Overtime.

The first play of overtime, OU's incredible running back Adrian Peterson goes 25 yards for the touchdown. OU kicks the extra point and Boise State gets their turn at OU's 25 yard line. It took two fourth-down conversions (one for the touchdown) to put Boise State within one point of OU. But rather than kick the extra point to tie it up and continue the battle Boise put the whole game on the line by going for the two-point-conversion and on a "Statue of Liberty" play won it all.


...then Ian Johnson, the Bronco's star Running Back who ran in the game-winning two-point-conversion, proposed to his girlfriend... who said "yes." You couldn't have written this any better.

Labels: Life, Sports

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I woke up this morning to a voice mail from my friend and fellow Broncos fan, Rusty telling me that Darrent Williams had been shot and killed hours earlier. Darrent was a starting cornerback for the Broncos and along with Champ Bailey he helped make up the toughest secondary in the NFL. Just hours after the Broncos were eliminated from the playoffs, Darrent's death puts that disapointment in perspective. What a sad day.

“All of us are devastated by this tragedy. To lose a young player, and more important, a great young man such as Darrent Williams, is incomprehensible. To lose him in such a senseless manner as this is beyond words. My deepest feelings, all my thoughts and prayers, go out to Darrent’s mother and family. The entire Broncos’ organization shares my grief. Darrent was a wonderful young man, and his passing is a great loss for his family, the Broncos and the city.”
-Pat Bowlen (Broncos Owner)

“Losing a fine young man such as Darrent Williams leaves me speechless with sadness. We all know that Darrent was an excellent player, but as a person, he was a first class young man who brightened every room with his smile, attitude and personality. I cannot express how heartsick I feel at this loss. All of our players and coaches are completely shocked by this terrible tragedy, and my deepest condolences go out to the entire Williams family.”
-Mike Shanahan (Broncos Head Coach)

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Tomorrow the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin! It's time to get Cup Crazy! Go Wings!

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My good friend Kaz (who blogs far less than he should) jumped on an airplane to come visit me and see Kansas City during the Super Bowl weekend. We ate a lot of GOOD bbq, visited the Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame... and he made me eat slice after slice of humble pie via Madden '06. Good times.

Photos

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Well Rusty and I made the long flat trip from Kansas City to Denver last weekend. We got to meet Vaughn Thompson, a fellow blogger friend. It was good times hanging out and meeting Vaughn. Those meetings are few and far between but very cool when they happen. Truly a great guy. After dinner and coffee with Mr. Icthus we drove up to Windsor and spent the night at Covenant Bible College with the hospitible folks there. Early Sunday morning we got up to make our Mile High visit (my first). After stopping by Rusty's Uncle's place we watched a bit of the pregame warm up before we settled into our lofty seats. The atmosphere at Invesco/Mile High was awesome! It's such a nice stadium. Arrowhead has nothing on this place and the fans were great. There was so much excitement, it was electric.

Alas, the Broncos had a really rough day against the Steelers. My favorite bearded QB, Jake Plummer, made some costly turnovers but Jake also kept the Broncos in the game making a strong 2nd half comeback attempt. In the end though the Broncos defense, the strongest part of the team all year, just couldn't hold the dam to back up Jake's comeback. The whole team really had a bad day and forced Plummer to try to win it all by himself and even John Elway wasn't going to do that. Most of Plummer's turnovers came from plays where he was playing his heart out, scrapping to get some points on the board. A lot of the Denver fans who had grown to love "no-mistake-Jake" this year quickly turned on him after the game, saying he'd never be John Elway and whining about the "good ol' days." They seem to quickly forget that even John couldn't win the big game until he had a complete team around him and while I think this team is far more balanced and defensively impressive than the two bronco Super Bowl teams, that defense just didn't show up against the Steelers.

Despite the big let down, the game was a ton of fun. The crowd at Mile High was great and finally seeing a Broncos game on home turf was so much more fun than being the tiny minority at Arrowhead. At the very least all 76,000 of us could all leave in peace, heads hung low, a far cry from the long long walk back to the car pushing past rowdy Chiefs fans (win or loose).

Labels: Life, Sports

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Sunday afternoon I was glued to a tv during some of our free time during the past weekend's Winter Retreat we held for KC area Sr. Highers. I was watching a great game between the Colts and Steelers. Broncos fans everywhere will sympathize with my reasons for rooting for either team. On the one hand if the Colts won our dear Broncos would have a chance to avenge two years of humiliation at the hands of the Colts, if on the other hand the Steelers won we'd get another game at home in Mile High stadium. I suppose that having another home game is more important than settling old scores, and little did I know at the time how I would benefit from the Steelers pounding of Peyton.

My friend Rusty called me towards the end of the Steelers/Colts game and asked if I wanted to try with him to get tickets online to the AFC title game in Denver if the Steelers were able to pull it off. "Of course!" I said, and just a few hours later we were both on ticketmaster.com trying to get tickets. There were only 15,000 available at that time, and many were being sold at Mile High stadium to a long line of fans. But somehow we got lucky enough to get two tickets in that online sale, and now we're making a little roadtrip to Denver this weekend to see the Broncos take on the Steelers. What a weekend!

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Well it didn't snow for our game, but it was COLD enough to start snapping body-parts off if you weren't careful. Chad and I started our day by doing a little face painting. I designed our face paint so that the Bronco logo stretched across our faces. Shout out to Lindi for doing my paint! Then our friend Rusty joined us and we headed to the game and got a ton of comments on our walk through the parking lot. You draw a lot more attention as a fan when you've got a bronco painted across your face, but that's what we wanted. It was fun jawing back and forth with the cool fans.

The downside of course are the people who pay all that money to buy a ticket to the game and then get drunk off their Cheif-loving butts and feel the need to harass and threaten you... that's a bit lame. But it's all a part of the experience I suppose, it wouldn't be football if everyone was sober and kept their rabid fanfare from turning personal and vulgar. I've always enjoyed going to pro games, but I always leave feeling like feminists are really onto something with their deep suspicion of men... I mean wow... men really can be pigs, especially when alcohol is involved and you throw in a tough AFC West rivalry.

Anyway, rant done. For those of you who are wondering if I'd convieniently leave it out... the Broncos did loose, but what a close and exciting game! Even if we lost, it was a lot of fun to be there in the bitter cold cheering on the Broncos (who remain in 1st place in the AFC West, need anyone be reminded).

Photo Gallery from the Game

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This Friday my cousin Chad flys out to visit me and while he's here we're going to the Broncos game at Arrowhead to see the Orange Crush take on the Chiefs. I looked up the weather for the game and we're supposed to get snow! Tell me folks, other than God coming to us in human form as Jesus, is there anything better than football in the snow? I submit that there is not! It should be a good time of hanging with the cuz, sitting in front of the fireplace and watching the Broncos go to 10-2 on the season against the Chieferinas.

ps-Extra points if you can tell me what's wrong with this picture.

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Patrick Hruby over at ESPN's Page 2 has a fascinating article about artificial intelligence and advancements in computer-generated graphics. Taking a cue from the newly released Madden '06 for the XBOX 360 Patrick addresses the all too lifelike graphics of the newer players... the problem is that they're getting too real. If you've played these games you know what he's talking about. The graphics of the players has steadily increased to the point of an almost lifelike appearance. Something is missing though, perhaps it's the eyes, the way Donovan McNabb's lips move when he calls an audible... something is missing. Patrick points out a theory by Japanese roboticist, Masahiro Mori, something called the Uncanny Valley.

This is the theory that we emphathize with and emotionally respond positively to things that we can find human qualities in, the more qualities the better our emotional response... to a point. When they start to resemble humans too much, we start to focus on what makes them non-human. So while the old Madden '94 game is cute and nostalgic, the new one seems cold on some level, or just not quite alive.

Perhaps this is in some part because of the imago dei. Maybe those of us whom were created by God have an innate sense for when another "human" has not been created by the Creator, but by a creature.

That being said... what they're doing these days is pretty impressive "cold" or not. Check out the new Madden videos and see for yourself. The players now watch the ball into their hands, they breathe harder when they're sprinting downfield, grimace when tackled... almost just like real life.

Labels: Sports, Technology

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So Jake the Snake looked good today against the other Super Bowl team the Broncos defeated! After running up a high score in the first half, the Broncos started to let the Eagles get their feet under them. Was this going to be just another fourth-quarter meltdown, or would the Broncos fire up the Offense and buckle down on the D? Yes and Yes. 21 points in the fourth quarter put the Eagles away and with a Chargers win over Kansas City the Broncos are looking pretty on top of the AFC West... and well the AFC. Awwwwwwwww Yeuuuuuh! Bring on the Raiders!

Labels: Sports

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Here's a GREAT and hilarious article about the Madden insanity that is infecting millions. Courtesy of ESPN's Page Two.

Better than Christmas
By Patrick Hruby

Labels: Sports

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Well I finally picked up my copy of Madden 06 tonight at blockbuster. I pre-ordered the game so that I could have it on Tuesday when it came out. Little did I know that Madden, the best selling video game has reached the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Spider-Man eschelon of fandom and mania. Read this article for more. The game came out at 12:01 am Tuesday. Blockbuster stayed open late to hand out the game. I'd never heard of this, but as any reader of my blog would know... I was happy they were doing it! So I meandered down to my local Blockbuster to pick it up... and waited in line for 15 minutes. From what I hear, I was at a realatively empty store compared to other places. Some people talked about seeing lines that went around the corner of a city block... dang.

So then I came home and played one game before I came up to bed to blog and finally colapse (it's been a long day)... WOW. EA Sports really outdid themselves this time, and I've just played one game! It's AWESOME.

Labels: Life, Sports

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Just in case anyone was getting the idea that all this theology was getting to me and feared that I would become a hermit and read books (really really good books) upwards of 20 hours a day... worry not. Madden is coming, and it's only 13 days away.

Check out the latest video preview as well as a video of the new passing mode here.

Labels: Life, Sports

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