In lieu of a post about the Braves’ relievers (I’ll do that next week), I’ll mention a few other goings-on.
VBS – June 11-13
If you live in the Chattanooga area and need something for your kids to do next week (or, more aptly, need something better for them to do), I suggest Vacation Bible School at the East Brainerd Church of Christ. The theme is “Mission: Possible,” and I can assure you it will be both corny and fun at the same time. My Sunday School class is working on a great skit and activities for the story of Jehoshaphat, and I’m sure the other classes will also do a great job. The Children’s Ministry team at East Brainerd does a fantastic job, and it’s possibly the thing we do best as a congregation. Your kids will enjoy it, and you can register them online.
For a day, the NHL was almost as relevant as NCAA Softball
The Stanley Cup was handed out Wednesday, on the same night as the NCAA Women’s Softball title game, and which game did I watch? The softball game. Granted, the Tennessee Lady Vols were vying for their first title in that sport, and softball is a big deal around these parts, but when I realized I cared more about this championship game than I did about a prestigious title in a major professional sport, it scared me just a little bit. Honestly, I just don’t care much about hockey anymore, except that the video games based on it are actually kinda fun. It’s dreadful to watch on TV, since I don’t really have a connection to any teams or players (Predators, Thrashers, or the Coyotes, who I rooted for because I went to one of their home games a while back?). Perhaps the young blood like Sidney Crosby, coupled with the increased scoring following the year-long layoff will make that league relevant and interesting again. For now, it’s only worth watching in person.
Making the move to HD
I’m behind in the game on getting HDTV, but I have a few good excuses. I’m only a year out of college and I have a new house, so I have virtually no money to spend on something like that. I’m still saving up for one, though, and I plan to get it before the year is out.
With Charter cable service in Ringgold, we could get the following channels in an HD “tier” (we currently have a “sports tier” that I don’t really watch, so our bill wouldn’t change): NBC/ABC/CBS (not FOX, currently), PBS, ESPN/ESPN2, Discovery, Universal, HDNet, and HDNet Movies. To me, that’s a decent enough lineup to make it worth the jump.
I started thinking about this a little more this week, since my mom bought a new 32″ flat-screen LCD for her house, and she had to pry me away from it when I saw it for the first time on Wednesday (it made that Stanley Cup Finals game more watchable, that’s for sure). I’m looking at 37″ and 42″ models, which I think should run me about $1200-$1500 for a middle-of-the-line set including installation, if I find the right deal.
I’m doing my homework, but if anyone wants to offer a suggestion or other advice, I’m certainly listening. I know that I can get one with a built-in HD tuner so that I don’t need a box, and I probably want at least one HDMI input. I haven’t decided if I should mount it or just put it on a stand on our mantle (the stand probably needs to take up <9 inches from the wall).
Check back on Monday for the next Braves update, and have a great weekend.
UPDATE: I have to pass along this nice little Q&A from the Freakonomics blog’s chat with Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban:
Q: Do you think that flopping to draw fouls is becoming a problem in the NBA?
A: Yes. We handle it backwards. We reward the defender who falls down. Instead, proof of being in position to defend should be the result of the defender who is able to stay on his feet. It’s rare in football that a defender is pancaked with a block, yet every time there is contact with a ball handler [in the NBA], defenders act like they have been pancaked by Orlando Pace. Instead we should reward staying on your feet as a reflection that the defender has beaten the ball handler to a spot on the court.
Now that’s a really interesting idea.
jfwiii.net 