This comes from Howie Espenshied. Emmitt Smith, NFL all-time rushing leader–fired! Shannon Sharpe, an NFL hall of famer who finished his career atop all of the tight end categories–fired! (last week). Dan Marino, retired with the most broken records of any quarterback in history–fired! (also last week). Joe Montana, the greatest NFL QB of all-time, was encouraged to quit before he was fired. What do these four have in common? They…
Search Result / Howie Espenshied
Jeff Orr, Helmet Sundaes, and the Anatomy of the Heckler
This morning’s sports column comes from our new sports writer Howie Espenshied. I have the dubious privilege of being a high school basketball official. We’re the ones in stripes out there, only noticed when a mistake is made. Coming up through the ranks, some of the most pronounced heckling I have experienced have come from the parents during 12-year-old rec games. I have waved off my share of baskets because a sixth grader took several…
Of Cold War Hate and Miracles on Ice
Here’s another (timely) sports piece from Howie Espenshied. Any time the US faces Russia in Olympic men’s ice hockey, as they did on February 15th, the “Miracle on Ice” game in Lake Placid, NY in 1980 is brought to mind. This one ended much the way that one did, with the US securing a dramatic 1 goal victory. However, noticeably absent was the Cold War setting that helped the ending of that legendary game become arguably the…
"Louie" Discussion 2.0 - A Season 4 Recap
With the final five episodes of the fourth season of Louie, Blake (B.I.C) and I felt like another conversation over the remainder of the season was in order. So. For your perusal, here is part two of our ongoing email conversations on this season of Louie. Blake: So there are two main story lines that must be dealt with to complete our coverage of this season of Louie. One is the about Pamela (who has been a love interest of Louie’s off and on…
On TV: Louis C.K. Babels About The Language of Love
Blake (B.I.C) and I both share a fondness for the television show, “Louie” , so we felt compelled to have an email conversation this week about the episodes entitled “Elevator” (parts 1-6). Here is the edited and streamlined result of an exchange between a couple of guys with certifiable Louis C.K. man crushes. B.I.C: So, Howie, what did you think of the six-part Elevator episodes of Louie and what do you think the…
The Best of the Year in Television 2017
Doing things a little differently this year. As anyone who’s spent time on a couch this year knows, there’s simply too much quality television being produced these days to attempt a definitive list, even if rankings are generally more fun. So we’ve decided to farm out the assignment a bit more, ask various contributors to submit blurbs on what they’ve most enjoyed watching, with an eye, as always, to…
From the Archives: Thy Jilted Lover Shall Rejoice (Again)?
In anticipation of the third NBA Finals meeting (in a row!) between the Warriors and Cavs, we thought this might be a timely one to resurface from last year’s series. Don’t look now but Loserville–the “mistake on the lake” that is Cleveland Ohio–is about to improbably get their NBA championship. The stars are aligning around the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s really pretty incredible. We had anointed the…
Fall Conference in Houston - HAPPENING NOW!
The full schedule for our Fall Conference! Be sure to check out the conference site for more details or to pre-register.
| Friday October 17th | |
|---|---|
| 9:00am | Opening Prayer Service and Devotion – David Browder |
| 9:30am | The Good News of a High Risk God – Aaron Zimmerman |
| 10:30am | Morning Breakouts |
| 12:00pm | Lunch – Tex Mex Extravaganza |
| 1:30pm | Risky Business: Jesus Meets a Control Freak – RJ Heijmen |
| 2:15pm | Afternoon Breakouts
|
| 6:15pm | Talk 1 – Tullian Tchividjian |
| 7:00pm | Dinner – BBQ Feast |
| 7:30pm | Slaid Cleaves in concert (with The Magills opening!) |
| Saturday October 18th | |
|---|---|
| 9:00am | Opening Worship and Devotion |
| 9:30am | Talk 2 – Tullian Tchividjian |
| 10:15am | Q&A with Tullian |
| 10:45am | I Feel Like I Win When I Lose – David Zahl |
| 12:30pm | Book Table closes |
CLICK HERE TO PRE-REGISTER TODAY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGf57YLmRDM&w=610
Another Week Ends: Kafka's Facebook, Pre-cations, New Hugo, New Pixar, the Empathy Police, and Kid Worship
1) Facebook at the top of our list again this week, thanks in whole to Joshua Rothman’s New Yorker article, “In Facebook’s Courtroom.” The article depends on a deadly cocktail of TMZ’s Ray Rice video release and Kafka’s “The Trial.” What he gets at, in doing so, is the idea of Facebook as our junk-room of judgment—a place where ‘likes’ are actually ‘hate-likes’ and a user’s status updates stand as verdicts on the world around them. Even the…
2014 Fall Conference Recordings: The Risk of Grace
An enormously heartfelt thank-you to everyone who helped put on our Fall Conference in Houston, TX: our friends at St. Thomas Episcopal Church for hosting, The Magills for playing such fantastic music (click here to check out their stuff on iTunes), Mark and David Babikow for being such lifesavers on the audio/visual front, Jim and Tricia Zucker for making the Slaid Cleaves connection, and many more. We are beyond grateful. We’re once…
2014 College Football Preview - While It's Still Fun...
On HBO’s Hard Knocks (Training Camp with the Atlanta Falcons) these past four weeks, one thing is clear: the starry-eyed rookies miss college. Like many who played football through high school, I’ve been cussed at with a myriad of blue streaks and been ranted at with the best of them. So when I watch Hard Knocks every year, I’m rarely taken aback when one of the coaches gets in the face of a rookie or young player and lets him…
Jordan Spieth: There's No "I" in Golf...Huh?
I’ve always had respect for the players and coaches in any sport who use the first person plural when they’re interviewed after a win, and the first person singular when things went poorly for them or their team after a loss. Derek Jeter was like that, so were Steelers QB Terry Bradshaw and Buc’s Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy. That vantage point is counter-intuitive. To sit at your locker in front of a reporter after a…
