Last Saturday, Paul and I had a guys night out. Mom dropped us off at the SDSU trolley stop and we rode down to Qualcomm Stadium for the home opener of the San Diego State Aztecs. Four quarters of football, the Sky Show, cotton candy, pop tarts, Pepsi, and other junk food later– this is what you get. A kid in a sugar coma on dad’s shoulders on the train ride home. And a dad happy to get a few hours alone with his son.
Yes, he’s using a Webkinz bat as a pillow on my head.
We are all born with a desire for religious experience. God made us this way. Each of us has had experiences in which the only description of our emotions is awe. These are intimate moments between you and God, a person, or a even location or event. While God intended for this awe to be for Him, our humanity doesn’t reserve them to Him exclusively. It’s a human response of deep connectedness. Most often there is a build-up and anticipation to the experience. You want it to happen so bad, it finally does, and the experience overwhelms you because it is better than you’d imagined.
Here are some awe experiences people mention as the highlights of their lives.
– Seeing a bear in the wild.
– Liftoff of the space shuttle.
– Sexual intimacy
– Hitting the winning basket, scoring the winning touchdown, nailing the winning putt.
– Exploring a beautiful coastline in Ireland.
– Worshipping with thousands of believers at a conference.
– Meeting God for the first time at a retreat.
– Starting your own business and earning your first dollar.
Most often, these are intensely personal moments of awe. The experience defies description and is often too intimate to even talk about. Even during the moment your emotions run high.
This is the first edge to the sword. It’s a good edge. The pursuit of this high and the after effects/remembrance of this high produce tremendous energy for people. This religious experience forms a deep bond between that individual and that event, object, or person. It is something they shared that was intimate and powerful.
Industries exist to help people pursue this experience, don’t they? We seek the awe-inspiring moment and wise capitalists provide tours of Ireland and Yellowstone. Religious events build anticipation for these moments knowing that they will draw thousands of seekers. How many clubs, bars, and dance clubs exist for the sole purpose of a common meeting ground for people seeking a sexual experience? On and on.
But that sword has a second, more dangerous edge to it, doesn’t it? Once you have this religious experience you seek to have it again. I mean, if the high of that moment… seeing the bear… crossing the rope bridge to a tiny island… having a killer day with a new business… sinking the putt to win the big tournament… it will never be the same as the first time.
In fact, many industries sustain because they know there will always be people who are seeking the second experience. They are in the exhilaration/disappointment business. They know that a weery businessman will lay down tens of thousands of dollars to go on tours of Ireland again. And then when he doesn’t find what he is looking for he will go to Scotland, Iceland, and the Gallapogos. The sex industry exists because people are seeking a more amazing sexual experience than “that amazing time.” Parents will relentlessly drive their children into sports in hopes that one day their kid will have the amazing experience they did of scoring a touchdown to win the big game. Certainly, many youth groups thrive because teenagers are seeking to repeat an intense religious experience they had at a retreat. Get-rich-quick schemes work because people remember that one time when they made easy money and they want it to happen again.
The truth is this. The secret is this. The learning point is this. Once you have that amazing moment, don’t try to repeat it. It will never be the same the second time. When you take someone back to that spot… it’ll be awesome for them… but a let-down for you. If you can’t handle that let-down, just let that awesome one-time experience live in your memory.
Dear NCAA,
Congratulations on another year of controversy! Congrats to Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators. They are the BCS Champions but not the National Champions. This year we clearly don’t have a National Champion because your system is broken.
Congrats to USC. Congrats to Texas. Congrats to Utah. Congrats to Florida.
Each legitimately claim they are National Champions this year! That’s right, with 5 BCS games, 4 of them ended with a team legitimately and openly claiming they should be the National Champion. (The fifth game played by Cincinnati and Virginia Tech didn’t deserve to be a BCS game. The Holiday Bowl was really the fifth BCS game. Did you watch it? It was a great game! How did the Orange Bowl go? I didn’t hear anything about it. Was it on TV?)
And yet the BCS claims this is somehow fair? Just because the bowls make bucketloads of money doesn’t make them right! It’s time you, the NCAA, kicked the BCS to the curb.
We all know that in every other NCAA Division IA sport there is a playoff. And we also know that in every other division in college football there is a playoff which ends with a national champion. It’s time the players of Division IA determined who the champion will be on the field instead of in a vote.
Here’s are two simple solutions:
Option A: After Thanksgiving weekend take the top 16 teams based on the AP/Coaches polls and put them in a simple bracket based purely on their rankings. #1 plays #16 and so on. With 4 rounds the best team may not win, but the hottest team will. Since win did the #1 team in the AP/Coaches poll win the Division IA basketball championship?
Option B: Set up a system where each of the top 11 conference champions get an automatic bid to the playoff. Then have a committee chose 5 at-large teams and place them in a 16 team bracket. Just to clarify, that’s the Big 10, Big East, Big 12, ACC, Conference USA, Mountain West, MAC, Pac 10, SEC, Sun Belt, and WAC. Yes, that means that teams like Notre Dame don’t get an automatic bid. Tell the Irish to get over the 1960s slight and join the Big 10. How will those conferences determine who is their champion? It seems like most of them are smart enough to figure that out. Playoff. Conference Champion. Rock, paper, scissors, who cares? They pick their best team and you take that.
What about the money? In case you didn’t know… March Madness makes a bucketload of money for everyone involved. Just share it. Champion gets 4 shares. 2nd place 3 shares. Final 4 teams get 2. Everyone else gets 1 share. How is that not fair?
For the bowl games not included in the playoff allow them to pick teams like they do now and have exhibitions. Their fans will still come. They will still be on TV.You know that line of arguement is
What about the big bowls? Do what you do now! Pick 8 bowls to be the Saturday of Christmas. In case you haven’t noticed all of the non-football fans will go to the mall and all of the football fans will stay home and watch TV. You’ve got 4 BCS games on New Years so that’s covered. Then the Championship game could be the weekend between the NFC/AFC Championship and the Super Bowl. I don’t know about a lot of other football fans, but I’m willing to move New Year’s day to line those final 4 games up with the NFL’s schedule. Do we have to talk to Congress about that? Let me know… I know some people over there. President Obama emails me all the time.
It’s about the money! Fair enough… trust me… give us a playoff and it’ll be just as big as March Madness. Rabid fans really will go to 3 bowl games! Ask the guys in Vegas to kick in a few bucks.
Who gets the championship? This is where the fairness ends. Make the championship game the Rose Bowl every year. It really is the grand daddy of them all. The Rose Bowl is beautiful… make it there every year. Tell the Big 10 and Pac 10 to earn their way in and get over it.
Thanks for your consideration. Get to work on that and let me know.
God Bless America and God Bless the NCAA,
Adam McLane
On December 24th Notre Dame Football brought home their first bowl victory since January 1st, 1994. After checking the record books… I was a senior at Clay High School in South Bend the last time the won a bowl game.
It was an impressive waxing of an offensive heavy Hawaii team. This team of freshmen and sophomore players gave a glimmer of hope for next season. Jimmy Clausen was unstoppable. He had 300 yards and 3 TDs in the first half. At Notre Dame that is unheard of. Without touching the ball in the 4th quarter he finished the day with 5 TD passes and 401 yards. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Hawaii’s pass defense ranked 118 out of 119 Division 1 teams.
For fans, there were some reasons to be excited about this game.
#1 Not a word about the Charlie Weis death watch. With this win, you won’t hear that again until their first loss of the 2009 season.
#2 The team had fun. In Weis’s early years he relished in having his team wound tight and nervous. I think we finally are seeing a new philosophy breaking in. These are college kids in Hawaii so let them have fun!
#3 Jimmy Clausen proved he wasn’t Ron Paulus. (Notre Dame’s Quarterback coach) Like Paulus, Clausen was highly recruited and everyone assumed he was the next Joe Montana. Paulus was extremely talented but never lived up to the hype. Clausen finally showcased his talents in a big way. Now we need to know if he can do that next year at Michigan or at home against USC?
#4 They broke the losing streak. Sure, it was against lowly Hawaii. But the Warriors were favored to win in their home stadium. Notre Dame not only won but they completely dominated this game. This is a great lead in to 2009. And when they get to a big bowl next year they won’t have the record over their heads.
#5 It was clear they needed to get better in the secondary. The defensive front four and linebackers are very solid for next year. They’ve long struggled to have a decent secondary… maybe it’s time to convert some tall offensive players?
#6 I love how exciting the special teams have been. Blocked punts, long kickoff returns, ridiculous speed returning punts. Let’s hope Weis keeps putting first string players out there on special teams.
#7 Keep Weis in the box. Just like Lou Holtz was a better coach without the headset on, Charlie Weis is a better play caller from the press box.
#8 The tide is turning in South Bend on Charlie Weis. I’ve heard that Weis is doing some things in the area to endear himself to the locals. The Bend is still a small town… if you don’t manage the politics the politics will manage you.
#9 Great for recruiting. I’ll presume that some high school kids, sitting in their living rooms, could envision themselves having fun at a bowl game and scoring lots of touchdowns for Notre Dame. Playing on Christmas eve had few advantages… but being the only game on during a terrible TV night was one big one.
#10 I think the coaching staff should stick with the Rick Warren costumes. Hawaiian shirts at the opener against Nevada?
Bonus: Looking at the 2009 schedule two things pop out. First, they have a favorable schedule. Second, until October 31st they don’t go more than 4 hours from home.