Archive for March, 2006:
Football referees in Nigeria can take bribes from clubs but should not allow them to influence their decisions on the pitch, a football official said on Friday. Fanny Amun, acting Secretary-General of the Nigerian Football Association, said bribery was common in the Nigerian game.
“We know match officials are offered money or anything to influence matches and they can accept it,” Amun told Reuters on Friday.
Amun first made the statement earlier in the week to a football seminar in the capital Abuja, prompting protests from other officials.
“Referees should only pretend to fall for the bait, but make sure the result doesn’t favour those offering the bribe,” Amun said.
Huh?
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It’s already been a year since Terri Schiavo was brutally tortured and murdered. A year later, it is still amazing and embarassing that we are capable of doing this to ourselves. I’m sure some of the horrible things that are going on the in world are a result of humanity’s assault on humanity.
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Oh, the irony. St. Paul, a city named for a man believed by Christians to be in heaven, has banned a “religious symbol” in the form of a bunny. It is yet another attack on the expression of Christians, building on the idea that there is something magical that makes a tree Christmasy, and now the idea that there is something about a particular bunny, that makes it Easterly.
The true beauty of the situation, though, is that this is yet another Christian symbol, like it or not, that isn’t necessary. It is another happy creature, like Santa Claus, that takes a little of the focus away from the true non-fictional story of the celebration. That is:
Jesus of Nazareth, dead at the age of 33, awakes.
I mean, who needs a bunny? My only question is, what next? Halloween? Cupid, and St. Valentine’s Day?
O Glorious Saint Paul, after persecuting the Church you became by God’s grace its most zealous Apostle. To carry the knowledge of Jesus, our divine Savior, to the uttermost parts of the earth you joyfully endured prison, scourgings, stonings, and shipwreck, as well as all manner of persecutions culminating in the shedding of the last drop of your blood for our Lord Jesus Christ.
Obtain for us the grace to labor strenuously to being the faith to others and to accept any trials and tribulations that may come our way. Help us to be inspired by your Epistles and to partake of your indomitable love for Jesus, so that after we have finished our course we may join you in praising him in heaven for all eternity. Amen.
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I’d like to thank my mom for, twenty-six years ago, finishing up her 8-months of pain and labor to give birth to me sometime mid-afternoon on the twenty-first of March (1980). Yes, I tried to do my mom a favor, and decide to make my entrance a month early.
Thanks to both of my parents for all the sacrifices they have made over the last twenty-six years, always putting their kids ahead of their own needs. From the thousands of dollars spent on everything from glasses to hockey equipment, and all the times they did things for us instead of those things that might be more fun for them.
I distinctly remember one great example of this. We were playing in the National Tournament when I was about 14 years old, and we were in the winners bracket final in the double-elimination tournament. It started to rain in the evening, and the tournament director said that with both teams’ permission we could play the game first thing in the morning. Now, I was the only pitcher on the team, so our best chance to win the tournament was to play Saturday evening (and the field was perfectly playable, even if a bit uncomfortable), so that win or lose I could have a break before finishing out the tournament. The parents of the other kids on our team forgot what we were there for, and wanted to “go out” that night.
Next morning, we did as we always did: we went to Mass. Our team got to play three innings without their only pitcher, with another kid just trying to lob the ball in there for strikes. Funny thing is that it was working until I got there. The coach, mad at me for not being at the game on time (he knew we would be going to Mass), was going to teach me a lesson and leave the other kid in there (“see, kid, we can win without you”). Things unraveled (I did go in) and we got down a few runs and wound up losing the game. Now we have to battle back, beat another team, and then beat this team we had just lost to twice to win the national championship. We almost did. We won the next game handily, won the first championship game 2-1, and lost the second championship game 3-2. God only knows if we would have won a national championship had we played that game the night before, when the team’s only pitcher could have played the full game and had a break before the big Sunday games. My parents lobbied hard to play Saturday night, only for the coaches to succumb to the selfish parents of many of the other players.
This is a great example of the sacrifice of my parents. Now, the thing about this is that that they actually would have rather been watching us than “going out.” So, in that sense it wasn’t a sacrifice. But, the fact that they would rather be watching us and giving us the best chance to win, that shows what kind of parents they were. On top of that, the fact that they always instilled the idea that Mass was the most important thing we did. Perhaps going to Mass hurt our chances at a National Championship, but we knew what was more important. That, and the beauty of the situation is that God provides us outs: we could have played Saturday night.
As it turned out, I never played for that team again. Not only because of that situation, but because of their choice of tournaments the next year. My brothers and I went on to win National Championships, though that team never did. Maybe it was because we went to Mass that day, and because of our sacrifice for God, that we were presented with more opportunities to win a National Championship. Perhaps by losing that championship, and by making such a sacrifice, a good lesson was taught to the people who didn’t even think about attending a church service on Sunday morning. Again, only God knows.
Still, this is the kind of sacrifice and giving that our parents did for us, and still do. God bless them.
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for new Vikings coach, Brad Childress to win me over.
Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress says he saw a little of T.O. in Daunte Culpepper. That was enough for him.
“It just became a deal where I didn’t feel like it was the team, I felt like it was ‘me,’” Childress said Monday about Culpepper. “I went through a big ‘me’ situation last year with a guy who was all about ‘me.’”
Consider me won.
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Beginning July 1, Panthers fans and concertgoers who park at Sawgrass Mills Mall and walk across the street to BankAtlantic Center will be charged $5 apiece to enter the arena grounds.
This is what Shelly and I did when we attended the game versus the Rangers on our honeymoon. It didn’t have anything to do with the cost of parking at the game — we didn’t even know what it was. In fact, it was due to us wanting to make sure we arrived at the venue in plenty of time, and because of that we spent, probably, $200-300 at the mall getting souvenirs, clothes, and eating once or twice. So, the mall was a direct beneficiary of the Florida Panthers. Now they are going to try to enforce a $5 charge for across-the-street walkers? Unbelievable. What else can you call it? I’m not even sure how they can do this. Is this legal?
I belong to a Panthers email list and there is continous talk about how poorly-run the Panthers organization is. I used to laugh it off as fans just being fans. I began seeing their points some time ago, and here is another example. They are making it as difficult as possible for fans to get to the game. You should see the horrid traffic in downtown St. Paul on Wild game nights. There isn’t a business down there that would complain about that. It is incredibly great for their business.
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Hillary Clinton will have problems supporting one of the biggest political agendas of the Democratic Party: slamming Wal-Mart.
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Daunte Culpepper‘s shaky relationship with the Minnesota Vikings deteriorated further on Wednesday when the quarterback said he has asked to be released if the team can’t work out a trade.
If a player signs a 6 year deal and gets a $18m signing bonus, then after two years decides he’s not making enough and wants to be traded or released, he should have to give back $18/6 * 4 of his signing bonus ($12m). Seriously, the signing bonuses are outrageous, but they are the reason why the long term deals are signed. Guys like Culpepper and Owens should be penalized if they don’t hold up their end of the contract.
It is with great joy that I would part ways with Daunte Culpepper.
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The homilies and presentations of a St. Paul priest can no longer be published on his Web site or broadcast on a Catholic radio network by request of the archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to the priest’s Web site.
The Rev. Robert Altier of St. Agnes Church posted a message Thursday that said: “In obedient compliance with the expressed written request of Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn … Father Altier’s homilies and spiritual presentations can no longer be published on www.desertvoice.org or broadcast on Relevant Radio.”
This seemingly came from Fr. Altier’s stance that a clergy sexual abuse program is not suitable for children. Unfortunately the one in power is the one who is wrong. Not all children are ready to learn about explicit activities at the same time, and this is what is wrong with sexual education in our schools across the board.
Here’s hoping the matter will be resolved so that Fr. Altier’s solid message can make it’s way back into the media, where it belongs. I wonder what Pope Benedict would have to say about this…
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South Dakota is suddenly in the vanguard of the movement to overturn Roe v. Wade. But in truth, it was a role that was decades in the making.
Since the 1973 Supreme Court decision establishing the right to an abortion, the state Legislature has become increaingly dominated by lawmakers from both parties promoting what they see as traditional family values. In fact, in the 1990s, South Dakota’s Democrats dropped abortion rights from their party platform. (emphasis mine)
Wow.
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