Memories of Mom

My mom has been really sick lately; it doesn't look good. (Late February 2014).

It didn't look too good in November of 2012 when she was diagnosed with advanced tumors throughout her body, apparently connected to the liver. But there was an eventual chemotherapy plan that would be followed throughout a lot of 2013, and despite the bad side effects that she suffered from the installments every three weeks, it seemed like that some of that treatment would have a chance of making her recover. And she took it in good spirits, and for my mom that is commendable because over the years she has had some pretty severe bouts of depression--- but the last year plus, even in physically painful circumstances, she has been in pretty good spirits with the harsh and uncomfortable effects of the chemical treatments. When we spoke or visited, her body was being pummeled but her attitude was sweet.

Right now, Wednesday, things look pretty negative. She is 73. She would be 74 if she were to last until July. We shall see. I want to write things today, because I have time to do so and I will explain more...

She has had a lot of time to think about this sickness and a lot of time to share with us since that diagnosis at the end of 2012.

One thing that I have shared multiple times with others that makes me smile and perhaps breaks a little ice or provides perspective about my mom, is that years ago she had a dream that she takes seriously, like a revelation, where she was told by a heavenly messenger that she would live to be 85. Born in 1940, that would be the year 2025. We are a few years short of that goal. 2025 seems far enough away...

2025 would be all right (I say now) because my own kids would be adults or close to it, and they would have the chance to know my mother as such. We shall see.

Otherwise, like many grandchildren, they may have to go by pictures, videos, stories and other hand-me-downs to know who their grandma, the one we call Grandma Bear, was and is.

And let me remind us all, that even though people go away in death, they are always still around in one form or another.

Hence this blog post: Memories of Mom.

Here I am, almost halfway through my 43rd year, and I try to reflect on all the memories I have of my mother. The highlights, maybe a few low lights, the good, the bad. The goodness, overall.

She raised my two sisters and I, and for a period of 4 years worked with about 11 foster children. She has done a lot of other nurturing as well, but maybe that will be explained by others in their own way. Like the beloved Vitou in Cambodia. They were going to see him in December of 2012 when they had to cancel the trip because of the new found tumors. Cambodia has an extra mother in my mom. I think she will not be forgotten there.

Goodness, overall.

And it has been good.

I want to write down a few memories while she is still living, because in life too often we forget things before they are recorded. Maybe I or someone can get this read to her in the next days or weeks. Maybe she will read this in 2025. We don't know.

But I wish to record a few things, perhaps jogging my own memory of things that have been. My memories and recollections of things meaningful or memorable to me, her Number One Son.

I was her only boy, out of the three she gave birth to. Through re-marriage, she has a step-son that she cares for, but I might call that relationship more like a nephew/aunt (step-mom). In Cambodia, perhaps that is where she has another boy, who is now a man, who will fondly recollect Ruth Carpenter. I have not met him but I know that she and my step-father Terry love him like a son, and he deserves that. Maybe she will not be able to go to Cambodia (in this life) and see him again. We shall see.

Ruth Muriel Carpenter was born in Hanover, Massachusetts, the last of 5 children in a humble family during the depression. Her parents were by no means people of money in a time when economics was tough. My grandma, Nellie, was 44 when my mother was born. My mom was the baby, the youngest. Grandma Nellie died when I was young, and I knew her, but not too well. But she lived to age 84. Which is a much better age than most.

I wish more people would live into their 80s and 90s. My grandma Nellie lived closer to my mom's siblings in Massachusetts, and my cousins, my mom's nephews and nieces, knew her better there. I lived 1,000 miles away and we did visit, and I did know her. Just not too well. She and my grandpa visited us in Indiana that I remember, too. I did not get to know my grandmother as well as my mom would have liked me to. But everything in its time, I suppose.

My mom became a nurse, joined the Peace Corps, married my dad in Sierra Leone, West Africa, returned to the United States in 1966, moved to Indiana and had us three children. They became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and this institution became an extended part of our family.

By the time I was 14 my parents were divorced and my mother re-married when I was 16.

My mom wrote me all 104 weeks of my two year LDS mission, from 1989 to 1991, before there was email. Real paper letters. Sometimes the letters were delayed or bunched together, but they got to me. And my mom experienced her second serious bout with depression during that time, too.

She sent a nice package with an apple pie to my first missionary area, in Chile, South America, that did not catch up to me until I was in my second area, and the pie had turned greenish. But the thought counted. And the Snickers bars included definitely found their mark.

Thanks mom.

My mom took me to see my favorite baseball player in 1985, the first time for me to see him in person. I had been following him religiously from 1981 (age 10), and I had meticulously taken notes of his stats and games. She drove me to St. Louis, Missouri, a 5 hour drive; we stayed in a hotel overnight and caught the game, a very memorable game for me, which helped me continue in my fandom of that player for many years to come, until his retirement in 2002 (age 31).

Hard to explain why we love the things we do. But my mom recognized it.

Thanks mom.

I returned to Indiana in 1997 after living in Utah for five years. I was looking for a suitable mate, and things had not turned out with a few prospects while living and dating in Utah, and things actually became worse while in my home state when it came to serious dating. But I could count on hanging out with my mom. I was 27, 28 years old, and my mom still nurtured me as an adult, at a time when many that age would be raising their own children.

I was able to spend many quality hours with my mom in my late 20s, and I was blessed for it.

Weekly dinners, shows together, a head massage or foot rub. After years of being away, I was with my mom again. For my twenty seventh birthday she paid for a full body massage. Not bad for being a single celibate dude, like I was. She was always very physically and emotionally tender with me. I did miss out a little bit of her when divorce separated our family when I was still in middle school, but I got it all back in those years. Maybe marrying later and in California was really meant to be. I know I am grateful for that time with her now.

The night I met my future wife in January of 2000, my mom and I spoke that Sunday evening. I think we would talk on the phone about every two weeks. She asked, "Have you met anyone?" (I was well past 29 years old). I was back in California after my Indiana visit from the Christmas break. I responded, "I think I have." And I recall strongly feeling a warm, good feeling that it was right. This new person that my mom had just asked about.

She had tried matching me up with a few girls in Indiana from 1997 to 1999, but those were not meant to be. Nah, there was a time and a plan. My mom has faith like that; I do, too. We, she and I, believe in things that are real that are unseen. Faith is real. Love is real. God is real. His plans are real.

Thanks for that faith, mom.

Later I was accepted to UCLA (happily married and with child), and I frequented the LDS Institute across the street from the building where my parents met before going their respective ways to Africa in the 1960s. I thought about my young parents swimming in the pool, taking training courses, (my mom took French), at that serene part of Westwood, Los Angeles. And my mom was then 2000-2002 in Cambodia, serving the needy again.

Thanks mom.

I have other memories, some funny, some sad, maybe some kooky or insignificant.

But mostly, they are all warm and fond and real and lasting. 2014 or 2025, my mom will always be there for me. She will always be remembered, living or beyond the veil.

She is my mom forever. And I will see her again.

Thanks for the letters, mom. Thanks for the memories. Thanks for being who you have been.

See you soon.

#1 Son

EMC (Eddie)

Mental Breakdowns, Divorce and Civil Wars

Thinking about a few things lately, like: how some things "fall apart".

Chinua Achebe wrote a very interesting and insightful book called "Things Fall Apart". I recommend it. I think it gives some compelling and useful background to some of the problems of Nigeria. And how their native culture has been affected by the West. I should re-read it since working with some Nigerians and learning more about their culture.

From what I know and observe, Nigeria will not stay together as one nation. Because it isn't. One nation.

Civil conflicts and wars are similar, I think, to smaller crises that occur in many of our lives.

In the individual psyche, there can be breakdowns, when perhaps the inner voice is being overwhelmed or confused by other signals or messages, thus people get mentally challenged and their minds are at war, like a civil conflict, war with itself.

In marriages, people are also disjointed, couples that once were unified and harmonious become at odds, with disagreements that can lead to bitter hostility or even enmity.

Like a nation, that should be unified or "one", falling on itself and devolving into separate parts that no longer work.

One human brain.
One human couple, or family.

One nation, with similar interests and values.

Discuss.

Blog on, EMC.

Communist versus Communitarian

So Russians shocked the world in 1917, ending a long standing and often brutal regime. Since that time, other political "innovators" came along like Mao in China, Castro and Guevara in Cuba (and elsewhere), and a long list of others. Now there may be some remnants of the Communist era that long for those days of Communist leadership and power. Some say it worked.

Marshall Tito of the former Yugoslavia was hailed as a great Communist leader. Perhaps he may have been the greatest, or fairest. At least a few former Yugoslavs I know think he did well, and his nation was great.

Others like the Soviet Stalin, Chinese Mao, Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh, and others, were less than pleasant in the leadership of their people. But that is from the Western point of view.

To Chinese, or to what seems like most of them even in the 21st century, Mao Tse-Tung was a courageous and successful Chairman of their party (of the People), their government. Despite some really disastrous events and "leaps", he is still considered a great Chinese patriot.

Most Westerners cannot fathom the human suffering that occurred under him.

But that, again, is a debate between the East and the West.

Perhaps nowadays (2014) the dialectic is more North and South. Rich and poor. Developed versus developing.

Communists, based on the writings of Marx and other ideologues, tried to eliminate God and religion from the advanced and better state of humanity.

Meanwhile, modern and traditional religions, including my own, have had communities that flourished with communitarian societies that depended on faith-based values and rules that helped people, under free governments, to allow individuals, families, towns or regions thrive or cope among their trials.

Hillary Clinton garnered headlines when she made the famous quote that it "takes a village".

I concur. It does take a village to help everyone thrive and flourish.

Checks, balances, freedom, values, rules, community.

Communism? A failed attempt.

I wonder what the rulers of Ukraine who are responsible for those killed in Kiev are thinking.

Are they Communist ideologues? Are they more fascist? Are they simply technocrats? Or worse? Thugs?

They could use some more freedom and values, and in my opinion, community.

More religion, less demagoguery. To some, they may appear as the same thing.

I would like to think we can understand the difference.

Blog it, EMC.

Ukraine: Struggling to be Western, Whatever that Means

Almost one hundred years ago, the Majority party, or Bolsheviks, in Moscow, shocked the world and overthrew the traditional Russian royal monarchy and became Communist.

The People, it would appear, had arrived according to some ideologists of that ilk.

What a trip it has been.

They were anti-Western, because the West was capitalist and anti-people.

Pro elite, or bourgouisie. (How to spell burgues in English-French?)

And now in 2014, there is a struggle for the hearts and minds of this remnant of the former Soviet Empire.

The Sky is Falling? Yes, It Seems So

I grew up a couple miles from Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, and I like to write about , talk, watch, blog, dream, sweat, agonize and blather about the Indiana University men's basketball team.

Here's this:

Text of release sent out Tuesday afternoon by Indiana University Media Relations:

TONIGHT'S IOWA VS. INDIANA MEN'S BASKETBALL GAME POSTPONED

Indiana University Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass has announced that tonight's Big Ten men's basketball game between Iowa and Indiana will be postponed as a result of a piece of metal falling from the ceiling into seats in the lower bowl.
Roughly 6 1/2 hours before gametime, a metal facing (roughly eight feet long by 14 inches wide), fell and damaged seats in the lower part of Section F, which is located in the northwest corner of the building.

"Safety is our No.1 priority," noted Glass. Our University engineers have advised us to postpone events in Assembly Hall until it can be determined what caused the facing to fall and ensure the safety of everyone attending an event in the facility."

The rescheduling of the Iowa contest and the status of tomorrow night's women's game with Michigan will be determined as soon as possible.

Yes, the sky fell. Good thing no one got hurt.

My Hoosiers have been tanking of late and now things look weird, to say the least. 

They blow a late sizable lead to Penn State at home. OUCH!

They blow it late to a better Minnesota team on the road. (Like losses to Nebraska and even Michigan State.)

And then they lose again--by blow out-- to Purdue. OUCH!

Redemption was possible tonight against the ranked Hawkeyes.

We had beaten then undefeated Wisconsin at home, and undefeated in the Big10 Michigan, so things were looking possible.

But oh yes, the back up sophomore center Hanner Mosquera-Perea? Arrested at 3:15 AM after the Penn State game. OUCH!

And freshman center Luke Fischer that had taken a while to get healed in the pre-conference season decided to transfer out...Right when he was getting his feet under him.

OUCH!

The Hoosiers are looking for help.

Did it come from the roof?

A couple of months ago a huge IU philanthropist announced a gigantic donation to renovate the 1971 built stadium, so maybe now they will simply close it down for the rest of the season and get a jump on the renovation.

So would they have to close out their remaining home games in Indianapolis? It is doable.

They play a game or so at Lucas Oil Field (Indy Colts NFL Stadium), Conseco Field (Pacers floor from NBA), or even IUPUI or somewhere smaller like that. Butler Fieldhouse, Hinkle?

We shall see. Depends on some engineers' assessment, most likely.

And the players and coaches?

That also remains to be seen.

We need to beat Iowa, no matter when or where we play.

Go Hoosiers. Don't worry about the sky, just worry about the grounds you can control.

Blog it, EMC.

BYU Plays for Me---They Represent the Faith

Brigham Young University plays for me. Vicariously, but they do all the same.

Like a lot of sports teams that we sports fans identify with, like being American or anything else during the Olympics, BYU does that for me. I am from Indiana, so I definitely identify with my Hoosiers and other Indiana sports teams. I like to see a lot of Indiana people do well in life and in sports competition, sometimes not really shaking up the world but interesting to me all the same.

Identity.

But my religious school where I attended and graduated in the 1990s is different than just a geographical connection. Even before I was accepted there as an undergraduate in 1992, I liked the school and rooted for their teams because the institution represents my faith.

Faith is active, some more than others.

Mine, the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is more active than some.

How so? Many people know...

We have a health code called the Word of Wisdom that prohibits alcohol, tobacco, coffee and tea and eschews poor diet in general. Maybe the last item is the one we struggle the most with.

But we do emphasize athletics, and therefore the BYU Cougar athletes, some of whom are not members of our faith but represent us by following the same rules of the Church, are a sub-set of our visible heroes.

We don't play on Sundays. We pay a robust tithing from our incomes. We have many meetings and outreaches that require our time and resources. We abstain from pre-marital sexual relationships, and we have courts of discipline for those who have broken these commitments.

We, speaking for Latter-day Saints or Mormons, have large commitments to Scouting and Youth organizations, we have food programs that require our time and sacrifice, we have family history centers where we work and serve, temples that require extra devotion, part and full-time missions that take significant parts of our lives...

So those who follow these strictures and rules are the vicarious embodiment of our values.

BYU represents who we are.

The Pacific Ten, a major conference consortium of mostly state schools in the west (plus USC and Stanford), invited two new members to their fold a few years ago. They were Utah and Colorado. State and obviously secular schools. BYU has always wanted to be part of the PAC-10, but when not invited in 2010 decided to run independent in football and linked up to the Catholic league of the West Coast Conference in all other sports.

Perhaps more fitting, since those schools are religious as well and respect the Sunday no-play rule. There is also Pepperdine, which belongs to the Church of Christ, and now newly accepted Pacific University, which is apparently a private secular place of higher learning.

But it is not the PAC-12. This is what BYU-Provo had aspired to be a part of  athletically since at least the 1970s when that group was expanding into Arizona, going from eight to ten.

Nevertheless, BYU sports teams still schedule all the "big boys" (and girls) as possible, and still tries to compete at a national level in most sports.

And sometimes they courageously succeed. Despite the extra rules placed on its athletes.

Some of them are my heroes, because I know what they stand for and live for.

Jesus Christ. The Church we understand that He directs. Jesus' principles. Sacrifice. Testimony. A fully invested commitment to serve God.

Go BYU.

And no, Utah, or UCLA, or UNLV fans, I am not claiming that God favors the Cougars to win its games over your teams. No, Notre Dame and BYU, or even Army, Navy and Air Force, despite our love and appreciation for extra duties are not favored from on high like David over Goliath in the Old Testament.

But the principle of what the sacrifice and identity is about is acknowledged.

I love to see BYU win, because when they win, they are justifying a bit of my faith.

No recreational sport on the Sabbath? Check.

No alcohol or tea? Coffee? Check.

No carousing as a young college age student? Check.

Go on a volunteer religious mission for two years? Check.

Go Cougs. Beat your competition and live happy.

Or lose and live happy. Long live the dream.

Blog it, EMC.

Arabs Have Problems--Improvement Around?

Could the Arab World be getting better?

There are some positive developments.

What are they?

1. Iraq has more of a democracy, even though the Shia majority has lead to more militant violence and repercussions throughout the Land Between the Rivers (Tigris and Euphrates) and neighboring Syria among others. Sunni and Shia do not get along, and the democracy that newly exists since 2005 is tenuous and full of real strife.

2. Petro-dollars continue to enable millions of Arabs to live better lifestyles, which may prove to advance education and economic stability.

3. Globalization moves populations across the planet, allowing more human links between the nations, hence more sympathy, empathy and hopefully inter-connectedness that could prove vital for nations NOT to go to war. Then again, all the ex-patriot Syrians do not seem to make a difference, but the political relations with Russia and Iran do not seem to appease the West, or rather foments the problem of peace.

4. Our financial and economic globalized linkage makes it harder on everyone to destroy each others' reserves or infrastructure. The cost to everyone is higher. Limited fighting is acceptable from this vantage point, but we increasingly do not want to "rock the boat" when it comes prices and resources.

Can you think of more?

All for now.

blog it, EMC.

Both my College Basketball Teams Are Underwhelming---NIT Looms

Ugh.

Not a good week for my teams. Indiana Hoosiers, BYU Cougars.

Teams with a lot of talent, but 10 losses each. Ugh.

IU is 14-10 (4-7) while Brigham Young is 15-10 (9-5).

Not good enough for the NCAA tourney with a month left to play.

They have blown some games to a few good teams, and few not so good teams.

BYU FTs could have beat Oregon on the road; in general, they do not play good enough defense.

IU? Their offense goes down the tubes, and they turn it over too much. Like they did last year against Syracuse with two seniors and two top 4 NBA draft picks.

Ugh.

NIT? One of my teams better win it.

Syria and Arab Problems

In 2014 the hottest military conflict in the world is what many call a civil war in Syria. The Syrian government considers the fighting a rebellion by extremists rather than a full-blown war, while many Syrian opposition forces consider themselves freedom fighters against a tyrannical long-time President in power, Bashar Al-Assad. They feel the brunt of being engaged in long and brutal military fight, or for better uses of the word, a war.

The conflict has been ongoing for three years; for rather inconvenient reasons many Syrian people are left unaided by the outside world because of external factors that normally would allow neighbors or global powers to intervene in more political, military, or at least humanitarian ways. Historically, Syria has been more closely aligned with Russia, and at times Iran, which does them no favors when currying favor with the West. This is part of the reason why the UN and Western states do not directly intervene. But the West has been dealing with other conflicts that have made them weary of such intervention, especially involving repressive Muslim-based forces, like in Somalia, Afghanistan, and Libya. Soldiers and marines coming home in coffins does nothing to inspire the leaders or their constituents entrenched in the safety of the peaceful West. The United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France and dozens of other nations have felt like they have sacrificed their share against jihadi extremists and Al-Qaeda in the last ten years. Syria seems like another deadly proposition that many have no stomach for. Let alone the financial implications.

Since the US removal of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and consequent violence in Iraq until 2009, there has generally been groups of Arab refugees displaced across the region. Not until the Arab Spring of 2010-2011 did certain Arabs mobilize in large enough numbers across other Arab nations did the Syrian anti-government get into gear.

There are enough factors involved in the Syrian problem, plus other Arab issues to deal with, that many powerful states seem to sit idly by and let them kill each other tragically.

Arabs have put themselves in a tough spot. The democracies have had a hard time, such as Egypt or Tunisia, while there is discontent in  the Constitutional monarchies, or kingdoms, also considered authoritarian regimes. Poverty lies at the root of many of the social and political ills, while extremist ideologies and parties also threaten the status quo, even within democratic movements as evidenced in Palestine or Libya.

There are other factors unaddressed in this blog post, such as the minority leaders of Syria who are Alawite, more fundamentally linked to Shia Islam than Sunna majority of most of these countries, minus Iraq.

Perhaps the government power shift in Iraq has pushed the dominoes of the region in a more dangerous way, similar to the change of autonomy in the Holy Land leaning towards Hamas more than the secular Fatah leadership within Palestine...

More later...

EMC

2014 Is In Full Swing; Hoosiers Get their Hopes Up

While things are occurring around the world like a serious three year civil war in Syria with millions of refugees spread across the region, there is Al-Qaeda in control again in Fallujah and maybe Ramadi (next door), Iraq, conflict in the newly created South Sudan, and a precarious security situation in Russia surrounding the Sochi Winter Olympics, there are other things back in the United States that has current attention drawn to them. Elections are coming up in Afghanistan.

The Seattle Seahawks dominate the Denver Broncos in the Meadowlands of New York/New Jersey (excuse me commercial movers: MetLife Stadium?) and Peyton Manning is 1-2 in the biggest show in American football.

A notable actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman is found dead on his apartment toilet with a syringe in his arm at age 46. Also in New York, an artistic area of Greenwich Village.

Obamacare, or officially the "Affordable Health Care Act", is wending its way through hearts and minds, to very mixed results. A lot of people do feel lied to with low confidence in the president (POTUS) while others believe justice is being meted out.

We shall see.

But then there is college basketball.

Indiana beats MICHIGAN! Previously undefeated in the BiG10 (8-0) Wolverines. In Bloomington granted, yes a home game, but as previously blogged by yours truly, a large hurdle towards respectability. Going to the right dance in March, not the second tier.

We shall see.

I did blog about previously unblemished Arizona going down to the Cal Bears on Saturday (yay '76 IU team), and how it is up to both Syracuse and Wichita State to lose now in 2014 to keep that Bob Knight team intact, from a full generation ago, when I was barely old enough to remember.

Yogi Ferrell, sophomore extraordinaire, went 7 of 8 from three point land and only had three turnovers while dishing 2 assists and grabbing a steal. Other players stepped up, and while IU was  outdone by the Wolves on the Free Throw line, 13 of 18 to Indiana's 9 of 15; IU out rebounded its opponent as usual, and shot better. Overall TOs were 10 to 13 in favor of Michigan, but IU compensated, competed and won.

Next, a big game against an athletic and feisty Minnesota, also hurting from losses to a few teams that they want back, like Northwestern. Watch out for the Wildcats! But they have 11 losses overall, and still need a bunch more upsets (that should not happen) for them to get beyond the NIT.

IU's pre-conference record was a decent 9-3 with losses to UConn, Notre Dame and Syracuse, but their wins were against weaklings, except for middle of the road Washington Huskies (they have beaten a few good teams in the PAC 12). Tonight would help Indiana's RPI (weighted by Strength of Schedule) if the Irish could possibly knock off the #1 Orange. That would be a double bonus; Notre Dame has some of the best college basketball upsets of all time.

Meanwhile, as a BYU alum, I was comforted that the Cougars finally beat the pesky St. Mary's Gaels. In Provo, yes, but BYU trailed by 14 early and the visitors showed some pluck, especially a big guy who banged and fouled without much reproach. Meaning, he would back down his defenders with pushing and bumping (i.e. grinding), and then get bailed with the contact that came on the eventual shot. In my opinion refs have to be savvier to that. Contact either way creates an advantage, and they need to give the defense a break when offensive players go too crazy. You can't simply bang down your defenders and not expect contact on the shot. That, in my opinion, is having your cake and eating it, too.

Now, obvious fouls on the arms or face are another thing, but body contact should be neutral or a no-call if deemed as such prior to the shot attempt.

Anyway, BYU is 14-9 and decent in the WCC, at 6-4, so maybe they finish strong and go dancing. Should be interesting. Beating the Zags twice more and everyone else would help.

Okay, that is it for now.

Thanks for the nice smart phone check, Hoosiers. I did not watch or follow it, but it was a relief to see you could score more than 60 and hold a tough team (albeit without native Hoosier and last year Final Four hero Mitch McGary) Michigan to their lowest output of the year.

Go IU! Beat the Gophers. Saturday.

Blog it. EMC.

The Season Becomes Sweeter

What is a season? In worldly climatological terms, it is a period of time where weather conditions and biological attributes trend toward a particular mode, like our winters, springs, summers, and falls. Much of this is based on how the earth's position with the sun rotates, specifically the globe's axis in relation to our solar star.

Some places may have 2-3 climate seasons, while others maybe 8, depending on how the local cultures interpret them.

For sports fans, a season is the period of time allotted to play, compete and perhaps win a championship for their team or competitor. It can be 2-8 months long, sometimes longer or shorter. The Olympics is a brief season in their respective sports every 4 years, like the very popular World Cup. Now baseball has a competition called the World Baseball Classic that has a similar "season", featuring the world's best baseball nations and their representatives.

Some seasons carry over through the New Year's, like US football and basketball, not to mention hockey. Others end with each calendar year, like baseball, tennis, US soccer, racing, golf.

Some have no particular season like boxing and other fighting sports. Although real wrestling seems to operate at its own seasonal format, there is a fake wrestling circuit that appears to be alive and well. The local Toys R Us reminds me with all its gaudy action figures.

I was born and raised in Indiana, as you know. We Hoosiers experience basketball season in a unique way, but perhaps not unlike those in Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, and now Spain and Lithuania.

But because of my native-born bias, Indiana is different.

Perhaps of no consequence, Indiana has the largest high school gyms in the country. People care to watch. High school games are big deals. Or at least bigger than other states, other countries.

And then there is college. I won't go into any of the culture of the professional teams (there is one NBA, and some minor league squads in the confines of the Hoosier state), but there are college communities that care heavily and deeply about their college basketball seasons.

Indiana University, in historic competition with all other programs, perhaps starting with UCLA but also more recently Kentucky, UNC and Kansas, plus Duke and Connecticut, has its own claims to pride and relevence as a major college program.

Coach Bob Knight's first NCAA championship team went undefeated in 1975-1976.

And no one, which has included some great teams, and arguably better coaches and personnel talent, like Knight's protege Mike Krzyzshevski and his championship teams, has done the same since.

So far this college season (2013-14), there were three undefeated teams through January. The season began in November and will be completed in March, about 5 months long, averaging around 40 games, if successfully accomplished. A team has to win 6 in a row to finish on top.

But as the title suggests, us Indiana fans like the results of others' losses, to blemish their season. Number one ranked Arizona lost for the first time last night in Berkeley.

HOORAH! Two more to go: Syracuse and Wichita State. And both, perhaps in the next couple weeks if not March, should taste their own mortal possibilities. And not join the greatness of IU.

The '76 Hoosiers breathe a little easier, and the season of the current becomes a more palatable thing for die-hard Hoosier fans.

Enjoy the season. Shockers and Orangemen? Your'e next.

Blog it. EMC

God is Alive and Well--Just Ask the Pope

A few things about God (or gods) and religion[s]:

First of all, it is a shame that many people cannot speak openly about these subjects. Whether you do or do not believe in either one or both, I think that all of us should be able to talk openly about them without getting too bent out of shape. And we can all agree to disagree, right?

Agreed.

Secondly, some people feel hurt about life and meaning and may blame God or a lack of Godliness for the terrible things that exist in our human and world history. Point taken. But there is still room for discussion.

Thirdly, like a fairly smart co-worker said a month or so ago, the "root of most killing/violence is because of religion". I countered that notion and mentioned how was religion involved in Stalin, Hitler or Mao of last century? Those gentlemen (hardly) were more a-religious than anything, I emphasized.

True or not? And who was worse than any of them in the 20th century?

We had a rather public discourse regarding this, where I felt I made my point strongly, but in private I did admit to him that past centuries were more religiously involved in violence.

But, do we truly accuse and condemn organized religion for our ills?

Or could it be other things? Surely there are religious pretenses for fighting in places like Iraq, Syria and Sudan and South Sudan. And yet there other factors at play that seem to indicate that certain play exploit religion and ethnicity for their own aims.

No matter what faith we espouse or declaim, I think it unfortunate that people use the blanket statement that religion is the biggest source of murder, evil, or death.

And do we blame the Divine for all our human existential misery?

That is another story. Worthy of discussion.

For another day then.

Blog it. EMC.

Oh, yes, a more doctrinal point that I wanted to discuss...

Is God one? One in three? Three in One? Many? None?

Traditional Christianity posits that there is One God (much like Judaism and Islam), but that He was made Incarnate and the Holy Spirit together makes it a Trinitarian concept.

But there are so-called non-Trinitarians that believe that God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost are separate entities but One in purpose.

I am one of those.

Monotheist? Not in the traditional sense.

Blog on. EMC