Five Things I Think I Think

(With a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I watched the SUPER BOWL a second time last week while on the treadmill. Seeing the commercials again, I was forced to ask the existential question: are there any commercials on TV that are smuttier than the GoDaddy.com commercials? I try to avoid blasting people of the world, but each year “GoDaddy” offers advertisements that are devoid of taste—and that’s putting it mildly.

2. Judy, Annie, Timothy and I saw DOLPHIN TALE last weekend on DVD. It was a sweet movie, good for the entire family. The cast includes Harry Connick, Jr., Morgan Freeman, and Ashley Judd. Based on a true story, the movie told of a dolphin that washed to the Florida shore having lost his tail due to a crab net. The movie centered on various individuals who sought to help the dolphin learn to survive without the tail. He survived, and he thrived. This movie—and I mean this in a respectful way—reminds me of SOUL SURFER, except in DOLPHIN’s case, it is an aquatic animal instead of an aquatic human, who is attempting to learn to thrive after tragedy strikes in the sea. Both are fine movies.

3. I finished Bowden: How Bobby Bowden Forged a Football Dynasty, written by sportswriter Mike Freeman. Freeman, who extensively interviewed family members and was granted unprecedented access to Bowden, offers the most objective account of Bowden that I’ve yet encountered. Bowden comes across as an excellent coach and CEO, but also as man of uncommon integrity and a decent human being. Bowden’s renowned faith strikes me as being more personal than communal; he evidently has little or no involvement in local a congregation (although that may have changed after his retirement.) BOWDEN was written in 2008; still, it holds up well—even without an account of Bowden’s forced retirement crises, which occurred after the book was completed.

4. Saturday night at the breakfast table, I made a statement to my daughter, Annie. She clearly did not believe me. I asked her why. She said, "Because Daddy, you're always lying to me. Isn't that right mommy?"

            My wife, Judy, then had the temerity to say to me, "That is true, sweetheart."

            I could not believe it! Judy went on to explain that-sometimes-when I kid or am attempting to share my amazing wit, I say things with such a straight face, it looks like I'm telling the truth.            

            Today, more than ever, wit is unappreciated.

5. Congratulations to the ETCA boys’ basketball team on their very successful year. Likewise, kudos are in order to the ETCA girls’ basketball team, who won their playoff game last night and will play round two this weekend.