LESSER KNOWN EASTER FACTS

 

 

I am going to assume that most everyone knows the fundamental story of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus, as painted above by Pietro Perugino.  So, today we will take a look at a few things that perhaps you do not know.  This post was inspired by a blogpost entitled 25 Random Things About the Resurrection, so thanks go to blogger Mike Mennonno. 

 

Note the flag - I had seen this in numerous paintings and gathered that for centuries this has been fairly common, but I did not know the meaning.  Apparently Jesus is bearing the standard of resurrection and victory over death, a red cross on a white background.  Purportedly the Emperor Constantine saw this in a vision, and thus it became a part of his "Christianity."  The flag is often in the left hand such that the right hand is free to give the sign of the cross.

 

What about the date for Easter, which is not a standardized date?  From timeanddate.com 

 

"In 325CE the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. From that point forward, the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox.  Easter is delayed by 1 week if the full moon is on Sunday, which decreases the chances of it falling on the same day as the Jewish Passover. The council’s ruling is contrary to the Quartodecimans, a group of Christians who celebrated Easter on the day of the full moon, 14 days into the month."

What about the thieves?



Many of us know a bit about the unsavory thieves who were crucified along with Jesus, but did you know that one of them is referred to as Saint Dismas?  He is generally called the Penitent Thief or the Good Thief, but in the Gospel of Nicodemus, he is named Dysmas!  Similarly, the Impenitent Thief is named Gestas, and note that Gestas is on the left side of Jesus with a devil emerging from his mouth.  The Good Thief is on the right side and Jesus is often shown with his head toward the Penitent Thief to symbolize his acceptance of the thief's rebuke of the Impenitent Thief.

And why is Easter called Easter?  Turns out that the origin is pretty pagan.  "Easter", and the German, "Ostern", derive from the name Eostre, the Germanic Goddess of the Dawn and thus of Spring.  Renewal and fertility explain the eggs and bunnies, but I am not sure about the chocolate.  A good postulation is that Easter comes at the end of Lent, and obviously folks give up chocolate for lent.....and the most popular Easter candy after chocolate?  Peeps of course!!  Some trace the tradition of giving eggs at Easter time back to Persians, Egyptians, Gauls, Greeks and Romans, to whom the egg was a symbol of life.

There are some who prefer to call Easter Sunday Resurrection Sunday or Pascha.  However, a lot of other countries/languages have their own names for Easter - French - Paques, Spanish - Pascua, Italian - Pasqua, Albanian - Pashke, German - Ostern, Greek - Pascha, Norway - Paaske, Holland - Pasen and Swedish - Pask.  Looks like English and German are the outliers!

Interesting tidbit from Mike M - Muslims do not believe that Jesus was crucified and resurrected.  According to the Koran: "They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but they thought they did" (Koran 4:156). Some say the person crucified was Titian, whom Judas had sent to kill Jesus. Some say it was Judas, himself. Many early Gnostic sects, the Basilideans among them, believed Simon of Cyrene, who was forced by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion, was then crucified instead of Jesus.

 

 

It seems that quite a few Christians do not know the meaning and significance of INRI.  John 19:19-20 states:  "And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.  This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, [and] in Latin, [and] in Greek."  And thus the Latin is INRI, Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum, and the Greek is ΙΝΒΙ, representing Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ Bασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων.  The Hebrew acronym is YHMH for ישוע הנצרי מלך היהודים.  I think.  Sometimes there is a Roman soldier in the scene holding a banner with SPQR, Senatus Populus Que Romanus" or The Roman Senate and People that was presiding over the crucifixions. 

 

And lastly, the Germans take Easter quite seriously.  Karfreitag, or Good Friday is a holiday and similar to every Sunday, nearly all shops, banks, businesses and post offices are closed.  Interestingly Ostermontag, the Monday after Easter, is also a holiday in all German states and again, most everything is closed.

 

 



A PLACE FOR YOU IN THE 'BU

 

 

Word has it that Cher has once again put her Malibu house on the market.  You may want to negotiate a bit on the $45,000,000 asking price!!  When we lived on Point Dume, we drove past Cher's place each day.  It sits just off of PCH on a cliff overlooking Malibu Road - it isn't even a beach front property!!!

 

 

This is pretty much what you see as you drive east on PCH about a mile west of Pepperdine

 

 

An aerial view with PCH on the far side of the house

 

Aerial view from PCH side

 

 The pool


 

A view from poolside

 

 

 

And you could probably negotiate for some of the furnishings, sans Cher

 

And for those who have forgotten, or never knew, the young Cher



PLAYING FOR CHANGE III

Another great music video from Playing for Change



WORD VERIFICATION

To the 'real people' out there who post comments here - I am adding Word Verification to the comment section.  This blog receives numerous spam comments per day, all of which include a backlink to a site.  You can read more about 'the grubby world of comment spam' here.  I realize that this is an extra step for the commenter, but it is a reasonable way to differentiate a person from a computer.  Let me know what you think......



PENTECOSTAL HAIRDOS

I always sensed that there was something unusual about the hairstyles of women in the Pentecostal-Evangelical - Apostalic world, but never knew of the intricacies of such things!  This came to my attention via an interesting blog post at I Love You but You're Going To Hell.  There is a site for apostolic fashion and there are youtube videos demonstrating how you too can have the look shown below. 

 

 

 

 

However, this one probably does not qualify.....

 

 



GAME ON!!



WANDERWEG - KÖNIGSTUHL

Click on image to get a nice enlargement.

Photos by Douglas A.

Along the path to Königstuhl

Here is a view from the top

 

NOT EXACTLY MARCH MADNESS

As an alternative to the ubiquitous NCAA Basketball Tournament bracket, last year we posted the NCAA Academic bracket based upon the graduation rates for athletes at the universities making the tournament.  This year we present a real doozie of an alternative that hopefully will be fun for you all to fill out - after you figure out who all of the 'players' are!

 

 

Not only is this a great tournament, you can actually vote and affect the outcome at the

American Jesus Madness website

 

I am cheering for my colleague Pete Enns, but he faces the formidable Rachel Held Evans in the second round!



DOUG MOE

A recent New York Times article had a couple of quotes from Doug Moe, and it brought back many memories of watching [and hearing] Moe in action during his time in Denver.  You can read a lot more about Moe as a coach and a player here and here.  And there is a list of wonderful Moe quotes here - pretty hilarious, so check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And after all the years as a player and a coach, a friendly greeting from Jack

 

 



BIZARRO EVOLUTION

Check out the evolution of whales here and here.

 

 

h/t Cousin Steve

NUGGETS RUN PAST THE KNICKS

 



OK - I promise that this is the last Nuggets-Knicks post for at least a little while!  But, Wednesday night's game between the two played out very much as I had expected - the younger Nuggets blew by the older Knicks, once again demonstrating that team-ball can overcome super-star ball.  The following is by Harvy Araton of the New York Times, and pretty much puts the current status of the two teams in to perspective:

Lost in Transition: Nuggets Pass the Knicks

By HARVEY ARATON

DENVER

      

It would be wise to remember the compelling scoreboard evidence in the case against the Knicks as a team on the go, evidence that was flashing even before Tyson Chandler went down and Carmelo Anthony went out in a truly forgettable homecoming on Wednesday night for both him and his fellow former Nuggets.

       

But it wasn’t so much that the explosive home team, fresh off a devastating 17-0 run, was leading, 58-38, with 1 minute 28 seconds left in the first half. It was more how thoroughly Denver was destroying the sore-kneed Anthony and his slow-footed company, practically reducing the Knicks’ early season promise to a myth.

       

“Don’t you love watching them play?” said the 74-year-old Doug Moe at halftime, referring to the Nuggets, who were leading by 22 and on their way to a 10th straight victory and 33rd in 43 games.

       

A onetime American Basketball Association gunner for such makeshift outfits as the New Orleans Buccaneers and the Oakland Oaks, Moe coached in Denver across the 1980s and in San Antonio before that, and none of his teams were ever accused of not having a freewheeling brand of fast-break fun.

       

“They play together, they hit the boards, they run on everything,” a delighted Moe said on his way out to watch the Nuggets complete a 117-94 rout. “They’re so much more fun than these teams that come down, hold the ball, one pass and then a shot.”

      

If only because he had just watched that startling contrast play out in 24 decisive minutes, he was referring in that latter critique to the isolation-addicted Knicks. With the Nuggets firing on all cylinders (including charter members of the Traded for Anthony Association, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari), the Knicks, athletically and stylistically, looked like a team of worn-out pistons, and of Fort Wayne vintage.

      

“Transition, transition, transition,” the Knicks’ coaches had written on the locker room board, a warning in triplicate that was much easier to read than repel. The highlight reel of marginally contested layups and dunks should have left little doubt on whether the 44-22 Nuggets have transitioned into the superior team just two years after Anthony — their erstwhile franchise player — forced a trade to New York.

       

The Denver crowd lustily booed Anthony and taunted, “Who needs Melo?” not that Anthony was around to hear it. After Tyson Chandler collided with Denver’s Corey Brewer and left with what the Knicks called a contused knee, Anthony walked off early in the third quarter to get treatment on a right knee that has been stiff with fluid buildup.

      

“He pulled the plug on it,” Coach Mike Woodson said, an admission, in effect, that the Knicks had too many problems to be worrying about how they compared with the young, vibrant and, by reputation, superstarless Nuggets.

       

When the Knicks went on to Portland for Thursday night’s game against the Trail Blazers, Anthony made plans to return to New York to have the knee-draining procedure he had stubbornly resisted. He figures to be out for a spell while Chandler, who played down the severity of his injury, could miss time on a five-game trip that began with an ugly blowout at Golden State and might have been the road to perdition if the Knicks weren’t a fortunate resident of the Eastern Conference.

      

Still first in the Atlantic Division and in the third overall playoff position, they would have to do some serious losing to slide further, and that would assume flawed teams like the Nets, the Celtics, the Hawks and the Derrick Rose-less Bulls could string together victories.

      

If Anthony’s injury does not require extended rest, or worse, geography could be what helps keep the Knicks’ season from devolving into wreckage — though Chandler, their 7-foot standup guy, admitted there was more to be concerned about than the recent run of rotten luck.

      

“We’ve been in a little bit of a decline, even in some of our wins,” he said. “There are some things we have to address on the team.”

      

One thing that must be asked as the regular season winds down: Did Knicks management, in its effort to load the roster with veterans bearing postseason scars to provide leadership for their actual money players, bring on too many in a state of physical decline?

      

This particular matchup with the Nuggets made that question seem more like an indictment. Players like Ty Lawson and Andre Iguodala made the Knicks look decrepit. Wilson Chandler, who scored 24 points, went to the basket at will. We know running teams are dangerous off long missed jumpers, but the Nuggets beat the Knicks down the court even after New York scored.

       

And then there was Kenneth Faried, the second-year forward from Newark, rapidly becoming the N.B.A.’s dominant hustle player, looking as if he were rebounding off a trampoline, reminding us of what the Knicks’ roster sorely lacks.

       

“I’m not even sure how he’s everyplace at once,” said Moe, a regular at Pepsi Center, where the Nuggets are 29-3. “I mean, they’ve got a whole bunch of really good players. I’m telling you, they’re a threat.”

      

Conversely, the Nuggets are also in the ocean-deep Western Conference, where they could play rugged Memphis in the first round of the playoffs, and lose. But for now, they are rolling as much as the Knicks are reeling.

       

Remember when Jason Kidd was such an integral part of the Knicks’ 18-5 start? On Wednesday night, Woodson could keep him on the floor for only 8 minutes 55 seconds against the Nuggets’ speedy offense.

       

Remember how much of a brilliant stroke signing Rasheed Wallace seemed to be? Before Anthony emerged from the locker room to discuss his knee, Wallace hobbled away on crutches, another name on the growing list for those wishing to make excuses.

       

At least Woodson did not. “I’m not going to blame it on that,” he said, referring to the losses of Chandler and Anthony. “We got down. We were terrible at getting back.”

       

Transition, transition, transition. Is there time for the Knicks to get back to where they were, or is this old, used team running on empty?

PI DAY 2013

Here are a few more images to go along with last year's Pi Day Post:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



NUGGETS WIN BY 15 - KNICKS LOSE BY 29

I know, I know - some of you are probably tired of my gloating now and then, but in an odd way, I see this as justice :-)  Also, these two games are the prelude to Wednesday night's meeting of the two clubs in Denver which will be the first-time back for Melo.

 



"The longest active NBA winning streak by a team not from Miami reached nine games when the Denver Nuggets beat the Phoenix Suns on Monday night.  Kosta Koufos scored a career high 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting, mostly from point-blank range, Corey Brewer added 20 and Ty Lawson 19 in the Nuggets' 108-93 victory."





 

 

"By the time Mark Jackson walked off the floor and into the Golden State Warriors' locker room late Monday night, the coach already had a text message from his mother, Marie, who watched her son's win against the Knicks on national television from the family's New York home.

 

"Way to get them back," she wrote.

 

From the Bay Area to the Big Apple, Jackson's new team sure sent a message. Stephen Curry scored 26 points, David Lee had 21 and the Warriors routed the Knicks 92-63 on Monday night for their most lopsided win of the season."

 

Quoted story-lines from the New York Times.



THE DANGER OF TRUTH

 

Who only has staw in the head

rightly fears the spark of truth.

THESE PEOPLE ARE IN CHARGE OF OUR COUNTRY?

All one has to do is google Crazy Congressmen to see the amazing things that our elected 'leaders' say and do.  To be sure, there are crazies on both sides of the aisle, but the trend certainly is toward Republicans.  I am particularly interested in folks who do not understand science and thus make claims that are simply nonsensical - unfortunately many of these folks have a significant influence on both the public understanding of science as well as public policy regarding science. 

From Take Down the Tea Party 10 site - number one is Michele Bachmann who thinks natural disasters are a warning sign from God about government spending – but she claims there “isn’t even one study” that carbon pollution is dangerous. Bachmann implied that Democrats could be the cause of the swine flu, and said the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation, while repeatedly voting to restrict access to birth control and to deny women life-saving medical care. And she recently instigated an anti-Muslim witch hunt on Capitol Hill that threatens to take Congress back to the McCarthy era.  Bachmann has worked to put Medicare and Medicaid on the chopping block, but she and her husband operate a “Christian counseling clinic” which has received more than $137,000 in federal Medicaid funds while practicing controversial and medically-unsound ex-gay conversion therapy. And of course, she says that “[gay marriage] is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation, in the last, at least, thirty years. I am not understating that.”  The other nine on the site as equally as scary as Bachmann.

And here is a must-visit site to read about the Congressional members of the Science Committee who simply do not understand science.  The committee includes infamous members such as Todd Akin a Republican Representative from Missouri, who says that a woman who is “legitimately raped” cannot become pregnant – according to science. “First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”  And my "favorite" anti-science Congressman Paul Broun, Republican Representative from Georgia who fervently declared that "evolution, embryology and the big bang theory are lies from the pit of hell."  And he knows that the earth is but a few thousand years old because that's what the bible says.  So much for science on the science committee.

 

Although this is not directly science-related, I was struck by this blog post addressing how some of our Congressional leaders approach world affairs:

 

Earlier this year [2012], a prominent Member of Congress asked to meet with me in Washington, D.C. I thought the topic was going to be the possible coming war between Israel and Iran. Instead, the official asked, “What are your thoughts on Isaiah 17?” For much of the next hour, therefore, we discussed the coming judgment of Damascus according to Bible prophecy, and how this scenario could possibly unfold in the coming years in relation to other Bible prophecies and current geopolitical trends in the Middle East.

SECULAR EUROPE? NOT REALLY

 

 

 

The relationship between the church and the state has been a source of discussion and conflict for millenia.  I am certainly not going to summarize the intricacies of the separation or non separation of the two - for that, you can start at Wikipedia here.  What I would like to address is the fairly common notion that many European countries have become secularized, with the church being relegated to minor status.  This perception has been declared tragic by some and victory by others.  Folks like Bill O'Reilly claim that the "Secular Progressives" want to model the US after Western Europe where all religion is removed from public life and thought.  On the other side of the coin are folks like Jerry Coyne who often remarks that secularization of Europe is nearly complete. 

 

Austin Cline accurately sums up O'Reilly & Company's perspective thus:

 

Most Americans are at least dimly aware that many European nations are highly secular and less religious than America. What they don't realize is that these same nations retain official state churches and deep church/state entanglements that would be illegal in America. Truly dim commentators and politicians ignore this and act like American secularism could lead to European socialism.

 

I believe that Coyne and others who tout the European model over-simplify the relationship between the church and state in Europe, especially in Germany.  It is no doubt true that public religious showmanship of politicians is absent - no God-talk from candidates or office holders, no taking oaths on Bibles, no prayer breakfasts at the Rathaus.  Even in private conversations among Germans, a discussion of religion and church seldom comes up.  And when it does enter the conversation, it is only after it is clearly established that there is a mutual interest in discussing the matter.  Unlike many Americans, the Germans, regardless of belief or non-belief, simply regard secular spaces and activities as secular, and religious spaces and activities as religious, and cannot imagine admixing the two. 

 

Thus, the outward appearance of secularization is why most casual observers believe that secularization is pervasive.  Having lived in Heidelberg for a number of months, I have learned a few things that counter the perception of a secular Germany. 

 

First - education.  Interestingly, it is illegal to home school children in Germany, and thus all children attend public schools.  [Check out the continuing saga of a German couple seeking asylum in the US because of this ban].  And, in public schools, all students participate in religious education curriculum, choosing between Catholic and Protestant courses, or a much less used alternative that is ethics based.  These curricula are intended to be solely educational and not proselytizing, but they are usually taught by members of the clergy.  Interestingly, virtually all of the pre-schools and kindergartens are operated by the church with state funding. 

 

Second - taxation.  In Germany, you must make a choice on your tax form of Catholic, Protestant or other, and about 60% choose a church tax, almost equally between Catholic and Protestant.  Thus, the state collects about 10% from the populous to be given back to the churches that are on the "approved" list of denominations.  If you check a church box, you can direct your taxes toward a specific approved denomination.  The current big question is what to do with Muslims.

 

Third - church attendance and activities.  Interestingly, virtually all shops that are not cafes or restaurants are closed on Sunday.  Church bells are predominant on Sunday morning, but also send out calls throughout the week, so much so that there are municipal limits on bell-ringing!  As opposed to many congregations in the US where the silver-blue-gray heads predominate, many church attendees are college-age and young families.   Traditional services, contemporary services and special events such at Taizé all seem to be fairly well-attended.  My impression is that many US folks say that they go to church and generally don't, whereas Heidelbergers don't talk about it, but many do.

 

It is really quite interesting - the US often claims the strict separation of the church and the state, but in reality that line is both ill-defined and often crossed, in both directions.  In Germany, the church and state are deeply intertwined, but in most ways remain separate magisteria.  Go figure.

NUGGETS AT 5280

From the New York Times:

Nuggets Finally Using Altitude To Their Advantage

Dre Taking It In

 

By ARNIE STAPLETON

AP Sports Writer

DENVER (AP) Before every game at the Pepsi Center, the public address announcer admonishes the crowd to drink plenty of water because at 5,280 feet one can get dehydrated pretty quickly.

 

It's more showmanship than a public health service, really, designed to remind opponents that they're about to play a mile above sea level.

 

The Denver Nuggets have long tried to use altitude to their advantage, and this season they finally have the type of team to capitalize on the thin air

.

With a starting five led by speedy point guard Ty Lawson and an energetic bench that only ramps up the pace on chest-heaving opponents, the Nuggets are 26-3 at home this season.

 

That's tied with the Miami Heat for the best home record in the NBA.

 

The Nuggets have won 11 straight at the Pepsi Center in their quest to catch Memphis for the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, which would give them the home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs

.

Lawson's fastbreak buckets are accompanied by the "beep-beep" of the Looney Tunes' Road Runner as he leaves hapless defenders in his wake a la Wile E. Coyote.

 

The real show starts when the starters take a break, though.

 

Night after night, it's Denver's reserves that provide the energy and enthusiasm that riles up the crowd as they run opponents to their bench for a breather.

 

Wilson Chandler and Corey Brewer provide the scoring punch, JaVale McGee the dunks and rejections and Andre Miller the alley-oop passes while Lawson, high-flying Kenneth Faried, Andre Iguodala, Danilo Gallinari and Kosta Koufos grab a breather and a front-row seat to one of the best shows in basketball.

 

"It's been great," Chandler said. "We've got a chemistry going. We're pretty much going in at the same time, we just go out there and play hard. Andre and JaVale hook up for a few lobs and JaVale's on the boards blocking. Andre's orchestrating the whole deal and Corey's running around on defense, fast breaks."

 

On some nights, the reserves are better than the starters, logging just as many minutes and most of the memorable moments.

 

In a 105-103 win over Oklahoma City last week, the Nuggets' bench outscored the Thunder's reserves 71-11, led by Chandler's 35, which tied a career high, in a thriller that Lawson won with a sweet jumper with 0.2 seconds left.

 

Brewer led the Nuggets with 22 points Monday night when they won their 11th straight home game by running the short-handed and short-of-breath Atlanta Hawks until they were doubled-over grabbing their shorts and gasping for air in a 104-88 rout.

 

"They're a fast-breaking team and as soon as a shot's missed it seems like there are already two guys already back for a layup," Hawks star Josh Smith said.

 

In a 119-108 win over the Lakers last week that was their best overall game of the year, the Nuggets outscored L.A. 33-3 on the fast break.

 

"That's a killer," Kobe Bryant said, shaking his head. "That team is like a track team over there."

And the Lakers were like a bunch of shuffle-boarders, trailing on the scoreboard and the hardwood all night long as they trudged through the second game of a difficult back-to-back.

 

"Once they miss a shot, it seemed like a jailbreak," Lawson said. "Everybody was trying to run downcourt and get the layup.

"

Or the arena-shaking slam dunk.

 

Or the rim-rattling alley-oop jam.

 

"We play fast so by the time our bench guys get in, they're a little tired," Brewer said. "We pick the pace up and get a lot of easy baskets."

 

Because of that bountiful bench, the Nuggets think they can keep this up in the playoffs, too, when the games tend to slow down and turn into more of a half-court matchup.

 

With his reserves playing so well, especially Wilson, Karl uses a quick hook as a motivator for his starters to play a little harder and smarter on defense.

 

"I think Wilson coming off the bench gives me a luxury. I'm not sure the starters like it but the hammer is pretty clear. If you're not going to give me what I want or what we're focused on, I'm going to go someplace else pretty quick," Karl said.

 

"I've never seen the depth of the quality of the backup" unit like this one, he added.

 

Chandler said the key is that the non-starters see themselves as second to no one. They've all started before and it's almost like a shift in hockey: a new group comes in with fresh legs and an aggressive approach, so there's no slowing down

.

Indeed, Karl basically has two starting lineups.

 

"JaVale/Kosta, some people take JaVale, some take Koufos. Kenneth/Wilson, some people will take Kenneth, some people take Wilson," Karl said. "Corey's having such a great year that you've got to get him in the game because he gives you so much energy. Andre/Ty, I mean, I think most people would take Ty, but Andre still could win games as a starter in this league. There's no question in my mind if you gave him a team and gave him a starting lineup, he'd win.

 

"And Iguodala is the wild card" which gives Karl the flexibility to go with a big or small lineup depending on the matchup.

 

"What I love about it is injuries aren't going to have a major factor in our personality," Karl said. "If we get a guy out for two weeks, it sometimes actually lifts a team because a guy gets to play, he knows he's going to play, there's more energy coming into the game and it's fun. It's a fun team."

 

At .896, the Nuggets are in position to post their best home winning percentage in franchise history. They went 36-5 for an .878 home winning percentage in 1976-77, their first season in the NBA and have never been able to reach such lofty heights since then.

 

"Well, that's reachable," Karl said.

 

They've love to get an extra home game in the first round of the playoffs, which might just be the ingredient they'd need to advance.

 

"We enjoy playing here," Karl said. "There's a connection with the fans. And when we get it going, there's an energy to the building I think everybody can feel. Hopefully, the opposing team feels it some, too."

 

Along with the lung-searing altitude.

OUR STORY IN TWO MINUTES



DENOMINATIONAL UNITY

Well it is Sunday and time for a thoughtful, introspective post.  Cannot think of any such thing, so I will give you levity with a message.  Just one word of background - there are over 40,000 different denominations, sects and 'franchises' of Christianity, and I think that Emo Phillips makes a good point. 



GOODBYE IN HER EYES

"Goodbye In Her Eyes"

I could tell that it was over
When her lips met mine
It was an emptiness in her voice
Hesitation when she smiled
She didn't have to say a word
It was just so plain to see
She had found what she'd been looking for
And I knew it wasn't me

I saw goodbye in her eyes
I don't think I can change it
There's no way to disguise
We will never make it

Sometimes I feel like a clown
Who can't wash off his make-up
The life she wanted ‒ it was gone
Prince Charming ‒ I wasn't
But I would trade a thousand Babylons
To be in her arms tomorrow
Oh, but like the tide her love has come and gone
And it's time for me to go

I saw goodbye in her eyes
I don't think I can change it
There's no way to disguise
We will never make it

Now she sees right through me

Should I hold on to what we've got
Is it just a waste of time?
One thing that I know for sure
I saw goodbye in her eyes

I saw goodbye in her eyes

I know you got somebody new now
All my candles have burned out
He's gonna love the way you shine
So did I
So don't smile at me it ain't what you mean
(Goodbye)

With that goodbye in your eyes
I know that I can't change it (now you see right through me)
There's no way to disguise
We will never make it

I saw goodbye in your eyes
I know that I can't change it (now you see right through me, goodbye in your eyes!)
Should I hold on
We will never make it (now you see right through me, goodbye in your eyes!)

Should I hold on
Is it just a waste of time?
One thing that I know for sure
I saw goodbye in your eyes
I saw goodbye in your eyes
I know that it's over