Anyone who has been here for any length of time knows that I am a HUGE USF Bulls fan.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being in attendance to watch our Bulls take on and defeat Tennessee-Martin 56 to 7 at Raymond James stadium! Tonight I hosted a watch party at my neighborhood buffalo wing shop to watch a heart pounding performance by our boys in green and gold. It was definetely a good game and in the end, in over time our Bulls pulled off a victory 31 to 24 over the Knights of UCF, ending the series against UCF with another exciting win! Coach Leavitt has again produced a fine team and I am looking forward to what this year has in store!

Next year we start a 3 year series against the University of Miami which should be exciting.

GO BULLS!

*Photo’s from www.gousfbulls.com

Well folks Fantasy Football season 2008 is here.

The irony of the fact that I have turned into a bit of a fantasy football geek (though not full fledge, as I met a few last night) is funny. I actually am not a fan of professional football by any means. Fantasy football is fun though.

Last night we had our Element Church fantasy football draft. I threw everyone for a whirl (look at my draft results below) with my first round, FIRST pick.

I have 3 teams this year, 2 in public leagues and 1 in a private league.

Heres what my rosters look like: (I list Position, player name, and where I took them in the draft)

The Rampage (Element Church - Private League)
QB- Ben Rothlisberger (2nd Round/24th Overall Pick)
QB - Matt Hasselbeck (5th Round/49th Overall Pick)
WR - Greg Jennings (3th Round/48th Overall Pick)
WR - Nate Burleson (7th Round/73rd Overall Pick)
WR - Javon Walker (11th Round/121st Overall Pick)
RB - Willis McGahee (3rd Round/25th Overall Pick)
RB - Kevin Faulk (15th Round/169th Overall Pick)
RB - Tim Hightower (8th Round/96th Overall Pick)
RB - Kolby Smith (13th Round/145th Overall Pick)
TE - Heath Miller (6th Round/72nd Overall Pick)
TE - Alex Smith (12th Round/144th Overall Pick)
W/R - Lee Evans (9th Round/97th Overall Pick)
K - Mason Crosby (14th Round/168th Overall Pick)
DEF - Tampa Bay ( 1st Round/1st Pick) <--Yes, I pulled a McCain and surprised the heck out of everyone!
DEF - Jacksonville (10th Round/120th Overall Pick)

There would be some (well, probably a lot) that would disagree with my picks, especially since I held the coveted 1st Round/1st Pick and didn’t go with LaDainian Tomlinson. HOWEVER…I believe that defense wins football games and while according to the stats there are several teams that have a more solid defense then the Bucs, for some strange reason I felt compelled (and allowed some others to compel me) to lead out the gate with them. Hopefully all the compelling pays off. Otherwise I’m going to look like the idiot that everyone thought I was last night!

The Roanoke Rivergoats (Public League)

QB- Brett Favre (Picked up from Waivers for Marc Bulger)
QB- Jay Cutler (11th Round/105th Overall Pick)
WR- Terrell Owens (2nd Round/16th Overall Pick)
WR- Greg Jennings (5th Round/45th Overall Pick)
WR- Anquan Boldin (4th Round/36th Overall Pick)
WR- Kevin Walter (Picked up from Waivers for Vincent Jackson)
WR- Shaun McDonald (Picked up from Waivers for Jerry Porter)
RB- Brian Westbrook (1st Round/5th Overall Pick)
RB- Brandon Jacobs ( 3rd Round/25th Overall Pick)
RB- Matt Forte (10th Round/96th Overall Pick)
TE- Tony Gonzalez (6th Round/56th Overall Pick)
TE- Owen Daniels (12th Round/116th Overall Pick)
K- Stephen Gostkowski (9th Round/85th Overall Pick)
DEF- Pittsburgh (8th Round/76th Overall Pick)
DEF- Houston (Picked up from the Waivers for Mason Crosby)

A lot of people say I’m taking a gamble by running Favre as my starting QB. Well…that’s a gamble I’m willing to take. I think he has something to prove to Green Bay, and I think he’s going to do just that in New York. We’ll see.

The Green Goblins (Public League)

QB- Tom Brady (1st Round/2nd Overall Pick)
QB- David Garrard (11th Round/102nd Overall Pick)
WR- T.J. Houshmandzadeh (2nd Round/19th Overall Pick)
WR- Joey Galloway (8th Round/79th Overall Pick)
WR- Wes Welker (3rd Round/22nd Overall Pick)
WR- Bryant Johnson (12th Round/119th Overall Pick)
WR- Shaun McDonald (Picked up from Waivers for Darrell Jackson)
RB- Darren McFadden (4th Round/39th Overall Pick)
RB- Earnest Graham (5th Round/42nd Overall Pick)
RB- Matt Forte (10th Round/99th Overall Pick)
TE- Vernon Davis (6th Round/59th Overall Pick)
TE- Tony Scheffler (13th Round/122nd Overall Pick)
K- Nick Folk (7th Round/62nd Overall Pick)
DEF- Green Bay (9th Round/82nd Overall Pick)
DEF- Detroit (Picked up from Waivers for David Akers)

Not a whole lot to say about this team. It is what it is.

Overall, it’s going to be an exciting season.

Do you play fantasy football? Who were some of your prized picks?

Episode 13 of the Will Young show on the Unobjective Intelligence podcast is now live.

This week:

• I’m trying to figure out why the heck we’ve picked only 3 or 4 issues to focus on during the election season.
• I’m going to tell you why I think the Olympics are a complete waste of time.
• And, I’m going to tell you how you can change the world and the lives of those around you through something as simple as a random act of kindness.

If there is something you’d like to hear on an upcoming episode of the Will Young show please shoot me an e-mail.

 

 The Unobjective Intelligence Podcast Episode 13 [44:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You can download the UI podcast by using iTunes with the link on the right, or for those who don’t use itunes, simply click the button that says ‘RSS Podcast’ and download the latest episode to your computer to play in whatever MP3 player it is you use. Sometimes it will show up in a player on this post. If it does, feel free to listen to it there.

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any amount of time knows that I am a HUGE USF Bulls football fan. The schedule has been released and it looks good.

2008 USF Bulls Football Schedule
Sat, Aug 30 - Tennessee-Martin
Sat, Sep 06 - @ UCF (Night Game) on ESPN 2
Fri, Sep 12 - Kansas (Night Game) on ESPN 2
Sat, Sep 20 - @ Florida International
Sat, Sep 27 - @ N.C. State
Thu, Oct 02 - Pittsburgh on ESPN
Sat, Oct 18 - Syracuse
Sat, Oct 25 - @ Louisville
Thu, Oct 30 - @ Cincinnati on ESPN
Sat, Nov 15 - Rutgers
Sat, Nov 22 - UConn
Sat, Dec 06 - @ West Virginia on ESPN/ESPN2

I am still looking into purchasing season tickets. (If anyone would like to contribute to the fund to do so, please feel free to e-mail me and I’ll get you my paypal info :-D)

It looks like it’s going to be another great season. USF has done some good recruiting during the off season. Be looking forward to future posts about season outlooks, recruits and more in the future.

GO BULLS!

I was just looking over the 2008 Commitment List for USF on Rivals.com and I have to say I’m somewhat impressed with this years recruiting class.

Lets hope they’re up to the challenge of keeping the USF tradition of excellence and alive in well.

Well at least the ones who aren’t red-shirted next season.

Here’s the thing, I really have a hard time believing that Bill Belichick simply walked off the field because he couldn’t bare the idea of loosing.

In the midst of all the confusion I even had a hard time figuring out what was going on. Now grant it, once Belichick realized what was up he probably should have went back out on the field, but could it possibly be that maybe he was in the process of being rushed off the field by his barrage of security escorts? I mean I’ve been at USF games where Coach Levitt’s security folks are whisking him away and he wants to turn back around but can’t because he’s being rushed off the field.

I don’t know what happened, what I do know is we’re more than likely going to hear in the form of a statement something similar to what I said up above about Belichick’s disappearance with one second left on the clock. And I have to say, I’m going to give him the benefit of the Doubt, or perhaps exercise a little grace in the matter and believe him.

In going through the blog-rolls, commentaries, editorials, and even “unbiased” news pieces this morning up to now, most believe he left the field because he is a sore looser. I just can’t bring myself to believe that…AND I’M NOT EVEN A PATRIOTS FAN. (I’m actually glad they lost)

To be honest with you, I don’t even really care about his leaving the field, what irritates me is why the National Football League in all their glorious splendor insisted on running a 1 second play knowing dang well that Eli Manning would simply take a knee. Ok, so it’s the rules…THERE IS 1 SECOND LEFT TO PLAY. For the love of pete, EVERYONE knew he would take a knee, why did the NFL allow chaos to ensue for a one second, completely non-athletic “take a knee” play. Give me a break people. I think THIS is where our focus should be, not assuming whether or not Bill Belichick is a coward.

That’s all I’ve got.

No one thought they could do it, but the New York Giants just pulled off the biggest upset in Superbowl history.

I’m not even a Giants fan, heck I’m not even an NFL fan, but I’m glad the Giants won. No one deserves a “perfect” season…after all nothing is perfect.

Giants fans, congratulations. Giants, Eli Manning, way to go!

Well high school basketball season is slowly coming to an end. I’ve been following Catie’s team(s) on their journey(s) to victory this season. I never really got into my school’s athletic programs, one because not many people liked me at my school and it seemed like any time I stayed after school I got my butt beat to a bloody ruin, and two, I didn’t really like my school, so why would I want to take my personal time to support athletic programs for a school I despised more than anything? Any way, Catie’s Bloomingdale Bulls played quite hard, and honestly, they got me quite fired up, I think as a result I’m probably hooked on High School athletics now. Probably for the same reason I like college football so much. The athletes are in it for a love of the game (most of them anyway). They don’t get in to it, because of potential earnings, for the love of pete most of these kids aren’t even thinking about life after high school, much less how much money they want to earn when they graduate. They share a true passion for the game. A raw intensity that really brings me to life to see out on the court. The junior varsity players especially, these kids are fresh out of middle school, most of them are like under 5 feet 8 inches tall, but they get out there and they play their butts off. They play until the game clock reaches zero, they hustle, the jump, they move (sometimes with little to no poise…lol)…but they do it…and for the most part they look like they’re having fun.

Which brings me to my next point. The only downside to my new found enjoyment of high school athletics…the parents who are in it for more than the game. Oh, mylanta, I can’t tell you how many times this season I wanted to turn around and slap some of the parents in their face. IT’S A GAME FOLKS. Your kid is 14 years old, ok, so they miss a few shots, they have a hard time stealing the ball and rebounding isn’t their thing. IT’S JUST A GAME! I’ve got to be honest with you, part of me really feels like the messed up friends I have that were involved in athletics, the ones who eat, sleep, drink, breath, bleed their particular sport, are the ones whose parents pushed them to a point of disgruntlement, and I have to say I don’t believe it’s healthy. Some of these moms and dads, bring out note pads so they can write down every time their kid messes up, and rather than at the end of the game, tell them…”Hey…good hustle out there kid, I’m proud of you.” They say “Hey, you know you probably would have won that game if you would have reached in their and stole the ball, what was that all about?” I look at parents like that (grant it, there are less of them, then there are the supporting ones) and I say to myself…”Self, if you have children who get involved in athletics make sure you tell them the moment you start acting like a jackass, that they have your full permission to sucker punch you in the balls.”
I guess the real reason it bothers me so much is because I really feel like it sucks the passion right out of the kids. It takes something they love doing and makes them despise it. It’s not just athletics either, it’s music, writing, art, pretty much anything that a child can excel at, and make them have a successful life. We’re so caught up in wanting our children to have “better lives than we did” that we push them over the edge in most instances. It’s sickening really.
Then again, I don’t have any kids, probably wont have any for a long time, so I really don’t know what it feels like. But I do know this: My parents never pushed me to do anything good, except get good grades in school, so I could go to college. And what happened? Well, now I absolutely HATE the idea of being in school, I’d rather be out working, or going to a hands on trade school. The idea of being in a classroom learning something makes me sick, and the only reason I even remotely consider it is to become a teacher so that I can work against all the parents out there who push their children to the brink of hatred of anything they become passionate about.
So please, if you’re a parent reading this, think about it. Let it settle in before you send me a bunch of hate mail telling me I have no clue what I’m talking about because I’m only 22 years old and don’t have the life experiences to teach me that I need to make my children be the best they can be at everything they’re passionate about. Let it marinate in your soul for a minute and truly consider the damage you’re doing to your child.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Back to Catie and her team. I was throughly impressed with the influence and the coaching ability of Catie. You could really tell that her players (for the most part) respected her. I know she’s passionate about the game and that passion carries on to each of those JV girls out on the court, and the varsity ones as well. I’m proud of her. The sacrifices she makes, and the choices/changes she’s made in her life to make her a better person, not just for herself, but for her players as well. That, my friends, demonstrates a love for the game. It also shows a love for her community unlike any love I’m capable of showing.
Needless to say, I’m sure I’ll make it to a lot more games next season, as by the looks of it, it’s going to be interesting. Friday night was senior night, and if I counted correctly only 3 members of the varsity team were NOT seniors. That could prove to be a challenge, and I’m going to love to see how Coach Kieser, Catie and the rest of the staff deal with it. Plus…someones gotta be in the stand cheering louder than the jerk-off parents who seemingly never have anything positive to yell out to the court.

I am also looking into becoming a referee, not for basketball, I certainly have a few more years of knowledge to gain before I consider that, but possibly for volleyball. It’s the only sport that I know the ends and outs of (probably not as well as anyone whose played, but my love for the wom…er uh, the game has really made me pay attention over the years). We’ll see what happens, my schedule is so tied up any more I doubt I can find the time.

In other news, I’m attending The Southeastern Regional Emergent Conference this weekend in Saint Petersburg. While, I can’t say that I agree 100 % with the teachings (that I know) of the Emergent movement, I can say that this will be an excellent opportunity for me to learn more about the movement, so that I can make a more informed decision about whether or not this is a group whose teachings I want to align myself with. The conference has some speakers that I highly anticipate hearing, including Shane Claiborne, and one of only 3 or 4 professors that I had any sort of respect for during my time at Southeastern University, Matt Huett. It’s not exactly my idea of a “fun” weekend by any means, but it’s definitely something that I am going to get a lot out of, and I look forward to meeting new folks who are of similar mind set as myself. I also look forward to some of the break-out sessions and the disciplines that I can pick up from them.

I know there are going to be a few who read this who are going to say “Will, you’ve fallin off your rocker if you think attending anything related to the Emergent movement is going to help you learn wisdom and discernment.” And well, they may very well be right. BUT, if there is one thing I’ve learned over the years, it is to not pass judgment on something, someone, or some place until I’ve had the opportunity to experience it first hand. Thats why you’ve never heard this blogger say “The catholics are wrong, and catholicism isn’t the right way of doing things,” because I really don’t know if they’re wrong, and they’re practices aren’t right, I’ve never experienced them, the same goes for Buddhism, Mormonism, Hinduism, Judaism, or any other ism out there. Heck, for all I know maybe I’m wrong? I’m pretty confident based on my studies that I’m not. I’m even more confident of the fact that I’ve prayed to a God who has indeed answered my prayers. That to me tells me I’m not that far off my rocker. I was going through the blog roll this morning and I found a post from Catie talking about Element (the church that Bobby is planting). Something she said resonated with my deeply, I’ll quote it here for those of you who don’t like leaving blogs in the middle of reading them, she said: “…this generation needs something rawer. You can hear it in our music and see it in our dress, we are children of hippies and siblings of yuppies. Real rock and roll, not that hair band crap, has made a comeback with us. We buy jeans with holes and paint stains, either from Salvation Army or Hollister, we wear boots or flip-flops. We have friends fighting, dying, and earning purple hearts in a war thats hard for us to understand, that we struggle to agree with. We’re stuck in a place where people still treat us as kids but expect us to act like adults. We are addicted to technology and its stranglehold on our lives. Yet we are making a difference by striving to lessen the footprint we leave on our environment. We need more than just production and show, we need depth and authenticity. We need a real savior, a real relationship, real love and real healing.”

HOLY MACARONI AND CHEESE, she’s right. It’s my journey summed up in a paragraph. The reason I make it a point to post that is this: I will actively seek out anything that helps me pursue the heart of God. I don’t care what the group is associated with, or who sponsors the conference, or whose speaking. What I care about is fulfilling the mission that I’ve been given, and that is to change this world, and change it so dramatically that there will be no doubt in anyones mind that God is real, and He does some really life altering crap when you seek His face.

We’ve got to keep an open mind and an open heart, and we have to actively seek Him. I’ve been translating the original manuscripts for some time now, not because I’m writing a new Bible, but because I really want to know what the writers were saying when they wrote the stories, parables, and other information in the book that we as Christians call our instruction manual (which by the way I think is cheesy). I’ve got to tell you, so far, I’ve found that as a whole, the church (as a whole) is generally off in the movements they make in “the name of Jesus” we’ve really sort of watered the whole thing down, and made God into this thing that seems unattainable if you’re not completely holy and righteous (remember I’ve said generally…there are some Churches out there that get it, and recognize the same thing I have). It’s a shame really, because God, well He’s completely attainable, and once you’ve found Him he REMAINS attainable.

Anyway, I’m going to SREC this weekend, perhaps I’ll have learned nothing, and be irritated that I spent $ 25 dollars on it. Then again perhaps I’ll be one step closer to knowing what it is I’m called to do.
We shall see.

Let’s see what else do I have to say…

Well, if you’re not watching Friday Night Lights, Las Vegas on NBC, Real World/Road Rules Challenge the Guntlett III on MTV, Rock of Love with Brett Michaels, My Fair Brady:Maybe Baby, and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew on VH1 you’re missing good television! I’m waiting on the season premiere of House this week, and in mid Feburary, Jericho will return to CBS.

The Spring line-up, all things considered is pretty well, even though it is primarily reality television. Hey Writers Guild you can stop striking any time now. Cause I’m gonna be honest if it starts messing with House, Las Vegas, Friday Night Lights, Shark and the other non-reality shows that I’ve come to enjoy…I’m gonna come to Hollywood and then New York City and settle these disputes myself.

That’s all I’ve got.

Love and Peace ya’ll.

So I’m surfing through bulletin updates on Myspace yesterday morning, and my friend Mystie posted this:

To all my Democrat friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wisher.

To all my Republican friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It made me laugh, despite the fact that I think the Democrat wish is a little melodramatic.

Guess what!?! I got a Playstation 2 for Christmas. I know many of you are like…PS2, that’s so 2003, but…I like it and that’s all that matters. I also got NCAA 2008 (a game) and played it for a while last night.

Christmas was good, I would suffice to say one of the best in a long time. We had dinner at my sisters house, and just relaxed, and of course played a few games of Singstar which if you’ve never played, is quite addictive.

And now…I’m back at work. As my Myspace status says: “I wish there was a way to make money and pay bills without having to go to work.”

Well Fantasy Football has ended I finished 2nd in on League, and 4th in the other. Not bad for someone who before this season knew absolutely nothing about the NFL, and for the most part football in general.

Thats right ladies and gentlemen!

It’s official…our University of South Florida Bulls are headed to El Paso, Texas to play in the:

This is a monumental achievement in our programs history and I couldn’t be more proud of the guys!

Go Bulls!