go diego go!

***Take the College Football Ratings Aspect Survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3gS7kT7ve8Fep_2f7DVlW6Tw_3d_3d

 

This semester, with a new Campus Minister for the Catholic Student Center here at the university, we’ve been getting much more involved with things on-campus than we did last year. One of those big things that we’ve decided to join are the intramural sports leagues. The Catholic Gators are involved right now in basketball, ultimate frisbee, flag football, and indoor soccer, among other things. But my favorite sport, and the one that I’m the captain of, is softball.

Men’s softball, to be exact. We were able to field enough people to come play the pastime on Thursdays at 10:30pm, which makes for a very long Thursday for some of us. But to be able to play softball in a league is something that I haven’t experienced in years. For me, it comes with so much joy, to be able to play the game that I love with people that I love.

So when our league began play last Thursday night, I was excited, happy, ready to play for the first time in years. We had more than enough people to play last Thursday (14 showed up), so we all prayed, shook hands with the other team, and got ready to go. Last Thursday we were the away team, and, in the top of the 1st, we went down 1-2-3. In the bottom of the first, we walked a couple of batters, and loaded the bases, but escaped without allowing a run. The top of the 2nd comes around, we get a guy on, and, all of a sudden, the supervisor for softball comes out, and says that we’ve forfeited the game. It turns out that two of our guys that tried to sign in weren’t UF students, and used a stolen UFID from a guy named Diego Moreno. As a result, we had to forfeit the game due to too many player ejections. Of all the teams to commit ID Fraud, the Catholic Gators? Those two were subsequently kicked off the team. Two others that were connected to the two kicked off appear to be telling a string of lies (doesn’t appear that they go to UF, won’t answer the phone, etc.) and weren’t around for this Thursday’s game. The team seemed to take the hard-luck forfeit rather well, as we were joking afterward at Whataburger, talking about our experiences, calling each other Diego, and bonding as a softball team.

We took the field this Thursday only having 9 players available (a 10th had to sit the bench due to a hold on his record), but knowing that the 9 that I had on my team weren’t fraudulent. We played a team that lost by 10 last week, and, having no gauge as to how good we were, took the field not knowing what was going to happen. We were the home team this time around, and started off a little rough. A couple of walks, a couple of outs, and we got out allowing just 1 run in the top of the 1st. We came up in the bottom of the 1st, got a couple guys on with a couple out, but couldn’t bring them home… I ended up stranded on 3rd. The top of the 2nd came around without us allowing a run in, but did allow a couple of baserunners to reach. Bottom of the 2nd, we get a guy on, but then ground into an inning-ending double play. Through 2, 1-0, them.

In the top of the 3rd, they keep hitting the ball to shallow right field, over the 2nd baseman’s head. And they keep dropping in. They load the bases, get a couple of runs, we get an out, they score one or two more, we get an out… all in all, they put up 6 in the top of the 3rd. 7-0, them. We’ve got to go out and score some runs! The first guy gets on in the bottom of the third. Then it’s me. I’m able to put one over to the left side, and, as they’re trying to go to 2nd, the throw’s errant. Scott rounds third and heads for home, while I stay put at 1st. The throw sails coming home, and I break for 2nd, and get in there. 7-1. We’re on the board. 3 batters later, I come around and score on a sac fly. 7-2. That’s all we would get in the 3rd, but we’re on the board, and have time to come back.

4th inning: We sit them down 1-2-3. We come up, get two on and two out. I’m up, in a big spot, and manage to ground out to end the inning on a 3-1 pitch, that if I had taken, might have loaded the bases. 5th inning: They get a runner on, but can’t do anything. Our half of the fifth comes around, and we start with a walk, followed by a triple (7-3), followed by a walk, followed by a double (7-5)… we scored 4 runs without an out to cut it to 7-6. After one out, the bases were loaded, with Scott coming up. He draws a walk: 7-7. I come up, and I draw a walk: 8-7. Josh draws a walk: 9-7. Tom gets a sac fly for the 2nd out, and gets a run home: 10-7. Kevin comes up and gets a single, bringing me home: 11-7. All in all, we score 9 runs in the inning, and go from down 5 to up 4. At this point, there’s only 3 minutes left in the game; if we let time expire and get out of the inning we win. And that’s exactly what we did.

It’s my first win in an intramural, the first win for the Catholic Gators slate of intramural teams when a game was played out, and probably the most fun I could’ve had with a bunch of church buddies. Can’t wait for next week… regardless of the outcome, I know it’ll be a blast.

–jl–

how i wish i could padre pio.

*** Take my College Football Ranking Aspect Survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3gS7kT7ve8Fep_2f7DVlW6Tw_3d_3d

This week requires much of me, but the dividends will be quite good, come the end of the week. School-wise, this is going to be quite an interesting next few days: Russian test today, Abstract Algebra midterm Wednesday. Both of those professors are gone for the week, one in North Carolina, another, in Norway. That leaves me with one class that’s in the norm, that being my early Statistics class on Tuesday and Thursday morning. Much of Tuesday will be spent studying, and much of Wednesday will be spent studying up until the midterm (I’ve already taken the Russian as of this writing). Once I hit Wednesday afternoon, though, everything rolls downhill quickly.

Start with leaving immediately after class Wednesday afternoon for St. Pete, where I’ll be watching a baseball game with huge divisional and playoff implications between the Rays and Red Sox. I’ll be going with my cousin and 3 of my closest friends that I’ll pick up in Tampa as I head down. Wednesday night figures to be long, as I won’t get back in until around 1am. Then it’s up bright and early for Thursday morning class at 7:25am. Thursday night I have a softball game, our second of the year, at 10:30pm. (We lost our first softball game by forfeit… more on this to come in another blog entry). Thank God it’s Friday by then, and thank God for no Russian class on Friday morning, as he’s cancelled the class for Friday. That means I have one class Friday, then the weekend.

This weekend takes me to Astor, FL. You’ve never heard of it? Neither have I. I’ll be going there (the middle of nowhere) for quartet rehearsal– all weekend long, in a cabin, with 4 of my singing buddies. Should be lots of fun, and, hopefully, we can get quite a bit done. Less than 4 weeks now to Fall Barbershop Convention in Jacksonville, and I can’t wait to put the new quartet out on stage to see how we do.

All of that being said, it should be quite an interesting week, with lots of things going on, school-wise, sports-wise, singing-wise, et cetera. Being two places at once would be nice, but that would just make me run around even more. Which is something I haven’t been doing enough of lately.

–jl–

my college football survey is ready.

So I’ve been doing some work on the side to determine a formula to rank college football teams, based on their performance during the season. The ultimate goal here is to have a formula to replace the BCS as a method to rank the best college football teams, and place them in some sort of postseason format.

I’d like to take a sample to see what you guys think about the various aspects that I’m considering to weight in the formula. I’ve set up a survey that you can take (link posted below). Also, please send this survey to any friends that would be interested: the more responses I get, the better I can tweak the weights in my formula, based ultimately on your feedback.

Thanks to all of you, and, hopefully, we can make a change on the college football scene.

–jl–

Take the survey here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3gS7kT7ve8Fep_2f7DVlW6Tw_3d_3d

something’s missing.

…And I don’t know what it is, at all.” –John Mayer

I’m becoming disheartened. Something just isn’t clicking right now. I’ll grant you the fact that it’s only been two weeks since I got a huge sign as to where God wants me to take this friendship, but I’ve quickly started to unravel. My emotions are getting the best of me. I’ve become impatient and disheartened because the way that I’m used to having things work out isn’t working. The way that I’m used to developing a friendship from something good into something great hasn’t worked as of yet. But, this relationship is certainly, well, different from all the others…

Could it be my approach? Is it possible that I’m putting too much into it, and it’s turning out to look bent and awkward on my part? I can’t say for sure. That’s why I need a third party. But even third parties are starting to look like a bad outlet. I’m getting the vibe lately that something else may be going on in her with a third party, though I can’t say for sure. And if that’s the case, God only knows what I would do…

The fact of the matter is, I need to act natural. But, at the same time, I need to be the catalyst to change what I have now into a much better hand. What I have now won’t get me anywhere beyond the weather and how the day’s been. What I have now won’t get me to where I want to be. What I have now won’t get me to where God’s telling me to take this thing.

 

I’m trapped in this prison cell

Stuck within the walls of my emotion

I cannot see, there’s no way out

In my fear and hopelessness, I’m losing feeling

But then You come, and You tell me it’s OK

Follow Me, I’ll lead you out, take you on your way

You reign in my life and my spirit proclaims Your holy name

You reign in my world and I bow down to offer You my praise:

Holy is the Lord…

 

It certainly helps to write out emotions in song form.

 

–jl–

rocking the college gameday.

This is how the life of many Christian students of the University of Florida will play out this weekend. By many, I mean “at least myself and possibly a few of my friends who I know that are doing all the things that I’m doing”.

Friday afternoon/evening: Head out from Gainesville to Orlando, and yell and scream at Rock the Universe, at Universal Studios. This year’s Friday night lineup is one of the best in RTU history, featuring Skillet (as the #4 band), Switchfoot, Relient K, and Newsboys. One gets all of this for just $40, along with all the Universal rides until 1am.

Late Friday night: Head back to Gainesville from Universal. Pull into Gainesville at around 3am, as it’s a 2-hour drive from the attractions area of Orlando.

Early Saturday morning: Go to the north side of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, aka The Swamp, and wait outside for a few hours. This could be on no sleep (like myself) or on very little sleep (if I choose to sleep outside the stadium).

Saturday, 10am: Yell and scream for two hours during the taping of College GameDay. Corso, Herbstreit, Edwards, and Fowler will be in Gainesville broadcasting for two hours about Week 2 of the college football season. Look for me!

Saturday afternoon: Take a nap and watch college football. Tailgate. Possibly go to the UF volleyball game vs. Long Beach State, an early test for the volleyball program.

Saturday, 8pm: Yell and scream for 3 or 4 more hours as Florida takes on Miami (FL) in Gainesville. Go Gators! Look for me!

Sunday morning: Go to church service. If I can get out of bed. Sing at church service. If my voice can handle it.

This has the looks of quite a weekend for me, and I can’t wait for all of these things to come in the next 36 hours. I’m so pumped…

–jl–