Produmption Vlog 013 - Snooze

Another day in the Schmachelor pad...with TWO guests.

Love as Truth

First, some scripture:

 

“Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action”

-          1 John 3:18

 

This verse has spoken to me significantly over the last few months of my life. It is profound in that it moves your heart in ways that you don’t always understand.

 

It is truth; and as children of God, truth speaks to us.

 

For me, this verse helped me realize that I had been leading a superficial life as a Christian. I was loving people on the surface in order to make myself feel better. I would dishonestly say that I loved everyone, that I had a place in my heart for all of creation.

 

But that love stopped at thoughts and at words. It never formed as something greater than the words “I love you.”

 

This is my problem. This is our problem.

 

We far too often think that love can be love simply if we think it is love. Thought is certainly a good place to start, but it’s the worst place to end.

 

The dictionary is the only place where love should be described by words. I could try to describe love for you, telling you that it is compassionate, unconditional, generous, forgiving, righteous and just. But where has that gotten you and I?

 

If I say that I love you, yet I never do anything for you, is that really love?

 

Christ loved with his actions. Christ loved to the point where his life was sacrificed for us. Christ served humanity. Christ serves humanity. Christ truly loves.

 

So where does this leave us?

 

It should leave us with conviction. It should leave us with a challenge. We are called to love the entirety of humanity. Humanity calls out to be loved, and we must answer that call with enthusiastic action. It is not enough to answer the call by saying that we love humanity. We must show this love.

 

I am not suggesting that you save the world. I am not asking you to be the hero for all of humanity. Good can come from the smallest expressions of love. Start with a smile. Hold a door open for someone. Offer to pay for a stranger’s meal. Talk to someone who has no one to talk to. Do something for someone. It’s that simple.

 

Now ask yourself, how many people have you truly loved?

 

How many people have you failed to love?

Produmption Vlog 012 - Books

Another evening in the Schmachelor Pad.

Produmption Vlog 011 - B-Day

Another day in the Schmachelor Pad. Kind of...

Produmption Vlog 010 - Soonmas

Just another Sunday at the famed Schmachelor Pad.

Produmption Vlog 009 - Peacoat

Just another day in the glorious Schmachelor Pad.

Stand Up

If you aren’t willing to stand up for everyone, you can’t stand up for anyone.

I have been thinking about that statement a lot recently. I have been doing a lot of theological reflection lately, trying to flesh out my own theology and convictions, and this statement became a focal point of my thoughts.

If you couldn’t wrap your head around that, or don’t understand what I mean by it, let me explain.

Essentially what I am saying is that if you aren’t willing to stand up for everyone who is oppressed, then you can’t truly stand up for any oppressed person.

Here is an example – if you stand up for African-American rights, but not for the rights of women, then are you truly able to stand up for African Americans? One of the first problems becomes what happens when you encounter an African-American female. Will you stand up against those oppressing her for being black, but not against those who oppress her for being a woman? If that is the case then you are simultaneously trying to stand up for her and oppress her. That can’t work.

The other issue is that if you stand up for one group of oppressed people but not another, then you are an oppressor by definition. To me, there is no grey area in the realm of oppression. You are either standing up for the oppressed or taking part in the system that oppresses them. There is no in between.

By not standing up for an oppressed person you are by default oppressing them. Silence is a form of oppression. Gandhi once said that choosing not to speak is choosing to speak and choosing not to act is choosing to act. If you hear someone make a racist joke and stay silent, you are taking part in that form of oppression. You are just as much of an oppressor as the person making the joke because you are allowing that person to oppress others.

Again, there is no grey area. You either oppress or you stand up for the oppressed. You have to choose a side.

Let’s bring this back to the initial statement – if you aren’t willing to stand up for everyone, you can’t stand up for anyone.

You must be willing to stand up for every oppressed person in order to break the system of oppression. If you stay silent with even one person, you have become a part of systematic oppression and that fact alone limits your ability to truly stand up for anyone.

In a similar vein, what if I said that if you aren’t willing to love everyone, you can’t truly love anyone?

If your love is limited to certain people and not others, if it is conditionally based on the person you are choosing to love or not love, if it is not broad, then is it really, truly love?

I truly believe that our love is meant for everyone, and if we limit this love then we are not using love in the way it was meant to be used. In the same way, I believe that we are meant to stand up for everyone who is oppressed. So if we only choose to stand up for certain people, then we are not using our ability to help people in the way we were meant to do.

That is the problem.

So now I say more confidently – if you aren’t willing to stand up for everyone, you can’t stand up for anyone.

Produmption Vlog 008 - Wedding

Another Sunday evening in the Schmachelor Pad.

Produmption Vlog 007 - Time

Another Sunday in the Schmachelor Pad.

Produmption Vlog 006 - Gov't

Another Sunday in the Schmachelor Pad

Produmption Vlog 005 - Flushed

Another Sunday in the Schmachelor Pad

Produmption Vlog 004 - Raging

A Sunday evening in the Schmachelor Pad.

Produmption Vlog 003 - Jerseys

Sundays in the Schmachelor Pad

Produmption Vlog 002 - Mature

Sundays in the Schmachelor Pad

Livewrong?

Lance Armstrong.

To sports fans, this name causes various (often extreme) reactions and opinions.

He cheated! He doesn’t deserve to ever race again! Make him give back all of his Tour de France titles! He should apologize to fans everywhere! Where is his respect for the sport that made him famous!

All common refrains uttered about the forever labeled cheater Lance Armstrong.

But was his cheating really a bad thing?

Cheating would seem to be a very negative thing. His cheating harmed others through various means – whether it was the fans who felt betrayed, the other competitors who lost their chance to win, or to those who believed in Lance and what they thought he stood for. When thinking strictly about Lance cheating to win, the negatives are clear and profound.

But that isn’t the whole picture. We can’t simply focus on what his cheating achieved in cycling. We have to look at what his cheating achieved in every aspect and dynamic of his life.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation, and the collaborative Livestrong campaign, has raised over $470 million for cancer research. Look at that number again.

$470 million.

Now what does that have to do with Lance cheating? Well, everything. If Lance hadn’t cheated, he might not have won any Tour de France titles. And if he hadn’t won any of the titles, he would not be nearly as famous as he currently is. And if he wasn’t as famous as he is, his foundation may not have received the support and donations that it has so far (and that it will in the future). Armstrong’s foundation has no doubt helped millions and saved lives.

Lance’s cheating saved lives. I can say that statement with a straight face, mean it, and believe it.

So I ask again: was his cheating really a bad thing?

Let’s say that you found yourself in a situation where you had to perform some task or solve some puzzle in order to save someone’s life. If you figured out you could cheat without being caught, wouldn’t you cheat to ensure that you completed the task or puzzle in order to save a life? Can you honestly say you would refuse to cheat, knowing someone’s life is in your hands? I would cheat. And I imagine you would too.

This is essentially what happened with Lance. His cheating just happened to be on a magnified scale, and therefore seen as worse than my scenario above.

In chapter 27 of Genesis, Isaac’s youngest son Jacob took his brother Esau’s familial blessing. Jacob lied to Isaac about who he was, and received the blessing that was intended for Esau. When isolated to just this specific chapter and story, Jacob can be painted in a negative light, and his actions seen as harmful.

But this isn’t the whole story.

Because of this blessing that Jacob receives, God blesses Jacob and names him Israel.

Ever heard of it?

Is lying to your father and stealing something from your brother bad? Well, yes. Is cheating and doping to win some races bad? Again, yes. There is no denying that.

But can nothing truly good come from something truly bad?

Can the blessings of many come out of deceit?

Produmption Vlog 001 - Nesters

Sundays in the Schmachelor Pad

Best Fictional Athlete

The Best Fictional Athlete bracket is now posted! We have reformatted the blog design a bit, and you can now find the current and updated brackets by clicking the tab at the top of the page called "Fictional Athletes."

All of the current bracket's material will be posted there, allowing me to continue to post articles and commentary in this section without forcing the bracket down. Hopefully it works out for all of us.

In review, click the tab up top (link for lazy people), vote on the bracket, and tell your friends.

Enjoy!

Best Athlete Ever - Winner

We have our first winner, and it comes from our Best Athlete Ever bracket!

And the winner is....

(waiting....)

(waiting....)

Michael Jordan!

Jordan beat out Muhammad Ali in a closely contested battle. Both were well deserving of playing in the finals, but in the end, one had to win.

You chose Jordan. Can't really fault you there. 5 MVPs. 6 championships. Most dominant basketball player ever. One of the most recognized and respected brands in all of sports. Not hard to defend this selection.

You can view the completed bracket in our "Past Brackets" tab, and all completed brackets will now appear on that page. For those of you who are lazy, click here.

Now that this bracket is completed, expect our next bracket to appear later this week. It's going to be an entertaining as hell bracket pitting the best Fictional Sports Athletes ever against one another. Rocky, Teen Wolf, Icebox, and Wild Thing all look forward to your votes

Until then, remember to follow our blog, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook!

Best Athlete Ever - Finals

No surprises here. The top two overall seeds have advanced to the final round of the Best Athlete Ever bracket. Michael Jordan vs. Muhammad Ali. No upsets here - just arguably the two most dominant athletes ever. Now it's up to you to decide which one was better. And no, you can't pick both.

Finals


As always, choose who you think was the better athlete based on whatever criteria you want. After selecting, scroll over to the right within the survey box and click finished.



If the survey doesn't load, click the link below to take the survey.
Click here to take the survey now.

If you have any suggestions for future brackets, please share! We are currently finishing up our Best Fictional Athlete Ever bracket, and it's going to be awesome! Comment and follow!

Best Athlete Ever - Final Four

Finally, down to the Final Four. There might not have been any major upsets coming into the Final Four, but the matchups sure are epic. Jordan vs Gretzky and Ali vs Rice. Can't get much better than that. Rice narrowly edged out Peyton Manning in the Elite Eight, and advanced as perhaps the top football player. Jordan's streak of perfection was finally broken by one vote. Ali and Gretzky both dominated as Babe Ruth and Bill Russell fell. Any way you slice it, we have four of the greatest athletes ever vying for your votes.

Best Athlete Bracket



As always, pick your favorite athlete from each matchup based on whatever criteria you prefer. After picking one from each matchup, scroll to the right within the survey box and select "finished."



If this does not load, click the link below to vote.
Click here to take the survey now.

Let us know if you think the best four made it!

Best Athlete Ever - Elite Eight

Epic matchups abound in the Elite Eight of our Best Athlete Ever bracket. This is where the voting becomes difficult and the pretenders are separated from the contenders. Walter Payton managed to make the Elite Eight despite the 10 seed attached to his name, but he now runs into the Michael Jordan buzzsaw. MJ still hasn't had a vote cast against him (I guess we chose the right number one overall) and he looks to continue that dominance. The other matchups almost seem too close to call, but eventually someone will have to advance. The choice is yours!

Best Athlete Bracket



Same instructions as always: pick one athlete from each pair based on whatever criteria you like to determine who was the better athlete. After selecting one of each, scroll to the right within the survey box and select "finished." Enjoy!



If the survey doesn't load, click the link below to take it.
Click here to take the survey now.

Our next bracket will be "Best Fictional Athlete Ever" which includes those from movies and TV. Let us know who you want to see in the bracket!

Best Athlete Ever - Sweet 16

Here we are - the Sweet 16. According to you, these are the 16 best athletes ever, and we are about to cut them down to eight. Thanks to wins by Dan Marino and Walter Payton, we are guaranteed to have a double digit seed in our Elite Eight. The 2 seeds are starting to show weakness as Pele was upset and Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps had close calls before finally advancing.

Some huge matchups remain in the Sweet 16 however. Can Michael Jordan continue his utter dominance of the bracket, having yet to have a single vote cast against him? Can Deion Sanders continue his run through the bracket against Babe Ruth? We have two cultural icons facing off (Muhammad Ali and Jesse Owens) as well as the two most decorated athletes of their respective sports competing against one another (Bill Russell and Michael Phelps). Should be an interesting round!

Best Athlete Bracket - Sweet 16



Again, below is the survey where you can vote for your favorites. Just choose one of each matchup using whatever criteria you decide best determines who was the better athlete. After voting on each matchup, scroll to the right within the survey box and click "finished." It's as easy as that. Enjoy!



If this survey doesn't work or load for you, click the link below to take the survey!
Click here to take the survey now.

Best Athlete Ever - Second Round

We are now moving into the second round of voting for the Best Athlete Ever. There were some surprising results (12th seeded Joe DiMaggio advancing over Dale Earnhardt; 14 seed Lou Gehrig taking down 3rd seeded Richard Petty; 13th seeded Oscar Robertson besting Mario Lemieux) as well as some expected dominance by the top seeds.

Apparently there is little respect for NASCAR or for women. Of the four NASCAR drivers, none advanced (with none putting up much of a fight). Out of the six women included (sorry Mia Hamm fans) none advanced. Lisa Leslie and Serena Williams put up the best fights, with each only losing by one vote. Alas, not all groups can make it to the next round and so we continue.

Let's check out the updated bracket...

2



Don't forget to vote below and let us know who you should make the Sweet Sixteen. I sense a few upsets will happen again, but I don't anticipate any 1 or 2 seeds losing in this round. You neve know though! Again, feel free to vote based on whatever criteria you see fit. After selecting one of each pair, scroll over to the right within the survey box and select "finished."



And if that does not load for you, click the link below to vote!
Click here to take the survey now.

Best Athlete Ever Bracket

Welcome to our new side project - creating brackets for your pleasure! Below is our first bracket, "Best Athlete Ever." The image below is the bracket for you to view as a whole. We ranked the best 64 athletes ever. The criteria we used was threefold:
1.) How dominant were they of their respective sports?
2.) How culturally relevant, popular, and important were they?
3.) Could they play any other sports?
These criteria were weighted from the first being the most important to the last being the least important.


Best Athlete Bracket



Below here is the survey used to collect your answers. Pick one of each pair with who you personally think was the better athlete. Once you are finished, scroll over to the right within the survey box and click "finished." Feel free to use whatever criteria you see fit. Each round of the bracket will last approximately 3-4 days depending on the response. We will post updated brackets and surveys for each round. Remember, this is for fun so have fun!



If the survey does not load, click the link below and it will take you to a seperate website to take the survey!
Click here to take the survey now.

Lastly, feel free to comment your thoughts on the bracket and post any other bracket ideas you have!

Bubble Illusion

I had an interesting argument with Jay Bilas on Twitter yesterday, and I feel the need to elaborate more on my side of the argument. The conversation was as follows....

I'll admit, I got a little carried away with saying the Colonial Athletic Association should be a power conference, but it got Bilas to tweet me, right?

Anyways, I really want to focus on my last tweet. For those of you who don't know, VCU beat Drexel in the CAA tournament to clinch the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Drexel now has to rest its hopes on the selection committee adding them to the tournament as an at-large candidate. "Bubble" teams have always been a topic of heated discussion among experts and fans alike. Drexel is now a bubble team, and they will surely have polar opposite opinions on them.

Bilas argued that Drexel might not deserve to be in because the CAA isn't a top rated conference (13th by kenpom.com as Bilas notes). I would argue that because of what CAA teams have done in the recent past, that Drexel should be a lock for an at-large berth into the Dance. Allow me to explain...

First and foremost, Drexel won the regular season CAA title and sports a 27-6 record. They had won 19 straight up until the loss to VCU on Monday. It doesn't matter what conference you are in, 19 straight wins is an impressive feat. Drexel also had solid wins over VCU, George Mason, and Cleveland State during this run. They did have a couple of bad losses early in the season (Delaware, Georgia St.) but a lot of teams suffer bad losses to start a season. Overall, a solid (but not bulletproof) case to make the tournament as an at-large.

The real reason Drexel should make it is because of the CAA's success in the tournament. If teams from a conference succeed in the NCAA tournament, then other teams from that conference should start to get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to selecting at-large teams. Let's explore.

Since 2006, the CAA has placed two teams in the Final Four (George Mason in 2006 and VCU in 2011). The combined record for CAA teams in the NCAA tournament over the last 5 years: 12-10, good for a .545 win percentage. In comparison, the PAC-10/12 has had 3 Final Four appearances (UCLA in 2006, 07 and 08) and has a record of 33-22 (.600). The PAC-10/12 teams were the higher ranked team in 32 of those games while the CAA teams were higher ranked in one (George Mason was an 8 seed and played 9th seeded Villanova. Not much of an advantage). Out of the 10 CAA teams to make the tournament in the last 5 years, 2 have made it to the Final Four. That gives the CAA a 20% Final Four success rate. For comparison...

The ACC has had 3 Final Four teams since 2006 (out of 32 teams that made the tournament, good for a 9% Final Four rate). The Big East has had 5 Final Four teams (out of 48 teams, giving them a 10% rate). The Big Ten had 3 Final Four teams (out of 34 teams, good for 9%). You get my point.

So I am not arguing that the CAA is the best conference ever, but I am arguing that the CAA is doing more with less in the NCAA tournament. With the success they have had, their teams should start to gain favor from the selection committee. Basically, Drexel should be a no brainer as an at-large team. They have a solid profile when standing alone; but paired with their conference's success, putting them in the tournament should be as easy as saying that Indiana or Marquette should make it.

And if Drexel makes it and gets pummeled in their first round matchup, then we know why Jay Bilas is on ESPN and I am on Blogspot.

But if they make the Final Four...