Browns Game

Yesterday, I went to the Browns/Raiders game in Cleveland with my brother Jim. I haven't been to a game since I went with my friend Robert in fourth grade or so. I just want to say, Cleveland fans are AWESOME! Every time our defense is out there on third down, the whole stadium is barking. It's so cool to be a part of it. I loved sitting next to the dad and his son who were cuddled under a blanket drinking mountain dew, though the guy above them shouting obscenities to some Oakland fans was a bit much at one point. There were two Oakland fans sitting behind us, and I'm not sure they knew what football is. They seemed confused about the rules, and how exactly you got a first down. But that didn't keep them from talking as if they knew what they were saying. "Give him a cortisone shot he'll be fine!" she said. "Did you see him push the other guy like that? Where's the flag ref?!" He said about the Cleveland line protecting Derek Anderson. All in all, it was an awesome game, the snow started coming down in the fourth and I wasn't even cold. (Thanks to the toe warmers that Jim gave me.) And, I found out that if you get a funnel, and fill it with mustard, it fits perfectly into your soft pretzel, turning the food you're eating into the condiment holder for that food! Yeah, I'm brilliant. Oh, and we won. Because Charlie Fry sucks, and Jerome Harrison is an absolute work horse.

I know people only come here for the pictures, so here are some photos I took at the game. (Jim has really nice seats.)

Here's a shot with Eric Wright in it. He's my second favorite Brownie.
(Cribbs is my favorite of course.)

Here's Wright apparently not getting fouled as he fails to make an interception in the endzone. After the play, they said that his left foot was out of bounds. Gee... I wonder why.

In case you missed why Oakland's Routts (no. 26) was ejected from the game... here it is.
Why does this get you ejected from the game, but the previous photo isn't even a penalty? Hint: The guy in the brown shirt is a QB.

Here's Harrison's TD. If you could see a game clock, it would tell you that there were 14:15 left in the first quarter. It was crazy how quickly we got on top, and then never lost the lead.

Here's Eric Wright practicing his air pogo while David Bowens shows off his interception.

And finally, a shot of Jerome Harrison Mohamed Massaquoi catching a TD. (OK Jim, he's alright.)

Ok, so I didn't take those pictures. I got them from ESPN. But, it was fun pretending.

Thanks Jim for a great Christmas present. I really had a blast at the game!

1 Kings 1:13-17

There's a little verse in Kings that struck me today. Here's my quick translation of 1 Kings 1:13-17 (Don't take this translation for more than it is, it's not an attempt at a great translation, I just want to get the point across):

Now, Hanah was praying in her heart, so her lips moved but she wasn't making any sound. Eli [the priest] saw her and took her for a drunkard. He said: "How long are you going to be making a drunk of yourself? Put your wine away!" She replied, "No my lord! My soul is distraught. I haven't had any alcohol at all! It is because I am so distraught that I have been pouring out my soul to God. Don't take your servant for a base woman, I have prayed for so long because I am have been injured so badly." Eli replied: "Go in peace. God will give you whatever you asked of him."

The reason I liked this verse so much when I read it today was because I can imagine myself in Eli's shoes. There I am: High Priest of Israel, sitting in my cool chair in God's living room, when I realize some drunk lady has been over there slobbering drunk drooling all over the golden lampstands for an hour now. I feel like I let it go long enough, let's be honest, she's starting to scare people away. So, I trudge out of my golden chair or whatever it is, and walk over to this bleary eyed woman and say "Hey! Y'old drunk. Wrap it up! How long are you going to sit there blabbing away like that?"

That's when I find out I'm a complete stuffed shirt tool-bag, and this lady is completely, emotionally, viscerated. Rather than coming across as a representative of God's love, rather than trying to help this poor injured woman, I re-victimized her with a snap judgement and a terse, self-righteous slap in the broken heart.

Knowing that I screwed up that bad, what do I do? Do I say, "I'm so sorry. I completely screwed up here, I thought you were... oh man. Sorry."

Nope. I buy her forgiveness by saying cheap and easy like, "Oh... well... God will give you whatever you've asked for."

And what's Hannah's response? (v. 18) "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Oh man... just when I thought I was home free, she goes and humbles herself to me! I'm the one that should be apologizing... geez. I better go back and sit in my chair and hope God doesn't send fire out from that burning cow over there to kill me right now.

In short, I read this little thing today, and it struck me how much like Eli I am. I love this little interaction. I have to play around with it some more, this is just my first response to reading it in Hebrew, but it's just so freaking human.

And, it's even more interesting to me right now that God ponies up to Eli's offer.

Of course, I'm reading myself way too deeply into this. I'm not saying that's what Eli was thinking or doing, just that I can see myself responding like Eli did, and my response would be ugly. Hopefully I'll learn something from that.