Prayer - What, When, Where, Why and How

That's enough NBA talk for a little while, back to something a little more important. I wouldn't begin to know who to source regarding my ideas on Prayer, I know CS Lewis, John Piper and my Dad have all played vital rolls in the formation of the following. However, there are many other things I've read and people I've heard that lead me to these conclusions. I'll try the W ?'s as a framework and see if that organizes this better. 

What - Prayer is defined as "a devout petition to God, or an object of worship" on dictionary.com, "an invocation or act that seeks to to activate rapport with a deity, an object of worship, or a spiritual entity through deliberate communication" by wikipedia, which breaks my third rule of definition: don't use words that would need to be looked up when defining a word, but is a much fuller definition. In Scripture the word Prayer, Pray and Praying are used a combined 439 times in the Bible. Which is a statistic I've never understood the value of. Sure, when comparing particular author's word usages I get it, but not just intro-ing a sermon on a topic and rattling off its usage stats and various Greek & Hebrew modes. Nonetheless, despite only appearing 439 times, prayer is a very important topic in the Bible. There's no recorded instance of God pulling aside Adam, Noah, Abraham or any other Patriarchal figure and explaining to them how to talk to Him. The word prayer first appears in 2 Sam but I think its safe to assume the practice had been going on since the beginning of time itself. Of course, the "Lord's Prayer" story is the most commonly used template to teach how to pray and is also relates Christ teaching His disciples. However, do you think the disciples really didn't know how to pray? When they asked Christ to teach them, was it out of total ignorance in the process? These are Jews, they've been watching and participating in prayers their whole lives. They were asking for special guidance, not start-up instruction. Christ prayed differently because Christ was speaking to His Father within perfect harmony of His will. 

My definition of prayer:

The intentional and sometimes audible presentation of praise, information and requests with expected results from the created to the Creator. 

When - Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing" or "pray constantly." I've heard it preached that in a perfect world we could sit on our knees and talk to God all day. That's dumb. God is eternally long suffering so we can't annoy Him per se, but He created and saved us for a reason and as far as I can tell, it wasn't to sit on our knees all day. Maybe the Muslims are on to something here. Just like Daniel, they have set times to gather and pray. This is good and a lot of Christians I know are similar, just less public (which is recommended in the Sermon on the Mount) but it doesn't quite fit into "without ceasing." I don't think I'm going to blow anybody's mind by saying Paul is talking about maintaining a close, sharing, open communication channel between God and ourselves at all times. Does this mean we don't have to bless our meals? Yes. Is it a good practice to do it anyway? Of course it is. But my mom saying "You're going to choke on that because you ate it before we prayed" is frankly ridiculous. In fact, suggesting we can't start anything without "praying first" suggests we weren't praying to begin with, which misses the point entirely. Praying for ritual's sake cheapens the act. Prayer should be spontaneous, legitimate and passionate. However, I think we should also have public prayer before ballgames, meetings, meals and the Sunday morning offering. But public prayer is a different beast altogether than personal prayer, I'll explain more as we go.

Where - If we are praying "without ceasing" then everywhere. There are some recommendations though. The parable of the Publican and the Sinner shows that a prayer's legitimacy is dependent on the heart not the performance. This concept is attached to the corollary that requests made known to God in secret are fulfilled in the open. Meaning relying on God alone in our prayer lives will strengthen our faith more, make us more like Christ (who prayed alone on numerous occasions) and promises results. 

Side note - teaching "how to get prayers answered" is borderline blasphemous. God is not a tool to be used or a daddy figure to be manipulated. Take care

Why - Everything we do should be to the Glory of God, correct? So prayer fits into that same category. In the case of public prayer, a benediction or invocation at the beginning or end of an event symbolizes God's presence there, His power over the proceedings and the utter dependence on Him of the participants. This is beneficial for all in attendance and I believe "beneficial" to God in that it gives Him glory or as we've mentioned before, demonstrates His glory fuller. 

Side note - If you think Ben Franklin's request to open the Constitutional Congress session with prayer is evidence of his faith, consider these facts. 1 - Franklin was a well-documented Deist who believed God had no or little interest in the affairs of men and 2 - the task facing the members of that Congress was enormous to say the least. I believe Franklin was showing his hand regarding prayer and throwing up what was in his mind the most desperate "Hail Mary" (pun intended) he could think of. I suggested as much my sophomore year in "Early American Political Thought" and the prof, who has since retired, about burned me at the stake. oh well.

In regards to personal prayer. The benefits for an individual frequently praying are clear - a closer relationship to God, there are more chances to repent so sins have less of chance to fester, constant prayer means Christ-like thinking more often which wards off sins to begin with, a more direct connection can be made between requests and results which increases faith, the transforming power of the Holy Ghost which works through direct contact with the Divine (this occurs only 2 ways: prayer and the reading/meditation of Scripture), etc. 

How - as I said before, "how to pray in order to get results" is a false teaching. Christ lays out a template in the Lord's Prayer, the Saxon Paraphrase goes like this:

Heavenly Father, the Almighty God, 

may your perfect will be accomplished, 

You've promised to provide and as You know I need ________, thank You for Your provision. 

Forgive me for ______ and help me to forgive ________ for __________, thank You for You forgiveness. Protect me from myself and the darkness of this World, thank You for Your protection. In the name of the Christ, the Supreme King Jesus, Amen. 

Braves have won only 13 of their last 36 on the road. They dropped yesterday's in extras to the Royals. This 3 games series is their first ever at Kauffman stadium, one of 2 active stadiums Chipper Jones never played in. They did win game 1 however, Jason Heyward blasting off in a big way with 3 rbis and a big fly. As the All-Star game approaches here are my picks for the starters, always a bunch of tough picks:

NL

C - YMolina 1B - FFreeman 2B - MCarpenter SS - TTulowitzki (hurt but deserving) 3B - DWright

LF - JUpton CF - SChoo RF - CBeltran

Bench - JVotto, PGoldschmidt, YPuig, BHarper, ACraig, CGonzalez, JSegura (start), CGomez, BPosey

SP - AWainwright

AL

C - CSantana 1B - CDavis 2B - RCano SS - JJHardy 3B - MCabrera DH - PFielder

LF - AGordon CF - AJones RF - NCruz

Bench - NMarkakis, JLowrie, YCespedes, JMauer, MNapoli, JEllsbury, VMartinez, JBautista

SP - MScherzer

Who's Better? NBA: Dirk Nowitzki vs Tim Duncan

Here it is, the debate that has been raging for years...at least in the Saxon home. I will set out to prove what I have vehemently argued for, that Dirk Nowitzki is a better player than Tim Duncan. Team accomplishments aside (because is NBA Champion Chris Anderson really better than no-ring Charles Barkley? Of course not). What makes a player better than another player? A series of things. First of all, physical abilities. What is a player capable of or what has he proven he can do? Secondly, statistics. What has a player actually done? Thirdly, legacy. What will he be remembered for? This is balanced by his supporting cast. Be ready, this is a big one.

I will compare Duncan and Nowitzki in these 3 areas and then present my answer. All stats taken from Basketball-Reference.com and Wikipedia (shut up)

Dirk stands in at 7'0" weighing a trim 237. He was selected 9th overall by Milwaukee in '98 and then traded to Dallas with Pat Garrity for Robert Traylor (Top 10 worst trade in sports history)

He has logged 3000+ minutes 6 of his 15 seasons, dipping below 2000 only in his first and most recent year (2013 due to a knee injury). Even this last year he kept up a streak of 14 years in a row of 31 or better minutes per game.

He made 151 3 pointers in 2005 and has 1340 for his career at a 38% clip, this is very good - compare with sharpshooter Mike Miller: 1420 40%. Especially for a 7 footer! Let's compare with several others 6'10" or better...

Name: Height               Career Total   3P%
Robert Horry 6'10"           795           34%
Chris Bosh: 6'10"                87           29%
Shaquille O'Neal: 7'1"          1             5%
Marc Gasol:  7'0"               34            24%
Mehmet Okur 6'11"          598           38%
Brad Miller: 6'11"             200            33%

Rasheed Wallace: 6'10"   1086           34%

As you can see, there's never been a shooter his size. Okur shot much fewer and Wallace much less efficiently. Kevin Durant is listed at 6'9" on BBallRef but he's shooting 3's at a 37% clip, virtually identical to Dirk's career average a full 3 inches shorter.

He pulled 791 boards in 2002, 120 on the offensive glass in '01, and has 9096 for his career. This is low for a power forward, but let's consider two factors. First of all, he plays on the perimeter, let's look at other perimeter forwards' offensive board numbers:

Kevin Durant (6 years): 395

Dirk (First 6 years): 553

 

Peja Stojakovic (13 years): 747

Dirk (First 13 years) 1199

 

Once again, taking the 3 point shooting and offensive rebounding together gives you a picture of what Dirk brings to the table.

Secondly, he played with good offensive rebounders:

Shawn (the Stormin' Mormon) Bradley [while playing with Dirk]: 796 offensive boards
Erik Dampier [While with Dirk]: 1224 (and he lead the NBA with 334 the year before joining the Mavs)

Compared to era centers:

Marcus Camby: 2480 (while contemporary with Dirk, only leaving out his rookie season) only 400 more than Bradley and Dampier
Yao Ming: 1233 (direct contemporary to Dampier's career with Dirk, only 9 more!)
Andrew Bogut: 1216 (ditto but with 8 less)

So, no I didn't put Shaq or Dwight Howard up there, but obviously if Dirk had played with them he'd have less offensive boards but more offensive chances. Compared to average centers (and Yao, Camby and Bogut are usually considered a bit above average) Bradley and Dampier were good rebounders.

Defensively he was nicknamed "Irk" because he had no "D" early in his career. Is this fair? Let's take a look.

His peak at defensive win shares was in 2002 at 5.3, career total at 50.9 (that's 3.4 a year)
Other similar players with a similar build or defensive responsibilities:
Kevin Durant (who is the best comparison physically I know of) is at 21.9 thru 6 seasons (3.65)
Mike Miller: 19.4 for his career
Mehmet Okur: 21.3 for his career
Chris Bosh: 30.1 (3 per season, most would have Chris as a better defender than Dirk but not the numbers)
Kevin Garnett: 87.4 (4.85 arguably the best defensive PF ever)

This, in my opinion, shows Dirk is possibly a below average defender but actually contributes more than people give him credit for. Was he ever a 1st team all-D candidate? No, but he wan't somebody you could pick on either, which was his reputation. But why did he get this reputation? Let's try to dig deeper...going through the game logs I found each instance these premier power forwards faced Dirk and the results (I am leaving Duncan off till the conclusion).

Garnett vs DAL '98-'13: Reg Season: W-L for Garnett (17-22); <10(1); 11-20(12); 21-30(22); 31-40(4)
                                        Playoffs:      W-L for Garnett (0-3); <10(0); 11-20(1); 21-30(1); 31-40(1)

Webber vs DAL '98-13: Reg Season: W-L for Webber (11-10); <10(2); 11-20(10); 21-30(7); 31-40(2)
                                       Playoffs:       W-L for Webber (9-3); <10(0); 11-20(3); 21-30(6); 31-40(3)

Rasheed vs DAL '98-13: Reg Season: W-L for Sheed (16-15); <10(6); 11-20(15); 21-30(6); 31-40(4)
                                        Playoffs:       W-L for Sheed (3-4); <10(0); 11-20(5); 21-30(2); 31-40(0)

I could show more, but I think this is sufficient. I didn't confirm Dirk played in every one of these games, so it's possible some of the numbers don't apply, but here's what I see in these games. Webber killed Dirk in the playoffs, but on the whole Dirk kept him at or below his averages. Garnett got his 20 a majority of the time but Dirk crushed him in the playoffs when it mattered most. Sheed was characteristically streaky, but again, never was able to bust out against Dirk in their two playoff match-ups. What this doesn't show, but if you were to look at the game logs you would notice, Dirk (and Dallas' D) got stronger as he got older. Granted, Webber and Sheed aged fast, but even Garnett didn't score more than 28 after the first 5 seasons. All this to say, Dirk was/is an average defender, and coupled with his elite offense is better than Duncan. Need more? Let's continue.

His career highs are 26.6/9.9/3.5/1.4/1.5 at 52/42/92
(those are pts/rbs/ast/stl/blk at fg%/3p%/ft%).

His peak season was was 26.6/9.0/2.8/0.7/1.0 at 48/40/90.
(Sheed: 19.3/8.2/1.9/1.3/1.3 at 47/36/73)

His career averages are 22.6/8.2/2.6/0.9/0.9 at 48/38/88.
(Webber: 20.7/9.8/1.4/1.4/2.8 at 48/30/65)

His 10 best games:
Regular Season: brutally difficult to select 10

'04 53-16-2-3st-4bl
'03 43-4-8 3's
'05 51-9-5
'07 34-10-10-4 3's
'01 33-23-8-4bl
'01 40-11-6 3's
'02 34-18-4-6 3's
'01 38-17-3st
'06 43-12-2
'07 42-12

5 best in the Playoffs: even more challenging to pick these

'06 50-12-3-5 3's
'00 42-18-2-6st
'02 46-10-4 3's
'08 44-13-3
'01 39-17-3st

His finest moment:

'11 21-11-1-2st (Game 7 clincher)


He led the league in PER (Player efficiency rating) '05-06 and finished top 10 in 10 of his 15 seasons. He's 6th among active players and 18th all-time.

He dished out 200+ dimes 8 straight seasons from '02-'10 minus '09 when he only had 197. He topped out at 266 in '07. 2923 total for his career, 196th all-time. If he hits 3000 he'll pass the following: Greg Anthony, Johnny Dawkins, Doug Christie, Rolando Blackman, Anthony Mason, Tom Gola, Kendall Gill, Howard Komives, Antonio Daniels and Bob Weiss. He also trails former teammate Devin Harris by 3. He's 103 behind Shaq and 32 more to Hakeem. (Garnett is at 51st all-time with 5224) (Sheed: 1 200 ast season, 1994 in 16 yr career)

He swiped over 100 passes in '02 and blocked more than 100 shots 3 different times in his career. He sits 75th all-time in blocks and 158th in steals.

He won the MVP in '06-07 and finished in the top 12 in voting 11 times, 3 times in the top 3. He is 7th among active players in MVP vote shares and 22nd all-time. He went to 11 straight all-star games, has been 1st team all-NBA 4 times, 2nd team 5 times and 3rd team 3 other times. That's all-NBA 12 of his 15 seasons!

He's 3rd in points scored among active players, 17th all-time (top 20!) 13th in career FT%. He's 6th among active rebounders and 4th in free throw attempts. In '06-07 he logged a 50/40/90 which has only been done by 6 players, Steve Nash (his teammate), Larry Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller and recently Kevin Durant. Add in Ray Allen, and you have the greatest shooters of all time (with the possible addition of Steph Curry sometime soon). That's right, Dirk Nowitzki, a seven-footer with over 9000 rebounds is one of the greatest shooters ever.

I mentioned defensive win shares. Dirk was average in that category. Now let's talk offensive win shares.

Dirk stands at 11th all-time, above names like Shaquille O'Neal, Moses Malone, Magic Johnson, LeBron James (for now), and someone to be named later. The 10 names above him hold really only one surprise:

1. Kareem
2. Wilt
3. Oscar
4. MJ
5. Stockton
6. Karl
7. Reggie Miller (?????)
8. West
9. Bryant
10. Barkley
11. DIRK

That's a great list.

When offensive and defensive are combined you get total win shares, Dirk is currently 13th all-time, 3rd among active, and just ahead of Kobe Bean Bryant. Because the stat can be compiled there's also WinShares/48 min (essentially per game). Dirk is 14th, 5th among active, and just ahead of Shaq and John Stockton. Basketball reference creates a similarity comparison chart with 10 other players and shows their win shares across their careers (and the duration of the player being compared). The players rated as similar to Dirk are: LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Dr J, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Larry Bird, Bob Pettit, Dolph Schayes and Adrian Dantley. THAT's a list. What is...the greatest forwards in NBA history?

Interestingly, and of course conveniently, Dirk scores quite well.
Year 1: 5th.......(Duncan 3rd)
Year 2: 6th.......(Duncan 4th)
Year 3: 4th.......(Duncan 8th)
Year 4: 2nd.......(Duncan 8th)
Year 5: 3rd.......(Duncan 7th)
Year 6: 4th.......(Duncan 6th)
Year 7: 3rd.......(Duncan 4th)
Year 8: 3rd.......(Duncan 7th)
Year 9: 3rd.......(Duncan 4th)
Year 10: 2nd.......(Duncan 3rd)
Year 11: 2nd.......(Duncan 3rd)
Year 12: 6th.......(Duncan 2nd)
Year 13: 5th.......(Duncan 2nd)
Year 14: 6th.......(Duncan 1st)
Year 15: 6th.......(Duncan 2nd)

In 9 of his 15 seasons (9 straight) he contributed more to the wins of his teams than Tim Duncan did to his. Year 3, 5 and 8 he contributed much more.

Ok, so you've got an idea on how good Dirk is. It's time to shift gears and present the case for the Big Fundamental.

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Timmy is 6'11" 248 lbs according to BBall Ref

He lead the league in games played his first two seasons (50 in the strike shortened '98) . He entered the league one year before Dirk. Tim was selected 1st overall by San Antonio in '97 and hasn't moved since.

He's logged 3000 min only 4 times in his career, but has only come off the bench twice in his 1180 game career.

In 2001 he led the league in field goals made, free throws made, defensive rebounds and total rebounds. It was his peak season which slashed out to 25.5/12.7/3.7/0.7/2.5 at a 51/10/80 clip. That's awesome numbers (its not Dirk's 27 and 9 while shooting 38 from 3) but its still awesome, I mean 4 assists and 2 1/2 blocks a game? Nasty.

His career average
20.2/11.2/3.1/0.7/2.2 at 50/18/70
(22.6/8.2/2.6/0.9/0.9 at 48/38/88 Dirk, in case you forgot)

His peak #s
25.5/12.9/3.9/0.9/2.9 at 55/40(.1 attempt per game)/82('13)

He doesn't shoot 3's. He's hit 28 in 154 tries, that's 18%. (Dirk hit 151 in one year). He's also a shaky free throw shooter, only this last year crossing the mythical 80% line and for the most part hovering around 70%. To compare to other great power forwards:
Garnett: 79%
Barkley: 74%
Sheed: 72%
Webber: 65%
So while not as bad as C-Webb, he falls on the low side of the great PFs, Dirk's 88% is top 20 all-time.

Duncan has pulled 13,219 boards, good enough for 13th all-time and 2nd among active players. He lead the league, as I mentioned, in '01 and has been top 5 in the league 11 times. On the offensive glass he sits at 15th all-time and yanked down 200+ 12 times in his career. Now, let's compare the guys pulling boards with him. For his first 6 seasons he played with Hall-of-Fame Center David "The Admiral" Robinson. A beast, who pulled 300+ OBrds 3 times, led the league in total rebounding twice, and was still banging inside when Duncan came along. The following catalogs the litany of centers and power forwards that have rotated through Pop's front court

Robinson pulled 1143 offensive boards while they played together (6 seasons) 191.5 per season
Nesterovic 556 in 3 yrs 185 per
Blair 635 in 4 years 159 per
Perdue 210 in 2 yrs 155 per
McDyess 271 in 2 yrs 135 per
Rose 788 in 6 yrs 131 per
Mohammed 241 in 2 yrs 120 per
Splitter 309 in 3 years 103 per
Elson 81 in 1 yr
Kurt Thomas 160 in 2 yrs 80 per
Horry 378 in 5 years 76 per
Oberto 433 in 6 yrs 72 per
Walker 144 in 2 yrs 72 per
Willis 120 in 2 yrs 60 per
Bonner 380 in 7 years 54 per
Nobody else played more than 1 year with more than 50 offensive boards per year
(I couldn't help but notice the production level of Splitter vs Bonner)

Why did gather this data you ask? For the same reason I showed Bradley and Dampier's numbers. Notice that Shawn and Erik would be #2 and #3 on this list. In reality, Nesterovic, Mohammed and Perdue are the only players not named Robinson on this list that had any type of career at the center position. Horry, Willis, Thomas and McDyess were all decent power forwards. The rest were a bunch of scrubs. Duncan was the rebounder, it was his job, it is no surprise he pulled 4000 more boards then Dirk, other than the first 6 seasons, Duncan was the only rebounder on his team. That is not saying Tim's bad at it. His career 9.9% OReb% is 67th all-time (Dirk does not place in the top 300). In fact, Duncan is a great rebounder, but his advantage over Dirk is less than the average fan believes.

Now to his Defense. My esteemed father believes Duncan to be a top 5 defensive player all-time. Let's see.

He blocked 200 shots 3 times and less than 100 only once in his 16 year career. His 2652 have him 1st among active players and 8th all-time, he trails Shaq by 80, so an average Duncan season would have him within 50 of Patrick Ewing and the top 6. He never led the league in blocks but finished top 5 in 6 different seasons, including '13. This is amazing, but is it "good defense." Yes. In Defensive Win Shares, he has led the league 5 times, is the active leader and stands 5th all-time. However, I went ahead and checked the aforementioned contemporaries which I dug up on Dirk, to see if anybody had his number. Results below:

Garnett vs SAS '97-'13: Reg Season: W-L for Garnett (24-25); <10(2); 11-20(24); 21-30(18); 31-40(5)
                                        Playoffs:     W-L for Garnett (2-6); <10(0); 11-20(3); 21-30(5); 31-40(0)

Webber vs SAS '97-13: Reg Season: W-L for Webber (9-17); <10(2); 11-20(11); 21-30(9); 31-40(4)
                                       Playoffs:      W-L for Webber (0-0); <10(0); 11-20(0); 21-30(0); 31-40(0)

Rasheed vs SAS '97-13: Reg Season: W-L for Sheed (17-19); <10(11); 11-20(14); 21-30(11); 31-40(0)
                                        Playoffs:      W-L for Sheed (3-8); <10(3); 11-20(6); 21-30(2); 31-40(0)

Wow. He definitely dominated Sheed according to these numbers. 14 of the 47 match-ups Wallace managed only 10 or fewer points. Dirk allowed 14 30+ point games to these 3, Duncan allowed 9, none of which were in the playoffs. Garnett was slightly more successful against Duncan, but faced him a whopping 49 times so there was a certain amount of inevitability that a player like KG would get his.

In short, Duncan is, as my Dad says, one of the top 5 greatest defensive forwards ever. (Kareem, Hakeem, Garnett, Russell and Duncan) Does that make him better than Dirk? In my opinion, no. Garnett is on that list, higher than Duncan, and maybe another day I can demonstrate that Duncan is better than Garnett.

How about Duncan's offense? We already noticed he has no 3 pt shot and was below average from the free throw line, however he's got skills. In many cases, a Duncan endorser would post a series of videos of him turning and banking a 15 footer with the defender falling down or closing too late. As far as I can tell, according to these videos, no one has ever contested Duncan, ever. This of course is not true, however, Duncan has no tricky moves. He has no McHale-like arsenal or Garnett-like athleticism. He doesn't have range, he never muscled down anybody bigger than him (in fact, Shaq pushed him around quite a bit), and the few times he "took over a game" you'd have to be personally taking stats to notice. You add those things up and you'd never expect to get an offensive win shares which is 25th all-time and 9th among active players. He led the league in 2001 (only other top 10 finish was in 2002). Here are in my opinion, his best 10 regular season and best 5 playoff games.

'01 53-11-5
'00 42-11-5-4bl
'02 38-16-9-4bl
'99 33-20-3-3bl
'13 31-18-6-5bl
'03 36-20-7
'07 34-18-5
'13 22-21-1-6bl
'11 21-16-8-5bl
'09 21-27-6

'05 41-15-6-4bl
'02 40-15-7
'02 32-20-6-7bl
'02 34-24-6-6bl
'01 34-25-4
This was pretty tough. I didn't include his title clinching games, partly because he had 4 of them and partly because none of them were all that impressive (not that Dirk's was either). He had his one 50 point explosion and had several pretty dominant performances in the playoffs. However, if all you saw were Duncan's and Dirk's best 10 stacked up against each other it would be less of an argument. If you add the playoff games things get more interesting.

So, two things left to determine our winner. Who they played with and how they played against each other.

Who has Dirk played with? *on the title team
Each player listed finished in the 10 ten in minutes played for Dallas at least once during Dirk's career.

Hall of Famers:
Steve Nash
Jason Kidd* (for 1 year)
Peja Stojakovic* (for part of 1 year)
Tim Hardaway (for 1 year)
Vince Carter

All-Pro:
Jason Terry*
Shawn Marion*
Tyson Chandler*
Josh Howard
Michael Finley
Elton Brand
Danny Manning
Antoine Walker
Jerry Stackhouse


All-Star:
Devin Harris
Shawn Bradley
OJ Mayo
Nick VanExel
Cedric Ceballos
Raef LaFrentz
Avery Johnson
Antawn Jamison

Rest:
Erik Dampier
Chris Kaman
Nick Collison
JJ Barea*
Caron Butler* (Shut up Clint)
Eduardo Najera
Popeye Jones
Walt Williams
Marquis Daniels
Brandon Bass
Brendan Haywood*
Drew Gooden
DeShawn Stephenson*

Not a particular amazing list of ballplayers. The championship squad was pretty nice, I'll admit, but in terms of support...Dirk has had 2 Hall of Famers for any length of time and one of those is named Vince Carter who didn't join Dirk till well beyond the twilight of his career (and only the last two years at that). Terry and Marion have backdoor shots at Hall of Fame votes, the rest of these guys are either flash-in-the-pan stars (Barea, VanExel, JHoward) or strong career grinders (Stackhouse, Finley, LaFrentz). Obviously each statement I make regarding these guys' careers opens up another debate, however, bear with me. Lets look at the Spurs.

Hall of Famers:
David Robinson**
Tony Parker***
Manu Ginobili***

All-Pro:
Sean Elliot*
Michael Finley*
Steve Smith*
Bruce Bowen***(I'm curious what the HoF voters might say here)
Hedo Turkogclu
Robert Horry**(Another one with an outside chance)
Antonio McDyess
Stephen Jackson*

All-Star:
Avery Johnson*
Jaren Jackson*
Mario Elie*
Derek Anderson
Richard Jefferson
Danny Green
Boris Diaw
Devin Brown***

Rest:
Malik Rose**
Rasho Nesterovic
Will Perdue*
Vinny Del-Negro
Steve Kerr**
Antonio Daniels*
Terry Porter
Danny Ferry*
Brent Barry**
Nazr Mohammed
Francisco Elson*
Fabricio Oberto*
Jacque Vaughn*
Matt Bonner*
Kurt Thomas
DeJuan Blair
Kawhi Leonard
Beno Udrih**

I think that's a stronger list. Albeit only 3 other shoe-in HoFers but he played with each of them for several years. Bowen, Horry, McDyess, Steve Smith and Stephen Jackson are as good a group of almost superstars as you're going to find. However, its not like he played with Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant. The twin towers team with Robinson and Duncan, sidekicks Elliot and Elie and the boss himself Avery Johnson, that was a team. The rest of his titles were the big 3 of Parker, Ginobili and himself, a combo which should be included with Bird/McHale/Parish and Kareem/Magic/Worthy.

Conclusion - Duncan had better teams. Seems short, but this is already a book and that would require a movie and two sequels to finish up.

Finally, how did they match-up against each other? First the regular season:

03/4/98 Dirk 11-6 Duncan 26-12
03/27/98 Dirk 2-0 (13 min) Duncan 21-15
04/13/98 Dirk 12-13-4 Duncan 21-11
04/22/98 Dirk 8-5 Duncan 14-10-4
Year 1: Duncan dominated with a year under his belt against the rookie

11/20/99 Dirk 16-12 Duncan 14-17
12/14/99 Dirk 12-2 Duncan 29-12-4
03/16-00 Dirk 19-4 Duncan 10-2
03/21/00 Dirk 13-7 Duncan 26-12-5 (Mavs won)
Year 2: Duncan still in command, but Dirk catching up

11/10/00 Dirk 18-10 Duncan 11-14-4
02/13/01 Dirk 30-10 Duncan 28-15-6-6bl (Spurs won)
02-24-01 Dirk 16-9-4 Duncan 31-13
04-10-01 Dirk 20-7 Duncan 25-10-6
Year 3: One epic duel, and each with a pounding, Duncan still with the edge

12/26/01 Dirk 26-11-3-4st Duncan 53-11-4 (Mavs won in Duncan's only 50 point game)
01/05/02 Dirk 28-14-4 Duncan 29-17-2
03/21/02 Dirk 29-14-4 Duncan 32-14-5
04/06/02 Dirk 26-21-3 Duncan 33-16-5
Year 4: One thing is for sure, they show up to face each other, Duncan's greatest game is ruined by Dirk but otherwise, still seeing Duncan one up his German counterpart.

Dirk missed the first meeting
02/20/03 Dirk 20-6 Duncan 11-6
03/20/03 Dirk 34-12-2 Duncan 25-18-4-4bl
Duncan missed the last meeting
Year 5: Dirk was boss this year, both teams losing when their superstar wasn't present.

Duncan missed the first meeting
11/20/03 Dirk 26-6 Duncan 30-17-5-4bl (Mavs won)
02/26/04 Dirk 23-6-5 Duncan 22-17 (Spurs won)
Duncan missed the last meeting
Year 6: Duncan dealing with injuries has a big game spoiled but gets it back. Much more even competition.

11/24/04 Dirk 23-11 Duncan 27-13
11/30/04 Dirk 21-13-4 Duncan 20-13-2-5bl
01/14/05 Dirk 36-14 Duncan 25-6
Duncan missed their last meeting (Mavs won by 36)
Year 7: Dirk dominates once and matches him step-for-step the other 2. Without Duncan, the Spurs can't handle Nowitzki as he drops 15 in just 21 min in the blowout.

11/05/05 Dirk 34-8 Duncan 18-12-5
01/12/06 Dirk 14-9-6 Duncan 13-14 (Spurs won...weird game)
03/02/06 Dirk 23-11 Duncan 15-6
04/07/06 Dirk 40-10 Duncan 13-9
Year 8: Dirk is in full swing, Duncan can't hand him, and as we'll see later the tide finally turns in the postseason as well.

11/02/06 Dirk 21-11 Duncan 13-10-4
11/24/06 Dirk 31-10 Duncan 29-6
01/05/07 Dirk 36-8 Duncan 18-7-4
04/15/07 Dirk 21-4 Duncan 16-7-6
Year 9: During Dirk's MVP run, Duncan is all but out-classed and if not for the series of Baron Davis' life another epic postseason battle was on the horizon. Blast you Baron Davis!

11/15/07 Dirk 17-8-5 Duncan 24-5
Duncan missed the 2nd meeting
02/28/08 Dirk 28-6 Duncan 31-15
03/23/08 Dirk 11-7-4 Duncan 19-13
Year 10: Duncan comes back with a vengeance and returns the previous year's drumming. Chris Paul prevents another postseason duel between our heroes and then the infamous Robert Horry injury run...

11/04/08 Dirk 30-7 Duncan 19-15
12/09/08 Dirk 30-10 Duncan 32-14-4
Duncan misses the 3rd meeting (His 6th time being out versus Dirk's 1 in the regular season)
03/04/09 Dirk 24-12-5 Duncan 19-12-5
Year 11: Pretty even with a slight advantage to Dirk and then a 1st round meeting in the playoffs.

Duncan missed the first meeting
11/18/09 Dirk 41-12 Duncan 22-14-6
01/08/10 Dirk 26-5 Duncan 31-12-5
Duncan missed the last meeting (8 misses now)
Year 12: Duncan continues nursing injuries and then dropping double doubles but Dirk has the edge. Another first round match-up with a little revenge in the postseason.

11/26/10 Dirk 26-8-5 Duncan 15-8-4
Dirk missed the 2nd
and 3rd meetings
03/18/11 Dirk 23-9 Duncan 22-8
Year 13: On his way to his title, Dirk maintained his recent regular season dominance over Duncan, and even took a page out of his book missing two of their head-to-heads. Memphis' shocker prevented a 3rd straight meeting between these two in the playoffs, what a pity.

01/05/12 Dirk 6-6 (in 23 min) Duncan 10-5 (Spurs win by 22)
01/29/12 Dirk 10-13 Duncan 12-6
03/17/12 Dirk 27-6-4 Duncan 17-4
03-23-12 Dirk 16-2 Duncan 15-12
Year 14: Both superstars look their age in these match-ups. Dirk gets the slight edge again, by my count that's 9 out of the last 10 to Dirk. Both lose tough ones to Durant in the playoffs.

12/23/12 Dirk 8-6 Duncan 15-5-4
12/30/12 Dirk 8-5 Duncan 18-10
Duncan misses again
01/25/13 Dirk 21-11 Duncan 28-19
Year 15: Duncan experiences a renaissance, despite missing yet another match-up, and completely dominates the less-than healthy and old-looking Dirk.

Ok, I have Dirk 9 Duncan 6. By games its Dirk 25 Duncan 26, Dirk with 3 misses while Duncan missed 9.

Here's the playoffs. (If you weren't bouncing down here you're a stronger man than I.

2001 Western Conference Semis (Spurs in 5)
05/05/01 Dirk 9-7 Duncan 31-13
05/07/01 Dirk 19-6 Duncan 25-22-6
05/09/01 Dirk 15-3 Duncan 18-14-3
05/12/01 Dirk 30-9 Duncan 29-18-5
05/14/01 Dirk 42-18-2-6st Duncan 32-20-3-5bl (Spurs won)

    Dirk showed up but Duncan was too much.

2003 Western Conference Finals (Spurs in 6)
05/19/03 Dirk 38-15-2 Duncan 40-15-7 (Mavs won)
05/22/03 Dirk 23-10-2 Duncan 32-15-5
05/23/03 Dirk 15-9 Duncan 34-24-6-6bl
Dirk missed the last 3

   Dirk's injury ended the Mavs hopes (though they did steal one game after he went down)

2006 Western Conference Semis (Mavs in 7)
05/07/06 Dirk 20-14 Duncan 31-13-4
05/09/06 Dirk 21-9 Duncan 28-9-3-4bl
05/13/06 Dirk 27-15 Duncan 35-12
05/15/06 Dirk 28-9 Duncan 31-13-6
05/17/06 Dirk 31-10-4 Duncan 36-12-4
05/19/06 Dirk 26-21-5 Duncan 24-8
05/22/06 Dirk 37-15 Duncan 41-15-6 (Mavs won)

         Epic. Both immortals running on all cylinders. Dirk was just a little better.

2009 Western Conference 1st Round (Mavs in 5)
04/18/09 Dirk 19-8 Duncan 27-9
04/20/09 Dirk 14-6 Duncan 13-11-5
04/23/09 Dirk 20-7 Duncan 4-2 (in 15 min)
04/25/09 Dirk 12-13 Duncan 25-10-7
04/28/09 Dirk 31-9 Duncan 30-8

        Dirk makes the statement here, he is the master now.

2010 Western Conference 1st Round (Spurs in 6)
04/18/09 Dirk 31-7 Duncan 27-8
04/21/09 Dirk 26-10-4 Duncan 25-17
04/23/09 Dirk 35-7 Duncan 25-5-4
04/25/09 Dirk 17-11-4 Duncan 4-11 (Spurs won)
04/27/09 Dirk 15-9 Duncan 11-6 (Mavs won by 22)
04/29/09 Dirk 33-5-4 Duncan 17-10-5-3st-3bl

        Duncan comes back and is aided by a vanishing Josh Howard.

In playoff series its Duncan 3 Dirk 2. In MVPs its Dirk 1 Duncan 0. In titles its Duncan 4 Dirk 1. In names that start with D its Duncan and Dirk 1 Me also 1. It's as close as any comparison of so diametrically opposite players could possibly be. The fading, one-foot hang-in-the-air tongue-wagging 3-point-jacking white dude from Wurzburg versus the rock-solid, perfect-footwork, bank-shot drilling, bug-eyed staring, bounce pass throwing Virgin Islander. I am leaving off one argument point. It is accepted that Dirk Nowitzki is a power forward, that is he plays the 4th position in a classic basketball lineup. Duncan on the other hand is a power forward/center, meaning he plays both the 4th and the 5th spots. Karl Malone is of the opinion Duncan should not be included in the all-time power forward ranks. I am conceding this point because it is completely opinion and is impossible to suggest authoritatively one way or the other except to say the Spurs list him at PF so he kinda has to be.

So, in conclusion I say DIRK NOWITZKI is a better basketball player than Tim Duncan. hands down. (and the 3rd greatest PF, if Larry is a SF which is a whole 'nother ball of wax)

As much as I'm convinced Dirk is/was/will be better there is no right answer here. Absorb the data, go watch them play, make your own choice. And be ready to argue about it, cuz I'm ready.

Here's a couple videos to dwell on as you make your choice:

Dirk - Game 2 2011 Finals, "With the left hand"
Dirk - BIG commercial

Duncan - Game 7 2013 Finals, "Mario Chalmers stopped Tim Duncan"
Duncan- Bill Simmons: Tim Duncan appreciation video

BONUS POST: Braves @ Brewers 7/21-23 weekend series

For the last 5 years or so, I've been attending every game the Atlanta Braves play in Milwaukee. So far I'm 2-13 in those games. Meaning, the Braves have won 2 and lost 13. This is not fun. Everything else about going to see the Braves each year is very fun. I remember seeing the outfield of Diaz-McClouth-Franceour. And then Anderson-Schafer-Diaz, Cabrera-Bourn-Heyward and finally the current Upton-Upton-Heyward this weekend. I've seen Chipper Jones, Tim Hudson and Brian McCann several times. I saw Martin Prado drill a 2-strike homerun 3 years ago and Javy Vazquez throw 6 scoreless. I've seen Derek Lowe and Paul Maholm, Cory Gearrin and Johnny Venters. In short, I've been in Braves-heaven. Usually I sit in the nosebleed-400s, but once I had seats right down the left field line (Garret Anderson could hear me I'm sure) and Jenni and I were right by the visiting dugout during Chipper's final series (we were really close for his final Milwaukee at bat, struck out by Kameron Loe). I look forward to the series every year and they're usually good games, despite the Braves' struggles. One year, Chipper launched a 2-run homer into the right field bleachers to tie the game in the 7th or 8th just to see it slip away. Another year, Heyward crushed a 3 run bomb but we were down 5 and couldn't get the last two (Hoffman shut us down). This year was extra special.

My little man was going to his first baseball game(s). Friday we were joined by Marc and Rachel Tanis (Marc is a Yankees fan, grrrr) and we sat in the 428 section. Chipper wasn't so sure about the whole baseball thing at first. As we were going up the escalator the sound system exploded into a rather loud song and little Chipper gave me one pouty look which said "You brought me here to die." and began whimpering. After some soothing hugs and a little mommy time, he recovered and seemed to enjoy the remainder of the game. Which was more than I could say, Wily Peralta was dealing and the Bravos mustered 2 hits en route to a 2-0 shut-out. Huddy took the tough-luck loss while the Brewers got a solo shot from Jean Segura (the dude can play) and a run(s)-saving catch from Aoki.

Game 2 & 3 were just Jenni and I. Saturday Chipper was lovin it. He yelled, gleefully, along with the crowd a few times, got lots of compliments on his sweet sunglasses and took a nap. The Braves however, weren't any better. Hand-Gozelanny-Badenhop-Gonzalez-Axford-Rodriguez combined to shut us out on 4 hits (2 hit games from BJ Upton and Andrelton Simmons). K-Rod notched his 300th save, which he then comically thanked his "family for this award" in the post-game interview. Once again the Brewers got enough offense to beat a team that didn't score and won 3-0.

Sunday was so much better. Unfortunately, I think we're cursed. We were heading out the door in a bit of a rush, kinda typical with a 3 month old, and I managed to forget the tickets. I didn't remember them till we were 20 min from the park, almost an hour along the way. Back we went, guaranteeing we'd miss the first 3 innings. Of course, I turn on the radio and the Braves are in business in the first. Schafer doubles, Simmons singles, Heyward K's, Freeman K's, Upton BB's and McCann launches an opposite field GRAND SLAM! With one swing all of the offensive troubles from the weekend had vanished. We had also scored all but one of the runs our pitching had given up in the last two games. I was ecstatic, and ticked, but at least we were winning. By the time we got to our seats, Chris Johnson and Jordan Schafer had added solo shots and Maholm had thrown 4 strong innings. We didn't see any of the home runs. In the 6th, as I expected, the Brewers staged a rally, Aoki and Segura got on (they were on all series) and Logan Schafer (no relation to Jordan) who had come on when Carlos Gomez left with a shoulder injury on a spectacular catch (we of course missed) singled up the middle for 2 runs. Then Jonathan Lucroy (easily my favorite Brewer) blasted a fastball to dead center about half-way between the scoreboard and the top of the wall to make it 6-4. I was convinced my arrival meant now only the Brewers could score and we would lose the game. However, Maholm settled and didn't give up anything else and departed with a 2 run lead after the 5th. Avila threw a strong 6th while the Braves scuffled against the Brewers pen yet again. In the 7th things got hairy. Cory Gearrin came in and couldn't throw strikes. After a couple walks and a really strong at bat from Logan Schafer again (ugh) the bases were loaded. Fredi went and got Jordan Walden and a confrontation was brewing. With two outs and the bases loaded Roenicke sent Juan Francisco up to face Walden and try to drive in the 2 runs they needed. Francisco blasted a Grand Slam in one of his last games with Atlanta, so I was not calm. However, Walden throws 98+ and Francisco popped one straight up which McCann caught and the threat was averted. "Thanks Huey" I yelled, something only a nearby Braves fan would've appreciated. The Brewers sent out Henderson to try and hold it at a 2 run game, but wouldn't you know it, the Braves CAN score while I'm watching. Uggla, of all people, slapped a 2-strike right-side rbi single through a shifted infield to plate our 7th run. Brewers fans streamed out of the ballpark as Kimbrel set down the Brewers in order to close out the 7-4 win. VICTORY!

So Chipper's got his first game and his first Braves win. Also managed to get our first diaper change at a ballpark and drink approx 30 ounces of milk (which is a lot). Can't wait to do it again next year!

The NBA, Dirk better than Duncan and other tidbits

I love sports. I love them in a "fanatical" sense, a true fan. I am an Atlanta Braves (but you already knew that), Minnesota Vikings, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Cincinnati Reds, Andy Roddick (may he be retired in peace), USA fan. I love baseball first, basketball next and the NFL close behind. I will sit and watch Tennis, Lacrosse and Soccer without complaint. I have digested more stats in the MLB and NBA then most people will ever care to even hear. So, if you are not a Sports person, this and the following several posts will probably not interest you. However, I challenge you to broaden your horizons, these are multi-billion dollar industries, there's no shame in knowing about how they work. And besides that, they're fun.

These are general thoughts I've come to while watching and becoming a fan of the NBA, my second favorite sports league.

First of all, it's better than college basketball. That's right. WAY better. There is no college basketball program more "fundamental" than the San Antonio Spurs, so you can take your "they play iso-crap" argument and stuff it. Every single professional basketball player played in a college, minus the few high school jumpers, so every single one of them is at least that good, so I'm not listening to a "they don't play as high a level ball" argument either. Besides, the offensive sets being run by even the least productive teams (say the Hornets, formerly Bobcats, or the Pelicans, formerly Hornets) are still more complex and more ingenious than the most prestigious college programs can afford to attempt. Izzo, Boeheim, Kryzewski, Williams and any other coach you care to mention all have or do hope to coach in the pros not vice versa. In fact, they jump at the chance to coach in the Olympics. In short, anyone who thinks the NCAA Men's Basketball Association is possibly better than the NBA is flat wrong and needs to watch more basketball.

Secondly, the greatest player in the history of the game is Michael Jordan. I am 100% on the MJ train. I understand the arguments for Wilt and Kareem and don't understand but realize insanity can be persuasive in regards to Russell. Mike did everything, he scored 30+ a game for several seasons, he produced in the playoffs, he is the 3rd all-time scorer, he won 6 rings, he retired 3 times, he's a first ballot HOFer and I'm lucky I got to see part of his career. My first clear memories of the NBA are of the '97 title between Jordan and Malone. I'm a Jazz fan, mainly because of that team with Stockton, Hornacek, Russel, Malone and Ostertag but I'll always be a Jordan fan too. This leads me to give my top 10 players all-time, something which is argued about among the men in my family probably twice a month.

1. Michael Jordan
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lou Alcinder)
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Shaquille O'Neal
5. Kobe Bryant
6. Erving Magic Johnson
7. Larry Bird
8. LeBron James
9. Bill Russell
10. Karl Malone

Shaq above Kobe and Karl on the list instead of Duncan usually draws the most criticism, but I stand on my 10.

Thirdly, I have irrational dislike for certain teams and players. Sometimes there is a rationality on the surface, but really there's just this negative sense when they succeed and a positive sense when they fail. Reggie Miller, LeBron James, Tony Parker, Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce are the best examples. Hence I'm forcing myself to root for San Antonio to pull out Game 7 tonight and believe that Ginobili and Green were both fouled. (The Spurs would be an organization that I irrationally dislike as well)

Finally, I have an equally strong and possibly irrational man crush on some players. When I first started watching it was Bryon Russell, then it was Scottie Pippen, Jerry Stackhouse, Michael Redd, David Lee and Wesley Matthews. Most dominantly though, is my fanatic support of Dirk Nowitski. I honestly believe, and think I can prove, Dirk is a more talented and more accomplished player than Tim Duncan. That had Dirk been teamed up with David Robinson, Steve Smith, Stephen Jackson, Michael Finley, Ginobili and Parker, the Spurs would have won 6 straight titles. However, this could probably be stored in the "crazy" file.

In any case, if you're ever itching to talk basketball I can go 10 rounds with the best of them and would love it.


The Braves split a 4 gamer with the Mets, a couple rough ones on Tuesday bookmarked by good wins Monday and yesterday. Alex Wood looked real solid starting Tues and adds one more young arm to Atlanta's already insane future. Medlen, Minor, Beachy, Teheran, Sean Gilmartin, JR Graham, Wood and Lucas Sims all are or project to be top of the rotation starters. Not to mention 2013 1st round pick Justin Hursh. Tony DeMacio and company are real good at what they do, and they scout pitching.

Father's Day Thoughts

Had my first father's day. It was nice, went out to eat at Red Robin. Going to grill out with my dad on Thursday. Several people asked me what it was like to be having my first father's day. Didn't really feel different or weird, but their questions got me thinking, what do I want father's day to mean to me? The answer centers around my dad. I decided that if nothing else, I want to have the same friendship with my son as I have with my dad.

How do I get that? I don't know. If I did I'd be a billionaire public speaker and author. But I'm going to suggest some things here. Just a few, another short one.

First of all, I'm going to play with my son. My dad has always played with me. He still beats me in basketball, boggle, ping pong and chess on occasion. He and I have spent untold hours doing nerdy things with spreadsheets and baseball stats. Before just recently he was always good for a game of catch, recently he can only sustain one cycle of 2-on-2 a week without shattering into a million pieces...just kidding. kind of.

Secondly, I want to teach him stuff. I like to think I'm pretty smart, I've learned every ounce of what I know (and how to know it) from my parents. With no disrespect to my college-graduate high school teacher mother, mostly from my dad. I love history, philosophy and sports. So does he. I want to get a Master's Degree and maybe a Doctorate, he has both. Am I a daddy's boy? I don't know, you'd have to ask him. We've had our disagreements. Which leads to my third and final point.

Third, I want him to argue with me. I respect my dad a million times more than another father I'm associated with because of one key point, I can disagree with my dad and discuss it without repercussion. We have tussled on topics ranging from NBA history to epistemology and back. No one, and I mean no one, can go head to head with me in a game of debate except my dad. That may be arrogant, but I dare you, bring it. However, my dad owns my respect, not only because he's smart, but he is Always willing to participate in a discourse and often takes me to the cleaners.

So, that's my goal as a father. Be who my dad was to me. As I close, I cannot express how extraordinarily lucky (which means blessed) I am to have a dad like mine. I'll be lucky (again, blessed) if my son feels even remotely similarly.



Braves getting a major surge from "Fredo" Freeman. Last night he launched a 1 out, 2 run walk off homer breaking up a shut out in the process. Pretty awesome. Evan Gattis has hit the DL, strained oblique, so that may allow for Beachy to slide into the 25 man easier, but still leaves questions as to who the 5 starters will be. Friday will Teheran vs Peralta, will be awesome.

A Theology of Regret

     My wife would not hesitate to tell you that she and I come from very different backgrounds. One of the areas that has moved to the forefront of our relationship is our mindset towards decisions. On one hand, I make decisions with irrational confidence. I launch myself towards a door, even if its only open a crack, merely based on a "gut feeling" or "seems like God is orchestrating this." I have no fear of failing, failure is inevitable and the mortar with which we build our lives. Jenni has lived with a different mindset for most of her life. A caution to the extreme which is more concerned with one thing above all else: regret.

     Every decision is painstakingly slow if the primary thought is, "I really don't want to pick the wrong thing, what if I regret it?" There are several logical and theological problems with this mindset, and I've been slowing showing my very teachable wife the wonder a life free from worry can be. So, I'll share some of my thoughts here.

     I don't want to call it regret-free because that sounds too much like the YOLO, live life to the fullest crowd. But because I don't have a good name for it yet, I'd love your help by the way, I'll call it just that. To be regret-free you have to have certain presuppositions.

First - God is in control. It all comes down to this, the rest of the thought process revolves around God's sovereign authority over everything. From Creation to Christ to the 2nd Coming and Cosmic Ending (oh yeah) we are taught one thing above all else, God > _____. Regret-Free living is "God > _____" thinking. (Copyright 2013 PrinceofSaxony)

Second - God loves you. His sovereignty would be the most frightening truth possible were it not for His love. However, knowing His love compels us to Trust Him. As Paul says in Romans 8:28-29, Saxon Paraphrase Version (SPV) "God has planned out everything for His children's gain, the ones He handpicked and saved and is perfecting to be like Christ."

--- Side note, I prefer to paraphrase scripture for two reasons, #1 - I try not to fill my writing with quotes, this is supposed to be what I think #2 - You don't truly understand something until you can paraphrase it ---

Third - Sometimes there is no right choice. This may be the toughest one for some people to swallow. But lets face it, Big Mac or Double Quarter Pounder? They're both so good and yet they're both so so bad. Poor example, I know, but the concept should be clear, millions of times each day we make innocuous decisions, why fret over them? This shirt or that shirt? Apple or Banana? Apple or Microsoft? (We both know there's a right answer to that one...Microsoft) The list goes on and on. I have seen people, my beautiful wife in particular, slave over such simple decisions because they're afraid of making the "wrong" one. As Kevin DeYoung so elegantly put it, "Just Do Something" (I have the book, haven't sat down and read all the way through it, too busy just doing something I suppose).

     So, there's the foundation to regret-free living. Recognizing when a decision is not right/wrong, acknowledging God's love for me, and keeping "God >" at the front of my mind. This leads to the ultimate question, what if two good people disagree on what's right/wrong? How do I know who to listen to? "If I speak I am condemned, but if I stay silent...I am damned." Catch 22s, "rock and a hard place" situations, strain even the calmest regret-free lifer. However, if God is truly in control then no situation find myself in is the "wrong" one. Also, if God truly loves me, then I will be able to handle any difficulty with His help. I don't have to worry that I lost some chance to serve, or lost some reward somewhere, we can't go back in time. Regret leads to despair and in despair lurks death. I would venture that a sizable majority of suicides stem from regret. Granted, some are spurred by impending consequences but the thought pattern that results in the false-escape of suicide most often is a cesspool of regret and despair.

     The Theology of Regret also introduces an enormous amount of stress into your life. I sounds goofy, but living regret-free is healthier. Not YOLO, gonna party like the Epicureans, regret-free. But no-regret, make a choice and live in the confidence that 1 Peter 4:19 is true: (SVP) "We endure this life knowing that our King, the Creator God, who we can trust explicitly, is holding us in His hands." regret-free.

     Should we regret sin? No. and yes. But mostly no. Did Christ die on the cross for my sin? Yes. Did He die for my sins already committed, that is past sins? Yes. But didn't He also die for the sins yet to be committed? Of course. Does this mean I should go out and sin? Of course not! But, Romans 8:1 reminds us of the most liberating truth, "For Christ's children, the verdict is not guilty." (SVP) Hey, David wept over his sin. True, and he begged for forgiveness. He didn't write a Psalm that said, "People of Israel, I have massively erred and therefore must remove myself from the ministry God has appointed me to and forever be marked a failure in the Christian Life" although if you look around in today's Evangelical circles, you'd think he did. True repentance releases regret. Let that sink in, cuz its HUGE. Place your sins at the cross and let Christ give you the gift of new life. Let me rephrase, live in the freedom and blessing Christ died to secure for you, not in the bondage of guilt Satan works tirelessly to maintain.

     Are you living in regret? Stop it, and don't worry about it if you think you are, cuz that's just more regret about being in regret, and it can cycle for awhile, just ask my wife. Instead, change your thinking altogether, through the renewing of your mind by the power of the Holy Spirit, and focus on "God >" and His undying (and dying but resurrected) love for you.

  Braves just dropped 3 straight to San Diego, ugh, but we pitched pretty well, just can't get any consistency from the lineup. Nasty, no good, horrible parallels between this team and late 90s Braves teams are cropping up, but I'll ignore them and maybe they'll go away. Home for 3 with the Mets and 4 with the Giants before coming up here to MILWAUKEE!!!! WHIPEEEEEEE!!!! Already gots my tix for all 3 games, come out and support America's Team - if you don't you're a traitor and should watch out for the NSA cuz they're watching you.

The Kingdom of Heaven

Some thoughts, though not organized well because sometimes I just need to ramble.

Seemingly contradictory statements in Scripture are where most of the major Christian controversies are born. The most discussed in Evangelical circles are Calvinism vs Arminianism, the Atonement, and the Kingdom. The first two I may devote a post or series of posts too in the future, but today I'd like to tackle the third.

The contradictions that introduce the argument come straight from the teachings of Christ, so suggesting that they truly are contradictions is a gross misunderstanding and near-blasphemous misrepresentation of Christ Himself. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like..." beings several Parables which are given directly to His disciples. Couple those with the Sermon on the Mount and several statements Christ made to various people and you get a somewhat hazy but important theology of the Kingdom. Here's the Saxon Paraphrase Bible version.

So, open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 3...

John the Baptist is preaching and he says "Jesus is coming" but he uses the words "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

then in chapter 4

Christ preaches the exact same thing as John - "I'm here" but He also uses these words "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"

chapter 5

He gathers a group of followers, people who were interested in Him because of His miracles, His words and probably curiosity. He describes to them how a Kingdom citizen is to live. He describes a moral person with a love for God and man. He describes someone interested in what God thinks and with a keen sense of the suffering of others. He describes someone who isn't selfish, isn't greedy, isn't blood-thirsty, and most of all isn't prideful. He uses contemporaries (the Pharisees) as an example of how not to be a Kingdom citizen. He is describing a culture, but a culture of ideas and paradigms not actions. When he says "blessed are the poor" He means "happiness comes from spiritual things, not material" when he says "love your enemy" he means "we are in a struggle for souls, not territory, we are not trying to conquer the world, we are trying to convert the masses". This is not a description of thousands of years from then. This is not Heaven in the sense of Zion with the elders, angels, beasts, and the golden streets. This is Heaven, Christ reigning over the people of His church, His own flesh and blood, the Body of the Living King. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

chapter 10

Christ commissions his "army" to go an preach the same thing "I'm here, your King has arrived" using those same words "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand"

chapter 11

The Kingdom of Heaven is filled with Saints, and those Saints are the most valuable things in God's Universe

chapter 12

Christ casts out demons either by Satan (illogical) or by God (logical) and then draws the corollary that if it is by God then the Kingdom is here

chapter 13

starting at verse 24,

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a group of people, some of which are followers of Christ, some of which are not --- and they won't be separated until its time to judge finally.

now at verse 31,

The Kingdom of Heaven is greatness born out of small, specific actions, thoughts and ideas

verse 33

The Kingdom of Heaven should (and will) permeate every aspect of your life

verse 44 & 45

The Kingdom of Heaven should be valued above all else

verse 47

The Kingdom of Heaven will be purified, and the judgement will make sure of it -- this and the sower shows that at first it will not be pure, and that it will need to be purified

chapter 16

Here's where you've got some "contradiction"

Christ hands Peter the "keys to the Kingdom" (seemingly future tense) and then declares that those present will "not taste death till they see the coming of the Son of Man in His Kingdom" (also seemingly future) I think these back me up from my previous claims in the Sermon on the Mount. Christ was telling them that His crucifixion, resurrection (the coming of the Son of Man in His Kingdom) and Ascension were very near (even could be described as "at hand"), so near the listeners would not have time to die.

How do you describe getting saved to a 5 year old? Jesus Christ is coming to live in your heart.
What is He doing there? Reigning. Unlike the sin that before had "reigned in your mortal body" He is King now. The Church is His body and the Kingdom is then/now/then. Or as my dad says (he didn't originate it, just "bleeds it" haha) already, not yet.

So, am I an amillennial, Heaven Forbid! The same common sense approach to Kingdom teaching allows for a common sense Eschatology suggesting that when John describes a 1000 yr period of physical a Kingdom with particular defining aspects (such as Saints judging Angels, the reinstatement of Israel, the bodily reign of Christ in Jerusalem, the binding and eventual loosing of Satan and the final judgment) he isn't drawing pictures.


Next time, possibly I'll address missions in light of the Kingdom mandates, or not I'll see how I'm feeling.

Braves are going through a bit of an up and down stretch. JUpton is mired in a horrible slump which has countered the emergence of Uggla's and BJ's production. It is becoming evident that the reason the Braves are good is because their starting pitching is phenomenal. That leads to a difficult query - who does Brandon Beachy replace? BB was the staff ace, no doubt about it, before he had to get TJ. Now Minor is the 2nd or 3rd best lefty in the NL (Kershaw, Lee, Corbin and Minor is some order), Medlen is the guy who started 25 straight wins last year, Maholm has been stellar, Huddy is a future HoFamer and Teheran has given up more than 2 runs only 3 times over his last 9 starts. I hate to say it, but either Juilo gets sent down or Maholm gets traded, but we better get half the farm and an impact now reliever or Frank's got some 'splainin to do.

Conspiratorialism

Some of my favorite conspiracies, you decide if they're legit.

All of the high profile assassinations and attempts, including Kennedy, Reagan, King, Lincoln etc, have been endorsed by at least a faction of the Federal Government in one way or another.

Sounds pretty far fetched until you start looking at the arguments. First Kennedy, the other shooter of course, but also the rest of the family. Its like a real life Final Destination they're all going to die unnaturally its just a matter of how and when. Which, by the way, is one of the stupidest movie series ever conceived of, but I must see them all. Is it not possible that war with Russia was on the horizon? The Cold War was in full affect. Kennedy side-stepped it nicely a couple of times but could he again? Maybe somebody knew he was done playing around. Maybe somebody knew the next time the Russians pushed he was going to push back. I don't know, just seems fishy.

Ok, what about Reagan? Have you checked his ratings? What a boost that was, to be able to connect to the American people from a Hospital bed. Am I saying he lied to us about it? Maybe. Or maybe an aid thought it would help but kept him out of the loop. He was a professional actor, maybe he just played like he got shot. He was the President, he could fabricate some forms pretty easily. Just saying.

Sure....what about King? Listen, Malcolm X was the real threat. If King hadn't been shot he would've run for President. If he had run for President he probably would have won. If he had been President Malcolm's people would have been in the White House. If you're a CIA analyst and you see that scenario you act fast. Why not shoot Malcolm? They did. The also shot King because he was the figure head that would place the radicals in power. Not saying I would do it, I just see the thought process.

Whatever...you can't say they shot Lincoln? Well, that one is actually the easiest. Booth was a disgruntled individual. The South had been defeated meaning life as he, and anyone else, knew it was about to change drastically. Also, as I've highlighted in earlier posts, Lincoln had made a lot of enemies with his spit-in-the-face-of-the-constitution leadership style. How easy would it be to justify killing a man who was in many ways responsible for more American deaths than anyone in history, to this very day. Hmmmmm...

Convincing right? I don't believe any of that but it interests me when people do. The moon landing? Sure, they faked the moon landing, tell that to John Glenn or Buzz Aldrin and you'll be swallowing your teeth in a second. 911? No government, no matter how corrupt, kills thousands and cripples its own economy to start a land war in Asia (the biggest blunder possible, barely edging out a battle of wits against a Sicilian with death on the line).

Wow, if you finished reading this, you're awesome. Sorry I didn't have much today. Tuesday I'll explain my position regarding the Kingdom of Heaven. Hint, I'm not classic.

Braves swept the Pirates. 7 game lead on the Phils in the East (Gnats are in 3rd!!!!) and indisputable awesomeness. Gattis, JUpton, Freeman and Simmons all belong in the All-Star game. Kimbrel and Minor too. I can only imagine how good this team would be with Chipper, even at his advanced age most experts agreed he could be a valuable platoon candidate, DH or pinch hitter. Maybe he'll come back for the stretch run? I can dream anyway.

At the Movies: Les Miserables *Spoilers*

This is a day late, and as always I'm a dollar short, but yesterday was a full day.

 I LOVE the book and musical versions of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. So I was excited when I heard they were making a movie. I got more excited when I heard Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe were going to be in it. This excitement increased yet again when I discovered it was to be a motion picture version of the musical with full songs and orchestration. That excitement waned a bit when Anne Hathaway was revealed to be Fantine, but I never really liked Fantine anyway so no loss.

I'll address the movie and then the music. The scenery was awesome. The darkness that permeates the story was beautifully represented in the Gothic French architecture and grotesque costuming/makeup. The tragedy of the rebellion, its futility and the fanaticism of its participants was communicated clearly. At least two people related to me wept at certain scenes including the deaths of Gavroche, Javert and Valjean. The last couple movies I've seen Crowe in, he's been fair-to-midland. In Body of Lies he was not amazing and in Robin Hood he was decent but in Les Mis he didn't steal the show which Javert is very capable of doing. I'd give him a C-. This of course does not detract from his exceptional body of work including personal favorites Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind. Jackman was fan-tas-tic. He was not Wolverine, he was not Angier, he was Jean Valjean. Especially early in the film I lost him and was deep inside Valjean's damaged psyche. Great performance, A. Hathaway is not my favorite. Her only good role as of yet is Red in Hoodwinked, which if you haven't seen stop reading this and go watch it, its that good. She was ok as Fantine, definitely had the depression and despair down. At one point I wondered if she was channeling Gollom a little bit when Javert was threatening to arrest her.In any case, I wasn't weeping when she passed, B-. Marius, Enjolras, Cosette and Eponine were all decently cast. They each had strengths and weaknesses, the most glaring weakness being Cosette. As a group I'd say B+. Sacha Baron Cohen is one of those guys that leads me to investigate everything he does. So much funny, so much talent, so little conscience. He managed to be the only character in the film with a French accent which is obviously a plus seeing as every character is French. (Gavroche used cockney, an urban British accent, which is laughably stupid.) The Thenardiers fit the parts and did well in their limited roles, A. The only other character of interest was the priest, played by Colm Wilkinson. If you've heard the songs Jackman sang, you probably heard this guy singing them. He is one of the greatest singers I've ever heard and it turned out was a more than capable actor. Bravo production crew for getting one of the greats, A++.

Now for the music. It was, in a word, meh. However, I did not go into it thinking I was going to be getting the 10th Anniversary dream cast. Which is definitely worth the 2 hours. However, some of the music was well below snuff. Russell Crowe was horrible. Ok, we all knew that. Hathaway was also less than good, but she was emotive, for what its worth, so I tolerated it. Cosette was horrible and obnoxious. In the book and play you're supposed to fall in love with Cosette with Marius. Not happening here. Marius and the other revolutionaries were great. Enjolras in particular had a wonderful sound. I could listen to them sing for long stretches. The Thenardiers were better than I expected, Madame Thenardier (more famously Bellatrix Lestrange) was quite good actually. Cohen kept up. I already mentioned Wilkinson. That leaves Jackman. The whole movie hinged on whether or not he could handle telling the story in song. Not just any song, but some of the most beautiful and extremely challenging songs on the stage. He nailed it. His Who Am I? was breathtaking. His One Day More was very good and his Bring Him Home was good as well. The only complaint is he wasn't Colm and that's not fair to anybody.

So, in conclusion. Great movie, I loved it. Be aware the Thenardiers are dirty people and Fantine is driven to darkness.

On a philosophical note. The musical and now movie, have a cross agenda from the book. In Hugo's novel, contrast is the driving force. Contrast between Valjean and Javert, between Marius and Valjean, between Cosette and Eponine, between Fantine and the Thenardiers, between the revolutionaries and the criminals, and finally (and I believe ultimately) between Valjean and Monsieur Thenardier. Valjean and Thenardier start in the same place - the mud. Valjean asks for mercy, grants grace, gives love and receives blessing. Thenardier cheats, steals, kills, loots and eventually stands alone in the gutter with no one and nothing calling down curses on the God he thinks abandoned him. This powerful theme is completely lost on the comedic character in the musical but you can't have everything I suppose.

Haven't decided what's on the docket for tomorrow, tune in to find out! Now on to watch the Braves and Pirates play the MLB TV free game of the day!

BONUS POST: A's @ Brewers 6/4

Last night had the privilege of participating in the time-honored tradition of going to a ballgame with your dad. I get gas at BP for only one reason, and that reason is free Brewers tickets. I've already gone once this year (see my last BONUS POST) and hope to go at least 5 more times. Pops wasn't busy (at least comparatively) and so we decided to take in a game at the old ballpark.

When the game finally ended at 10:45 pm we were both glad we came. A brilliant pitching performance by AJ Griffin was ruined by some poor relief appearances and series of clutch hits by the Brew Crew. In the bottom of the 10th, Yuni Betancourt walked off with his gapper off of sidewinder Pat Neshek into right that scored the speedy Carlos Gomez from first. Had it not been for the game the 2nd basemen Erick Sogard wouldn't have even attempted to throw him out, it wasn't even close.

Several clutch things occurred to get the game to that point. First of all, Kyle Loshe didn't fold after giving up a pair in the first. For the second game in a row I was walking up the ramps while the opposing team was homering in the first inning. Yeonis Cespedes, who is rapidly becoming one of my favorites, drilled a ball into the right center bleachers with Coco Crisp on base. When we heard that as we found our seats, we figured Loshe would get shelled at that at least there would be a lot of runs. However, he went 6 strong only allowing one other run, an absolutely annihilated missile to right center off the bat of the same Yeonis Cespedes in the 6th. I tweeted "I've never seen a homer leave the ballpark as fast as Cespedes' 2nd, holy #crushed." Check this baby out. It doesn't look nearly as awesome in the video, but it left the park before he reached 1st and never really got higher than the bottom of the scoreboard. Destroyed. But, Loshe still didn't cave.

Secondly, Jean Segura hit a two-rbi triple off of lefty Sean Doolittle in the 8th. The ball barely sneaked by 6'8" 1st baseman Nate Freiman into the corner scoring Rickie Weeks and Nori Aoki. Then, after Ryan Cook blew Ryan Braun away, Am Ram blooped a broken bat single into center completing the comeback and tying the game at 3 apiece.

None of this would have mattered if the following pitchers hadn't completed scoreless innings; Tom Gorzelanny, Brandon Kintzler, Micheal Gonzalez, Francisco Rodriguez and John Axford. Essentially the whole Brewers pen pitched, a pen which is much maligned and for good reason. However, despite Gonzalez loading the bases, each pitched extremely effectively and gave Milwaukee (and Axford) a W.

Fun game. Next one I'm going to will be game 1 of the 3 game series with Atlanta. Marc Tanis should be joining us so that will be fun.