Things we New Yorkers take seriously

October 3rd, 2005


New York has been in a state of pretty high tension for the last week or so. Verious serious matters were being decided, but there was practically nothing the common man could do. For all the powerlessness, people have been talking in the streets, the delis, the pizzerias. You see, the Yankees and the Red Sox came into the last three games of the season with the Yankees having only a one game lead -- and the last three games were in Boston. As it turns out, both teams made the playoffs, though the Yankees retained their first-place finish (their records were tied, but the Yankees led the season record between the two teams); Boston goes in as the wild card team. Crisis averted, for the moment at least.

On a much more serious and joyful note (particularly since I really didn't have any desire for the Yankees to make the playoffs, and I don't even care much for the Red Sox), two ladies, a mother and a daughter, made professions of faith this past week. They were led to the Lord in conversations with church members during the days after Pastor Stagno's Wednesday night message on Revelation. Speaking of which, his series continues to go smashingly, as he evidences his abilities as an original thinker and as a teacher. I really wish he could have been the one teaching my undergraduate college course on this book. Attendance for the series continues to be good.

And on a less serious but also joyful note, my Giants routed the St. Louis Rams. Everyone pretty much expected them to win, though I don't know that anyone expected them to force five turnovers, Tiki Barber to rush for over 100 yards, and Eli Manning to throw for nearly 300 yards with 4 touchdowns and no interceptions. Considering Peyton also threw for over 250 with 4 touchdowns and no interceptions, it was a really good week to be a Manning. Something else I don't think anyone predicted: at this point in the season, Eli has 9 touchdown passes to Peyton's 6.

And how about those Chargers? Practically every prediction had New England beating them, not them destroying New England. I said I didn't know if they could beat New England, but if they kept playing like they did against the Giants, I didn't know how anyone could beat them. Well, they kept playing like that. And even New England couldn't handle it. In fact, the Giants scored more points against them than New England did, if I remember correctly.

Oh, anyone who's interested in a thought-provoking (whether you agree with it or not) socio-political essay ought to take the time to swing by www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2005-09-11-1.html by Orson Scott Card. Very interesting.

Okay...looks like this has some pretty nifty formatting errors with the font size that I'm not sure how to fix. I guess it goes in as is. Sorry about that, all.