These Five Questions are sorta lame.

1. Are you superstitious?
Nah. It’s funny to think about sometimes, but actual superstition is bunk.

2. What extremes have you heard of someone going to in the name of superstition?
Not sure…

3. Believer or not, what’s your favorite superstition?
It’s funny to see some of the superstitions that coaches and ball players have during games.

4. Do you believe in luck? If yes, do you have a lucky number/article of clothing/ritual?
I think luck is an intangible thing. I think you can describe someone or something as being lucky. But I don’t think luck is something that is tangible…does that make sense?

5. Do you believe in astrology? Why or why not?
Um, I think it’s wrong, based on the Bible.

Last night the #6 Mississippi State Bulldogs traveled to Columbia, SC to take on Rick’s favorite Gamecocks of USC. There were many, many Bulldog fans thinking this would be the toughest game left on our schedule. I thought we would win the game, but it would be tough to do so. I wasn’t able to listen to the game because of some duties at church. But I was able to sneak out and catch the score here and there in the 2nd half.

Up 4 with 15 min left. Down 6 with 10 min left. Down 8 with 8 min left. Down 12 with just under 6 min left. I was able to start listening with 4 min left. Down about 8 or so. Then Winsome Frazier goes off and steals, rebounds, lays up, and scores a few shots. The Bowers hits a 3 to bring it back w/in 3. Then it’s nip and tuck. Then we’re down 3 with 11 seconds. Bowers takes the ball, runs up to a gamecock and pops a big time 3 in his face to tie the game.

Dogs win in OT. We’re now 20-1, 9-1 in the SEC. We might be good this year. We go to Bud Walton Arena this weekend, were we’ve never won, to take on the Arkansas Pigs.

Can we do it?

Oh, here’s a picture of Rick at the ballgame after the loss.

Some game stories
From the Clarion Ledger
From The Greenville News
From ESPN
From The State (Columbia’s paper)

G.Man always has a set of questions each Friday. I already attempt to do a Friday Five (at least by weekend’s end) so I may start trying to answer them at some point midweek each week. Here’s today’s entry

1. What did you think of the Half Time show of the Super Bowl?
Even before the boobie flash, I thought it was pretty raunchy. But when you put a member of the Jackson family up there with Timberlake, what do you expect?

2. In an analogy to the Carlie Brucia case in Florida ….how long would it take for your church to find a body?
Not familar with the case….I’ll have to brush up on it.

3. What is one thing you are doing for your love on Valentines?
Can’t tell you just yet…she reads this thing too.

4. If you were speaking on love in the next few weeks; what would be your main point?
That love thinks of others before self. That it is more than a feeling. And that you cannot force it. I’d find a way to make all three of those into ONE point.

5. If your family was on Survivor; which family member would you vote off first?
My mom. She’d be having a fit for a cig and that would be pushing everyone else over the edge.

6. What TV show is one that you just can’t miss?
Either Survivor or Alias.

7. What rivalry did you think was the best this past week in Sports?
Huh? It’s gotta be MSU and UMiss, of course.

Bonus:

A. If you were a car; what type of car would you be?
A Honda Accord. Pretty basic, reliable, and with a generic classiness.

B. What part of the Bible are you currently reading?
Ephesians

Yesterday was a big milestone in my life. I hit the 30 year mark. Sheesh. To be very, very honest it doesn’t seem that big of a deal. Don’t feel any different than 24. But The Wife kept thinking it was a big deal. She told me she’d be in charge of our youth group meeting last night “since it was my birthday” and all. I kinda wondered if she was up to something. Little things were happening the past few days that I didn’t really press for info on. I usually press for any and all details.

But I thought she’d have a cake or something at Youth that night and then it’d be a normal night. But I get there about 15 til 6 like normal..and there are tons of cars all around. Turns out the gym was full of folks! Very cool. Big cake. Lots of pictures. Lots of gag gifts. Lots of friends. Lots of support.

Just another reason The Wife is the coolest!

Seems Rick from over at Rick1J13is getting pretty cocky about his Gamecocks. He thinks that since they’re ranked somewhere around #24 in the country that they can hang with the Mighty, Mighty Bulldogs (soon to be #6 in the country, I might add.) While in all honesty, I do think that this might be the most difficult game left on our schedule, I was still condifent enough to make a wager with him…non-monetary, of course.

The loser of Wednesday night’s game (that means RICK) will have to show the team logo of the opponents teams (The Bulldogs) on his blog until his team wins again. So you know that I know have more of an interest in the game than before. Sadly, it will not be on television. And I have multiple church duties on
Wednesday nights. But Rick has the game being played his own back yard (Columbia) and isnt’ sure he’s going to go. Some fan he is…heh heh.

Good luck, my friend.

Yeah, it’s Sunday, and these aren’t the best questions for a Friday Five, but here we go anyway.

1. What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
In highschool I walked under a big bridge that crosses over a river on the catwalk. Then a friend and I walked a few hundred yards up stream, then crossed over the TOP of the big rail road bridge there. It wasn’t that dangerous, but it could have been. I’ll tell the story later this week.

2. What one thing would you like to try that your mother/friend/significant other would never approve of?
I don’t really know of anything that The Wife wouldn’t let me attempt because of a Danger Factor. There are some crazy things that she’d say are a waste of money, though. She’d probably be right.

3. On a scale of 1-10, what’s your risk factor? (1=never take risks, 10=it’s a lifestyle)
6.5 maybe?

4. What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you as a result of being bold/risky?
I got married to a way cool lady. That risk of rejection was heart rending. But she said “Yes” and here we are now.

5. … and what’s the worst?
Hmm….can’t think of a good answer right now.

Today is a HUGE home game for the Bulldogs. They’re sitting at #7 in the country and are hosting our biggest rival. Tickets are no where to be found. We couldn’t find any tickets so we’d resigned our afternoon to be sitting in front of the television at my grandmother’s house.

My birthday is tomorrow (the 8th) but it’s on a Sunday and that gets in the way of having a ‘free’ day to do stuff. Anyway, I’m heading to bed last night and pick up a card w/ my name on the outside of the envelope. It’s a birthday card. Early. I open it up and there are two lower level tickets to today’s Bulldog Basketball game!!! The Wife got me tickets!!! We’re going to the game.

My wife is awesome! Maybe I’ll take the camera, and see if I can snap a few shots while at the game!

Things have been pretty busy the past week. Here are a couple of notable things I should have posted on:

• We had the Youth Super Bowl party last week. Lots of kids came and crammed into the Randle’s house. Thankfully most of them were not in front of the television when Janet Jackson decided to show her little metal sun off. I was sitting there with a few dads when it happened. Justin pulled the boobie panel off and it fell out. Everyone kinda looked at each other with a, “Did what I think happened really happen?” sort of look. No one wanted to be the first to say anything.
• Most of the kids were either playing pool or Dance, Dance Revolution. These kids really get into it. It’s a PlayStation2 game with a dance pad with arrows on it. You have to step on certain arrows at certain time in a certain beat. It’s funny to watch. Looks to be tiring too. Heard a lady lost over 100 pounds dancing with this game. I was about to buy a friends PS2 for $85 because he never played it anymore. But then he told me he couldn’t sell it anymore because his mom bought DDR. I was about to get a steal of a game system.
• My transcript for USM finally went through to Asbury at the first of the week. Then I was just having to wait on my admissions packet being processed and approved. It has been a little bit of a frustrating process for me, just because I thought time had passed to get into this semester’s online courses. Then I found out there was a window of opportunity, but it was quickly closing.
• My Bulldogs were pushed up four spots into the Top Ten. They currently reside at #7 in the nation. Go Dogs!
• MSU football had an okay signing class. To be expected. We’ve sucked the last few years and had a complete turnover in coaches (excepting the WR coach). Plus, the NCAA is breathing down our necks. But I still think this class will produce for us in 4 or 5 years. But there are no Parade All Americans in this class.
• My book I bought used off of Amazon.com came in this week. It will give me some pointers on how to snowboard. In five and a half weeks I’ll be in Copper Mountain, Colorado. I’ll be tired and sore but having a blast! More on this trip later.
• I was accepted to Asbury. Woo Hoo! I still had a few more hoops to jump through, but it went much more smoothly and quickly that I anticipated. Now I’m slated to begin classes on Monday morning online. Foudations in Christian Discipleship. Should be interesting. Now I’ve got to find time to read and write papers and all that good stuff. Sheesh…
• I woke up yesterday to find out that Monta Ellis committed to Mississippi State. Monta is rated one of the top five junior basketball players in the country. He will make an immediate impact if he ever makes it to MSU. Other schools will be hard and fast on recruiting him. But the NBA might be a factor too. Couple this news with the announcement that our coach, Rick Stansbury, signed a contract extension…our basketball future is looking better and better.
• The Fam went last night to see The Music Man at the local highschool. Great performance. We saw Footloose there last year. Let’s just say I’d rather stay at home and watch Bill O’Reilley any old day than go see Footloose again. But last night was really good. Great performance. Great voices. Good acting. Good production. Two thumbs up! And The Kid made it through the whole thing. She really likes the DVD of The Music Man. So she was familiar with all of the songs already. After the last few scenes, she’s ask, “Is it over now?” because she was ready to go home and drink some milk. But we had 2nd row seats, so she was able to see well, and it kept her attention.

And the beat goes on…

This team has the makings of something special.

You have just won one million dollars:

1. Who do you call first?
Are we assuming The Wife found out with me? If so, I’d first call my mom probably. Sounds sappy, but true.

2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself?
First thing is probably a tank of gas so I can drive somewhere and get a new car. I’m tired of my ’88 Honda Accord w/ a busted muffler and no heater/AC.

3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else?
I buy my wife a pink MSU sweatshirt with grey lettering.

4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom?
Sure. Of course, the tithe would go to the Lord. Would it all go to my local church? Probably not. But I’d make sure a big portion (more than 10%) would be giving to Christian missional organizations and people I know we could help.

5. Do you invest any? If so, how?
Mutual Funds. Real Estate. Bulldog Club.