Time to talk some BYU football. After the game against USU where Nelson came in for an ineffective Jake Heaps and "won" the game there has been some questions as to who should start next game. As usual, BYU fans are being irrational and not seeing things through, so I would like to explain why this whole "QB controversy" should be put to rest. As a disclaimer, I feel that I should explain that I have always been a big fan of Jake Heaps and I feel that Riley Nelson should have never come to BYU. With that being said, I am going to try to remain completely unbiased and base my opinions totally on football and not personal opinions while I explain why Heaps should remain the starter.
First off, I can't stand Riley's long hair. He's got this "I'm from Utah but I grew out my hair to look like I'm from California" look going. I am not a stickler for the dress and grooming standards at BYU, but I feel like it is very hypocritical of BYU to allow him to do whatever he wants. Let me explain why. A couple years ago, BYU was recruiting a kid named Josh Quezada from southern california. Josh was a pretty big recruit and was not LDS. BYU was high on his list but while on his visit to BYU they informed him that if he chose to come to BYU then he would need to cut his hair. Josh had long glorious hair that flowed out the back of his helmet when he played. This made him rethink how serious he was about BYU because he felt his hair had become part of his identity. After thinking it through, he decided BYU was the place he wanted to play, cut his hair, and committed to the standards of the school. So if BYU is so serious about the grooming standards of the honor code that we would be ok losing a big recruit over it why are we looking the other way with Riley? Is it because he is a returned missionary? Because he's white? Because he's from Utah? Those are questions you don't want to ask but the point is that we have two standards right now, one for Riley Nelson, and another for everyone else. If I was Josh I would have a major issue with that surfer hair that Riley is sporting, and not just that he's never stepped foot on a surfboard.
Ok now back to being unbiased...
The majority of BYU fans are convinced that Nelson should be the guy. This was pretty obvious when they started chanting Riley! Riley! Anytime he stepped on the field. Now I think the fact that BYU students think he should be the starter should be exhibit A for why he shouldn't be. These are the same fans that rushed the field after narrowly beating Utah State last week. Let me repeat that. HUNDREDS OF BYU STUDENTS RUSHED THE FIELD AFTER NARROWLY BEATING UTAH STATE. I have never been so offended in my life. Come on BYU, have some dignity. Is nothing sacred? There are very few times when rushing the field is appropriate and beating Utah State under any circumstances is not one of them. To further show BYU students ignorance, after DiLuigi fumbled the ball towards the end of the game I heard two, not one, but two different students yell "Come on Doman!!!! (our offensive coordinator). Umm did I miss something? Did Doman just go out there and fumble the ball himself? Because I was under the impression that it was the running back. I don't understand how you can criticize a coach for a player dropping the ball, but apparently you can because these guys did.
Now I gotta admit he had some great runs in that last quarter. He runs hard and it was very effective against USU's defense. His TD pass to Hoffman was a fine pass, probably the best I've ever seen him throw but that pass is always more about the catch than it is the throw. Credit to Nelson for putting it where it needed to be, but Hoffman made a great catch there. People forget that Heaps had an almost identical pass to Apo earlier in the game that was right there but Apo wasn't able to make the catch that Hoffman did. (To compare the two catches Apo's is at 0:41 in the video below and Hoffman's is at 0:55.)
Before talk about this "amazing comeback" orchestrated by Nelson gets out of hand let's try to remember what really happened. The two plays that allowed us to win were two of the biggest flukes I have ever seen. The first one is at 1:30 in the video below. We can't see the flight of the ball because it is so high. We usually call these types of passes a prayer because you throw it up and pray that someone comes up with the ball. I've seen this throw from a lot of different angles and as far as I can tell it looks like Nelson has no intended receiver on this play. He overthrows Matthews by about 15 yards and Jacobsen is running backwards when he catches the ball. Hard to give much credit to the QB on a play like that because 99% of the time that pass is an interception and the game is over.
Ok now the touchdown pass that won the game. This beauty is at 1:38 in the video. Here we see that he overthrows DiLuigi (DiLuigi is 5'8" and has no chance at catching anything over his head), it gets tipped, and then ends up in Matthews hands. Again, kind of hard to give credit to the QB on a play like that.
I don't want to sound like everything about that win was lucky. Nelson came in and provided the spark that our offense desperately needed that game. Our offensive gameplan was not working and USU had us figured out. Nelson came in, changed things up and USU couldn't adapt in time.
My biggest problem with Nelson is that I don't think he can beat a good team by himself. While he did come in and take it to Utah State, I think if Utah State would have been able to prepare to stop him then we would have seen a totally different game. The reason I think this is the Air Force game last season. Do you remember it? I feel like very few BYU fans do. We had been rotating series between Nelson and Heaps to start the season and for some reason during this game we only gave Heaps a couple of series and then let Nelson play the rest of the game. Air Force had done their homework and knew that he did not have a very strong arm and so they stacked all their guys inside and played man coverage on the outside. They basically looked at Nelson and said "We don't think you are good enough to beat us with your arm and we aren't going to let you run on us." Well it turns out that they were right and Nelson didn't have the arm to effectively pass the ball against their man coverage. We tried to run our option with him but they were all over us. Run game only works when the defense has to respect the pass and since they weren't, they were all over us. Riley was 8-19 passing for 73 yards at the end of the game and we lost 35-14. There are plenty of QBs that are known for their rushing ability that are successful even in the NFL. The difference is that they can still throw. They are what we call "dual threat quarterbacks." Nelson is a "single threat QB" that can't throw. That is never a successful combo.
Ok that's enough about Nelson let's talk about Heaps for a little bit. I won't act like he has been stellar this year because he hasn't. Our offense has struggled at times and I do believe that he is part of it. Having said that, I think you are a fool if you think that he is our biggest problem with our offense. I don't think who is playing QB is our problem right now, I think our biggest problem on offense is our play calling. Doman is a brand new offensive coordinator and is getting used to play calling duties. I think that most would agree that so far our offense has been predictable, uninspired, and timid. Now I'm not ready to give up on Doman, I think he is a smart guy and can be a great OC someday. I think he is going through a learning curve right now and it shows on our team, even with all the talent we have out there. What really makes me mad about this QB controversy is that Doman has basically made Heaps the scapegoat for our lack of performance on offense when he should be taking most of the blame. The first few weeks of the season all the newspaper articles were about Doman and his questionable play calling, but now everyone has forgotten about that and everyone is talking about if Heaps should continue to play this season. I think that is a cheap move by Doman to take some heat off himself. I find it very funny that Doman is benching the player that has been "under performing" through the first 5 games of the season when he is the coach that has been under performing so far.
Let's also keep in mind that BYU's schedule so far has not been easy. At Ole Miss, At Texas, Utah, UCF, Utah State. So far of those teams, Heaps has faced 3 top 25 pass defenses. UCF is #1, Texas is #6, and Utah State is #22. Next week we play San Jose State who is terrible. I really don't think it would be fair to let Heaps start that tough schedule and then put in Nelson to play the dogs that we have coming up.
I know that this has kind of been all over the place, but I hope my point is clear. Heaps needs to continue to be the guy and Nelson needs to continue to come in for situational plays. Hopefully against the next few games we have on the schedule our offense will get some confidence and experience in moving the ball so that we can end the season strong by beating TCU and Hawaii. If you think that TCU is going to let Nelson run all over them then you are wrong. He is not the answer to our problem right now.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
A Deeper Look Into the Mind of Brad
The other day on a joke news site I saw this headline: "97-Year-Old Dies Unaware Of Being Violin Prodigy." It made me laugh at first but then it made me think about how sad that would be to have a talent that you never developed. Then I started thinking about myself and if I had any talents that I never developed. My first thought was baseball because I quit when I was 11. As I was trying to recall my top baseball moments, the only thing I could remember was running out to second base in between innings, jumping into the air for no reason at all, landing awkwardly on second base and spraining my ankle. Ok probably no undeveloped talent there. I've spent the last few weeks thinking about this and here are the top 3 things that I think I could have been pretty good at had I put the proper time and practice into them. So without further adieu, let me introduce you to...
Brad the Olympic swimmer
Up until about three years ago, I swore I was the worlds fastest head-above-water swimmer. I hated swimming lessons when I was younger and didn't feel the need to practice proper technique if I wasn't setting any world records. 10 months ago however, I learned how to swim properly and have been doing it twice a week at the gym for exercise. I don't want to brag, but I'm getting pretty darn good. I'm not basing this opinion on any times or people that I've raced, but I do regularly get asked by other people in the pool for tips, and that makes me feel pretty good. Now I can't say how good of a swimmer I would have been had I practiced when I was younger, but I do know that Michael Phelps is 6'4" with size 14 feet. I am 6'5" with 13s. I'll let that sink in for a second.
Brad the Nascar Champion
If you've ever driven in my car you have probably noticed that I am a really good driver. Right now some of you may be thinking yeah right you tailgate everybody. Yeah well you know who else does? Jimmie Johnson. So yeah. Every time I'm driving up to Salt Lake and weaving in and out of traffic I know I should be a racer. I've been trying to think of what has shaped me into such a great driver and I think I've found it. I remember being about 10 years old and my dad asked me if I wanted to go ride the jetski. I of course said yes and we walked down to the dock. Dad handed me the key and said, "Alright here you go, you are old enough to ride by yourself now." Even my young mind thought that was a bad idea, but I wasn't about to say no to this opportunity. Ever since that day I was driving that thing all the time. I attribute my young jetski driving experience to the car being an extension of my body today.
Brad the Tennis Superstar
I never really played much tennis growing up. But I think if I would have I could have been the next Novak Djokovic (by the way do people call him The Djoker? They better because that is a sweet nickname. If it's not already being used then I want credit for it.) I remember the only time I would play tennis we would make a rule that there was no out of bounds and the ball could bounce as many times as it could but once it stopped bouncing that would score a point. In High School I got out of weight training class to take the easy PE class where we played games all day. I know you're all wondering right now how I got such big muscles without lifting weights, and I don't have an answer for you. One day in PE class we started a tennis section where we learned the basics, played for a few days, and then had a singles and doubles tournament. I dominated the singles and then won the doubles tournament. So I would say that made me the best tennis player in my high school (aside from almost everyone on the tennis team of course.) When I got to BYU my freshman year I had a couple of friends that had played in high school so they talked me into playing with them. We would play about once a week and at first I wasn't much competition for them. After a little practice though I became a pretty formidable opponent. I wasn't dominating them, but our games were pretty back and forth. Since then I've played tennis probably twice. When I was playing regularly I got good fast and I can't help but wonder how good I could have been had I put some time into tennis. **Note** Right now some of my family members might be thinking about my poor performance last December in California. The only excuse I have is that I play to the level of my competition. Also, those rackets were crappy.
Ok well I've shared a lot with you all today. I hope you enjoyed it. Now is the fun part. If you read this post then you MUST leave a comment and say what you think you could or would have excelled at. If you are too ashamed to attach your name to it then you can leave it as anonymous, I don't care. But you gotta do it. If you don't do this then you will be cursed and you will never excel at anything in your life. Also you will be super lame.
Brad the Olympic swimmer
Up until about three years ago, I swore I was the worlds fastest head-above-water swimmer. I hated swimming lessons when I was younger and didn't feel the need to practice proper technique if I wasn't setting any world records. 10 months ago however, I learned how to swim properly and have been doing it twice a week at the gym for exercise. I don't want to brag, but I'm getting pretty darn good. I'm not basing this opinion on any times or people that I've raced, but I do regularly get asked by other people in the pool for tips, and that makes me feel pretty good. Now I can't say how good of a swimmer I would have been had I practiced when I was younger, but I do know that Michael Phelps is 6'4" with size 14 feet. I am 6'5" with 13s. I'll let that sink in for a second.
Brad the Nascar Champion
If you've ever driven in my car you have probably noticed that I am a really good driver. Right now some of you may be thinking yeah right you tailgate everybody. Yeah well you know who else does? Jimmie Johnson. So yeah. Every time I'm driving up to Salt Lake and weaving in and out of traffic I know I should be a racer. I've been trying to think of what has shaped me into such a great driver and I think I've found it. I remember being about 10 years old and my dad asked me if I wanted to go ride the jetski. I of course said yes and we walked down to the dock. Dad handed me the key and said, "Alright here you go, you are old enough to ride by yourself now." Even my young mind thought that was a bad idea, but I wasn't about to say no to this opportunity. Ever since that day I was driving that thing all the time. I attribute my young jetski driving experience to the car being an extension of my body today.
Brad the Tennis Superstar
I never really played much tennis growing up. But I think if I would have I could have been the next Novak Djokovic (by the way do people call him The Djoker? They better because that is a sweet nickname. If it's not already being used then I want credit for it.) I remember the only time I would play tennis we would make a rule that there was no out of bounds and the ball could bounce as many times as it could but once it stopped bouncing that would score a point. In High School I got out of weight training class to take the easy PE class where we played games all day. I know you're all wondering right now how I got such big muscles without lifting weights, and I don't have an answer for you. One day in PE class we started a tennis section where we learned the basics, played for a few days, and then had a singles and doubles tournament. I dominated the singles and then won the doubles tournament. So I would say that made me the best tennis player in my high school (aside from almost everyone on the tennis team of course.) When I got to BYU my freshman year I had a couple of friends that had played in high school so they talked me into playing with them. We would play about once a week and at first I wasn't much competition for them. After a little practice though I became a pretty formidable opponent. I wasn't dominating them, but our games were pretty back and forth. Since then I've played tennis probably twice. When I was playing regularly I got good fast and I can't help but wonder how good I could have been had I put some time into tennis. **Note** Right now some of my family members might be thinking about my poor performance last December in California. The only excuse I have is that I play to the level of my competition. Also, those rackets were crappy.
Ok well I've shared a lot with you all today. I hope you enjoyed it. Now is the fun part. If you read this post then you MUST leave a comment and say what you think you could or would have excelled at. If you are too ashamed to attach your name to it then you can leave it as anonymous, I don't care. But you gotta do it. If you don't do this then you will be cursed and you will never excel at anything in your life. Also you will be super lame.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
A Quick Look Into the Mind of Brad
The other day I heard a song that I hadn't heard since I was probably 12 years old. I was surprised that I remembered every word. It got me thinking about my brain. I think everyone has a limited memory, I don't know what that capacity is, but I think it has to exist even for my superior mind. So I started thinking about all the song lyrics, movie quotes, and other useless knowledge I have stored in there. I wonder what childhood memories I have forced out of my memory over the years as I have filled my mind with this garbage. As I thought about that, I was reminded of the following Simpsons quote: (my mind is full of them)
Homer: ...Every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home wine-making course and I forgot how to drive?
Marge: That's because you were drunk...
Homer: And how!
Homer: ...Every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home wine-making course and I forgot how to drive?
Marge: That's because you were drunk...
Homer: And how!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
The Year of the Titleist
I've been on this earth a little over 23 years now. Now there are lots of different ways that people use to divide up time as they look back on their lives. Some people use their grade in school as they try to remember what their lives were like back then. I imagine that has to change when you get older. It would be very unorganized to have ages 3-22 neatly organized by years and then have years 22-80 as one solid block known as "post education." That's why old people probably have their own way of keeping track of their past. I have my own way of dividing up time as I look back on my life and it works great for me.
I like to think of my life as being split into eras, divided by what golf driver I was playing at the time. This may sound crazy, but I firmly believe that the quality of my driver had a large impact on my life at that time. Here is a quick breakdown of those eras:
The No-Driver Era (ages 0-10): I have no memories from this era, although home videos prove that it did exist.
The Adams Era (10-14 ): This driver was bought from Big 5, so like all Big 5 products, it was very average. At this time I was under contract with the Moses Lake Jazz only getting paid in ice cream and free basketball camps. I think anyone who saw me play would agree that like my driver, I was also very average.
The Nike Era (14-16 ): If I remember right, I received this club for my birthday. It was the first "cool" club I ever had. This was right after middle school and the start of high school. I no longer wore glasses, had some pretty hip friends, and made the varsity golf team as a freshman. If that's not cool then I don't know what is.
The Titleist 983 K Era (16-19): Man that club was sweet and so was this era. I continued playing varsity golf through high school, made the varsity basketball team, and dominated in both. (Ok I really didn't dominate in both. I blame this on the fact that a new model of this club came out and I didn't get it. Heaven knows how different my life would be right now had I only upgraded.)
The No Driver 2 Era (19-21): Another era that I have no memories from, although pictures indicate that I was somewhere in Eastern Europe.
The Cleveland Hibore XLS Era (21): Man this club was ugly and awkward. Now I've never been ugly, but I sure was awkward. My dad gave me this club after getting home from my mission and I had trouble adjusting to its style. Much like my struggles to adapt to normal life again.
The Taylor Made Burner Era (21-22): This club got me out of the funk I was in after 2 years of not playing any golf. At this time I felt comfortable in school and life was going pretty well. Golf savvy people know that this club is quite large. Around this time I started working out at the gym and getting huge. (Ok huge might be a stretch but I did get bigger)
And now...
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The Titleist 910 D3 Era (22-present): It remains to be seen what this era will be. I can't really speculate on what will happen in my life, I can only share with you how this club has performed for me thus far. The first time I took this club out I was absolutely killin it. Probably hitting it 15-25 yards longer than my previous one. I remember my 2nd round ever with it I had two drives that stood out. One was a 360 yard par 4 where I put my drive in a greenside bunker. The other was a 300 yard uphill par 4 where I drove the green. I three putted for a par on that one, but that's not the point. So far, I have been very pleased with this new club. Now I don't know what exactly is going to happen in my life over the next few years, but if the performance of this new club is in any way indicative of my future then I think I have something to look forward to.
Now I know what you're thinking and I agree, I've got a bright future ahead of me. I look forward to seeing what new heights this driver will take me to.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Happy Father's Day!
I was asked to speak in church this Sunday about fathers so I decided to share some thoughts from my talk. Enjoy.
I spent a lot of time thinking of what I should say about my father in this talk. It's hard to pick an angle to take when you have so many options for explaining why your father is so amazing. I blame this on you Dad. If you were a worse father this would have been a lot easier to pick the one good thing I could say about you. It's ok though, I forgive you.
As I thought about fatherhood and what that means, a song lyric kept coming into my head.
"I tried hard to have a father but instead I had a dad."
I've been thinking about this lyric a lot. What does that even mean? What is the difference between a father and a dad? Aren't they synonymous? I went to dictionary.com for some answers to these questions. Under Dad the definition only said, "an informal way of referring to a father." When I looked up father I found many more definitions, one of which was, "a man who exercises paternal care over other persons; a protector or provider."
The difference that this song writer was trying to point out, and the difference according to the dictionary, is that the title "father" means so much more than dad. "Dad" simply shows the biological bond between a man and his offspring, while "father" indicates an emotional bond. As the definition said, father shows that there is some care being provided by the male parent.
Luckily for me, unlike the songwriter, I can absolutely say that I have a father and not just a dad. But that made me think, well what makes him a father to me? Is it all the stuff he buys for me? Is it the time he spends with me? Is it the golf lessons he has given me over the years? As I thought about some of the bad golf tips my father has given me over the years, I knew that couldn't be it. He has provided me with a lot of stuff over the years, but do material things really matter in forming a solid father-son relationship? After thinking about all these things, I realized the greatest thing my father has done for me, he has taught me. And more specifically, he has taught me to live the gospel. I want to share some examples of how my father has taught me to live the gospel through his example.
Note: I'm going to use the words father and dad interchangeably from here on out. Forget about the top two paragraphs now
When I think about the example my father has set for me, the first thing that comes to mind is how he treats other people. The scripture John 13:34-35 immediately comes to mind. "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Anyone who knows my dad knows that he immediately likes everyone. This is a trait that I cannot say I inherited from him. I feel a lot more like my mother when it comes to this. We don't dislike everyone we come across, but we need to get to know someone before we decide that we like them. My father just gives everyone the benefit of the doubt from the start. If he judges and makes preconceived notions about people he certainly doesn't show it. I can't remember the last negative thing my father has ever said about anyone. (Note: This statement does not apply to short people. He loves to make fun of short people. I don't quite understand this as he is only 6'1".) Do I think that my dad loves everyone? No. (Although I really have no proof otherwise) Maybe deep down there are some people who bother him, but you wouldn't know it from his actions. He treats everyone he meets like they are his closest friends. In this aspect, he is truly a disciple of Christ.
Side note: An amazing trait my dad has is the ability to be legitimately happy for other people. I swear my father is the only person who can listen to someone tell him about an amazing vacation they just went on and not experience a single thought of jealousy. I think he gets as much joy about listening to a good vacation story as the people who went on it. If you ever want to make my dad happy just tell him about something really great that just happened to you. To the average person this would seem like boasting, but to my dad you will make his day with a good story.
Another great lesson I have learned from my father is hard work. Now you all know me, so I'll be realistic about my definition of "hard work." I wasn't raised on no dairy farm. I remember every summer when I wasn't in school my dad would come wake me up early in the morning before he went to work. It seemed like it was 6 in the morning but in reality it was probably closer to 7:30 or 8. He would wake me up and immediately give me a list of chores I needed to get done that day. This list usually consisted of weeding that needed to be done, garages that needed to be swept, or lawns that needed to be mowed. Nothing to complain about. I am not a morning person, and would always argue about the injustice that I was the only one that he woke up and gave chores to. I would tell him that I would not do his chores and the second he left for work I would go back to sleep. He would then add a few more chores into my day and remind me what would happen if they were not done by the time he got home and then he would leave for work. I would spend the next 15 minutes waking up and slowly realizing that I had to do my chores and that I shouldn't have argued. This was an everyday routine for us. I'm not sure I ever had a day when I didn't get any chores added on for arguing. Bryan was completely opposite, whenever he was asked to do anything he would immediately say ok and then not do them. Dad always compared us to the two boys in the bible, the one who says he will do it and then doesn't (Bryan) and the one who say's he won't and then does (Me). If I remember right it says that the one who ends up doing it is better than the other one so I think I'm ok there. Bryan had better change his ways though or he might be in some trouble down the road.
Through these small chores I was asked to do I learned how to work. The greatest lesson I received in work still came from dad's example though. He would come home after a long day of work, change his clothes and go out to the yard to take care of whatever had to be done. (Usually fixing or completing the tasks he had given me) I remember seeing him outside working after he had already spent most of his day at the office. I would feel bad that he was the one working still while I had played all day and sometimes that guilt would drive me to go outside and join him with whatever he was doing, other times it didn't. I still regret the days that I didn't go out to help.
The scriptures warn us often to not be idle with our time and my dad cannot stand young kids wasting time. If I was ever sitting around doing nothing he would find me something to do. Even if that meant calling Michael Tucker and saying that I wanted to play golf that day and then calling me and telling me Michael wanted to play golf. We got fooled into playing a lot of unwanted golf. Yeah I know I had a rough childhood.
One of the greatest lessons in time management from my father came when I was a young kid. As homework I had received a word find puzzle. I was having trouble finding most of them so I went to my dad for help. He took a look at it for a second, and then started circling the words that I was missing. He handed it back to me and said, "There you go it's all done." I thanked him and then looked at the completed puzzle. Ngslaeh? Even I knew that wasn't a word. I quickly realized that he hadn't found the words at all, he had just circled random letters. I pointed out that the words he had circled weren't words at all. He put his arm around me and said, "Brad, do you really think your teacher is going to spend the time going through all these puzzles to see if you found every word on the list?" I thought about it for a second and realized there was no way the teacher was actually going to check our work here. That lesson has saved me hundreds of hours from doing pointless homework even through college. My dad taught me a valuable lesson of time management that day.
I've always known that my father had a strong testimony of the gospel but I never knew the strength of his faith until recently. I guess it's easy to believe and trust in God when everything is going well, it's through trials that your faith is tested. As my father has gone through some unexpected trials over the past few years, I have been amazed with the depth of his faith. Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." I remember being on my mission and worrying about some of the trials my family was going through back home. I was very impressed with my dad's reaction. My father never once asked "why me?" Instead his response was, "This isn't a trial I would have asked for but if I were to compare it to other peoples' troubles, I'll stick with my own." He always trusted in the Lord and even though it wasn't easy, he tried to see the lesson that he was supposed to learn from it all. It isn't easy to stay positive in times of trial but somehow he was able to see the Lord's hand helping him along the way. His response to trials over the years has had a major impact on my own faith in Heavenly Father's plan.
I consider myself very blessed to have the father that I have. I firmly believe that God put us all in positions on this earth for us to be as successful as possible. Some people are strong enough that they didn't need a strong family in this life to learn the things they should. Other people do. I think they looked at me and said, "Let's get this kid the best father we have, because he is gonna need all the help he can get." I strongly believe this, and I am ok with it.
Growing up, I always felt like I had a very different personality than my dad. The older I get, I find myself acting more and more like him. There are times when I will be in a certain situation and think to myself, "that is exactly what my dad would have said/done. That was weird." I hope that I continue to become more like him because if I can turn into half of the man he is, then I will be in pretty good shape.
Happy Father's Day Dad!!! I love you
I spent a lot of time thinking of what I should say about my father in this talk. It's hard to pick an angle to take when you have so many options for explaining why your father is so amazing. I blame this on you Dad. If you were a worse father this would have been a lot easier to pick the one good thing I could say about you. It's ok though, I forgive you.
Me and Dad at graduation. I can't remember who was graduating that day. The hat is on my head though...
As I thought about fatherhood and what that means, a song lyric kept coming into my head.
"I tried hard to have a father but instead I had a dad."
I've been thinking about this lyric a lot. What does that even mean? What is the difference between a father and a dad? Aren't they synonymous? I went to dictionary.com for some answers to these questions. Under Dad the definition only said, "an informal way of referring to a father." When I looked up father I found many more definitions, one of which was, "a man who exercises paternal care over other persons; a protector or provider."
The difference that this song writer was trying to point out, and the difference according to the dictionary, is that the title "father" means so much more than dad. "Dad" simply shows the biological bond between a man and his offspring, while "father" indicates an emotional bond. As the definition said, father shows that there is some care being provided by the male parent.
Luckily for me, unlike the songwriter, I can absolutely say that I have a father and not just a dad. But that made me think, well what makes him a father to me? Is it all the stuff he buys for me? Is it the time he spends with me? Is it the golf lessons he has given me over the years? As I thought about some of the bad golf tips my father has given me over the years, I knew that couldn't be it. He has provided me with a lot of stuff over the years, but do material things really matter in forming a solid father-son relationship? After thinking about all these things, I realized the greatest thing my father has done for me, he has taught me. And more specifically, he has taught me to live the gospel. I want to share some examples of how my father has taught me to live the gospel through his example.
Note: I'm going to use the words father and dad interchangeably from here on out. Forget about the top two paragraphs now
When I think about the example my father has set for me, the first thing that comes to mind is how he treats other people. The scripture John 13:34-35 immediately comes to mind. "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Anyone who knows my dad knows that he immediately likes everyone. This is a trait that I cannot say I inherited from him. I feel a lot more like my mother when it comes to this. We don't dislike everyone we come across, but we need to get to know someone before we decide that we like them. My father just gives everyone the benefit of the doubt from the start. If he judges and makes preconceived notions about people he certainly doesn't show it. I can't remember the last negative thing my father has ever said about anyone. (Note: This statement does not apply to short people. He loves to make fun of short people. I don't quite understand this as he is only 6'1".) Do I think that my dad loves everyone? No. (Although I really have no proof otherwise) Maybe deep down there are some people who bother him, but you wouldn't know it from his actions. He treats everyone he meets like they are his closest friends. In this aspect, he is truly a disciple of Christ.
Side note: An amazing trait my dad has is the ability to be legitimately happy for other people. I swear my father is the only person who can listen to someone tell him about an amazing vacation they just went on and not experience a single thought of jealousy. I think he gets as much joy about listening to a good vacation story as the people who went on it. If you ever want to make my dad happy just tell him about something really great that just happened to you. To the average person this would seem like boasting, but to my dad you will make his day with a good story.
Pinewood derby. We never won any prizes but he took me to Dairy Queen after so I count that as a win for me.
Another great lesson I have learned from my father is hard work. Now you all know me, so I'll be realistic about my definition of "hard work." I wasn't raised on no dairy farm. I remember every summer when I wasn't in school my dad would come wake me up early in the morning before he went to work. It seemed like it was 6 in the morning but in reality it was probably closer to 7:30 or 8. He would wake me up and immediately give me a list of chores I needed to get done that day. This list usually consisted of weeding that needed to be done, garages that needed to be swept, or lawns that needed to be mowed. Nothing to complain about. I am not a morning person, and would always argue about the injustice that I was the only one that he woke up and gave chores to. I would tell him that I would not do his chores and the second he left for work I would go back to sleep. He would then add a few more chores into my day and remind me what would happen if they were not done by the time he got home and then he would leave for work. I would spend the next 15 minutes waking up and slowly realizing that I had to do my chores and that I shouldn't have argued. This was an everyday routine for us. I'm not sure I ever had a day when I didn't get any chores added on for arguing. Bryan was completely opposite, whenever he was asked to do anything he would immediately say ok and then not do them. Dad always compared us to the two boys in the bible, the one who says he will do it and then doesn't (Bryan) and the one who say's he won't and then does (Me). If I remember right it says that the one who ends up doing it is better than the other one so I think I'm ok there. Bryan had better change his ways though or he might be in some trouble down the road.
Through these small chores I was asked to do I learned how to work. The greatest lesson I received in work still came from dad's example though. He would come home after a long day of work, change his clothes and go out to the yard to take care of whatever had to be done. (Usually fixing or completing the tasks he had given me) I remember seeing him outside working after he had already spent most of his day at the office. I would feel bad that he was the one working still while I had played all day and sometimes that guilt would drive me to go outside and join him with whatever he was doing, other times it didn't. I still regret the days that I didn't go out to help.
The scriptures warn us often to not be idle with our time and my dad cannot stand young kids wasting time. If I was ever sitting around doing nothing he would find me something to do. Even if that meant calling Michael Tucker and saying that I wanted to play golf that day and then calling me and telling me Michael wanted to play golf. We got fooled into playing a lot of unwanted golf. Yeah I know I had a rough childhood.
One of the greatest lessons in time management from my father came when I was a young kid. As homework I had received a word find puzzle. I was having trouble finding most of them so I went to my dad for help. He took a look at it for a second, and then started circling the words that I was missing. He handed it back to me and said, "There you go it's all done." I thanked him and then looked at the completed puzzle. Ngslaeh? Even I knew that wasn't a word. I quickly realized that he hadn't found the words at all, he had just circled random letters. I pointed out that the words he had circled weren't words at all. He put his arm around me and said, "Brad, do you really think your teacher is going to spend the time going through all these puzzles to see if you found every word on the list?" I thought about it for a second and realized there was no way the teacher was actually going to check our work here. That lesson has saved me hundreds of hours from doing pointless homework even through college. My dad taught me a valuable lesson of time management that day.
I've always known that my father had a strong testimony of the gospel but I never knew the strength of his faith until recently. I guess it's easy to believe and trust in God when everything is going well, it's through trials that your faith is tested. As my father has gone through some unexpected trials over the past few years, I have been amazed with the depth of his faith. Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." I remember being on my mission and worrying about some of the trials my family was going through back home. I was very impressed with my dad's reaction. My father never once asked "why me?" Instead his response was, "This isn't a trial I would have asked for but if I were to compare it to other peoples' troubles, I'll stick with my own." He always trusted in the Lord and even though it wasn't easy, he tried to see the lesson that he was supposed to learn from it all. It isn't easy to stay positive in times of trial but somehow he was able to see the Lord's hand helping him along the way. His response to trials over the years has had a major impact on my own faith in Heavenly Father's plan.
I consider myself very blessed to have the father that I have. I firmly believe that God put us all in positions on this earth for us to be as successful as possible. Some people are strong enough that they didn't need a strong family in this life to learn the things they should. Other people do. I think they looked at me and said, "Let's get this kid the best father we have, because he is gonna need all the help he can get." I strongly believe this, and I am ok with it.
Growing up, I always felt like I had a very different personality than my dad. The older I get, I find myself acting more and more like him. There are times when I will be in a certain situation and think to myself, "that is exactly what my dad would have said/done. That was weird." I hope that I continue to become more like him because if I can turn into half of the man he is, then I will be in pretty good shape.
Happy Father's Day Dad!!! I love you
Thursday, June 9, 2011
A Study
First of all, I have to admit that I am a huge Miami Heat fan. It is getting to the point that their wins and losses affect me emotionally. The only other team that I feel this connected to is BYU. If you are thinking to yourself, "wow that is pathetic," well then you are definitely not a sports fan and you don't get it. You should stop reading now.
Ok anybody left? I'm just gonna assume that there is at least one person still reading this and continue. As I have watched 5 games of the NBA finals so far I have been severely disappointed with the officiating. In every single game I have felt that Dallas gets a call every time they are even bumped 30 feet from the hoop (Barea gets fouls when someone yells when he shoots), while Miami can't get a foul call after getting mauled under the basket. During tonight's game Colin Cowherd, an ESPN sports radio host tweeted, "any loose ball whistle--foul on Miami--don't even need to wait for call." I was happy to see this because I wasn't sure if it was just me being biased or if the officiating really was just bad. After the game tonight I decided I needed to look at some numbers to see if there really was any difference and this is what I found...
In the regular season games against the Mavericks the Heat averaged 22 team fouls while Dallas had 23. Pretty even. In the Finals the Heat are averaging 22.8 team fouls to Dallas' 18.8. So the number of fouls for the Heat has slightly increased while the Mavericks' significantly decreased. Interesting.
Also, in the regular season games the Heat averaged 30 free throw attempts while the Mavs took 25. In the Finals, the Heat are taking 23 free throws a game while the Mavs are shooting 27.4 free throws. Again, Heat average is down significantly, while the Mavs are up slightly. Very interesting.
Also, Miami averaged 27.6 free throw attempts on the season and Dallas averaged 25.7 a game. So in the Finals the Heat are shooting 3.6 less free throws per game while the Mavs are shooting 1.7 more free throws a game. Again, we see a shift where the Heat are getting less and the Mavs are getting more. Super interesting.
Now an ignorant friend of mine repeated the very ignorant quote that I have heard from many ignorant people during these finals. "The Heat aren't taking the ball to the hoop enough and that's why they aren't getting to the line." Not so fast my friend! The casual fan who has only watched the Heat play a few times this year might think that they take too many jump shots, but as an avid fan this whole year I can honestly say that their offense looks like it has all season. Lots of perimeter shots along with inside scoring. During the regular season the Heat averaged 33.3 points in the paint, during the Finals that average is up to 38 points a game. Now everyone knows that defense during the regular season is almost non-existent, so one would expect that if a team is scoring more in the paint that means they are probably shooting more in the paint and that should lead to more fouls when the defense is stronger. Well as we already pointed out, the Heat aren't shooting more free throws even though they are taking the ball to the basket more. The "jump shooting argument" has completely no basis and is a terrible excuse as to why the Heat are not getting calls.
Now the purpose of this blog isn't to change anyone's mind. You can't prove anything with only stats. The purpose of this was for me to investigate if I was just seeing something that wasn't there or if maybe, just maybe, the officiating has been in favor of the Mavs. (It's also been an amazing way to blow off steam after a disappointing game. If you ever don't get something you want just complain about how it wasn't fair, it works wonders trust me)
Do I think that the NBA and refs are conspiring to give Dallas a championship? No. That is ridiculous and I refuse to believe any conspiracy theories about professional sports. That would shatter my universe. I believe there are some reasons why these trends exist, but not to the extent that we have seen. Dallas has enjoyed 3 games at home while Miami has only had 2. I understand that a home court advantage exists and that a home team will enjoy a few questionable calls that will go in their favor. In game 3 in Dallas, the Heat were called for 27 fouls while Dallas only had 13. This was a game in which Miami scored almost half of their points in the paint. How a team can score so much in the paint and only get 13 calls is unexplainable. Home court advantage might explain small trends in favor of the Mavericks but not the trends that we have seen.
I personally believe that the discrepancy in foul calls has to do with the players on each team. The Heat are a much bigger and physical team than the Mavs. The sad truth about officiating in the NBA is that the more physically dominating you are, the less foul calls you are going to get. Refs will hold you to a higher standard. If you don't believe me just ask Shaq. The Mavericks are a much smaller team and fouls are much easier to see for them. Just watch the next time Jose Barea gets bumped going to the hoop and goes flying as if he just got launched out of a cannon. That same foul wouldn't even phase LeBron James. Is it still a foul? Of course it is, it is just harder to call for the bigger man. Is it fair that the physically larger team isn't getting calls and the tiny midgets from Dallas are getting whistles anytime a finger is laid on them? No. Should the physically superior team be able to overcome this obstacle and still win the finals? I sure hope so. So far they have done it twice and I hope they can do it twice more.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Happy Mother's Day
For Mother's Day this year Kacey came up with the brilliant idea to blog about our recent family vacation to Mexico so Mom wouldn't have to. If you wanna check it out go here: http://davidearlfamily.blogspot.com/2011/05/earl-family-cruise-intro.html
My mom decided a while ago that she didn't want any more presents for mother's day and instead she wanted us to share a fond memory from our childhood. At first I thought that would make shopping a lot easier but I soon realized it wasn't. It is so hard to think of a single fond memory of my mother, not because I don't have any, but because I have too many! Anyone who knows my mom knows how much fun she is to be around so anytime I am with her is memorable to me. Usually great memories are easy to recall because they are so much better than the average ones, but with my mom all my memories are great. One thing I will always love about my mother is her sense of humor. We have a very similar sense of humor and I love being around her because she not only laughs at my jokes, but she makes me laugh as well. I am often impressed how she is able to laugh at minor setbacks and nothing seems to ever get her down. I am so blessed to have such an amazing woman in my life. I love you mom! Happy Mother's Day!
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