Return of the Rocket

The money brought him back - and the stros desperately need him, so I am glad Roger Clemens has decided to pitch for the stros again. Hopefully he will help them contend for the wild card again. There is little to no hope of winning the division unless something happens to the great albert in st. louis.

I can still remember where I was when I first heard the news that the astros were going to sign Clemens in 2004. I was in the car on the way to lunch with Jodi and Jackson at a chinese place near UTA. It is crazy how you can remember somethings so clearly. Not as much of an impact this time around for me.

What we really need is to pull the trigger and get a good bat to help out Berkman. The offense is woeful and could be the stros undoing again. It seems like for the last 10-15 years (the bagwell/biggio era) we have continually had good teams but lacked that one thing to be great.

Here is hoping that the rocket can get them back in the playoffs, because as everyone knows anything can happen in the playoffs, but nothing can happen if you aren't in them.

And it looks like I was a bit early in writing off the suns. I didn't think bell would return. But I still believe the mavs pull this out in 6. The little general will not let that performance affect them.

Lining up the dominoes

It looks like it just might be the mavs year this year. I hope so for my brother-in-law's sake. CBB is a huge mavs fan and a championship would be a highlight I am sure.

They have passed through their biggest hurdle in the past - the spurs - and the dominoes seem to be lining up for them. Phx looks D-O-N-E done. They may put up a good fight tonight, but I think the mavs will take them out in the end. If the mavs win tonight you can turn out the lights.

But it looks like one last hurdle will be shaq, unless detriot can figure out a way to put it all together. I am not too scared for the mavs though, I think this team can make it work. I do however fear a bit for Mark Cuban, because Shaq just might kill him if he pulls some stupid owner stuff that he has been known to do.

I remember when the rockets won in 94 and how much I loved it and I hope CBB will get to feel that fun too.

Tonight we start school in our house again. Nope - not for the little ones, but for my wonderful wife. I am glad we have taken the steps where she can go to school. Sometimes it is a little hectic as I am not as good a caretaker as she is, but I think the kids survive ok. To see the look of excitement and determination she gets when working on a paper is wonderful. She is so smart and I am glad she has this outlet for that.

It does amaze me thought that people can write about the study of writing and somehow all these people apparantly understand this stuff and are not caught in some death sprial of trying to learn how to write what you just wrote....but hey to each his own! Good luck with your class - you will do great!

great albert's ghost

what makes up confidence and what things break it?

well the one thing I know right now is that Brad Lidge has aboslutely no confidence anymore. He says he does, but his body is betraying him. Ever since the great Albert hit the most nasty homerun I have ever seen - with the astros one out away from advancing to their first world series ever and causing a good friend of mine to call me to implore that I stay away from all sharp objects - Lidge has not been the same pitcher he was before he threw that one pitch that landed in baytown.

The astros ended up going on to the world series, but that just masked the unraveling in Lidge. Even in that world series he lost two games. One on a home run to someone who hadn't hit one all year. Another when he just couldn't keep guys off base. And ever since it has been the same thing: no being able to get people out, making every save opportunity a handwringing exercise filled with baserunners and nervousness. So bad to the point that he is no longer the closer and even still he can't get guys out as seen from his performace last night where he gave up 4 runs without getting anyone out.

So did that one moment - when he was on the biggest stage and was crushed - cause all this demise, and is it all in his head? I mean his body couldn't break down that quickly could it?

And this must happen to others on not so grand a stage? I guess that is retorical question to me - of course I know it does. Lots of people have these one moments - a car wreck, a birth, a layoff, a cancer prognosis, anything really that can crumble their confidence. And does it have to be a one-time thing? Yes these are dramatic, but can living in a rut, whether it be a bad job, or unfulfilled life, or a steady diet of "you can't" from others cause this same loss in confidence.

I think a problem with confidence is that it focuses on ourselves - our physical strength, or our mental strength or our standing with others (at least how we percieve that standing). To circle back to Lidge somewhere in his mind he is trying to figure out how to get better, but now it is muddling up what he already knew how to do good. His mind is getting in the way of himself because he is consumed with this loss of ability. I am sure that astros players and coaches have bombarded him with videos or comments of this is what you can do, but it won't do any good until Lidge gets his own brain out of the way.

But baseball is a fairly simple game, to paraphase Bull Durham, you hit the ball, you catch the ball and you throw the ball. Life isn't as clear cut, at least I don't feel like mine is. But maybe it should be.

Maybe we should be living our life to love God, love others, and find ways to serve. Maybe if we got the focus off off us and got our minds out of the way of what we are truly called to do then we would regain our collective lost confidence. This is a struggle for me for sure. God is constantly telling me and showing me the videos that you can do this - it is in you, but I continue to let my mind get in the way and let the world define who I am and therefore the confidence I have in myself.

So I am hoping that Lidge will be able to get past the ghost of the great albert, both for him - he seems like a nice enough guy - but more importantly because I know he can be great. And a great Lidge makes a great Astros. And a great Astros makes me happy.

I have to keep reminding myself that even if no one here on earth thinks I can be great (which thankfully for me is not the case and is so far from the truth) that God does. And it isn't important for me to be great because I am a nice guy which I think I am, but more importantly because a great me makes a great crusader for Christ and a great crusader for Christ will make God happy.

why this is here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdMHpy6bgLM&search=spinal%20tap

Before anyone goes and gets all technical and bent out of shape with the reference to the blog title and tried to mention to me that the great Nigel Tufnel did not actually say "But"...well I know. I can't claim to be original so some other techno savy nerd already beat me to that domain name. So I improvised - that is life in a nutshell sometimes I guess. You think you are all alone on your idea island, only you can think of something so great, but then you realize you are just one of a thousand shmoes who had the same idea, only someone already beat you to the punch. Well you can hunker back down on your island all sad that you now know that there is civilization out there with grilled food, cold drinks, and other people. Or you can just adapt and jump on the next boat off your island and make your way in the crazy world of lemmings, add your own spice offerings to the grill, choose your own style of cold beverage and following long enough to not jump off the cliff.

So basically I am going to use this space when I need to go to 11. If something goes on the world that I think needs my persective added to it, then I will share it and whoever reads it can do what ever they want to with it. (like anyone will read it) If there is something on the web that I think should be shared maybe I will.

the links are to places I often wonder when I am bored at work or need a break. orbiz pool is a great time killer, and mcsweeny's offers some funny satire and sometimes humor that is frankly above my knowledgebase. of course the astros and espn speak for themselves.

If something comes up where I need to go to 11, then I will be back then. In the meantime enjoy Nigel's interview.