"Just Shut Up"

(I do not normally post on Tuesdays, but this was too good to pass up.)

I was listening to the "Mike and Mike in the Morning" radio show on ESPN radio yesterday. The hosts were talking golf. After three rounds of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational golf tournament, Rory Sabbatini held a one-stroke lead over Tiger Woods. After the round, Rory said that Woods looked "beatable as ever." The next day, Woods proceeds to turn a one-shot deficit into a six-stroke lead over the first nine holes. After Sabbatini was walking toward the 10th hole after making a double bogey on the 9th hole, a spectator said: "Hey, Rory, still think Tiger is beatable?"

Rory stopped, glared at the fan, shouted some expletives, and had the fan thrown out of the tournament better. Things did not get better for Rory, as he hit the ball into the rough at the 10th hole, made a bogey, and wound up finishing eight strokes behind Tiger.

I don't have a problem with Rory saying that Tiger is beatable. He can say what he wants. It just wasn't smart. Remember, this is one of the most dominant athletes in sports right now. This is the same Tiger who won nine straight holes against Stephen Ames in the World Match Play Championships after Ames referred to some supposed flaws in Woods's game. Woods won that match 9-and-8, clinching the match after just 10 holes and winning in the most lopsided fashion in the history of the event. But at least Ames stood by what he said. What Sabbatini did was just plain weak. A fan simply repeats what YOU said yesterday, and you respond by losing your cool, cussing, and having that fan thrown out? Boo hoo... did the wittle golfer get his pwecious feewings hurt? People say exponentially worse things so many times at almost any Minnesota-Wisconsin hockey game, Giants-Dodgers baseball game, or a game.

If you're not going to back up your words with your game, at LEAST shut your trap, stop being soft, and keep taking the Tiger-whooping that you deserve like a man.

Read the ESPN stories here: Woods storms to dominant victory at Bridgestone
Provoke Tiger at your own risk

Unthinkable

By now, most people have heard about the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. While it has made national (and international) headlines, the story has special significance to me. As a U of M grad and former resident of the neighborhood (I lived less than 3 blocks from the bridge and used it many times), it was unthinkable that two places where I used to live almost made the TV screens as background for the many reporters in Minneapolis.

Miracles within tragedy: It's amazing to me that the death count thus far has been so low. The bridge fell 64 feet into the river below, and I am extremely thankful that more people did not lose their lives. And the bridge is huge! My friends in Minnesota commonly have told me that media pictures of the scene just don't do it justice; a friend of mine described the scene as if "a dinosaur had died." While it is a foregone conclusion that the death count will rise as the search progresses, I am thankful that more damage wasn't done to human life and will pray that it stays that way.

We are ignoring glaring infrastructure issues in this nation: This bridge collapse is not an isolated incident. Geography professor John Adams, one of my favorite instructors from college, warned during my junior year in college that our society is not paying nearly enough attention to our nation's bridges and overpasses. The Interstate system is now over fifty years old, and many of the bridges built for these highways are over 40-50 years old. Professor Adams pointed out that many are crumbling now, and that people are paying dangerously little attention to it. A St Louis Post-Dispatch article reported that about 20% of Missouri bridges have been identified as "structurally deficient" as the 35W bridge was a couple years ago: Structurally deficient bridges: 20 pct. in Mo., nearly 10 pct. in Ill.
This issue has affected the St Louis metropolitan area as well, as a high school student was injured by a 25-ton piece of a crumbling Interstate bridge earlier this year: Teen hurt in overpass collapse talks about ordeal
This is not an isolated incident. Professor Adams was right. The state of our nation's bridges is a major issue that our country must address. Unfortunately, it took a major disaster to awaken the country's consciousness regarding this issue. The federal government approved $250 million to rebuild the 35W bridge. Imagine the vast amounts of money it will take nationwide!

Where is God?: It was heartwarming to see the response by Twin Cities residents and public service employees. One Star-Tribune video focused on residents attending vigils at church to mourn the event. I think that God shows us evidence of His existence and love for us daily, and humans so often are not able to see it. But it is apparent through these times that He is at work in many people, whether or not they understand His purposes. It is good to see so many turning to God in these times and offering prayers, but why is this type of language seemingly limited to holidays and tragic events? Why is it usually taboo to mention God in the public square? God's act of sacrifice almost 2,000 years ago is the greatest love story ever told. My hope is that we as Americans and people in the world make questions of God more of a part of the public discourse.