One of the better commercials ever. I especially love Nimoy singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins in part of the commercial. Win.

Much like his response to the 9/11 attacks, Jon Stewart sums it up so much better than I ever could in words.

Is this the guy to put the Church back in the right direction?

I wanted to write some words about this guy, and what his election might mean to the institution he leads. Then I saw this article, and I realized that it was a nice, succinct summary of what the hell is so wrong with today’s Catholic Church. The constant focus on condoms, abortion, and a return to pre-Vactican II “tradition” have clouded the Church’s vision and have served as a distraction to the real problems it faces. There is a real need to not only clean up the pedophilia coverup, but also the corruption that exists within the Church’s structure. The real question is, will this guy actually try to tackle the core issues and return the Church to a mission of love, and service, and understanding (which is what I grew up with), or will he too keep a narrow focus on “tradition” and keep looking backward? Until we know for sure, I’ll be a lot like this guy: a refugee lost at (Holy) See.

Better Times

Oy, does this whole affair with Mike Rice and the subsequent firing of Tim Pernetti feel… slimy. This has a bad stench all around it.

Here’s the thing for me. Why didn’t Pernetti just fire the guy when he found out about this back in November? It wouldn’t have been pretty, but it would have made this a lot easier, don’t you think? If this timeline from ESPN is true, they found enough evidence that Rice violated policy and his contract, and they would have had ample grounds for termination. Yet, all we ended up with were conflicting stories and a lot of finger pointing. This doesn’t just look bad, it is bad for a university trying to make itself a premier athletic institution in addition to an athletic one.

For all of the people who are angry about Pernetti being forced to resign, this is the thing for me. When they fired Rice on Wednesday, Pernetti was pretty clear that the decision to suspend Rice at the time was his and he deeply regretted the decision to suspend and not fire. Now when he’s let on Friday, his story has changed that he wanted to fire Rice, but the University would not let him. I’m not sure what the truth is, and it may be somewhere in the middle, but I have this thought. It seems pretty obvious that while there wasn’t some black-ops X-Files kind of coverup at work, there was at least a strong hope that they could sweep what was on that tape under the rug and that the suspension would give the impression that the matter was handled. For a few months that worked, until ESPN got their hands on the footage. Once it was out, what hope did Pernetti really have of staying? Either he was really behind it, or he was the easy scapegoat.

Don’t forget as well that Rice was Pernetti’s guy. He was the big hire that he managed to get to turn the basketball team around. I’m sure he wanted to make sure that his big fish made it through, no matter what. These sorts of allegiances matter.

I honestly hope that Rutgers doesn’t suffer through too badly with this, and I hope that they do well in the Big Ten. However, this is the time for the school to stop and look inward and reflect on what they have brought upon themselves. Has the school paid too big a price in its quest to become a major athletic player, and not just an academic one? Until we answer that, the water on the banks will just be muddied by this whole affair.

I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world.
–Norman Vincent Peale

Even as you go through your lives, and the stress of buying and wrapping gifts, trips to family, and the other burdens of the holidays, don’t let the real reason for the season be forgotten.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

A lot’s happened in the past couple of months in the world, hasn’t it? We had a hurricane, Obama got reelected, and we might be on the brink of another Middle East war. And I wasn’t even here to talk about any of it. To sum up: hurricane bad, Obama good, war bad.

Part of me needs to be better at being a blogger. Until then, let me introduce the new cat we just got:

This is Pancake and he says hello.

Oh, and my school’s football team is finally taking a real step to respectability and joining the Big Ten. I can dig it.

More as it develops.