Communication 101.

This is pretty awesome.

Sandy Hook Elementary, and Salt.

Fridays are my day off, so I'm generally disconnected from the world. I usually walk from my home in Cambridge, Mass., across the Charles River to Boston, where I get a slice of amazing pizza from New York Pizza. Yes, the pizza there is better than in New York.

Then I go to Starbucks, where I bury myself in magazines and newspapers I haven't had time to read due to work. I am perfectly content to let myself get lost in old problems or synopses, knowing that the world can't have changed too much to make what I'm reading outdated.

So by the time I arrived home late Friday evening to check the news for the first time that day, I was coming up on 12-hour-old information about what happened in Newtown, Conn., at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

I was quickly dismayed -- of course, by the news. But also by how I found out.

My social media feeds are sprinkled with Christians and non-Christians, blue-staters and red-staters, diehard liberals and old-school conservatives.

So what does it tell you that the first way I found out that 28 people had died is by one person going on about the Second Amendment and the other pressing legislation for gun control?

The best one was a former classmate from Liberty University, who posted a link to school killings in China, saying that happened without guns, so it wasn't time for restrictive gun laws. I also liked the many posts full of this original thought: "GUNS don't kill people -- people kill people!"

Right. Because on a day when people die, when children die, when the world has another gigantic reason to argue against the existence of God and the redemption of man, that is what we are worried about. That guns shouldn't be blamed. And that tragedy happens in repressive countries, too. (I'm sure God is pretty happy, too, that all those Chinese children died so my former classmate could have that great rebuttal to everyone who didn't like what he said about the Second Amendment.)

What does it tell you when the more sympathetic responses come from your non-Christian friends than your Christian ones? What does it say when the quickest solutions offered are about things like rules and laws, and not about the state of people's hearts? What does it mean when we are on Facebook instead of rushing to the site of the disaster, much like those parents rushed to find their children Friday morning, leaving their cars parked a quarter of a mile away, still running with the keys in the ignition, to push past policemen for glimmers of hope? Don't we, as Christians, have a greater, life-breathing hope, and a greater reason for urgency?

Christians, I am ashamed. And I ashamed again that you are most likely dismissing what I have written already. I understand that we see our freedoms being infringed upon, and our world turned away from what we believe is right, but get a grip. It's one thing to see the world deteriorate; it's another to use its deterioration to start whining about people who we think are wrong, and to suggest human solutions to fix outward effects of problems. We know a King Who says He wants to change hearts.

Since when were we called to rub it in people's faces when their sin leads them to heartbreak? Since when were we called to rub it in people's faces when other people's sin leads to their heartbreak?

Give me arguments about why we should be involved in politics and vote for this or that -- sure, I will listen. I'm not necessarily the biggest cheerleader when it comes to legislating morality, but I have voted for things that I think will give this country a better environment for good to win out. But it's one thing to carefully weigh issues and elect officials based on beliefs and creed. It's another to flood your Facebook feed with garbage about guns when hearts need healing.

If this entire country was overrun with gluttonous, arrogant, baby-killing socialist pigs, our response as Christians should still be the same as it is when we have a praying president. Love. Be kind. Share hope. Preach peace. Practice graciousness.

Be freaking salt in a world that needs it.

Do you think that it helps? Do you think that it helps when you tell people that guns don't kill people, people kill people? And not just the right wing -- left wing, you too. Do you think that it helps when we carp about mental health programs and bullies? Do you think that it helps when we act like legislation will change people's hearts?

Why are we not out there, binding up the broken-hearted? Why do we think any amount of law or crap is going to change people? Why are we content to just change outside forces and think that people won't feel pain anymore, or need our God in their lives?

People change by the power of Jesus Christ, and we as Christians have been called to share that very same Jesus Christ with a world that has no clue Who He is and what He really means. It's bad enough that we don't do this. But it's even worse that we lead people to think that Christians are obsessed with picking political fights when 20 kids get blown away at close range by semiautomatic weapons like the ones soldiers use in dusty wars in the Middle East. It doesn't matter if you're right -- kids are dead, and insensitivity will remain in people's minds for a long time.

It's one thing when Mike Huckabee gets up there and says what Christian leaders tend to say at times like this: That this happened because of a deterioration of values in life and the classroom. Personally, I may agree with him on a large scale -- we need God in this nation. But you don't say that, and you especially don't say it at a time like this, because you're not God, and you don't know that.

Being right is not the goal of Christianity. Reconciling mankind to God is, and that usually means providing help after people have messed up, not telling them they've messed up from a soapbox miles away.

We can tie everything bad back to politics. We can tie everything bad back to Christians not getting their way. We can tie everything bad back to things not happening the way we think they should. And you know what? Stuff still happens. People still get hurt. People sin and maim and die. And even if we're right -- even if we have the "I told you so" -- they're still lost unless we help them. (But please, keep track of the "I told you so" count, like any loving parents would when their kid burns his hand on the hot stove yet again. That is love.)

I took a moment from being ticked off Friday and talked to God, asking Jesus why all this had to happen, and what I could possibly do from my little, removed perch so far away. And all I could think of was when Lazarus died, and when Jesus showed up. He should have been there sooner. He could have healed him. He was about to raise him anyway.

And Jesus wept.

He just cried. He groaned in the spirit. He did that deep, guttural, heart-wrenching noise that lets someone know that you care, and that this should not have been.

He didn't chide them for not being good people. He didn't call them sinners. He didn't strategize about ways to change things. And He certainly didn't pin the deterioration of this world on a lack of gun control, mental health problems, or student supervision.

He just cried, His message to the world being that sin happens, but that He's there, and He cares.

So I cried, and then I slept on the seeds of this post for two nights and decided it was worth a shout.

I read stories of the Middle East every day, and I see that dozens of people get killed each day in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. And I wonder what it must be like to live in those places, and to hear that a bomb has just killed 42 people. What do you do? It's normal, right? It happens, and you just have to move on.

I hope that random death never becomes commonplace for us here in America, where it's getting closer to that as office killings, school shootings, and other tragic events happen more and more, and at levels that were shocking just years ago. We may be getting into that type of situation.

If we are, may it shine a light on Jesus Christ, and may it highlight the followers of Him who weep when it is time to weep. May messages of hope be as synonymous with violence as the questions of why and attempts to solve the problems have been. (And remember, these "solutions" and feeble fixes are coming from people who have nothing else to trust in. It makes sense to try all they may.)

I find it odd that so many people out there think a bunch of liberals or conservatives could thwart God's plans -- that a gun law here or lax control there could ruin life in a way that 28 people dying could not. But that is where we seem to spend a lot of energy these days.

Being salt in this world is a radical idea, and difficult. I struggle to do it.

But consider this a challenge you can hold me to at any time, even if you won't pick up the call.

Redeemed.

The reason I haven't written much of worth for many years is because I want to write it all, and write it perfectly, when I do.

Instead, I've seen my time, physical ability, and mental capacity slip away more and more. And I'm not that even old and decrepit. It's just gone.

Right now, my body gives me about 15 minutes until the arms go out. I've already worked for three hours tonight. So, I'm in pain, but I want to write, because it's about time I find a way to write a little bit each day about what matters — especially if eight hours of my days are spent writing about the likes of Kevin Garnett, Derek Jeter, and Tim Tebow. (Not a bad life, but still.)

If I had to describe today, I would term it as "redeemed." Now, I've long understood redemption in its essence (as what it means for salvation) and in the grand sense (how God is fixing this world and making everything glorious bit by bit).

But God has also been showing me that even smaller things can be redeemed, like days or moments or even crappy stories.

I've been compelled to start actually walking with God — that is, living moment by moment and asking Him to help my unbelief in each instance of the day. And in that world, I am only reminded more and more what a mess I am. But rather than considering the day a wash, I've instead started asking God to redeem it, like Galatians talks of redeeming our time. God can turn the tide, and He can bring goodness.

God has turned many bad days into good ones. Second winds and bursts of energies are not accidents, and neither is the renewed attitude that comes when I acknowledge Him (Proverbs 3:5-6 isn't just a cliche), grab a hold of Him with my hip out of joint before sunrise and ask Him to bless me (Jacob!), and overall just take a deep breath and ask Him to redeem my moments the same way He redeems thoughts and lives.

I have had many good second halves of days recently, and better yet, now that I'm looking, I see God working all the time.

And there's hope that, if God can redeem everything from a moment to a day to a lifetime, that He can redeem a writer who has never quite been satisfied with a world and a work that has often struck her as unredeemable.

Andy Pettitte

Any Christian or Yankees fan is a huge supporter of pitcher Andy Pettitte, who has been a class act for New York while carrying Christ into the world of Major League Baseball. I interviewed him the last time the Yankees were in Boston. Read the story here.

24 Oceans.

It was a number — just a number, just two digits that didn't have to mean anything but came to stand for so much.

It was 24, the jersey number of a basketball player who I wanted to be, the symbol of perfection, completion, a place I could only dream of landing.

It was an age where all the preparation and waiting would stop being, and the doing would begin. When I was 24, I would have my own magazine, I would chart my own path, and I would have my place at last in this world.

No. 24 has taken its hits in my life, but never so much as this year, when I turned 24 years old with the bullheaded expectation that nothing would keep me from making this a banner year. I would push and strive, connive and achieve, because 24 only happens once.

The funny thing about No. 24 is that it's an arbitrary number. The numbers 2 and 4 were never digits that resonated with me. I was more of a 3 or 7 type kid. And I don't know why my basketball hero picked 24, and why that had to consume me and become something. But 24 became 24, and so when I turned 24, it was time.

The year started well enough. I didn't see starting my own magazine reasonably happening, but I already managed a magazine (16-page, full color!) on my own, so that was close. Plus, I had the grand vision of jumping in the old Mustang and driving down to New York City, where I would wow the executives of Time Inc. or New York magazine with my ambition and work ethic to the point that they would give me some kind of amazing job. The year bore enough promise to fulfill its expectations.

Right before I turned 24, I was promoted at the job I had risen to from a mess of internships, freelance, and low-level full-time work. I became the night editor of a daily newspaper, which had me supervising the paper each evening and designing the front page. I got to send reporters scurrying, exercise news judgment, and make the whole thing markedly more respectable, with all my little quirks coming out on its pages, from taking care of the widows in the text to making packages that were far too effort-filled for newsprint.

Within a few months of turning 24 and running as hard as I could with that promotion, though, things began to change. I already loathed the company I worked at very much, and I had long dreamed of getting out of there. But amidst the crappiness of the job, the layoffs, and the turmoil of the industry, I thought I would be safe — at least until I could smell doom coming, and then I could take off and find a new home before anyone else.

But soon after that promotion, my distaste for the company was met with changes that even I, as a talented employee, could not stop. An unraveling began as the company changed some things, and threats emerged. One thing happened after another, with long hours bleeding into stress and disillusionment. The smarter you were, the more you flailed, for the company was bringing in new procedures meant to suit the bottom-feeders. I fought for perfection, the complete 24, and it started to break me.

Those months at the newspaper, when the company tried to implement a new system for building the paper (design, writing, everything), I found the answer to what happens when an immovable force (a caffeinated, 24-year-old go-getter who won't take anything less than perfect) meets an immovable object (a crappy company, or all the antagonists from Atlas Shrugged — you pick). The answer is tendonitis.

I had never heard of tendonitis before I got very scary, deep pains in my wrist near the tail end of us introducing a new system that was flawed, slow, and designed to kill people from the beginning. But now, whenever I hear of someone getting tennis elbow or a baseball player landing on the disabled list with fatigue, I feel great sympathy. Tendonitis blows.

Tendonitis is what happens when the elasticity that makes up the tendons and muscles wrapped around your arms starts to go. Rather than being taut rubberbands that allow your fingers and arms to react as if spring-loaded, your limbs become strung-out rubberbands, getting tiny tears and going limp. My tendons were so shot that I could rotate my arms around and hear the bones clicking together. I felt shooting pain at first, then it subsided to a deep ache, like when you've been punched a bunch of times and the bruise never goes away. It started in my wrists and worked into my elbows, then ran all of the way into my shoulders and neck.

Using a mouse caused shooting pain. Typing caused me to hunch over in pain. All of the day-to-day tasks you need to do to live — driving, getting dressed, washing dishes, picking up something as light as a shoe — brought gasps of pain.

I soon found that I couldn't curl my hands into shapes that I had used them in my whole life. It was one thing to not be able to cook or fold something, but considering I spent my life worshipping at the thrones of writing, drawing, guitar playing, basketball dribbling and shooting, driving, handiman fixing, and otherwise just doing everything on my own with basic ingenuity and hands that could figure out how to do anything, something more was quickly lost. I couldn't hold a pen. I couldn't write. I couldn't type. I couldn't design. I couldn't hold a book open. I couldn't draw. I couldn't turn a steering wheel.

I couldn't live.

Two months into what was meant to be the year that everything happened, the age that would define me, I could barely get dressed. The kid that self-righteously gutted through every horrible night at work had to tell her boss she couldn't keep trying. She couldn't keep moving that mouse with bags of ice wrapped around her arms. She couldn't be a freaking warrior, proving to the world that this was her time and place.

The details are bland now — the doctor's visits, therapy, ice baths, splints. Learning how to sleep. Spending weeks living with my parents because I couldn't function on my own. Reading more than 5,000 pages of books and magazines. Learning how to pray because I could do nothing else.

My company, which quickly realized that the very system it had implemented against many protestations and warnings was indeed crap, made the situation more Job-ian as time went on. On one return to my job, to tell my boss I was headed in to see the doctor but couldn't come back to work yet, he told me that he — a man who put up with an inordinate amount of stupidity and could weather anything — had finally had enough. He was leaving, and he wouldn't be around when I came back.

Then the company-wide emails came that explained that certain processes were moving to desks in Chicago. I came across this one day when checking my email from my parents' house. After I inquired, the editor of the paper explained that, indeed, I had just been laid off via email, prospective that summer.

As I sat and waited and iced my arms, the paper I had fought tirelessly to build up for a few months was being degraded daily, with me not even within driving distance of stopping the slide.

And so, at 24, I learned I was not God.

It's funny to write about it now, because I'm sure it seems melodramatic. I'd been dealing with all sorts of emotional upheaval, soul-searching, and general discouragement ever sinced I moved to Boston several years before. Life lessons and seeing Who God is were not new to me. But the culmination of my great expectations for being 24, coupled with my body finally cracking after years of trying to out-fight life, came in a beautifully ironic package over those few weeks.

I would have to write forever to describe the lessons I learned and how God pulled together the final pieces in the next few months to cap off journeys he had started for me weeks, years, and even decades before. Losing my arms began me gaining my soul, and it was something I couldn't have conjured up or seen, no matter the time I put into chasing joy and seeking God for so long. The lessons were wide-ranging, the fallen barriers all over the place. But starting with the days when I couldn't grip a pen, I became like the C.S. Lewis dragon that has to have himself ripped to the core before he can become a child again.

And today, about a month before a birthday that will forever sweep away my perfect 24th year, I am more whole than I've ever been.

As God usually does, He's already started redeeming the situation. If I had come out of that mess just knowing that He was God, and that I needed to chill out, and that certain things were worth living for, that would have been great. But He had me learn many more lessons, and see many more things. And then He started blessing me, as is His norm when we think all that's left is to thumb our noses at Him.

About a year to the day I got that masterful promotion, I was at a new job — a job I went to just to get out of that bad company as quickly as possible. But, it turns out this job was pretty good, too — to the point that I spent a night, a year after that promotion that I thought had solved everything, interviewing several members of the New York Yankees in the bowels of Fenway Park. I can explain why this is fantastic, but I don't think I need to. I asked to be a little god at a newspaper, and God broke my arms and gave me a one-on-one interview with Andy Pettitte, and then Derek Jeter (to name two). I think that makes my point.

So, with a month left of being 24, I sit and type with a twinge still in my arms but a smile on my face. I'm never going to be able to encapsulate in a blog post, book, or song what has happened to me in this 24th year, but I do know that somehow it has turned out exactly how I wanted.

I wanted 24 to be a year when amazing things happened, when I finally arrived, when life became worth living. And, in the true spirit of Mark 9, God has cut off my arms to bring me closer to Him.

I have joy for the first time in my life. I no longer wonder about my future or fear that I won't fulfill expectations. I work my tail off and get great results but am never shackled by perfection. I enjoy my days and the people around me, and I can say for the first time in my life that, through no ability of my own, I have finally seen how to walk with God.

So, don't be careful what you wish for. Wish for it, and chase it. But if you are the kind that has decided God will be part of your life, be aware that He keeps His promises, and He'll keep them whether you're following along or fighting Him with all your might. I have told Him many times over the years that I want Him, and this year He fulfilled my wish in the best of ways.

Could it have happened without pain? Could it have happened without feeling an inch from death and hopelessness many times over? Perhaps. (Especially considering I think most of the garbage I experienced was due to my own pride, not God trying to pull one on me.)

But I don't care, because I'm 24 years old, and God has done with 24 what I couldn't: He's made these otherwise meaningless numbers mean something very big. He's given me oceans to sweep away my hopes of castles in the sand and given me what I was looking for behind all of those empty requests: Him.

So, hello, 25. We shall meet in a few weeks. But when I set an agenda for you, be forewarned: It may look organized on the outside, with goals and plans that follow human norms, but its execution could be far different. For the picture I paint is not what I pursue — the deeper meaning behind is what I want.

After a year when God used what appeared to be the opposite of a great human experience to give me the best result I could have ever wanted, I fully expect my ideas of human advancement to be met with obliteration, and my heart to be taken forward in the same giant strides He's shown me this year.

I don't need to draw, write, eat, drive, dribble, play, and scheme to know God. He can have my arms any time.

And whatever things I feel so badly that I need this year to get somewhere or be someone, I probably don't need, either. There's not much that could happen now that would make me think I'm losing anything when God works.

24, after all, is just a number.

Galatians 6:9.

When I want to understand
People who are so different than me,
I watch the movies they love and listen to their favorite music with them.

In God, I find Someone so infinitely different than me, yet somehow the same.

We do not do good because God requires it,
Nor because it pleases Him.

We do it because it's just like when you discover
That you and a friend love the same song.
All that God deems "good" gives us a window
Into the head
Of a Being
Who is from a supremely different background than us.

When we learn to like His movies and music,
We find that we can know and love Him, too.

God loves music and art and movies and love, but above all,
He loves good.

And that is why we chase it, and do it, and love it.

In good, we are close to God.

Pictures On My Wall

Written when I was 17, but ever relevant.

Pictures on my wall, wondering when I’ll fall.
’Cause I’m in the middle of a crumbling crowd of dreams.
Is it who I am? Or what I do?
Still I wonder what I’ve done to get no love from you.

Is this selfish pride? Am I messed up inside?
Is everything I thought to be true just knifing me in the back?
“No,” I say today. “It cannot be this way.”
I know the Truth; It set me free — so why am I wandering?

Lord, take my hand — please comfort me.
I know that I feel lost, but Your face I want to see.
If rejected by man, much more above —
I don’t need to fill up with this world’s worthless love.

Don’t let me lose my faith; please take away my pride.
I know that I’m human, but I’m not lost inside.

Awesome sportswriting.

You'd think that if I labeled a post "awesome sportswriting," I'd be pointing you to awesome sportswriting. In this instance, I'm just pointing you to my own writing, so you be the judge.

The NBA postseason was quite the exciting fare, and I led the way by predicting that this would be the year LeBron James may have enough to win it all. When the Heat and the Celtics were in the thick of it, though, I was firmly behind the Celtics -- that is, until they came close to croaking in a game where they just looked run-down. It was all over soon enough, but not without one look at James' long hug with Celtics coach Doc Rivers after it ended, where I mused in one of my better columns that when James helped assemble a Big 3 in Miami in hunt for a championship, maybe what he needed was Rivers.

The vitriol that James tried to shed on his way to his first NBA title coincided well with Tiger Woods' recent return to dominance, so I compared how the much-maligned pair are doing now. Other than that, I mostly left the NBA Finals alone -- except for a shout-out to one of my favorites, Shane Battier.

But the end of the NBA season was just the beginning of NBA drama, as the Ray Allen sweepstakes captivated the Boston area. After the initial shock of hearing Allen may jump to the Heat, most thought he would stay, and I had good reasons why he should stick with KG & Co. When he didn't listen to me, I wrote a headline with "Benedict Arnold" in it and said the Celtics were better off. Then, after realizing management pretty much hung Ray out to dry, I wrote one of my better pieces of the year, wherein I reflected that we all want to be pursued.

And no NBA coverage would be complete without me telling Dwight Howard I am sick of his whining.

I've been paying a good deal of attention to Major League Baseball, too. Want to compare Josh Beckett and Mickey Mantle? You've got it here. How about R.A. Dickey's great year, and how a lost season for the Mets has turned into a year far better than Mets management could have had if it tried? Right here. I also delved into the Carl Crawford mess, as we all want him to just stop playing this year so we don't have to hear about his random injuries.

My best MLB work happened when it came to the New York Yankees, of course. Two pieces centered around Yankees who were decidedly not acting like Yankees. My jest got some people worked up when I suggested that DeWayne Wise shouldn't pretend to catch foul balls that he clearly missed and that Rafael Soriano should stop looking like a bum while spelling Mariano Rivera. But when I stop wasting my time finding dumb stuff to write about the Yankees, I try to make more educated analysis, too. That's where you'll find my piece about the mess the team has with CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte out, and how Phil Hughes is coming back even as another reliever-turned-starter, Daniel Bard, has seen his career implode.

Springtime is also an excellent place for tennis, and I jumped into the fray early, saying Rafael Nadal may have to be considered the greatest ever if he keeps beating two of the best -- Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic -- in a career where he gets the luck of two epic rivalries. Federer and Djokovic's semifinal had me hoping for an incredible match, but when Federer beat Andy Murray to win it all, I was only too happy to say this Federer is dipping deeper into the talent bag than ever. It's going to be a great summer for tennis.

I've also hit some of the big stories of the day, like how Jerry Sandusky managed to ruin sports in a way that steroids and other problems never could. There was also that great Manny Pacquiao boxing match, which not only had an unbelievable decision but also the effect of dismantling Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s golden chance to be the best of his generation. And I had never heard of Ashton Eaton, but after reading about what he did at the U.S. Olympic Trials, I decided the Summer Olympics in London could be worth watching (and not just for awesome women's soccer).

Finally, I wrapped up with some pleading to give Wes Welker a freaking contract, and then jumped into the realm of faith and sports to compare the way Tim Tebow approaches Christianity with how Bryce Harper is spreading Mormonism. I'm sure I'll have more on that topic later, but this is my first foray into the subject.

Hipster Philosophy

If a person lives as the perfect epitome of a generation, but no one sees him/her, does that generation still exist?

We all want to be pursued.

We all want to be pursued
To know we're not meant to drift away
We all want to be pursued
To know living isn't waiting out the day

We all want someone to engage
To leave the respectful distance behind
We want the giant silence
To have something real take over our mind

We all want to be pursued
To have someone find us, catch and hold us close
We all want to be pursued
To know that to someone, hope will matter most.

Good reads

I am a sportswriter now, so I should be advertising my work on my own site, I guess.

Most nights when the Red Sox play, I write a little opinion piece on a quote from the loquacious manager, Bobby Valentine. It turns out his quotes have been pretty boring lately, so I wrote about that tonight. It's quite a change for a man who used to be a chatterbox.

In that section, I've also written about Valentine' reaction to a blown 9-0 lead, to admitting mistakes with pitching and player management, and to finally getting all of the pieces working together and winning. He's also said he thought a player was "trying to kill me," and that the Sox "have a lot of heart" (but not the right kind, I point out).

Most days, I write offbeat stories about interesting angles in the professional sports leagues. Tonight Dwyane Wade chucked an opponent's shoe into the stands, and the Nationals' newest outfield phenom played softball with some locals at the Washington Monument.

Other times, it's been about Eli Manning making people drive their cars slow, Indianapolis bidding Peyton Manning good riddance, Kevin Love's fresh face, Wes Welker as he looked in seventh grade, or a look at the original draft card that had Tom Brady going No. 199.

My favorite are the opinion or think pieces. Tonight I took a look at the Knicks, surmising that this combination ought not to be. I also wrote once about how awesome Derek Jeter is and the state of American tennis.

I also make amazing photo galleries, like of how Bobby Valentine looks like a muppet or the greatest appearances by athletes on Saturday Night Live.

So, feast on it. This is some of the world's best work.

Mad Men: A fair assessment

I've long been a fan of Mad Men, for many reasons and on many levels. I'm not going to go into all that here, but I will note a recent New York magazine review that I think captures beautifully what this show is all about.

The review was written right before Season 5 began, and it bats back some critics' complaints that the show doesn't serve history as it should by perfectly encapsulating the era. The review argues -- so correctly -- that this was never the intention of Mad Men.

This show is what all great writing should be: a window into the human condition. Mad Men is a perfect (silent) canvas on which life, hope, and good and evil play.

(And a side note on any suggestions that Mad Men has a soap opera flair: Well, how many times in your life have you had a tangled day and thought to yourself, "My life is like a soap opera"? I find the show completely realistic, the characters very well developed, and each episode self-resolving. Not much of a soap opera from where I'm sitting.)

The review uses the word "intimate," a great observation, and also notes Mad Men's resistance to a "master narrative" that has to be resolved or kept wound around its characters.

A great show (although, as always, beware before jumping in), and a great review.

Awesome archives

One of the best things newspapers have to offer these days is their incredible wealth of knowledge, information, and ability to capture and explain history.

The reason we still have journalism is because you can't just report the news -- you also have to give it context. Two of the best ways to do this are through exceptional photography and superior analysis, which is why I've always been a fan of the New York Times.

Now, paywall-free, the Times is offering a look at a bunch of its archive photos. Not only are the photos incredible, but the captions offer enough of a context that you can tell there's a whole different world out there.

The Boston Globe has jumped on board with its own archive series.

How Mad Men is a metaphor for the Masters

I couldn't write it better than Brian Phillips on Grantland, so I shall link to him.

This is a great piece about how some of the themes of Mad Men can be seen in the modern day Masters.

A couple of killer quotes: "Why does Jim Nantz narrate the Masters as if he's already nostalgic for the things he's describing, even while they're taking place?"

"No one wants to go back to the America of Mad Men, but a lot of people want to go to the costume party."

A God outside of Time

I spent parts of today and yesterday reading Time magazine, one of my favorites. Time was started by two overachieving Yale graduates who wanted to take all the news in the world and condense it into something manageable and visually appealing. They wanted to save their readers time by telling them everything they needed to know about the nation and the world during the week in just one place. That mission continues today, and I think Time is a great place to go to keep up with major events in politics, the world, and culture. It has great storytelling, analysis, and photos especially. And it’s a heck of a lot easier and fun than reading the newspaper every day.

One of Time’s signature approaches is that it focuses on people. This, too, goes back to when the magazine first started. The founders latched on to what would become the hidden ethos of the 20th century, that people are always interested in other people – that people are the center of the world, of the events that intrigue us. To an extent, their approach even supported the burgeoning acceptance of secular humanism, where people are not only the center of the world but are also the aim for all that is good. The advancement of people is the advancement of the world, and as such, the human race should be rooting for the success of people, and believing that all people are basically good and that the human spirit will win out in the end.

This brand of human optimism is now commonplace in modern culture. Whether we state it overtly or not, I think plenty of us in modern America agree with it. Even if we don’t buy into secular humanism or think that people are intrinsically good, we do make people the center of our world. And we often root for people to be triumphant. We find great hope and encouragement in human accomplishment.

I certainly grew up with some of these beliefs nestled into my subconscious, and that may be why I was always so attracted to Time. I loved the profiles and the interviews, the power shots of the people who were changing the world. Issues of the magazine dedicated to the 100 people of the year, or the one person of the year, made sense to me. Lauding a world leader or a musician for making this world feel like a better place didn’t seem odd.

But now that I’m a bit of an adult, and now that I’ve spent years studying the world and human behavior via my profession (journalism), I’ve found I’ve taken a different view of Time magazine.

I still read it every week, and I love it, but the issues focused on people and people alone are no longer my favorite.

This week’s issue was the 100 people of the year for 2012. As I sat and read the entries, which are written by some other "noteworthy" person who comments on the person who made the list, I became fatigued. The same thing happened last year, although I remember being annoyed then by something else: that the authors writing about the Time 100 were more prone to talk about why they themselves were important.

This year, as I passed through paragraph after paragraph of why these people were incredible and how they were making the world so wonderful, I felt myself shrugging more than feeling enthralled. For all the human good, this world is still such a messy place. I want a little more awesome than that.

If this is the pinnacle of human life, I thought, we are a bit doomed, because this doesn’t do much for me. Is this the highest I can hope? What does it mean to be on this list?

For some people, landing on a list like that will be the height of their achievement. Whether it’s the Time 100, an Oscar, a Pulitzer prize, or another great award, that’s how human success is measured.

But even the greatest human success doesn’t make much of a dent in this world.

At that point, something a friend once said crossed my mind. When talking about God and philosophy, she once said that God is outside of time – that He isn’t related to time the same way we are. We see life as a series of events, a this leading to that, a timeline. But the very idea of God is that He is a Being Who defies those parameters, Who just sees us as us, unfettered by time. Time doesn’t exist to Him except as a tool, an object to be used for different purposes.

Now, that’s a pretty deep topic, and one I don’t have a lot of formed thoughts on. But at its root is the idea that God – in the true sense of the word – is much bigger than this world in so many ways. The way we think this world works is very small compared to how He can use it.

When we see injustice, He can bring grace, and not just the kind of grace where a good person does a good deed but gets trampled in the end. His grace wins; His love wins; His redemption wins. He is outside the hurt and decay in this world, with the power to make all things new.

When we see achievement, we can only go so far. We can only reach a certain degree of success, and many people who get a rough start or hit unfair points in life can never get that. But God is sovereign and outside it all. When He wants something to happen, it happens.

A lot of times, we don’t give God the credit of being God. We deify Him into being partially powerful, or somewhat capable. But if He’s truly God in the real sense of the word God, He has control over everything and can do what He wants in all things. He is outside of it, in control of it all, and not able to be swayed.

God is outside of time, but that doesn’t tell us much, especially if we don’t really understand what it means. But God is also outside of Time, and that means a lot.

God is bigger than the Time 100 and all that it represents. That means that when our list of 100 people who are changing the world still leaves us with an ugly, hateful, spite-filled world, good remains. That means that when the Time 100 don’t enthrall us but rather leave us wondering what the point of it all is, hope still lives. That means that after a century of picking out people and trying to elevate them enough that it could save the world, we don’t have to rely on them to carry us through. Humans don’t have to be the center, and they don’t have to be the best reservoir for our dreams.

God is outside of Time. He raises and lowers world leaders. He gives inspiration and dreams, and He takes them away. He is the care for the broken, the answer to the dark questions of this world. He is the One changing it and making it worth reading about. These people are just who He is using right now. Some of them know Him and glory in His living through them. Others pursue traits that reflect Him so much, whether they know it or not. They live His truth, His goodness, His perseverance, His triumph. Still others are there for a moment, thinking that for some reason human something has gotten them there. They, too, will fade as the grass, with only what God has done through them remaining.

It’s sort of amazing how little of this world actually involves anything we do, and how all of it involves our huge God. If anything, that’s made me more excited about the Time 100.

A kid can dream of making that list, or seeing it organized in beautiful colors enough that she gets psyched about where this world is going.

A semi-adult can realize that, even with all the treachery in this world – and all of her own personal faults – God could still use her enough that she’d make that kind of list. Or, better yet, that God could redeem the world despite all of us. It could all become good, and the top 100 wouldn’t even know how it happened.

March Madness: Round 2 picks

Day One was mostly upset-free, but Day Two made up for it, with two No. 15 seeds taking down their No. 2 matchups (Norfolk State over Missouri; Lehigh over Duke) and plenty of other lower seeds moving on. Here's what to look for in Round 2.

SOUTH
This region had some of the best upsets of the whole tournament, with No. 15 Lehigh moving on, No. 11 Colorado taking down UNLV, No. 12 Virginia Commonwealth (from last year's Final Four) beating Wichita State, and No. 10 Xavier toppling Notre Dame. Will the adrenaline from so many crazy upsets carry into the next round? VCU should have the mettle to keep its head against Indiana, and Xavier (10) and Lehigh (15) will both be facing another team that just came through similar circumstances, but Colorado (11) may be the most likely of the deep seeds to run into reality when it faces the Baylor Bears (3).

Kentucky (1) vs. Iowa State (8): The Wildcats are in it for the long haul and will hold off Iowa State, which knocked off the defending champs, Connecticut.
Virginia Commonwealth (12) vs. Indiana (4): A tough call, with traditionally weak but recently great VCU taking on recently weak but traditionally great Indiana. I pick the Hoosiers.
Colorado (11) vs. Baylor (3): Baylor will end the excitement for Colorado.
Xavier (10) vs. Lehigh (15): Xavier, a strong team that needed a break, gets one and takes advantage by beating Lehigh.

WEST
Not too many surprises in this bracket, until you get to No. 15 Norfolk State upsetting No. 2 Missouri, a pick to win it all for many. Watch out for upsets among some higher seeds that shook the first-round-loss albatross only to run into a tough opponent in the second round (Louisville, Florida).

(1) Michigan State vs. (9) St. Louis: The Spartans continue to roll.
(5) New Mexico vs. (4) Louisville: Except a tighter game in this go-around, but Rick Pitino's Cardinals should be able to slip into the Sweet 16.
(6) Murray State vs. (3) Marquette: Murray State surprised many by making it to this round unscathed, but Marquette should have the depth to handle the upstarts.
(7) Florida vs. (15) Norfolk State: Why not Norfolk State? They had a load of poise down the stretch, and I still don't buy the Gators.

EAST
All the higher seeds won in this region, but that wasn't the news: Syracuse, short its great defensive center Fab Melo, was almost the first No. 1 seed ever to lose, escaping UNC-Asheville by a smidge. The teetering Orange could be looking at a short stay.

(1) Syracuse vs. (8) Kansas State: Syracuse will toughen up and win this round, but no guarantees once the Orange hit the Sweet 16.
(5) Vanderbilt vs. (4) Wisconsin: The Badgers have a clear path to the Elite Eight at this point and should be able to handle Vanderbilt.
(6) Cincinnati vs. (3) Florida State: Florida State, the pride of the ACC, takes care of a strong Bearcats team.
(7) Gonzaga vs. (2) Ohio State: Both teams won their first-round matchups by double digits, but Ohio State as a Final Four contender should take this game.

MIDWEST
This bracket is Upset Village, with No. 12 South Florida cranking past No. 5 Temple, No. 13 Ohio downing No. 4 Michigan, No. 11 N.C. State knocking off No. 6 San Diego State, and No. 10 Purdue pushing past No. 7 St. Mary's. This region has a very good chance of a double-digit seed going deep, although Kansas (2), Georgetown (3), and North Carolina (1) showed they are reading to contest that with double-digit wins. Their paths may have just become easier.

(1) North Carolina vs. (8) Creighton: A Tar Heels romp or a Creighton squeaker? North Carolina is tasting the Elite Eight already.
(12) South Florida vs. (13) Ohio: South Florida cleaned out Temple, but I'm feeling good about Ohio right now.
(11) N.C. State vs. (3) Georgetown: How about the Wolfpack? I'll take another upset.
(10) Purdue vs. (2) Kansas: The Jayhawks have the tendency to choke on the big ones, and the Boilermakers have had their share of disappointments and partial rosters over the last few years with the Robbie Hummel saga. Let's go with Purdue.

March Madness: Round 1 picks

The first round is technically under way, with Brigham Young and Western Kentucky both staging big comebacks to get into the official Big Dance, but the real buffet starts tomorrow.

One big change that's happened since Selection Sunday is the announcement that Syracuse's powerful big man Fab Melo is out for the rest of the season. The 31-2 Orange are a No. 1 seed and were many's pick to win it all after a stellar season, but this development is sure to upset some apple, er, orange, carts going forward.

SOUTH BRACKET
The South regional offers some of this year's biggest heavyweights. The UConn Huskies look to defend their title while the upstart Virginia Commonwealth Rams come off their own run to the Final Four. The Indiana Hoosiers are looking to not only add glory to their illustrious history but also avenge a few years spent in sanctions purgatory, while the Baylor Bears are looking for redemption of their own as the university tries to turn a corner on some athletic program hardships and win big in football and both men's and women's basketball. The Duke Blue Devils, behind a crop of excellent three-point marksmen and an excellent three Plumlee brothers, plan to make a serious dent with star freshman Austin Rivers leading the way. Finally, the class of the NCAA, the Kentucky Wildcats, are aiming to make John Calipari look better than just a guy that's good at flipping kids from high school stars into NBA linchpins in a year or less. These 'cats have the talent to win oodles of games, but stringing six in a row right now is the only task that matters.

(1) Kentucky vs. (16) Western Kentucky: Kentucky wins walking away.
(8) Iowa State vs. (9) Connecticut: UConn comes out ready to fight, the fatigue and inconsistency that stalled much of the Huskies' season non-existent in the first round.
(5) Wichita State vs. (12) Virginia Commonwealth: Wichita State puts up a mighty battle, but Shaka Smart and Virginia Commonwealth know how to get it done again.
(4) Indiana vs. (13) New Mexico State: The Hoosiers continue the tradition to take their opener.
(6) UNLV vs. (11) Colorado: UNLV enjoys its first trip back to the Big Dance, leaning on an excellent team all-around to move on.
(3) Baylor vs. (14) South Dakota State: The Bears end South Dakota State's honeymoon early.
(7) Notre Dame vs. (10) Xavier: Xavier, still smarting over the attention given to crosstown rivals Cincinnati, rampages early in the tournament.
(2) Duke vs. (15) Lehigh: Duke moves on, leaving its NCAA choking to a later round and a more talented opponent.

WEST BRACKET
Plenty of newcomers or no-names fill out the West bracket, with perennial favorites and high seeds Michigan State, Louisville, Marquette, and Missouri looking to dominate early and save their energy for tough Sweet Sixteen matchups.

(1) Michigan State vs. (16) Long Island: Michigan State could win it all, and the Spartans will start with an easy first-round win.
(8) Memphis vs. (9) St. Louis: Memphis has shown it's more than Calipari, and the Tigers continue a strong season by taking down St. Louis.
(5) New Mexico vs. (12) Long Beach State: Long Beach State has cobbled magic together before and can do it again.
(4) Louisville vs. (13) Davidson: Plucky Davidson won't get a bite out of Rick Pitino's Cardinals.
(6) Murray State vs. (11) Colorado State: Murray State enjoys its high(er) seed and takes care of its Colorado foes.
(3) Marquette vs. (14) Brigham Young: Marquette will devour Brigham Young if spotted a lead like the one the the Cougars gave Iona in their come-from-behind win Tuesday night.
(7) Florida vs. (10) Virginia: Virginia pulls an upset for the ACC, taking down Billy Donovan's Gators.
(2) Missouri vs. (15) Norfolk State: Missouri has high hopes this year, and they do not include losing to Norfolk State.

MIDWEST BRACKET
The North Carolina Tar Heels and Kansas Jayhawks are expected to meet in the end for this group with a chance at the Final Four on the line, and few should be able to challenge those two teams, which are full of length, athleticism, and scoring ability.

(1) North Carolina vs. (Round 1 winner): North Carolina, even if an NBA team were the play-in winner.
(8) Creighton vs. (9) Alabama: Let's go with Creighton, because I just don't think you can ever trust the SEC in NCAA tournament play.
(5) Temple vs. (Round 1 winner): Temple has had a strong season and should be able to win its first-round matchup.
(4) Michigan vs. (13) Ohio: Michigan is pushing its way back to relevancy, and a good season should continue into the second round.
(6) San Diego State vs. (11) N.C. State: Another ACC underdog pick: The Wolfpack will make good on their selection and strong year and take down San Diego State.
(3) Georgetown vs. (14) Belmont: Georgetown brings some Big East power into an easy win.
(7) St. Mary's vs. (10) Purdue: The Boilermakers do the Big Ten proud with an upset over St. Mary's.
(2) Kansas vs. (15) Detroit: Kansas takes this one by the half.

EAST BRACKET
With Syracuse's big man, Fab Melo, out, the favorite in this region may now be Ohio State, which has done well in the Big Ten this season and has a stud of its own in Jared Sullinger (plus a defense that makes some coaches salivate). Fellow conference foe Wisconsin will look to continue the Badgers' strong record in March, and Cincinnati and Florida State need to start off strong to live up to their breakthrough seasons.

(1) Syracuse vs. (16) UNC-Asheville: Syracuse, hands down.
(8) Kansas State vs. (9) Southern Mississippi: Kansas State has been playing well.
(5) Vanderbilt vs. (12) Harvard: The Crimson make good on their first NCAA berth and topple Vandy.
(4) Wisconsin vs. (13) Montana: The Badgers make short work of Montana.
(6) Cincinnati vs. (11) Texas: The Bearcats hold off Texas.
(3) Florida State vs. (14) St. Bonaventure: A tough call, but I'll take the upset of the Bonnies over the ACC winner Seminoles.
(7) Gonzaga vs. (10) West Virginia: Gonzaga continues its strong March performances with a win over the Big East Mountaineers.
(2) Ohio State vs. (15) Loyola (Maryland): Ohio State starts its run here.

Return here later for Round 2 picks.

Madness, I say

It’s the most wonderful time of the year again, with college basketball playoffs (i.e. March Madness) starting this coming weekend. That means the amazingness that is watching 48 games over four days, as well as some predictions, of course.

Best conference in the dance: Big Ten

Michigan State (1) and Ohio State (2) should have very deep runs this year, and almost every other team in the Big 10 could have won a game or two had they made it in. This conference has been feasting on itself all year long, with crazy upsets and tight games even from the bottom-dwellers.

In all, the Big 10 grabbed six spots, with Wisconsin (4), Michigan (4), Indiana (4), and Purdue (10) all getting a bid. All have a good chance at making a little run, and look out especially for the excitement around the Hoosiers, who have thrilled their fans by coming back from the dead several seasons earlier than expected.

Usual heavyweight conference that may have some trouble: ACC

I’m just not as impressed by the ACC this year, and not just because Florida State (3) has emerged to be its champion. North Carolina (1) is an immensely talented team, but that talent has gone to waste in some games the Tar Heels should have won in their conference (a double-digit loss to Florida State earlier this season, and an inexplicable tempo change down the stretch to lose their first matchup against Duke). Duke (2) is Duke as Duke always is, but compared to the other Top 10 teams across college basketball, the Blue Devils are not scary. They are full of great shooters, but their lack of ability to clamp down anywhere in the paint, offensively or defensively, and their having only one truly amazing player (Austin Rivers), leads me to think Duke’s high seed is optimistic, and their victories this season truly fortunate.

When you’re struggling to find a way Duke and UNC can make a deep run, that means the rest of the ACC must be pretty good to give the conference a good representation. While Virginia (10) and North Carolina State (11) have been strong this season, Florida State is the only great hope for this group, with North Carolina needing to fight to keep its mojo to avoid an early upset. And while Florida State is very good, and very deserving of its conference championship, its lack of experience making deep runs in the tournament may be a factor in how far the Seminoles go. Expect one or two teams to emerge, including UNC, but not a conference-wide dominance.

High seeds you should always watch: VCU, UConn, Texas

The names sound familiar, and that’s half the reason I’m picking them. For whatever reason they make it into the tournament, they’ve shown an ability to build teams that contend each year. Don’t let a high seed scare you away; unless they’re matched up against another perennial favorite, plan for an upset. These teams know how to win in the big one.

Connecticut (9) is reasonably seeded, but No. 9 is still low for the defending champs, who have had an uneven season. Virginia Commonwealth (12) returns for another sniff after advancing all the way to the Final Four last year. And Texas (11) has bowed out early enough in recent years to get a string of games going its way.

Come on, Cinderella: Harvard, St. Bonaventure, Vermont

Harvard (12) is in its first NCAA tournament in the modern era, and it's no fluke: After a few years behind the now-everybody-knows-his-name Jeremy Lin and former Duke assistant Tommy Amaker, the Crimson is due to make good on its berth.

St. Bonaventure (14) weathered a tough conference schedule and will need plenty of help in its uphill bracket, and Vermont's bid is a play-in game.

Time to capitalize: Syracuse, Cincinnati, UNLV, Baylor, Louisville, Missouri

Are they highly seeded on strength of name and big-time schedule, or are these teams for real?

UNLV (6) looks to recapture the glory of years gone past with one of its best teams in years, both in talent and cohesion. The Running Rebels are due for a second-round matchup with Baylor (3) if both survive. The Bears are on the fast track from atonement to dominance, and they want to continue to make good on what has been a fantastic sports year all-around for the university.

Cincinnati (6) has been saying it's the toast of the Midwest, but the Bearcats have yet to put together a good tournament run to back that up. Louisville (4), always ranked well and with plenty of pressure thanks to being Rick Pitino's posse, needs to get to at least the Sweet Sixteen this year, considering the Cardinals' matchups. This team has folded early before.

Missouri (2) has put together a fantastic season and has a clear path to the Elite Eight if it doesn't overreach, and Syracuse (1) has played dominant ball all season. The Orange should be winning by dozens all the way to the title game.

Check back later for round-by-round picks.

Biblio Recommendo

Which is better: Reading only the Bible, or reading other Christian books in conjunction with Bible study?

I have swung sharply to both sides at different points in my life. At Bible college, right after high school, I decided I wanted to read nothing but the Bible so I could form my own unadulterated opinions from it. I was reading extensively for school anyway, and my tack had its desired effect: I soon found myself linking parts of the Bible I had never pulled together before and felt parts of Scripture coming alive for the first time.

In recent years, though, I have gone back to reading Christian books at my Bible-reading time. Sometimes I even enjoy those books so much that I don't read the Bible at great length (which I would not ever recommend; I'll call it laziness). This I have found very refreshing, in that passages that I had long taken to mean one thing can suddenly mean much more, being expanded by people with deeper knowledge of Scripture, or who have found ways to link verses, concepts, and principles in much the way I did during my first deep dive in Bible school.

Now, in both of these examples, I must note that while at some point I excluded Christian books, at no time did I exclude church, sermons, special messages, seminars, or hours upon hours of talking with friends about the things of God. So, the question is not whether we should read the Bible aside from all other sources of insight or knowledge. If we are practicing Christians, we should be constantly surrounded by those. The question is whether Christian books are an aid or a hindrance.

My thought for several years was that Christian books are indeed a hindrance, but I know now that this was mostly based on the type of Christian books being shoveled toward me. Unimaginative, cliched, or application-heavy texts are prone to discourage or disgust a person seeking God.

Just because rubbish is filled with words that can also be found in the Bible does not mean that rubbish is good or helpful. And I think a good deal of Christian books make it to print despite having nothing to say (or in trying very hard to explain things that can't be said), thus tainting the field for those books that can actually help.

But, after casting all of those books aside (to each person his own, for what may help some could just frustrate others), I now want to advocate for using solid Christian texts along with Bible study.

C.S. Lewis, Tim Keller, Paul Miller, and Rob Bell are the latest fellas to bring me around, and I think their work exemplifies the best of Christian writing: practical thoughts and grand ideas spawned off the greater concepts and concrete truths of the Bible.

Bell works with principles and proverbs long taken to mean one thing and nudges his readers to see them a different way. Keller strings age-old truths into modernity, buttressing his ideas with ties to literature and reason. Miller weaves the humble walking of daily life with Bible truths many have imagined but few have lived. And Lewis, well, Lewis can in paragraphs describe entire Christian doctrines, in sentences give you a perfect example of a hard-to-live principle, and in words compel you to see both the beauty and fact of truths ever-much-more living.

Those four are my favorites right now, and they have done for me what I could have never done through Bible study alone. They deconstruct the verses I have known all my life and help me see real, living examples of how those words should shape my life. They help link together the broader themes of Scripture and show how individual directives fit into them. They make stories and commandments come alive.

The backlog of Bible learning I've compiled my whole life gets made into moving pictures when I read these Christian authors, and I am better equipped to go back to Scripture and continue studying on my own.

I would argue that what these Christian writers are doing is much what a good pastor or community group would do. We are all spreading the Bible's truth to each other, encouraging each other with it and trying to use the wisdom God has given us to help others see it better. The unique nature of alone time with God in Bible study does not mean this has to stop. We can continue to tap into what God has shown others, just in the quiet of reading.

If we read just the Bible, our understanding of it is laid only against what we already have in our heads. No matter how great our Christian background, our knowledge is incomplete. And many of us were raised by Sunday School teachers who meant well but told us stuff that's just not true.

Most of us also are constantly working through the pain, guilt, or bitterness that comes into life through sin. Our experiences color our education, and whether we see it or not, the world as we've come to see it will shape how we study the Bible. Outside sources help us fight this and instead continue to see truth for what it is, and God for Who He really is.

On top of that, we are all madly selfish creatives, and especially in modernity, quite engrossed in what is orbiting around us. Self is king no matter how many times we slay it, and the only antidote is truth. God, Christ, the Holy Spirit help us see outside of ourselves, and fellow Christians are part of that ministry.

Finally, learning from others is part of our constant journey to true understanding and seeing the world how God sees it. Bible study, the "renewal" of our minds (Romans 12:1-2), the reframing, is nothing if not God replacing eyes that look in sin with minds that understand through His view. He shows us the way as we study, and to different people He shows different illuminations of His truth. We'd be crazy not to tap into that.

This is an incomplete discussion that could use much more reasoning and better examples. I still support time just spent in the Word, and I certainly fight for prayer alone and time alone with God. But when it comes to the time set aside for just Bible study or reading, I also suggest a solid Christian book, even if it be a page or paragraph a day.

If repetition, guilt, cynicism, hopelessness, or depression have ever been part or your walk with God, it's likely you were too far inside yourself to see Him. A different snapshot of God can make all the difference in starting a walk toward full truth.

Joltin'.

I'm finally digging into the type of book I've long been wanting to read, a biography of Joe DiMaggio (The Hero's Life by Richard Ben Cramer), and I thought I'd give a little opinion — in part to chronicle the 500-page book for posterity, and in part to convince the people who may have once followed my blog that I am not, indeed, dead.

I'm about halfway through so far, and the picture of Joe is a sad one. Along the mantra of "Don't be motivated by fear; be motivated by hope," he hangs a failing grade from even his youth. The man is so driven by not making mistakes, not falling short with money, not succumbing to others' expectations, not letting anything out of his grasp, that much of his life appears to be that of a caged man.

Joe's career choice and most of how he lives after that come from this fear, but of course with a man as talented as Joe DiMaggio, the fear is but an ugly speck in his aura of defiance. Even though he may have lived most of his years scared of running out of cash or not being perfect, he transformed that fear into performance with such skill that most people watching just found him amazing.

That seems to be the larger tale for most great athletes: Demons so dark that the star is driven to push harder, jump higher, hit longer, be better, win more than anyone around. We laud them, follow them, and try to emulate them ... most times not knowing that their otherworldliness is not so much a heavenly bent as it is shadows of pain, failure, or exclusion pushing a man.

The fans who remember Joe recall a man locked in, devoted to winning. He stood solid in the batter's box, and in his quiet and strength he always had the right focus to be a superior hitter. He scrutinized and planned from the outfield, doing the large bits of work ahead of time to see where a hitter was going so his legs could easily handle the rest. He relentlessly kept his brain on winning, winning, winning, and styled his regimens and attitudes around that goal, and the glory that came with achieving it.

Would Joe have been this Joe if not for the World Series bonuses he was chasing? What if he wasn't pushing each year for a better salary? What if he didn't feel the need to be known as better than Ted Williams? Would Joe have ever even pursued baseball if he didn't think it could pay him well?

Where would those fly balls have gone if he wasn't obsessed with being the perfect outfielder? How about the batting crowns, MVP awards, and championship rings — or the legs shredded from ferocious sliding, the failed marriages, and his otherwise loveless and injured life?

Do you have to court the darkness of pride, fear, and hunger to be truly great?

Jerry West's book, West by West, seems to think so. Kobe Bryant's trophy case vs. LeBron James' happy zone backs up the thesis. Tiger Woods' altered landscape suggests that genius needs its ingredients just right — and on its own terms.

Can you be a winner without the killer instinct? And are the great ones' greatest talents really just their ability to keep their demons dancing on a row long enough that they can harness the bitterness, rage, and shortcomings into one giant burst of awesome?

Hope it's worth it, fellas.

Ode to Overachieving

I got into journalism because I wanted to be able to have hands in all of my interests at once: writing, editing, design, sports, philosophy, current events, culture. It turns out that you often only get to do two or three at once, and the rest fall away when you find yourself wanting to eat or sleep instead.

The most depressing part about having a blog that you can't consistently keep up, though, is that it chronicles your insufficiences. Yes, I haven't written since Nov. 23, and even that piece was a recycled piece from a whole year earlier that I only finally got up because a friend asked for it. Yes, I haven't written about sports much since I left my last sports job. Yes, I have virtually nothing about culture up here.

Yes, I have about five pieces total that are about things I really want to write about: you can search by labels, by dates, by archive, but no more will appear than the ones I've taken time to write.

So, my ode to overachieving: I've gone through everything in life faster than most people and sometimes better than most people, but blogs and such make me happy to say I can't do it all. I'm happy I spent that time eating, sleeping, and being with friends. I can always find time "later in the week" for world domination. (Here's to you, Liz Lemon.)