Confessions of a Cheesehead; Super Bowl XLV

Why I’m Pullling for the Packers
It all goes back to when I was a boy

Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood
are Pittsburgh Steelers fans.
Daniel Tiger’s stripes are black and gold.
King Friday thinks come Sunday
the “steel curtain” will prevail.
But I think the king is prematurely bold.

The cheddar wedge I’m wearing
indicates the team I’m for.
Yes, I’ve been a Packers fan since I was nine.
Coach Lombardi, Starr and Hornung
brought the game to life for me
about the time I played with words that rhyme.

Lambeau Field (that frozen tundra)
breeds a brand of athlete
that’s made strong by dealing with adversity.
No domed stadium for Cheeseheads.
Players and their fans alike
are a kind of pain-means-gain fraternity.

Like St. Peter in the Bible
they believe that suffering
has the means to purify what’s valuable.*
Tested by both ice and fire,
they know well what tempers steel
and that’s what the Pack will do come Super Bowl.

* In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9)

** http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=34574

Super Bowl XLV
A kind of Judgment Day

It all comes down to Sunday’s game.
Two winning teams. One common aim.
To claim the Vince Lombardi prize
and be called “champions.”

The Super Bowl provides a test
to prove who really are the best.
It is a kind of Judgment Day
when hard work earns its due.

But come the Judgment Day we’ll face,
who wins will win because of grace.
The trophy of eternal life
was won at Calvary.

In Christ we’re reigning champions
because of what God’s Son has done.
He tackled death and sacked our sin
to earn our victory.

The votes are in; Smart Phone Addiction

Chicago’s All-Time Favorite Sport
The votes are in

I know you’ve probably heard about
Chicago politics.
“Vote early and vote often!”
How ’bout Blago’s shady schtick?

Where Al Capone and Baby Face
once crimed their way to fame
a godfather-like atmosphere
still lingers in this place.

The Daley Show has run its course
and proved you can’t get rich
without some union on your side
or scratching someone’s itch..

The Windy City’s good old boys
aren’t known to kiss and tell.
Look how they tried to block the way
of Rahm Emanuel.

The Cubs, Sox, Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks
pale when contrasted to
the game that’s played at City Hall
where old tricks still are new.

Smart Phone Addiction
Why the Blackberry is often called Crackberry

You’ve likely heard of Blackberries*
(a most addictive fruit).
It’s one of many smart phone brands
that leaves you un-astute.

You crave (and simply can’t ignore
the need) to send a text.
And then the e-mail signal “dings”
and you must read that next.

The Microsoft ads on TV
aren’t REALLY that absurd.
They underscore a sickness
that (to date) has no known cure.

A smart phone junkie feels withdrawls
when they eat, sleep or drive.
That unmet urge to stay in-touch
feels like they won’t survive.

Yes, I admit my iPhone apps
provide me with a high
to which I’ve grown accustomed and
without which I will die!

* Blackberry smart phones are so addictive, they are often nicknamed Crackberries.

A look back at Jack LaLanne’s legacy

He juiced his veggies, snacked on nuts,
he lifted weights and then
he plagued his body working out
so it would not plague him.

Ninety-six? He looked sixty
with biceps few can boast.
Was it genetics, carrot juice
or whole wheat seeded toast?

But now that Jack LaLanne is gone
the bottom line is clear.
Both exercise and diet count.
Those fit die healthier.

The fitness guru’s death recalls
the need for exercise.
But rock-hard buns and abs of steel
pale next to Heaven’s prize.

A daily workout in God’s Word
will build faith muscles fast.
For in the end a healthy soul’s
the only thing that lasts.
 
* My grandmother was a Jack LaLanne enthusiast fifty years ago. Whenever I would visit Nana Birkeland, I would join her doing “exercises with Jack” in front of the old black and white TV. She also blended vegetables into juice. I learned to drink “Carrot Annie” about the same time she introduced me to Postum.

Exposing the toxicity of our times;
Why is Dallas Green So Blue? ;
The “Ask Not” Speech Remembered

What’s Happened to Civility?
Exposing the toxicity of our times

The landscape of our politics
is littered with (it makes me sick)
all kinds of garbage thrown about
that’s toxic and untrue.

The air’s polluted by our hate.
It’s everywhere in every state.
The donkeys act like jackasses.
The elephants like beasts.

Campaigns are viewed as holy wars
where words (like weapons) aim to score
a victory at any price
while peace is left to die.

What’s happened to civility?
Without it our democracy
is window dressing (nothing more)
and likely doomed to fail.

Why is Dallas Green So Blue?
Reflections on a 9 year-old’s tragic murder

So why is Dallas Green so blue?
I’m thinking that you would be too
if your granddaughter was gunned down.
You might be red with rage.

A yellow sun up in the sky
that watched that little princess die
observed a blacktop stained with blood
and turned white-hot with scorn.

But in the brownish Tucson sand
the footprints of one guilty man
remind us all of our gray hearts
most vulnerable to sin.

A highly-prized World Series ring
is not worth much. It’s only bling!
When it’s compared to human life,
there’s not much to compare.

* Dallas Green, who played for the Philadelphia Phillies in the Sixties, went on to manage the team two decades later. In 1980 he led the Phillies to their very first World Series title. Sadly, the nine year-old girl who was one of the six killed in Tucson last week was his granddaughter.

The “Ask Not” Speech Remembered
What a remarkable speech it was!

Fifty years ago this week
I heard my childhood hero speak.
He asked me not to seek to get
but rather seek to serve.

A boy of eight (that’s all I was)
inspired by this leader’s cause
and captured by a Boston brogue
I’d never heard before.

Although I later came to learn
what JFK should well have spurned,
his “don’t ask” message was Christ-like.
“Don’t seek to be served!” “Serve!”

“For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45