G_D?

Okay, you probably don't have any idea what this post is titled. I am in a Cultural Anthropology class and we started a religion unit today. We talked about different religions and beliefs, but then we came across a slide in the presentation that had different names people gave God. There were names like Yahweh and Allah but the one that struck me was "G_D" which was the first listed. I thought to myself "why is God censored when the others are not?" 

I'm sure if I said something, my professor would tell me that she was afraid of insulting others in the classroom. I could say to her that seeing God spelled "G_D" upsets me. I was just shocked and confused as to why people are so insulted by the name God and not the other names for God. It doesn't make sense to me.

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Tarheel For Life

I wanted to take a minute and thank the Carolina men's basketball team for an outstanding season. Although it didn't end the way we wanted it to, they still did a tremendous job! I wasn't sure how this year's team would be considering last year's debacle; but they pulled it out. This team, in my opinion, has worked harder than any other team in the nation. Working hard is not just about winning championships, it's about how you persevere through adversity to achieve a goal. This team has displayed that day in and day out.

I honestly have never felt this bad for a Carolina team before in my life. I just feel so bad for them because of all the hard work and determination they've put in throughout the season. I'll tell you right now the ACC and the NCAA better watch out for this team next year, especially if everyone comes back. Congrats once again Tarheels! I know I'm speaking for everyone when I say I'm proud of you guys.

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Not Just Northern

I was shocked to hear about a stabbing that ocurred Thursday at my old high school, Northern. When I was there, we had fights and bomb threats but no stabbings. However, I was even more shocked by the WRAL story about the incident. Here is the gist of the story: a fight broke out between students at NHS before school started.

One was stabbed and taken to the hospital while the other was arrested. WRAL then goes on to report the number of crimes at Northern and takes it upon themselves to mention how many were drug and firearm-related incidents and how many were sexual assault incidents.

I am upset that this ocurred but I am even more upset at WRAL for creating this story that did not represent the school well at all. In my opinion, this is the poorest showing of journalism I have ever seen from WRAL. They included statistics about Northern but failed to compare them to other schools in the system. For instance, they said that Northern "accounted for nearly 1/5th of the 284 crimes and acts of violence reported in Durham schools in the 2009-10 school year." They go on to say that, "42 of the 56 incidents reported at Northern High were drug-related, while nine involved possession of firearms or other weapons, a sexual assault, and three other assaults." The stats may be true but the parts about drug-related and sexual assault crimes are irrelevant to the case presented.

The bottom line here is that Northern should not be singled out everytime something happens. It was important that the public knew of this incident, but why not do the same for other schools in the district? I decided to do my own digging and found that, according to the State Department of Public Instruction, Riverside High School had the second highest number of crimes in the 2009-2010 school year (40 total). You didn't hear about that did you? If I had written the story for WRAL, I would use it as a warning to all parents at all high schools and not just pick out Northern or DPS. I would have included a distribution of the crime reports and address this as a problem in all schools, not just Northern. I think WRAL showed poor professionalism and poor judgement when writing this story. I have always trusted them for their news but, after seeing this story, I may not have that much of a favorable opinion for them anymore.

To read the full story, click here

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Laminin

Ever heard of it? If you haven't you're not the only one. Last night at Bible study was the first time I heard about this little thing and I was amazed. We watched a video from Louie Giglio, a world-renowned speaker, pastor, and founder of the Passion Movement. In the video, Giglio told a story of where he met this man after a message. It turns out the man was a molecular biologist and suggested to Giglio that he include a "knockout punch" in his next message. Giglio agreed but didn't know what to do. The biologist mentioned of a thing called laminin. The guy told Giglio that laminin is a protein in the cells of the body. It acts as the foundation of the cell, telling the cell its function in the body. Giglio agreed to use it but wasn't sure what it was, so the guy told him to go Google it and see a picture of it. When Giglio did, he was shocked to see this...

There was his knockout punch! It's amazing that the shape of laminin is just like the cross of Jesus. I was even amazed by it and thought how in the world can anyone say God didn't create us? I'm sure people would say that this was just a coinsidence, but it's not! We are fearfully and wonderfully made by God who, as my former youth pastor once said, "dipped down in the mud and molded us with his hands." See we were the only creation that God did that to. Everything else He either spoke of breathed into existence. We are in the presence of an amazing and wonderful God and if you don't believe that, I would invite you to learn more about Him. Talk to your family, friends, or even leave a comment here for me.

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March Madness Oops

You knew I would have an Oops Award for the NCAA Tourney, and it goes to CBS. Just the other day, I was praising them, saying "What would the NCAA Tourney be without them?" Now I might back track a little on that because of their actions the last two nights. First, the "controversal" Pittsburgh vs. Butler game. There were two fouls called in the last seven seconds (one on the Bulldogs and one on the Panthers) which ultimately led to a one point Butler victory. After the game, CBS talked for a good half hour about the calls and even had the guy who oversees officiating for the NCAA. The guys in the CBS studio grilled him who, you know, takes a lot of crap from people already. I don't understand the point of that when the refs in the game clearly made the right calls.

The second mishap was today after the UNC vs. Washington game. Once again, there was a "questionable" call at the end. First, fans (and CBS alike) seemed to think more time should have been added to the clock when UNC knocked the ball out of bounds. Also, fans thought John Henson of UNC interfered with a Huskie player's shot to tie. When they went to the studio postgame, Greg Gumble called the game "controversal" and they spent another half hour grilling the head official guy again! They kept babbling on and on, going back to the play when it wasn't necessary.

I'm honestly disappointed in CBS. I was even more disappointed in them after the UNC game. There was no point to keep talking about the end of that game. For starters, no time should have been added to the clock because the clock stops when the ref blows the whistle, not when the ball goes out of bounds. The guys on CBS at the time seemed to not understand that. Also, even if a goaltend had been called on UNC, it would have only been two pointer instead of a three, which is what the Huskies needed to tie the game. Way to go CBS for getting my NCAA Tourney Oops Award!

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The Case For Brad Stevens

This may seem silly, but I decided to write about the possibility of Butler coach Brad Stevens coming to NC State to be their next head basketball coach. I don't know if it would happen, but AD Debbie Yow said all coaches she has in mind are currently in the NCAA Tournament. I agree that the Pack should be looking at a coach in the NCAA Tourney. 

If I were Debbie Yow and the search committee, I would make Brad Stevens my #1 choice. He's young, full of energy, loves the game, and very smart considering he's only been coaching for four years and had no real coaching experience. In fact, his bio on Butler's website says that he was a business associate in marketing for eleven years before taking the job at Butler. In my opinion, he's has as much knowledge of the game as any of the seasoned coaches you see out there right now. On top of that, he has NCAA Tournament experience including the National Championship game in 2010. If someone can come up with a better choice let me know but Brad Stevens is my pick!

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Bracketology With Chris

I can't believe it, but it is that time of year again: the NCAA Tournament! In fact, this is my second favorite time of year, behind Christmas of course. I love tourney time not only because there's a boat load of college hoops on, but because of the passion and heart you see out on the court that you mostly don't see in the NBA. It's just something about college basketball that I love! So now I present to you Bracketology With Chris...

Second/Third Rounds

After the First Four (technically first round) I think these rounds will be pretty uneventful; however there may be a couple of games to pay close attention to:

• Temple vs. Penn State~The Nittany Lions are coming off a tremendous run in the Big Ten tourney and are playing against a deflated Temple team after falling to Richmond who earned a 12 seed in the NCAA Tourney
•  Vanderbilt vs. Richmond~Although I picked the Commodores to win, they need to be on alert with this Richmond team who has won 12 straight games going into the postseason, including the upset of Temple in their conference championship
• Wisconsin vs. Belmont~I may pay for it later but I have Belmont beating Wisconsin. I took a look at the season stats so far and Belmont has a sizeable margin over Points Per Game (PPG), FG%, and FT%. It's not impossible because some of the "Bracketology" guys on ESPN predicted this as well.
• St. John's vs. Gonzaga~Again, I'm going with the underdog which would be the Zags. I've always liked what Mark Few can put together come tourney time and I don't think his team won't show up for this game.
• UCLA vs. Michigan State~Tom Izzo always brings his team to play come tourney time as well, I see them getting past the Bruins but falling to Florida in the second round.

Sweet 16

Again, not too many surprises here, although I like Texas to beat Arizona and meet Duke in an interesting Sweet 16 matchup. In the same bracket, I like San Diego State to knock off Penn State and meet Connecticut. Surprisingly, I think Kansas State can make a run and defeat both Utah State and Badger killer Belmont to take on Pittsburgh in the Sweet 16.

Elite 8

This is where it gets so tough.

• East~Ohio State vs. North Carolina
• West~Duke vs. Connecticut
• Southwest~Kansas vs. Notre Dame
• Southeast~Pitt vs. BYU

Once again, the Southeast may surprise you, but I think BYU has a good chance, especially with my player of the year Jimmer Fredette. He's not the only reason, though, as the entire team has looked pretty good against stiff competition.

Final Four

Ohio State vs. Connecticut and Kansas vs. Pittsburgh

Championship

Ohio State vs. Kansas

The Buckeyes, led by Freshman sensation Jared Sullinger, are just too strong for any team out there right now, and that's why I choose them to be the 2011 NCAA Champions! It should be a great next few weeks and I can't wait to see what happens!

To see all of my picks, click on the picture below.

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Done It Again

You can add one more big screw up courtesy of the ACC and its voters. The All-ACC team selections were today and the results may surprise you. The least surprising pick was Nolan Smith, who was unanimously selected to the first team. UNC had no first team selections but had a couple on the second and third teams. They become the first outright regular season champion to do so and I'm not a happy camper about it! 

When I got word, I immediately criticized the ACC on Twitter for their mishap and someone from the ACC Men's Basketball Twitter account tweeted back saying the ACC media association makes the selections. DUHHHHH! Who doesn't know that? I responded saying that I knew that but who oversees them? I'd be willing to bet you that the ACC does. No matter who voted, it's a big screw up! I mean, how can John Henson get National Defensman of the Year but not be on the first team All-ACC? Once again, another Oops Award for the ACC and the media voters!

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What A Game

Let me tell you, I had an amazing time at the UNC/Duke game Saturday night! I still can't believe I actually got the chance to go. Despite shelling out over half of the money in my savings, it was worth every penny! We got in with no problems and our seats were all the way back to the wall, so I could stand up for the entire game if I wanted. The Heels' victory was just the icing on the cake to a great night in Chapel Hill! I've been to so many Carolina basketball games before but this one was the best by far!

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Lucky And Broke

I've been blessed with the opportunity to have a good paying summer job at my church and the common sense to save up that money for special things. The money has really gone a long way. Over the past year, I've bought tickets to concerts and shows, a new pair of Supra shoes, and a new G-Shock watch. With my 2011 Challenge basically blown to smithereens, I decided to make yet another huge purchase: tickets to the UNC/Duke men's basketball game! I got them through Stubhub and paid a mere $250/ticket for upper level (aka "Nosebleed") seats.

Call me crazy, but since I had the $$$ I thought carpe diem. Plus, my mom always told me that I won't be able to spend my money like that once I get my own responsibilities (i.e. bills) so I said "let's do it!" I couldn't have picked a better game to go to because, not only is it the best rivalry in all of college sports, but it is the deciding game for the ACC regular season championship!

I'm so excited to go but I am a little nervous. I've never ordered tix through Stubhub before, so I'm kind of afraid that I'll get to the gate and the tix won't work. I've heard stories of this happening before but they do have a "Fan Protection Guarantee" and this very thing happened to my grandma when she ordered tix to that Vince Gill concert through Ticketmaster. We ended up getting into the show but the tix never would scan. In other words, you're not guaranteed being free of mishaps with any ticket company. I'm feeling better about things now and I plan to have an awesome time at the game!

P.S. I will be live tweeting as much as I can while I'm there (hopefully with pics too) so stay tuned!

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