S7s: Blizzard of 2016

1) Big news of the week was the snowstorm that everyone was anticipating. They were calling for 8-16 inches in and around Asheville with more in higher elevations. I predicted 4 inches. From Thursday night to Saturday afternoon, we got around 12-13 inches at my house. It was 7 inches on Friday afternoon with the snow still falling. I had a lazy day and read and did some work. I did not venture out at all on Friday. On Saturday, I shoveled and walked around. Went to Sanctuary Brewing and had one of their coffee porters and saw my buddy Stewie. Today, church was cancelled and I slept in. Met Robert for a ride up to Jump Off Rock. The roads were slick, so we took mountain bikes. Very slippery coming down, but we made it safely. My toes took forever to recover from being numb.

2) Monday was Martin Luther King holiday. Tuesday was a teacher workday. Friday was a snow day. The first day of the new semester was Wednesday, so this has been a short week for teachers in Henderson County. Shorter for me because I was in Chapel Hill on Wednesday. I had to attend the Regional Wrestling Director's meeting. It was a long drive, but I got to see some of my favorite coaches like Butch Ross and David Perry. I also got to have coffee with some former North Henderson kiddos who are attending Chapel Hill. And since I wasn't going to make it back in time for practice (and then they sent the students home because of weather), I drove the extra 30 mins to Raleigh to see Suelee, David and the great nephew & niece.

3) Ran into this quote this week. Made me think about the world around me. I feel like that is what happens too often in our society.  Look at our politics. We are driven by fear. Man, what an amazing world we'd live in if we were motivated by love and hope and not driven by our fears. 

4) Speaking of great quotes, this is my favorite Martin Luther King, Jr one:

5) More migrants drown trying to reach Europe. 45 in once incident last week. If you follow my blog and my thoughts, you'll know that I have a heart for refugees. This is a fate that so many are willing to face. To me, it reveals the fate that they are trying to escape. 

6) Rivalry week for Knights Wrestling. We had matches against West Henderson and East Henderson. We had lots of highlights:

• Monday was a JV tournament at Enka. Every kid we took either finished first or second. Future is bright for Knights Wrestling.
• Tuesday, we hosted West Henderson and won in dominant fashion: 70-3.
• Thursday, we wrestled a match that was scheduled for Friday but was moved up in anticipation of the weather. We beat East Henderson 60-18. It was Senior Night and a good way to send off our graduating class.
• We also got a nice write up in the Citizen-Times this week, Record Season for Knights wrestlers

7) Looks like I get my wish, as Carolina is about 5 minutes from putting away the Cardinals and a 34 point lead. 

• Does Peyton get to pull an Elway and go out a Super Bowl winner?
• Cam is MVP, can he finally bring a title to Carolina?
• Both defenses are legit. Denver made Brady look mortal for most of the game. Carolina seems to be rattling Carson Palmer and Arizona. 
• I would like to see Manning go out on top. The Panthers are the team I pull for after the Dolphins. Mixed emotions. I guess I'll go with Carolina but I would not be upset if Denver won. 
• Denver might be my 3rd favorite team. And they have Demaryius Thomas!

Super Bowl

Super Bowl Sunday. Colts-Saints should be a great game. Two great cities, two great teams and two great quarterbacks. You have classy coaches, respected owners and loyal fans. Here are some thoughts on the two stars of the big game:

Peyton Manning- Yeah, I understand that he can be overexposed. And all those hand signals and audibles before the snap can get annoying. But he's so good at what he does and here's the evidence:

• Dude is smart, but he also studies like no one else. He is always watching film and between series he is looking at photos and making a lot of the adjustments himself. No one is more prepared than Manning and no one is better at making strategic adjustments than him. Peyton was blessed with a lot of talent, but he works as hard as anyone else. When he showed up to do Saturday Night Live, he arrived at NBC studios with binders of stuff he had studied and was diligently taking notes during planning. If he takes SNL this seriously, imagine how serious he takes Sundays.
  
  
  
• Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon: The Colts drafted two no names at wide receiver. Peyton's favorite, Marvin Harrison, was not resigned last season. Anthony Gonzalez, the slot receiver who played so well last season, was lost for the year with a knee injury. What do they do? They develop gems from gravel. Collie came out of the 4th round from BYU. Garcon? He was drafted in round six from Division III Mount Union. I believe that "champions" make those around them better. Michael Jordan did that. Drew Brees, of the Saints, does that. Peyton and the Colts do that so well.
  

- Drew Brees - I like Drew Brees, because he has achieved so much at so many levels in spite of the "experts". He is not supposed to set passing records and be the starting quarterback in the Super Bowl, but here he is. Signed in 2006, Brees has embraced New Orleans. The Crescent City needed a hero and Brees was that on many levels through his gameplay and his charitable efforts.

"Winner" might be one of the most overused cliches in sports. We've really watered down the meaning. But I mean it when I say Drew Brees is a "winner":

• A three-sport star, he led Westlake High School (Austin, TX) to a perfect 16-0 season and a Texas 5A State Championship. Both were firsts in school history. Despite being the 1996 Texas 5A Player of the Year, he was not recruited by the Texas powerhouses: hometown Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Texas Christian. At 6 feet even, he was considered too small. His college choices for football: Big Ten bottom feeder Purdue and Ivy League Brown.
• At Purdue, a school overshadowed by Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, etc, Brees was the Maxwell Award (for best college player) winner and a Heisman finalist in 2000. That season, he led the Boilermakers to their first Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl appearance since 1967. Winners overachieve and make those around them better. Brees took Purdue past the tradition powers of the Big10 conference to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl.
• Most scouts thought Brees still too small for the NFL and that his arm strength was inadequate. Still, the San Diego Chargers took him in the second round of the 2001 draft. He beat out the famous (though old) Doug Flutie (see video below) for the starting job.
  
  
• In 2004, the Chargers drafted NC State quarterback Philip Rivers with the 4th pick in the NFL Draft. This was essentially a vote of no-confidence for Brees. Rivers held out of training camp and Brees played the entire season and earned a trip to the Pro Bowl.
• In 2005, Brees injured his shoulder while trying to recover a fumble. A free agent, Brees was offered a very un-lucrative contract with the Chargers (they basically chose Rivers) for someone who was just voted into his second consecutive Pro Bowl. He wanted to go to Miami, but Nick Saban (aka Satan), did not believe his shoulder to be healed. So Brees ended up in New Orleans post-Katrina.
• And what has Brees done in New Orleans? Rallied the city behind the Saints (remember, the Superdome was a Katrina refugee camp), given money to local schools, started the Drew Brees Foundation, and advocated locally and nationally on behalf of the city of New Orleans. Oh, and he took the Saints- formerly the "Aints", who wore bags over their heads to games, one of three franchises to never play in Big Game- to their first ever Super Bowl appearance.