Sunday 7s: Nov 29

1) North Knight Invitational in the Books! For the first time since 2000, we won our own tournament. I'm really proud of the effort of our kids. Of course, we made plenty of mistakes and can do a lot of things better, but overall it was a strong effort for the Knights. We had lots of upset wins, our young kids looked strong and we toughed through some difficult matches.

• We had 5 champions and 1 runner up. Pretty good for a fairly young squad.
• We had the two MOWs of the tournament: Blatt for the lower weights and Searcy for the upper weights.
• Our JV kids had eight pool winners.
• The volunteers were amazing. We cannot do the tournament without lots of help and the parents manned tables, sold concessions and ran a great hospitality room. Thanks to all the people involved.
• Dan Jystad and Kristy Edwards make an awesome team running the tournament and keeping things moving. No one can peek into Jyro's brain. It's too confusing. He's a mad scientist and I love it.

2) I have been riding my motorcycle the past few days. I went to leave for practice on Friday and my car wouldn't start. I think it's the starter. But I didn't have time to mess with it. So I just got on the Ducati and rode to practice. Fortunately, it hasn't been too cold, though riding at night and to the tournament yesterday at 5:30 wasn't the most comfortable. I guess it could have been worse. The weather is supposed to be wet the next few days. My car still isn't fixed. I may have to bum rides. Too bad this happened during wrestling season and not in the fall when I have so much extra time.

On the bright side, I was in Pisgah, way up Yellow Gap Road on Friday to ride Laurel Mountain Trail. My car started up and brought me home. 40 mins later, it wouldn't start to go to practice. I'm so fortunate I was not stranded in the middle of nowhere. I would have been late for practice and that would have been disastrous. 

3) Thanksgiving was simple and pleasant. No Tangs because Suelee had her baby. We had some sick kiddos that didn't make it. So it was smaller than our gatherings usually are. But it was still a brilliant day. Glad to spend time with my Spartanburg family, the kids are growing up so fast. I'm thankful for the great family that I have and the things we do for each other. 

4) I still don't know why we worry about Syrian refugees when we have things in our country that are more deadly and threatening. The shooting at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood should be labeled as a domestic act of terror. That's the second major tragic shooting in the Springs in the last month. The sad part of the story were the people on social media that cheered this person for his actions. 

5) It's a long read, but I really liked this story on the aftermath of the Charleston shooting in TIME magazine. How do you forgive a murderer? It's a tough question. But the article allowed us a glimpse into the lives of the people who are relatives of the victims. And instead of focusing on the shooter, it allowed us to understand the people who have to deal with the aftermath of the incident. It honors the history of Mother Emmanuel AME church and the victims. And it begins a dialogue on who and how we forgive. 

6) I like to blog about the rides I do and I did get two great ones in this past week. But I want to talk about some friends. Derek Stipe and Travis Johnson rode from Pisgah Forest, NC to the Blue Ridge Parkway up to Pisgah Inn. And back. That's over 34 miles and 3,000 feet of climbing. They were celebrating Travis being cancer free. I wish I could have joined them, but we had the North Knight yesterday. Travis is a great dude-- he's a doctor in town and former missionary to Uganda. He's been battling cancer for a few years now and has made it longer than he supposed to. We're thankful for his service and friendship. Hope I get to do that ride or another one with him soon. Also, Derek is a good dude too. He's just racist. (hehe... inside joke)

7) College Football playoff picture becoming more and more clear. Some thoughts:

• Glad this miserable season of football is over for Georgia Tech.
• Richt gone from Georgia? Wow.
• I'm pulling for Alabama because if they lose this week, Ohio State gets back in and I'm done with that team.
• Notre Dame is out. Two losses by a combined 4 pts. Gotta win the big games.
• Anyone playing better than Oklahoma? Maybe Iowa.
• Top Seven: 1) Clemson 2) Alabama 3) Oklahoma 4) Michigan St 5) Iowa 6) Stanford 7) Notre Dame