Tebow- yeah I said it!

I have watched the entire Tim Tebow saga with delight.  From the time the young man came out of college, all we heard is how he could not be a NFL qb.  ESPN has basically went on a crusade against him.  Now the naysayers are actually starting to eat crow.  I guess it's hard when you are the expert on the NFL and you dropped the ball with Tebow.  Sometimes it's not about the throwing motion mechanics, or the time it takes to throw the ball.  It's about heart, drive, the intangibles...  There have been a lot of guys the NFL draft experts have loved.  They have been busts.  Here's a list of the top ten draft busts in the history of the NFL: http://www.nfl.com/news/story?confirm=true&id=09000d5d817ff891&template=with-video-with-comments  I know I'm no expert, but it seems a few things are needed to be a pro and clearly he has them.

Discipline  I don't think you are going to see Tebow skip practice or come back to camp the following year out of shape.  I can go on a full rant about some NFL players who have done both.  My favorite team, the Redskins (I know, I know) had a player named Albert Haynesworth.  Maybe you have heard of him?  He couldn't even pass a conditioning test to start camp last season.  The test basically consisted of running back and forth to some cones in an allotted time period.  Yeah, I would expect that I couldn't pass it!  This guy is supposed to be a pro.  Tebow is known for his training.  He worked the whole off-season between the last football game and the draft to change his throwing motion.  I also don't think you will hear about him out in the club at 3 in the morning involved in a shooting.  Just sayin...

Knowlege  The guy is a student of the game.  If he doesn't know something, he will work on it.  Time after time you hear about him watching film, asking questions...  Brett Farve was a great qb, but I've heard stories of him blowing off watching film.  Knowledge is great, but there is something else that propels him to the NFL level that many players are lacking.  It's my next point...

True Leadership  He is a leader in many ways.  The guy never gives up.  He encourages others to be better.  He makes promises he keeps.  Look at the change in the complexion of the Denver Broncos.  They went from straight up losers, to winners in the midst of a season.  People want to follow someone they can trust.  Someone they can believe in.  This is what I mean about promises.  This is why the Broncos are winning:

Work It Out!

This Christmas, my sister has gifted me with a gym membership for a couple of months.  Still trying to decide if that is an insult.  I mean, is it a nice way of saying, "You need to get into shape", or just a way to spend time together and get healthy at the same time?  Actually, only men would do the first one, so I'm going for the healthy/time spending theory.  We have only gone once this week and I'm paying for it.

Someone, who is clearly not me, enjoying the treadmill!

Let me explain, I'm not as young as I used to be, but I'm not one foot in the grave either!  We went to the gym the other day and while it was hard, I felt pretty good about myself as we walked out.  Ha!  My body was just in the process of a delayed reaction.  The next morning I woke up with a cramp in my calf.  "A Little Cramp!", you say.  Hey, this was no little cramp.  This was the kind that wakes you up out of a dead sleep.  Your leg feels like it has been taken over by some voodoo priestess!  I could barely sit up to stretch it.  It was like my calf had taken control of my whole body and it was going to make me pay for the day before!  Oh, I understood the "agony of defeat" at that moment.  As my eyes welled up with tears, I frantically reached for my foot to stretch.  It finally subsided, but that cramp was messing with me.  Telling me, "Oh, I can come back any moment"  My leg has been sore since.  So sore that I have had a therapy heat bag on it two nights in a row.  This morning it felt better, but as the day has progressed, I still feel a little twinge.


So, I guess I need to come to terms with the fact that my body is: 1)- not in shape, 2)- healing at a rate slower than the US economy's improvement.  The thing I am realizing about getting older is that my mind, for some reason, doesn't seem to understand it's happening.  I think I can do things I did years ago.  So,my body has to remind me where I am in life.  Some reminders are more painful than others.

Baby It's Cold Outside

It's about time I finally told you why I don't hunt.  I've been promising to for a while and, well, there's no better time than the present.  At least, that's how the saying goes!

The main reason I choose to not hunt is simple: I do not like to be cold!  I could tell you there are other things that come first, but they don't.  I really don't like winter.  I don't like seeing my breath, or if it's early enough, not seeing my breath.  I once saw a hunting show on tv.  They were hunting in Texas.  They were in this "blind".  Yeah, right, it was a small house on stilts.  It had running water, windows, a/c and heat.  Yes, I said a/c and heat!  They were watching a big screen tv and sitting in these really comfy looking leather chairs.  They had to TURN OFF the a/c to shoot the deer.  The guy opened a window, shot the deer, closed the window, and went back to watching the game.  Ok, so I love the "house blind" idea, but somehow, that just doesn't seem to be in the right spirit of hunting!

Secondly, I will eat deer meat, but I don't crave it.  I have often told customers that when they open up cow hunting, I'm there!  Imagine hunting the elusive Black Angus!  So it wouldn't be much of a challenge, but man would it taste great!  I have customers who hunt all season just to fill their freezer for another year.  That is great.  I applaud their living off the land, but my idea of living off the land is my garden.

I know deer aren't the only thing to hunt.  Inevitably the word squirrel has come out of someone's mouth as they have read this.  Squirrel?  No thank you.  A squirrel and a rat seem to closely related to me.  One is the country cousin to the other.  Just get a squirrel in your attic and see how closely related it is to a rodent!  Hey, but if you like squirrel, rabbit, whatever... I say, "Go for it!"

I believe if you are going to kill something, you should be able to clean it yourself. I also have no desire to clean any animal, especially a deer!  I don't always, but I have cleaned fish when we have caught them.  Fish are bad enough, but man, the way folks smell after gutting a deer... NO THANK YOU! 

Lastly, I don't hunt because I don't have time to come home in the middle of the day and take a two hour nap!  Seriously, my husband goes hunting, comes home and sleeps on the couch with the tv on in the background like a lullaby playing for a baby!  No thanks.  I have too much to do.  Plus, who will be grilling the Black Angus steaks from my hunt for dinner?