THINGS AT CHURCH
- The King of Hearts banquet was a success. Those who attended were treated with a lasagna dinner and a comedy show. The comedian was funny. His routine included how famous people would "tweet" or "facebook" what they read in the Bible based on their famous quotes, the "language" of Starbucks, and our sports culture.
-There will be just one service on Sunday at Bethel Assembly to celebrate the grand re-opening. The service will start at 10:00 A.M.
NEWS FROM THE MODESTO BEE
-In the January 30th edition of the Modesto Bee, it was reported that the principal of Elliot High School (a continuation school in Modesto) was dismissed. However, the reasoning was not mentioned, though the school district and the Bee wanted to make a point that the principal did not do anything illegal. It was only left to speculation, though I do not want to do that. I know that some of the Modesto schools did not do well on the standardized tests. However, according to the article, the principal helped make improvments to the school academically. How can the school board let go of someone who made a school like Elliot with a horrible reputation into a half-way decent place. I encourage everyone to read the articles in the Modesto Bee. I also encourage all parents to be informed of all that is going on in their respective school districts.
OTHER NEWS
-I read an article in the Weekly Standard called "From Blessing to Curse" by Jonathan V. Last. This article talks about specific cases about parents suing doctors for "wrongful birth". Most of the beginning cases were about parents who gave birth to children with down syndrome in which doctors failed to discover while the child was in the womb. These cases involve parents who would have had an abortion if they had been notified of it at the legal abortion period. As those parents started winning cases, it got to parents suing contraceptive companies and doctors who provided contraceptives because the parents could not afford to have the kid.
Ok. I won't even bring my views of abortion in on this one. Most of the judges and juries ruled made the rulings based on "the best interest of the kid". How is the kid going to feel knowing that Mommy and Daddy suing because they were born? That has to be very damaging to their self-esteem. I don't know what's worse, the parents regretting the day the child was born or the parents trying to profit off their child's birth. Most parents are not financially ready for their kids to be born, yet, they still see their child as a blessing. These ridiculous lawsuits need to stop.
-Foxnews.com put an article about the University of Missouri asking professors to not schedule major exams on Wicca and other sect holidays. I can understand wanting to honor everyone's religious views, but they should take caution about a minute minority who would come up with any excuse not to take exams.
FIFA TOP 25 RANKINGS
1. Spain 2. Germany 3. Argentina 4. England 5. Italy T6. Columbia T6. Portugal 8. Netherlands 9. Croatia 10. Russia 11. Greece T12. Cote D'Ivoire T12. Ecuador 14. Switzerland 15. Mexico 16. Uruguay 17. France 18. Brazil 19. Ghana 20. Belgium 21. Sweden 22. Denmark 23. Chile 24. Bosnia-Herzegovnia 25. Mali. (USA dropped 4 spots to 32). Spain's next game: March 22nd vs. Finland
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
-My awesome girlfriend and I recently went to the UC-San Diego at Stanislaus State game. Little did I know that it was Stanislaus State's homecoming. That must of given the Warriors a little extra inspiration, becuase they won 72-57. I read in the Modesto Bee that they went on to defeat Cal State-Bakersfield, the 2nd best team in the conference by record, the next night. The successful weekend puts Stanislaus State in 10th place in the league. The Warriors must finish in the top-8 in order to qualify for the conference tournament and keep the hopes for an NCAA Division II tournament bid alive.
-There are still two teams still undefeated in all of NCAA basketball, and they are both in division II. They are Metro State in Colorado and the defending NCAA division II champions, Western Washington.
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
- I was not able to do my CCAA watch on basketball like I hoped. With the season ending on February 11, 2013, here are the final standings: (x=eligible for playoffs)
Team Conference Record Overall Record
x-Brookside Christian (Stockton) 10-0 25-1
x-Jim Elliot Christian (Lodi) 8-2 22-5
x-Millennium (Tracy) 5-5 15-12
Sierra Ridge/Rite of Passage (San Andreas) 4-6 10-9
Big Valley (Modesto) 3-7 8-13
Stone Ridge Christian (Merced) 0-10 1-19
All 3 teams eligible for playoffs made it in division V. Millennium got the 12th and last seed, and will play at Woodland Christian on Wednesday, February 20th. On the same day, 6th seed Jim Elliot Christian will host Delta Charter of Tracy. Fourth seeded Brookside Christian earned a first-round bye, and will host the winner of the Millennium-Woodland Christian game on Friday, February 22nd.
-The second realignment meeting for the Sac-Joaquin Section took place on January 29th. You can go to the section website for the full proposal, but the second one keeps Oakdale in the VOL. In fact, the only change in the VOL would be that Sonora would leave, and the league would have seven teams. I like the first proposal better (in fact, I hate this one), but I want to look at the positive, because there are things to like about this one.
1) Oakdale remains in the VOL
Oakdale has been in this league for 70 years. It and Sonora are the only charter members remaining. Oakdale would be the last one standing, and can keep most of its league rivals.
2) Oakdale can schedule an extra non-league game in football
With the VOL having seven teams with this line-up, it enables the Mustangs to schedule an extra challenging non-league game. However, I see Oakdale scheduling Sonora for the extra non-league game.
3) Oakdale volleyball should win league now
The one sport Sonora still dominates despite the declining numbers is volleyball. Oakdale has usually finished second. With the Wildcats gone, Oakdale should win league more often.
ACADEMIC DECATHLON
-Congratulations to Oakdale for winning the Stanislaus County Academic Decathlon. The Mustangs will join these other regional champions and wildcards for the state tournament in March in Sacramento (In alphabetical order by region):
Division I
Fresno County- University (Fresno)
Los Angeles County- Beverly Hills
Los Angeles School District- Granada Hills Charter (Granada Hills)
San Bernardino County-Chaffey (Ontario)
San Diego County-Olympian (San Diego)
Wildcards (in alphabetical order by school)
Bell
Edison (Fresno)
El Camino Real Charter (Woodland Hills)
Franklin (Los Angeles)
Marshall (Los Angeles)
Division II
Contra Costa County-Campolindo (Moraga)
Kern County-Stockdale (Bakersfield)
Orange County- Westminster
Riverside County-West Valley (Hemet)
Sacramento County-Bella Vista (Fair Oaks)
Solano County- Vanden (Fairfield)
Sonoma County-Casa Grande (Petaluma)
Southern California Private Schools-Bishop Alemany (Mission Hills)
Stanislaus County- Oakdale
Wildcards
Arroyo Valley (San Bernardino)
Elsinore (Wildomar)
Keppel (Alhambra)
Rancho Cucamonga
Redlands
Redlands East Valley (Redlands)
Troy (Fullerton)
Valencia
West (Los Angeles)
Woodbridge (Irvine)
Division III
Alameda County- Dublin
Butte County-Pleasant Valley (Chico)
Calaveras County-Bret Harte (Angels Camp)
El Dorado County- Ponderosa (Shingle Springs)
Glenn County-William Finch Charter (Orland)
Imperial County-Central Union (El Centro)
Kings County- Lemoore Middle College (Lemoore)
Lake County-Kelseyville
Madera County-Yosemite (Oakhurst)
Merced County-Merced
Napa County- St. Helena
Placer County-Roseville
San Joaquin County- Tracy
Santa Clara County-Gilroy Academy (Gilroy)
Tuolumne- Summerville (Tuolumne City)
Tulare County-Harmony Magnet Academy (Porterville)
Ventura County-Westlake
Yolo County- Davis
Yuba County- Marysville
Wildcards
Edgewood (West Covina)
El Rancho (Pico Rivera)
Francis Poly (Los Angeles-Sun Valley)
Folsom
Garfield (Los Angeles)
Hamilton (Los Angeles)
Hemet
Narbonne (Los Angeles)
North Hollywood
Redondo Union (Redondo Beach)
St. Monica
South (Los Angeles)
Note: I got this information from the California Academic Decathlon website. This link shows the points each team earned. http://www.academicdecathlon.org/scores/county2013.pdf. The top qualifier was Granada Hills Charter. The final qualifier (in terms of points) went to Dublin. The final three wildcard spots went to: North Hollywood, Edgewood, and South.
IF I WERE KING OF SPORTS
I would make changes on two of the qualification spots for the World Cup of soccer. I have different reasons for each change. First, the OFC (Oceania) champion would get an automatic spot in the field of 32, instead of having to play for it. (Note: This World Cup, they play the 4th place of the North American qualifying tournament for a spot). I would make this change, because I think it is total B.S that the OFC is the only area that doesn't get an automatic spot. Maybe that would also encourage Australia to return to the OFC and not try to qualify with the Asian countries and take a spot from them. The second spot would go to a team that has never been to the World Cup before. What I would do is take all the teams in the world who have never reached the World Cup and put them in one big single-elimination, single-leg tournament. The winner would get the last spot. I call it the second chance tournament. For now, the only two rules of qualifying are that the country never played in the World Cup before, and it must also try to qualify the regular way. The normal qualifying games are played a game or two every three months. The second chance tournament games would be played a month after the latest round of qualifying games. Should the winner of the tournament also qualify via the normal route, then the tournament runner-up would get the spot. To keep the World Cup at 32 teams, the two spots I mentioned would be taken from Europe. They have 13 teams going anyway. As compensation, the 12th European team could qualify by taking the OFC's current spot and playing North America's 4th place team.
HISTORY
-I just finished reading "101 Things You Didn't Know About the Civil War" by Thomas R. Turner that my roommate got me for Christmas. I knew some of the facts, but I did learn somethings. (Like the vice president of the Confederacy once proposed that they end the Civil War, and the two sides join together to go to war with France). I will share some of these facts each month as long as zzzzz lasts. The first fact that Turner mentioned was that the war was about more than slavery (I did know that). Another major issue was federal government vs. states rights (doesn't that sound familiar?). The economies of each region were different. The North was mostly industrial, and the South was mostly agricultural. Each region tried to propose laws in its best interest. By doing so, it alienated the other side. By the way things were going, Civil War was only a matter of time.
BOOKS
I am currently reading "Jefferson's War" by Joseph Wheelan. Wheelan's argument throughout the whole book is that America's true first war of terror was in 1801-1805 when the United States was at war with Tripoli (now Libya), Algiers (now Algeria), Tunis (now Tunisia), and Morocco. These nations demanded bribes not just from the Americans, but also several European nations for peaceful trade across the Mediterrean Sea. The Americans decided to pay for the peace for a while up until it got to the point that they may as well go to war for economic reasons and for their dignity. I am currently half-way through the book. On a side note, it is nice to read a book on the Northern African wars. I was not taught about any of this in school, and now it is just a one-sentence mention in eighth grade history books. Most Americans did not know that the U.S was involved in a war before the War of 1812 (for that matter, many Americans do not know about the War of 1812, either). It is a good read, and I encourage history buffs to check it out.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
-Pizza Hut advertised their new pizza sliders. The employees must hate this. They seem like they are going to be a pain to make.
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