All-Name Teams #6

Featuring names from across the world of sports

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” — an angel to Joseph (per Matthew 1)

“You will … give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High … his kingdom will never end.” — the angel Gabriel to Mary (per Luke 1)

All-Christmas Team 2
Mitch Barnhart — athletic director
Dionte Christmas — basketball
Noel Ellis — football
Wilma Rudolph — track
Garth Snow — hockey
• All-Christmas Team 1

All-King Team
Shannon Doepking — softball
Bernard King — basketball
Billie Jean King — tennis
Kyle Kingsbury — MMA
Moses Kingsley — basketball

All-Light Team 2
Jamie Bestwick — BMX
Coley Candaele — football, track
David Lighty — basketball
Jim Lites — hockey
Rayfield Wright — football
• All-Light Team 1

FAST Sonnets in Cyberspace #2

The December posting of this poem is fitting because of its fleeting Christmas reference. Further — and correct me if I’m wrong — its theme and its two sports references make it fitting for a sports-and-faith blog.

By the way, the sonnet might be the best poem for the fast-moving residents of the 21st century. No lengthy free verse here — instead, 14 economical lines.

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“How do you know?” episteme-unstable
Age asks of those who follow Barn-Born, Spike-
Scarred, Tomb-Torn One. “How can you tell fable
From reality, then and now alike?”
But postmods know more than they might admit.
And so I ask: Know you the sum of two
Plus pi? Hank 7-5-5 homers hit?
Your Mom and Dad exist? Know you that blue
Bespeaks a sun-swept sky? That your hometown
Rests where you left it last? Know you the mind
Can lie? Ball tossed up high falls to the ground?
Fourteen lines forever sonnets define?
   Forever … I wonder: How can I know?
   Help me hear You true: Because I said so.

© Bruce William Deckert 2012

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NOTES — Poetry 411
The word episteme is defined as: knowledge — specifically, intellectually certain knowledge (merriam-webster.com). The English pronunciation of episteme: EP – i (short i) – steem.

As you might know or surmise, episteme is the root word for epistemology, which is the study of knowledge. This philosophical discipline is the equivalent of the 5-year-old — or 25- or 45-year-old — who asks: But how do you know?

This poem is a Shakespearean (or English) sonnet, with a rhyme scheme — the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line — as follows: abab cdcd efef gg. Each letter represents a different rhyme, and the gg is called the closing couplet.

Alternate Closing Couplets
1.
Forever … I still ask: How can I know?
Please say true to me: Because I said so.
2.
Of forever, I ask: How can I know?
My Dad (who knows) replies: ’Cause I said so.

POLL — Yes, you can vote for the closing couplet you prefer…

Non Sequiturs + Other Quasi-Funny Stuff #3: Coach’s Unintentional Riddle

This is part non-sequitur, part quasi-funny anecdote and part riddle — and it’s a true story, too:

A high school soccer coach was doubling as the van driver — common enough at a small private school — and driving her team to an away game, when she cried out: “Be quiet, I can’t see!”

What could be the reason for such a strange statement?

“Sit down, I can’t see” — that makes sense. Or: “Move your head, I can’t see.”

But … “Be quiet, I can’t see” — huh?

Spoiler alert — if you want to ponder the riddle, hold off on reading the rest of this post…

The backstory:

At one point, the coach was backing up the van while listening to a player in the rear seat who was communicating how much maneuvering room the van had available. Since some players were talking noisily, the coach called out, “Be quiet, I can’t see!”

Without missing a beat, one player replied: “Coach, turn the light on, I can’t hear!”

P.S. How does this story shed light on a key factor to consider when we don’t understand verbal or written communication? Especially before we dismiss something we don’t comprehend — something that doesn’t make sense to us — as nonsense.

Could the communication glimpse this story gives help us in our relationships? Including the one that is said to be of utmost importance — the relationship with our Creator and His means of communicating with us?