All-Name Teams #32

​January 2024

Featuring names from across the world of sports

• “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness” ― John Steinbeck

• “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: If we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome” — Anne Bradstreet

• “Summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever” ― George R.R. Martin

All-Winter Team 2
Nate Freese — football
Brenda Sue Frese — basketball
Garth Snow — hockey
Aron Winter — soccer
Quevyn Winters — basketball

All-Storm Team 2
Storm Barrs-Woods — football
Tavoris Cloud — boxing
Daniel Geale — boxing
Anthony McCloud — football
Sean Weatherspoon — football

All-Name Teams #31

• August 2023

Featuring names from across the world of sports

• In the name of love — what more in the name of love?
—Pride: In The Name Of Love — song by U2

• Deny thy father and refuse thy name … ’Tis but thy name that is my enemy … O, be some other name … What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet … doff thy name and, for thy name, which is no part of thee, take all myself •
—Juliet — from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

• And it’s all in the name of love
—In the Name of Love — song by Bebe Rexha and Martin Garrix
—see more lyrics below

All-Love Team #1
Vagner Love — soccer
Peter Lovenkrands — soccer
Lovie Smith — football
Amare Stoudemire — basketball
Bobby Valentine — baseball

All-Love Team #2
Eden Hazard — soccer
Lisa Love — athletic director
Yeardley Love — lacrosse
Jamie Lovemark — golf
Lovemore N’dou — boxing

All-Nuclear Family True Love Team
• listed in reverse birth order
Kayla Anneliese — basketball, lacrosse, soccer, softball
Luke George — baseball, basketball, soccer, softball
Mina Elizabeth — basketball, soccer, softball
Bruce William — baseball, basketball, soccer, softball

Procedural Note •
• If you’re wondering why there are five people per team, with the exception of the All-Nuclear Family True Love Team, the rationale is simple — basketball was my favorite sport as I grew up, and since the rules of basketball allow five players per team on the court, I’m going with five-person All-Name Teams

• Meanwhile, if you’re wondering why the All-Nuclear Family Team — aka the All-Connecticut Deckert Team — has four people instead of five, apparently you don’t know my family especially well

• This Deckert family was established in August 1988, so this All-Name team is posted in honor of the 35th anniversary of that momentous and amazing occasion — more recently, Mina has legally changed her last name, yet I consider this circumstance to be a footnote in the history of our family that is hardly worth mentioning •

If you’d like to understand my family and my family’s history better, just let me know and we can swap family stories — my family comprises some amazing stories, and I imagine your family’s stories are amazing too •

— Bruce William Deckert

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Song Note •
• This song came on my radar only in the past week or so — these lyrics strike me and resonate with me and impress me as being reflective of the true love rooted in the Creator of the universe, so I share them with you vis-a-vis these All-Love Name Teams •

In the Name of Love
—song by Bebe Rexha and Martin Garrix

If I told you this was only gonna hurt
If I warned you that the fire’s gonna burn
Would you walk in?
Would you let me do it first?
Do it all in the name of love

Would you let me lead you even when you’re blind?
In the darkness, in the middle of the night
In the silence, when there’s no one by your side
Would you call in the name of love?

If I told you we could bathe in all the lights
Would you rise up, come and meet me in the sky?
Would you trust me when you’re jumping from the heights?
Would you fall in the name of love?

When there’s madness, when there’s poison in your head
When the sadness leaves you broken in your bed
I will hold you in the depths of your despair
And it’s all in the name of love

I wanna testify
Scream in the holy light
You bring me back to life
And it’s all in the name of love

In the name of love — name of love
In the name of love — name of love

All-Name Teams #30

Featuring names from across the world of sports

IN HONOR OF LEAP YEAR 2020

February 29th: A birthday so awesome that the world can only handle it once every four years!
— Internet meme

The seasons change their manners, as the year
Had found some months asleep, and leapt them over.
— William Shakespeare • Henry IV

That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
— Neil Armstrong

All-Time Team 2
Early Doucet — football
Brenden Morrow — hockey
K.J. Noons — mixed martial arts
Boo Weekley — golf
Rickie Weeks — baseball

All-Day Team
Oday Aboushi — football
Kevin Cheveldayoff — hockey
Dayan Diaz — baseball
Ron Hornaday — auto racing
Adrian “All Day” Peterson — football

Procedural Note — If you’re wondering why there are five people per team, it’s simple: Basketball was my favorite sport as I grew up, and since the rules of basketball (last time I checked) allow five players per team on the court, I’m going with five-person All-Name Teams.

— Bruce William Deckert

 

All-Name Teams #29

Featuring names from across the world of sports

• All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” — which means “God with us.”

• Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
— From the Gospel of Matthew

All-Christmas Team 5
Emmanuel Ekpo — soccer
Brenda Frese — basketball
Richie Incognito — football
Omar Infante — baseball
Patrick Towles — football

All-Star Team 2
Starlin Castro — baseball
Brady Morningstar — basketball
Gary Nova — football
Anastasia Rodionova — tennis
Kate Starbird — basketball

Procedural Note — If you’re wondering why there are five people per team, it’s simple: Basketball was my favorite sport as I grew up, and since the rules of basketball (last time I checked) allow five players per team on the court, I’m going with five-person All-Name Teams.

— Bruce William Deckert

All-Name Teams #28

Featuring names from across the world of sports

Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.
— Anton Chekhov

All-Fruit Team
Jayne Appel — basketball
Edner Cherry — boxing
Craig McIntosh — football
Amber Orrange— basketball
Darryl Strawberry — baseball

All-Tree Team
Barkevious Mingo — football
Saudia Roundtree — basketball
Warren Sapp — football
Nicole Sappingfield — softball
Tiger Woods — golf

Procedural Note — If you’re wondering why there are five people per team, it’s simple … basketball was my favorite sport as I grew up, and since the rules of basketball (last time I checked) allow five players per team on the court, I’m going with five-person All-Name Teams.

— Bruce William Deckert

All-Name Teams #27

Featuring names from across the world of sports

What is a farm but a mute gospel?
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

All-Farm Team 2
Mitch Barnhart — athletic director
Jordan Farmar — basketball
Nirra Fields — basketball
Charles Tillman — football
Markus Wheaton — football

All-Flower Team 2
Jasmine Camp — basketball
Lily Feldman — soccer
Danielle Flowers — roller derby
Derrick Rose — basketball
Dave Rozema — baseball

Note — Why are there five per team, you ask? Basketball was my favorite sport as I grew up, and since the rules of basketball (last time I checked) call for five players per team on the court, I’m going with five-person All-Name Teams.

— Bruce William Deckert

All-Name Teams #26

Featuring names from across the world of sports

Don’t you fret now, child, don’t you worry — the rain’s to help you grow, so don’t try to hurry the storm along: The hard times make you strong. — singer/songwriter Jamie Owens-Collins

All-Storm Team
Usain Bolt — sprinting
James DeGale — boxing
Anthony McCloud — football
Hannah Storm — broadcaster
Storm Warren — basketball

All-Weather Team
Tavoris Cloud — boxing
Kyle Fogg — basketball
Floyd Mayweather — boxing
Bobby Rainey — football
Steve Weatherford — football

Procedural Note — If you’re wondering why there are five people per team: Basketball was my favorite sport as I grew up, and since the rules of basketball (last time I checked) allow five players per team on the court, I’m going with five-person All-Name Teams.

— Bruce William Deckert

All-Name Teams #25

Featuring names from across the world of sports

God creates out of nothing. Wonderful, you say. Yes, to be sure, but He does what is still more wonderful: He makes saints out of sinners.
― Soren Kierkegaard

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In case the timing of this post isn’t clear, I’ll state what is perhaps obvious … this All-Name Team marks All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1) and Halloween (Oct. 31):

All-Saints Team 3
John Abraham — football
Joel Caleb — football
Isaiah Crowell — football
Ezekiel Elliott — football
Isaac Redman — football

All-Horror Team 3
Amazombie (horse) — horse racing
Ken Bone — basketball
Matt Hackett — hockey
Tomas Pekhart — soccer
Phil Savage — football

Procedural Note — If you’re wondering why there are five members per team: Basketball was my favorite sport as I grew up, and since the rules of basketball (last time I checked) allow five players per team on the court, I’m going with five-person All-Name Teams.

— Bruce William Deckert

All-Name Teams #24

Featuring names from across the world of sports

Bee to the blossom, moth to the flame;
Each to his passion; what’s in a name?
— Poet and writer Helen Hunt Jackson

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All-Book Team
Bio Kim — golf
Matt Read — hockey
Jarrad Page — football
Chad Pennington — football
Rick Story — mixed martial arts

All-Literature Team
Connor Hamlett — football
Junior Hemingway — football
Marco Huck — boxing
Dontari Poe — football
Dante Scarnecchia — football

All-Word Team
Tyler Chatwood — baseball
Danny Gabbidon — soccer
Boris Said — motorsports
Tris Speaker — baseball
Ed Werder — sports reporter

Procedural Note — If you’re wondering why there are five people per team: Basketball was my favorite sport as I grew up, and since the rules of basketball (last time I checked) allow five players per team on the court, I’m going with five-person All-Name Teams.

— Bruce William Deckert

All-Name Teams #23: Wedding Day

Featuring names from across the world of sports 

“I like your last name. Can I have it?”
— a bride to her husband

“Don’t forget your spouse’s name. That will mess up the love.”
— an 8-year-old girl’s marriage advice

In honor of my son and his wife, who were married May 19, 2018, this All-Wedding Team has only two members:

All-Wedding Team
Malia Deckert née Marstaller — basketball, soccer, softball
Luke Deckert — baseball, basketball, soccer

Normally, each All-Name Team has five members because my longtime favorite sport, basketball, allows five players per team on the court:

All-Wedding Day Team
Malia Tate-DeFreitas — basketball
Luke Kuechly — football
Vagner Love — soccer
Jamie Lovemark — golf
Lovemore N’dou — boxing

— Bruce William Deckert