Tim Ellsworth

The University of Illinois has filed a second appeal with the NCAA, which previously ruled that the university must stop using Chief Illiniwek as a mascot and logo because it’s offensive to Native Americans.

The latest appeal, to the same committee that approved the original policy, challenges the NCAA’s power to impose it, the school said.

“This appeal is about the institutional autonomy of NCAA member schools,” the university told the executive committee. “It is about flawed rules and process.”

Gosh, things have been fast and furious in here this afternoon. Here’s something a little less controversial:

So we’re trying to sell our 1993 Pontiac Grand Am. We have two other vehicles now, and we’ve been trying to sell this thing for about a month.

I get a call last night from a guy who’s interested. Just as I’m driving to meet him, what happens? The blasted clutch goes out. Estimate to fix: $900.

So a car that I was hoping to sell for at least $1,000 now is basically worthless to me. Great timing, huh? Why couldn’t the dang clutch have gone out a week from now?

A story in today’s New York Times explores the connection between sexual attitudes and practices among children and the amount of exposure they have to sex in the media.

Few studies have been conducted to provide verifiable scientific data on the subject.

“But to hazard a guess based on clear evidence that media representations influence teenage eating, smoking and drinking habits, adolescents are almost certainly affected — negatively — by sexual references and images from television, in movies and video games, in music, in magazines and on Web sites.”

The story refers to the number of children and teens who are able to watch TV, listen to the music and surf the Internet unmonitored by parents, and gives some statistics that are shameful:

Television is the best-studied medium, and the average teenager watches it for more than three hours a day. Two-thirds of youngsters 8 to 18 have TV’s in their bedrooms, and two-thirds live in homes with cable TV, providing unsupervised access to sex talk and scenes.

Parents today are guilty of selling their children’s souls to the devil, and they have much for which to answer.

About halfway into the show, when it looked like things were about to be wrapped up, I told my wife, “I wonder what turn this is going to take. There’s a lot of season left.”

Sure enough, the nerve gas is gone.

Now I want to know who it is that emerges from behind the furniture in the next episode. Any guesses?

Also, I just want to add that President Logan is a little sissy.

A ministry called Ultimate Christian Wrestling is growing in popularity in the South, according to a story in the UK’s Telegraph.

Its matches feature traditional pro-wrestling moves such as headlocks and body slams, coupled with themes and stories from the Bible. Its mission is to “minister the Gospel of Christ to the Lost and to see lost souls saved.”

Curtis Parker, pastor of Harvest Church in Winterville, Ga., credits Ultimate Christian Wrestling with increasing the church’s attendance dramatically.

“We have given away cars as an outreach initiative. We have given away 10,000lb of groceries from a truck in our parking lot. But the wrestling has added more people to our congregation than any of these projects. It gets the largest crowds, and it keeps them still for long enough to share.”

The ministry’s founder, Rob Fields, says wrestling and Christianity aren’t incompatible, and uses the Old Testament illustration of Jacob wrestling with an angel as his proof. Can you say, “taken out of context,” boys and girls?

Gimmicks like this are the result of churches not holding an adequate belief about the gospel being the power of God to salvation. I fear the number of false converts this “ministry” is most likely producing.

Thanks to Brad for the link.

Additions: SS Edgar Renteria; RHPs Oscar Villarreal, Lance Cormier; LHP Mike Remlinger; C Todd Pratt

Losses: SS Rafael Furcal; C Johnny Estrada; IF Julio Franco; RHPs Dan Kolb, Jim Brower, Jay Powell, Kyle Farnsworth; OF Todd Hollandsworth

Analysis: I don’t see much of an upgrade here for a team that has won its division but failed to go deep into the playoffs for several years now.

Replacing Furcal with Renteria will be an upgrade if Renteria returns to the form he showed previously in the National League. Brian McCann’s emergence as catcher made Estrada expendable, and allowed the Braves to add a couple of satisfactory bullpen arms in Villarreal and Cormier. Still, I think Atlanta’s bullpen is in need of greater improvement, and the acquisition of a true closer would have been big. As it is, the Braves will most likely have to go with Chris Reitsma in that role this year, and his results as closer last year were mixed.

The greatest loss to the Braves, however, doesn’t show up in the player transactions. The departure of pitching coach Leo Mazzone to the Orioles is a huge loss and may have a greater impact on the team’s success than any of the roster moves.

Grade: C

Brett Favre is contemplating his football future these days, and in an interview with ESPN’s Chris Mortensen said he’s leaning toward retirement.

Favre said he’d like to wait until training camp to make a decision, but he knows he can’t do that because the Green Bay Packers need an answer as they prepare for the draft,

“I love the game too much and I love my legacy too much to have that just be OK,” Favre said, “and I don’t want to be just OK. I want to be good, and I don’t know if I’m committed enough [right now] to be good on an everyday basis.”

I’d say it’s probably time for Favre to hang it up. He’s one of the game’s greats, and it seems pretty obvious that his heart’s not in it anymore.

Now that we’re into the week in which the Super Bowl will be played, I’m happy to start talking about it (and I still say that it’s crazy to take two weeks between the conference championships and the Super Bowl).

Seattle vs. Pittsburgh. Make your predictions. I’ll say Pittsburgh 24-17.

Raising a Modern-Day Knight: A Father’s Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood
By Robert Lewis

Overview: Too many boys today don’t have proper models of what it means to be a man. And what does it really mean to be a man? How are fathers to raise their sons to be the kind of men we want them to be?

These are the types of issues Lewis addresses. He uses the medieval custom of knighthood as an approach to follow in shaping boys into men. Real men, Lewis writes, are those who reject passivity, accept responsibility, lead courageously and expect the greater reward.

The book is broken down into five sections:

1. The Need for a Modern-Day Knighthood
2. The Knight and His Ideals
3. The Knight and His Ceremonies
4. The Knight and His Round Table
5. The Knight and His Legacy

Lewis uses a lot of illustrations, and the book is easy reading. At less than 200 pages, you can finish it in a day or two.

What I liked: Any book that provides a reminder about the importance of raising my son to be a godly man is always welcome. I also appreciate and agree with the four characteristics of manhood, mentioned above, that Lewis uses.

What I didn’t: While there are many characteristics of medieval knighthood to be admired, I think Lewis takes the metaphor too far. He suggests that fathers hire a graphic designer to create an official “coat of arms” for their families, which I don’t see me doing. By the end of the book, I was half expecting him to advise going out and finding a suit of armor and a sword to give to your son when he becomes a man.

Lewis takes very seriously the importance of formal ceremonies in the life of a boy as he grows to maturity – too seriously, if you ask me. To Lewis, ceremonies are important because they are milestones in a boy’s transition from childhood to manhood. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with such ceremonies, Lewis seems to suggest that without these “ceremonies” in a boy’s life, he’ll never really know if he’s a man or not. I disagree. While they may be nice, such formal ceremonies are not a necessity in life, and I don’t question my manhood because my dad didn’t devise such ceremonies for me.

Some of the ceremonies he suggests to mark milestones in a boy’s life are a little too silly, and I can’t see myself doing such things with my son. If my dad had tried to do something like that with me, I probably would have laughed at him.

On a scale of 1-10: 5

Scott Lamb is getting ready to give away some free books. Go get some — just don’t take any of the ones I want.

Skier Bode Miller, in an interview with Rolling Stone, has called Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong cheaters.

“Right now, if you want to cheat, you can: Barry Bonds and those guys are just knowingly cheating, but there’s all sorts of loopholes,” he told the magazine. “If you say it has to be ‘knowingly,’ you do what Lance (Armstrong) and all those guys do, where every morning their doctor gives them a box of pills and they don’t ask anything, they just take the pills.”

Say what you want to about Miller, but he’s always entertaining.

You know what this is. You know what to do.

My column this week is about Ron Smith, assistant basketball coach at the University of Northern Iowa. I’ve known Ron for a long time, but had the pleasure of talking to him this week for the first time in many years.

A lot has been written over the past few days about Brian McLaren’s remarkably weak stance on the issue of homosexuality. Others have analyzed the issue well, including Steve McCoy, Joe Carter and Doug Wilson.

I’m no expert on the whole Emerging Church Movement. Quite honestly, until I started blogging about six months ago, I had read very little about the ECM. I’m still not sure I understand the movement that well, but from what I’ve read, I have reached one conclusion:

McLaren and many of his followers seem to be more interested in “conversation” than they are in taking any kind of stand for truth. In a way, “dialogue” itself almost seems to be a god for them.

Consider McLaren’s statement about the issue of homosexuality:

“Perhaps we need a five-year moratorium on making pronouncements. In the meantime, we’ll practice prayerful Christian dialogue, listening respectfully, disagreeing agreeably. When decisions need to be made, they’ll be admittedly provisional. We’ll keep our ears attuned to scholars in biblical studies, theology, ethics, psychology, genetics, sociology, and related fields. Then in five years, if we have clarity, we’ll speak; if not, we’ll set another five years for ongoing reflection.”

This is just one example. Everytime you read something from a lot of these ECM folks, the words “dialogue,” “discussion” and “conversation” permeate their language. To argue, like McLaren does, that we need further “dialogue” about what Scripture says regarding homosexuality shows that he’s more interested in dialogue for the sake of dialogue than he is in the truth of Scripture.

I’m all for having dialogue and discussion about important topics on which there seems to be room for interpretation. But on issues like homosexuality (and adultery, and divorce, and pride, and a host of other sins), maybe what we need is the moral courage to proclaim boldly the clear truth of Scripture — and the saving power of Christ — instead of the wishy-washiness of more conversation.

Normally I’ll leave these to Scott Slayton, who posts them regularly, but I saw one this morning that was so bad I had to post it myself:

“If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.”