Karate Chop

Spent the weekend in Fishkill, New York (about 2 hours north of NYC) for Ben’s black belt weekend. He’s been studying  Taekwondo for three years and this was the culmination. He loves it and has made some amazing progress over the years. Third grade may be a bit young to be a black belt but even at that age it takes a lot of dedication and perseverance to get to this level. I’m proud of him. And it’s nice to know your 8 1/2 year-old son can break a concrete brick — this was the final test of yesterday morning’s promotion.

Though it feels like an awfully long time ago, I used to train in martial arts. When I was in high school I studied GoJu, a Japanese form of karate http://www.usagoju.com/. I earned my black belt and studied under an amazing sensei (Japanese for instructor, if you never saw “Karate Kid”). So watching Ben’s black belt test brought back lots of memories.

The only problem with the weekend was that there was very little for parents to do. The retreat was held at a place called Camp Mariah. And, yes, it’s named for Mariah Carey who evidently gave a bunch of money to have it built. It’s part of a large complex of summer camps that serve, among other things, as the destination for the Fresh Air Fund which allows urban kids to have an outdoor summer experience. [If I knew any of her songs, I'd insert a Mariah Carey lyric here.]

The food was lousy, the accommodations spartan at best, and Bryna owes me big time. Which I will be milking indefinitely. Fortunately one of Ben’s best friends was also up there and his father and I hung out a lot. We even avoided the chow hall completely on Saturday night and went out for BBQ. Hey, what else would men eat when abandoned by their wives? Plus Bryna was at his wife’s house that night dining on pasta carbonara. It beat the previous night’s freezer burned pasta shells in the cafeteria.

In the end it was all worth it. Ben did a great job and I come across like a martyr. Perfect.

Touchdown Jesus

I don’t believe God cares who wins football games. If so, Texas Christian University, Brigham Young, and Southern Methodist University would win the National Championship every year and Notre Dame wouldn’t have had such a miserable season. And if God was really concerned about sports, the San Diego Padres would have won at least one World Series.

However, after watching the Super Bowl (and rooting for my second favorite team — the Giants — a very distant second to the Ravens), it was hard not to see the divine hand in that David Tyree catch late in the fourth quarter. First, Eli (a good Biblical name) Manning pulled a Houdini maneuver to get away from the Pats defense. Then Tyree made that ridiculous catch on top of his helmet. Amazing. If you somehow missed it, here it is on youtube: http://www.faniq.com/video/Super-Bowl-XLII-The-David-Tyree-Catch-YouTube-5162,2/sports_featured 

When I was a seminarian at Seabury-Western in Evanston, Illinois, we played an annual flag football game against Nashota House, the Episcopal seminary to our north in Wisconsin. It was known as The Lavabo Bowl (the bowl used by priests to wash their hands before the eucharist). You think seminarians play nice? This was one of the most competitive games I’ve ever been a part of and don’t let the flags fool you. There was plenty of tackling going on. Of course the best part of the game was the pre-kick off liturgy complete with incense, the blessing of the ball, and a special prayer for spleens (one was ruptured during the game a few years back).

I hope the Giants enjoy their victory. They were, ironically enough, big time Goliaths last night. We watched the game at a friend’s house on their big screen TV. Lots of fun, great food, and a stunning ending. What more could you want in a Super Bowl? Besides incense of course.