NCAA RANT!!

NCAA, is supposedly a non-profit organization that is responsible for the interpretation and enforcement of the policies and rules which govern NCAA athletics. I have a problem with NCAA but not so much that I want them to go away. Right or wrong I have an opinion and thanks to my blog I get to vent about it!

First off, I have a problem that the rules that they interpret seem to have double standards. A school of little notoriety seem to get the full force of the NCAA when it comes violation of the rules, while a more notable school seems to get a hand slap for the same violation. If Razorback players would have been caught selling their autographs or jerseys they would have been suspended and not allowed to play immediately. 5 Ohio State players get busted and their discipline is to miss the first 5 games of next season. The majority of those players if any, will ever don a college uniform again after the Sugar Bowl is played. So where is the punishment? I know there are stories as to how the players didn't know they were breaking any rules or how a player was trying to gather money for his sick mother, really? Those college athletes are told from day one what they can and can't do and what to do if they do stumble. I just don't buy the "they didn't know" bull. Another example of favoritism is the USC and Reggie Bush debacle. The NCAA knew two years before Mr. Bush left USC for the pros that there were serious violations, but they chose to ignore it until he was long gone from the favored institution.

Next, I feel the NCAA and colleges get rich off the backs of these young men and women and there is no compensation to the athlete for what they bring to the university. I believe there should be a set amount that these athletes can accept over a four year period in the way of compensation. The schools in the Sugar Bowl receive 17 million a piece for their participation and those athletes don't get a dime, legally. You might say that the athletes get scholarships, but that is a drop in the bucket compared to what the schools receive off of these athletes. Finally, I believe schools should be rewarded for the graduation rates of their athletes, either monetarily or in scholarship limits. Football players have to stay 3 years before they can jump into the pros, baseball players can play one and leave. Many baseball players have already been drafted by the pros but choose to go to college for one year before they make the move. Here's a novel idea, lets make colleges about getting an education!

Anyway, with all of this being said, I am glad the 5 Ohio State players are getting to play in the Sugar Bowl, because I don't want there to be any excuses for them when the Razorbacks become the next SEC team to hand them a lose in a BCS Bowl game!! Go HOGS!!!

A Christmas to Remember

Well, I survive another Christmas and I will have to say, with the exception of Billy and Ashlee not being able to come home, this was years celebration was one of the better ones! We had tons of food, family and fun! My daughter-in-law Lindsey, at my request, made me a key lime pie. We had a tasty ham and a turkey breast off the rotisserie! Mimi made some of her world famous dressing, a chocolate pecan and coconut cream pies. Since the grand-babies had their Christmas at home first it was later in the day before they made it over the river and through the woods to Mimi's house. Well, once they got there the fun began.

The oldest Princess Skylar was the first to arrive and she was ready to open presents right away and we had to keep telling her that we had to wait on her cousins to arrive and that once they arrived we were going to eat first before we opened the gifts. She was not happy about that and kept saying, "I'm not hungry!" Well, once the Jason and his family arrived we all sat down and had our Christmas lunch. Princess Skylar and I finished our lunch and were relaxing and waiting for everyone else to finish, it was then that I realized just how badly I was wrapped around my grand-daughters finger. Skylar came up to me to whisper something in my ear. She asked if I would pass the first gift out to her, and then she said, "PaPaw remember, I'm your Princess". I told her that I remembered and that I would see what I could do. Then as everybody had finished their meals and right before I was to began to pass out the gifts, Skylar came back over to me and she said "here PaPaw", as she kissed me, "maybe this will help you remember". Now I ask you how was I to say no to that? Of course she got the first gift and I immediately passed out gifts to the other Princesses and Partners! I love, love , love my grandchildren and I could have gone the whole day without receiving a single gift, because I already had the greatest gift a man could ever want and that is the love of his family in return! Wow, what a Christmas to remember!

Christmas Gifts and Wishes

I am not a shopper period, and it doesn't have anything to do with the season or time of the year. I just hate to shop! If I have to go I want to know what I'm going for and the approximate location it can be found in the store before I even leave the house. I like to go in, find what I'm looking for and get the heck out. If it were not for my very understanding wife I would not have a stitch of clothes to wear that was fit for public viewing. The only thing she makes me go and try on before buying are my shoes, and believe you me I have tried to get her to buy them for me as well. Well as you can imagine, this should make for a difficult time when it comes to picking out Christmas, Anniversary, and Birthday gifts for my bride, not at all! For about the first 5 or 10 years of our marriage I would try to think of something that Shelley might want her gifts and for the first 5 to 10 years of marriage I failed miserably. It was a normal annual occurrence for me to go buy something and her to take it back and exchange it for something she really wanted. Finally, I wised-up! After the last go around with her gift and she told me that she was going to take it back I made the suggestion that from now on, you go, pick out what you want, buy it, wrap it and put it under the tree. It worked for her and now for almost 25 years it has worked for me! Now, before any of you start hating on me think about our arrangement, think about this; I will never over spend because she is the family bookkeeper and knows what we can and can't afford to spend. I will never pick the wrong color, size or style because she always gets what is appealing to her. It's a win-win situation I don't have to shop and she always gets something she wanted! Now with that being said, if she ever said Dale I'm not going to buy my gifts anymore then I would pick-up where she left off and probably pick-up where I left off 25 years ago. Oh BTW this year I got her a beautiful set of diamond earrings, not bad for a non-shopper!

For my politically correct readers my friend Buck posted this on his blogspot today and it really hit the nail on the head! http://exileinportales.blogspot.com/2010/12/worth-passing-on.html

Have a Very Merry Christmas y'all!!

Christmas Thoughts

With Christmas day quickly approaching I can feel myself going down and I don't know why. Christmas time for me has not been my favorite time of year. Oh I do love seeing my children and especially my grandchildren open their packages on Christmas day. I love seeing how excited the children get as the time for Santa's arrival draws near. I love seeing my how excited my wife gets shopping and trying to make everyone's Christmas wishes come true. But what I enjoy the most is having family around and seeing the joy on everybody's faces as the time has finally arrived, Santa has come and gone and left goodies for the good boys and girls. I will also say that one of my favorite Christmas memories was when Chuck (oldest brother) came home and surprised us.


You might read this and say, "well where's the problem?" Well, like I said, I really can't put my finger on it. It could be that for me as a child, Christmas wasn't all that fun. I think partly because I can't recall a single Christmas with my father. Oh he would send gifts and would try to send everything I asked for but it wasn't a family Christmas. There was always something missing at Christmas. I think as I got older I realized how hard my mother had to work to provide for me and little did she receive in return, so there was guilt I associated with Christmas.

Today, well it's the commercialism of Christmas, the "Political Correctness" of Christmas. It gets my goat when I see commercials that say have a Happy Holiday instead of Merry Christmas. I'm not to big on people substituting the Christ in Christmas with and X either. Though we are a nation of various cultures with various religious beliefs, Christmas is a Christian Celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Because someone else doesn't believe the way I do is fine but don't try to change my beliefs because they don't agree with yours and don't be offended that I choose to celebrate His birth.

I started out with a proclamation and ended in a rant, sorry about that! I really don't hate Christmas, what I just want is "Peace on Earth" and "Good Will Towards All Men" Merry Christmas my dear readers Merry Christmas indeed!

For the Love of the Money?

One of my favorite (not too recent) movies is "For the Love of the Game" starring Kevin Costner. It wasn't necessarily because of the acting but more because of the message of the movie. For those of you who haven't seen it, Kevin Costner plays a major league baseball pitcher who in his younger days, unbeatable. The movie shows the struggles of this pitcher as he battles back from injury and a body that is breaking down on him to the climax of a no-hitter going into the last inning. Anyway, Costner sacrifices what could possibly be a once in a lifetime opportunity for the good of the team and he takes himself out of the game in order that the team may have a better chance to win. Then he makes the decision to walk away from the game, which was a decision he made "for the love of the game".

You might wonder why in the middle of football and the start of basketball season is Dale talking about this movie. Well, here's my rant! Tonight there will be a much talked about return of Labron James to Cleveland and the fans in Cleveland are ready to give him an ear full and I say why not! Labron left Cleveland for the "Love of the Money" instead for the love of the game! More and more and in every sport athletes don't seem to care about game and being the best at it all they care about is how much more am I going to get paid in Miami then I was in Cleveland, or how much more can the New York Yankees pay me than the Texas Rangers! It's no longer about where can I go to make a team better and it's no longer about loving the fans, team and city and no amount of money can take me away from that. And it's not just professional sports anymore, it's about the college athlete that goes to the highest bidder. "If you want my son to come to your school you'll have to pay him more then the other school is willing to pay". I hate what greed has done to sports in general. Professional athletes are paid millions of dollars each year to play a game and they can't seem to get by on multi-million dollar contracts, they want more. I say let's drop the salaries to a reasonable amount and just see who's there for the love of the game!!

What a Game!

I have had the pleasure to attend a Major League Baseball Play-off game this year in Texas, referee a High School Play-off game, and attend an NFL Football game, but none of these games compare to the Arkansas-LSU game I attended Saturday night. I have never been a part of such a loud enthusiastic crowd! The fans at War Memorial Stadium Saturday night were deafening and I believe had a huge part in the successful outcome of the game for Arkansas fans.

It was so much fun from start to finish! We started out at a tailgate party which was something he had never tried until this game. Had some great food and visited with some great friends a couple of hours before game time. Then it was game time and time to call those Hogs! The fans went crazy it was so loud I felt like I was on the front row of a rock concert. I love the atmosphere of college football. The crowd was loud through out the first half but reached an unbelievable level when with 6 seconds to go in the half and tied at 14-14 Arkansas threw long touchdown pass to go in up 21-14 and never lost the lead from there. I felt like I did when I watched my home town of Electra, Texas win the State Championship in 1985.

Anyway, I just had to tell my readers what kind of a great weekend I had. Now it's on to the Sugar Bowl (Projected) and whip Ohio State!

What Thanksgiving Means to Me

I would have to say that as far back as I can recall, which ain't so far these days, I have thought of Thanksgiving as my most favorite holiday. For those of you that know me, know that I came from a dysfunctional home, but with all of the hurt that I lived in I can never recall an unhappy Thanksgiving. It was the one time of the year that we came together as a family, laughed and seemingly enjoying each others company. Even when we couldn't afford a big Thanksgiving Turkey mom would find the biggest hen she could find and prepare it with all the fixings around it. It was the one time of year to forget your troubles and count your blessings. Often times we would be invited to share in someone else's Thanksgiving meal, which just meant mom trying to out cook Emma, which as far as I was concerned, there was never any doubt who was the better cook. The more the merrier and that's why for as long as Shelley and I have been married we have looked for other families and friends, usually friend close enough to be considered family, to join us on this occasion.

I love Thanksgiving not for just the 3 F's (food, family, and football) but I love it because it gives me a time to reflect on just how blessed I have been and are today. The blessings that come to mind first is the love and forgiveness of my Savior Jesus Christ, without Him I would be nothing. I am blessed to have a loving and forgiving wife for 34 years. I am blessed to have three amazing sons who have and continue to make me proud of the young men they have become. I am blessed with three beautiful daughter-in-laws who have given my six beautiful grandchildren. I am blessed to have a momma who still calls me her baby, two beautiful sisters (who helped raise me), and two brothers who taught me how to be a respectable man. I am blessed to have a mother-in-law and father-in-law who love and loved me and show me by trusting me to care for their daughter. I am thankful for my closest friends, the ones who's daughters call me Daddy Dale and the friends I know I can count on when to pray me and my family through hard times. Finally, I am thankful for the men and women who have served and continue to serve this great country of ours in the Armed Forces.

I hope you will read this and come away with one thing and that is; we are all blessed and if for just one we all need to count or blessings and give thanks to the One who provided for those blessings.

November 22, 1963

Even though I was only 6 years old on November 22, 1963, I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember the announcement being made over the intercom and my teacher crying and running out of our classroom. I seem to recall school being let out early of course since the assassination was after lunch and President Kennedy wasn't pronounced dead until 1 p.m., it could have been just our time to go home. I do remember seeing very little of my teacher until it was time to go home.

I remember traveling to the Metro-plex and Dallas over that weekend (I believe or maybe a weekend later) and Uncle Buddy taking us down the parade route that the President's motorcade had travelled the day before. I remember seeing Daly Plaza and the Grassy Knoll covered with wreaths. I remember seeing the people in the plaza wondering around, placing wreaths and crying.

I remember watching TV and seeing Lee Harvey Oswald deny his involvement and seeing the knot over his brow. I remember seeing him gunned down on national TV and seeing the chaos that ensued for a man named Jack Ruby.

I remember seeing the the funeral of the President and the music playing, the grieving widow, and John Kennedy Jr.'s salute. I remember seeing the the riding boots turned backwards in the stirrups. I remembered seeing the leaders of the world grieve over our President's passing.

If on 9-11-01 our nation lost it's innocents it began on November 22, 1963. RIP Mr. President

Play-Off Bound!

I know what those of you that know me are thinking, and I know that you are probably thinking he must be smoking something because the Cowboys are not play-off bound and the Rangers are done for the year. Well, if that's what you were thinking you were wrong. I'm talking about the crew of referees I work with each Friday night, we are headed to the play-offs! That's right for the third consecutive year we are headed to the play-offs! This has been a good year for our crew and taking away a couple of games, for the most part it has been a fun year. The last couple of years leading up to this year were tough and had me questioning whether or not to hang my flags up and surrender. This year was back to the positive experience that I love about officiating high school football. Friday night we will be working a 3A play-off game in Earle, Arkansas. It's about 125 miles from where I live but the drive will be worth it because there is nothing like a play-off atmosphere in Small Town, USA.

Thank God for the Rangers!

For those of you that know me know I am a big Dallas Cowboy fan, well, last night was the end of what I hope will be Wade Phillips' coaching job. I hate being the laughing stock of the NFL, and watching my beloved Cowboys quit when they were still winning the game last night! Phillips may be a great guy but a motivator he is not! The Cowboys have had all the talent in the world over his tenure as head coach and he can't seem to pull it out of them. We need a Cowher or a Gruden type of coach. With that said, at least we will draft early in next years draft, maybe we can grab an outstanding offensive lineman! Enough said about that!

My Texas Rangers did prove that they were the best in the American League and now it's time to prove they are the best in MLB. I like our chances against San Francisco. I hope we can at least split the first two games so we can have a chance to win the Championship at home! With Lee and Wilson going in games one and two I really like our chances of a split and possibly a sweep of the first two games. Then it will be on to Texas with Lewis and Hunter! GO RANGERS GO!!! IT'S TIME!!!

Baseball and Football in that order!

Well tonight while I am on the football field my beloved Rangers get to prove that they are the best team in the American League. If the Rangers win tonight it will be on to the World Series, if they don't, thanks to the two wins in Skankee Town, we will live to fight another day. I hate that I'm not going to get to see the game live but rest assured that I'm getting it on my DVR! We are facing a pitcher that we beat up pretty bad in game 4 of the ALCS. I don't see any reason why we couldn't do it again! If by some freak of nature we lose tonight, we will have the New Mr. October on the mound for game 7. A young man from Arkansas, Mr. Cliff Lee, 7-0 on post-season play. I hope we don't have to play a game 7 because I would love to see Cliff Lee start for Texas in game 1 of the World Series. Stay tune!! GO RANGERS!!!!

Last night was a rough football game for a wing official. It was one of those games with no defense and all offense. We were up and down the field all night and most of the scores were from 50 yards and out, which means I spent the night doing 50 plus yard sprints, I'm too old for that! Just to let you know how bad it was the final score was 50-46 in favor of the home team.

Tonight will probably be a one sided repeat of last night. The home team is ranked in state and the visiting team hasn't won a game in years. I have the good fortune to be working the visiting sideline. Please pray for me!

Sometimes I Just Don't Understand.

I refereed a Jr. High game last night and immediately the coach on my sideline began to give me problems. On the second play from scrimmage I had to throw a flag for a sideline warning. This meant the coach wasn't back where he needed to be at the snap of the ball. For the last several years the rules have been adjusted to keep the coaches off the playing field and starting this year the coaches have to be in the team box at the snap. The reason for this rule being a special point of emphasis is because about three years ago a high school coach was run over by an official on the field of play. The coach fell back and hit his head on the ground which cause traumatic brain injury and the coach is no longer in coaching. Well, the twist to this is the school district sued the official crew and the official for NOT enforcing the rule. The school district lost the case and their football coach. Every since that happened, keeping the coaches off the field has been a point of emphasis. Anyway, I digress, I asked the coach to step back and he didn't so I threw the flag on the next play from scrimmage. He and his assistant went ballistic, when he got in my face and began screaming, I threw another flag. I could have gotten him for unsportsmanlike conduct but I gave him his second warning which this time carried a 5 yard penalty. Now I have been officiating for over 13 or 14 years and having a coach go ballistic on me before but when the coach started to question my integrity he got to me for a fleeting moment. He was complaining that the other teams coaches were on the field. He said, "if you have any integrity in you at all you'll throw a flag on the other coaches for not getting back!" I said, " now coach would you want the referee throwing a flag on you from his sideline?" He said, "yes if I was on the field". I said, "right". End of conversation! I guess when he saw that he wasn't going to rattle me he decided to back off. The rest of the night went without a peep from either coach and they shook my hand and thanked me after the game. Unfortunately, this has become the norm and each year the coaches have become more and more aggressive. If it were not for the 4 other guys on that field I believe I would turn in my stripes. I love those guys and I love the time I spend with them good and bad games!

Long Time Coming!

Since, I first heard that there was a new baseball team coming to Texas and that team was coming to a location close enough for me to get to as a kid, I have been a Texas Rangers fan. Those of you that know me know how much I love the sport of baseball and usually by this time of the year I am routing for anyone who is playing against those danged Yankees! Well, this year will be no exception, because those danged Yankees have to come through Texas !!! That's right , bring on the Yankees and this time we or my Rangers have the advantage! I don't hate the Yankees, as a matter of fact I used to pretend to be either Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, or Yogy and spent days wishing I would have lived in the time of "The Babe". I guess it's sort of like my beloved Dallas Cowboys, you either love them or hate them.

I was worried that this day wouldn't come again this year after the Rangers dropped two at home against the Rays, but just like the rest of the season the Rangers proved that they belong in the elite of baseball this year. So bring on the "Cinderfella" story, bring on the Yankees, and bring on anyone else that stands between my beloved Rangers and a World Championship!!

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CLAW, IT'S TIME FOR THE ANTLERS AND IT'S TIME FOR THE TEXAS RANGERS!!! GO RANGERS GO!!!

Hog Heaven

As a Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys, and Arkansas Razorback fan I am in serious "Hog Heaven" right now! The wife and I had it all planned out, first we go to the Razorback game this Saturday in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, from there we would just walk over to the Texas Rangers Ballpark and watch game 3 of the ALDS, and top that off with a Dallas Cowboys game Sunday against the Titans. We bought all the tickets and were ready to go until TBS threw a monkey wrench into the operation by scheduling the ALDS game 3 at approximately the same time as the Razorback game! RATS!! A tough decision had to be made so I sold our Razorback tickets, which lead to snears by my fellow Razorback fans. The way I look at it, the Razorbacks will be back in Dallas next year, but who knows when the Rangers will be back in the Play-offs again and eventually the Razorback Fan friends will forgive me! GO RANGERS!!! GO HOGS!!! and GO COWBOYS!!!

What a Weekend!

I can safely that there is absolutely nothing wrong with my heart! This weekends sports activity was like taking a stress test. The long awaited game between Alabama and my beloved Arkansas Razorback was finally played. The Razorbacks started out great but in the end it was the inability to run the football that spelled our defeat. We jumped out to a large lead and took in all the way into the forth quarter but were unable to sustain a drive and in the end we were unable to stop the nations top two running backs of Alabama. Even though we lost the game, I believe it was a warning shot across the bow of the rest of the schools of the SEC, that the Arkansas Razorback are for real. I can't wait to see how the rest of the season plays out. The rest of the weekend went more my way.

On Saturday afternoon, my Texas Rangers clinched the AL West by defeating the Oakland A's. The Sunday they came back and left little doubt in MLB that they were for real by putting up 16 runs against the A's in the finale. I can't wait to see them in two weeks as they play their first play-off game in 11 years in the Ballpark in Arlington.

And finally, my Dallas Cowboys, showed a flash of what they are capable of by spanking the Houston Texans in their own home. There was great play on both sides of the ball and thank goodness Roy Williams and Tony Romo finally got on the same page. Its can only get better from here!!

Now for my grandchildren, Dallas scored 8 goals Saturday while Skylar and Landry scored 3 each. These 4 dollar Saturdays are getting expensive! The quote of the day comes from my daughter-in-law Lindsey, when she turned to my grandson and said, "Landry Dale, DO NOT put that frog in your pocket!!" I can tell you one thing for sure, that apple didn't fall too far from the tree, that boy is just like my son Jason, I really had to bit my tongue on this one to keep from laughing. Thank you Lord!!

Sad Situation

In the 24 years I have lived in my community, I have watched one of the local high school football teams struggle year in and year out. I think that this school has probably had less then 24 wins in those 24 years on the football field, but I had never seen this team do what they did last night in the game I was officiating in, nor have I ever seen this in nearly 14 years of officiating football. They quit! I'm not saying that they just quit trying to stop the opponent or score, they just quit! With 7 minutes and 42 seconds to go in the 4th quarter and only down by 16 points and driving inside their opponents 40 yard-line, the home team coach walked across the field and told myself and the other coach "we're done". My thought was "coach why don't you just call all the rest of the schools on your schedule and forfeit your season!" "Save the schools money and put into the outstanding band program that the school has!" What a pitty, what do you think this teaches the boys that were on that field last night? "Well boys, in life when your back is against the wall and you're in a loosing situation, just throw in the towel and quit." If I had a boy on that team that would be the last game he would play for that coach. Any thoughts?

A Change of Plans!

I received an email from my refereeing crew chief this morning that said that my Friday night game had been cancelled. I really hate losing a game but I have to admit I was not looking forward to another long trip to the west side of the state. Another plus side is that will get to go watch two of the best teams in the state battle it out in Conway. Hey, I told you I love this time of year! Surely you didn't think that I would take the whole night away from football! I will also be rested up to go and watch my grandchildren play some soccer Saturday morning.

Also Saturday afternoon, we will celebrate birthday #1 for Princess Kaylee! She is the daughter of my son Jeremy and his wife Stephanie, and she is number 3 in the line of PaPaw's Princesses! The picture on this page is of Kaylee taken not too long ago. She is a real cutie and she looks a lot like her sister Skylar at that age. Anyway, I will try to post some pics of the Princess eating her cake.

After the party it will be time for some serious college football as #10 Arkansas takes on #1 Alabama in Fayetteville!! It should be a great game, I just hope Arkansas can make a game of it, GO HOGS GO!!!

What a night!

Last night I white hatted a Jr. Varsity game between to local "power house" schools. The game went great for most of the night. We had three seasoned officials and one that was still a little green. Our crew's first stumble was when the home team was stopped short of the goal line. One of my linesmen signaled appropriately and the other gave the touchdown signal. Upon discussion with both officials it was agreed that the team was indeed short of the goal. The home team coaches went ballistic, but his team scored on the next attempt. I told my green official to explain to him why he had touchdown and why the other official had the runner short of the goal. Basically the explanation should have been "I screwed up" because he didn't see the runner actually cross the goal, he just assumed from the push that the player crossed the goal. The official on the other side actually saw the knee come down before the ball crossed the goal.

The next mistake came in the closing minutes of the ball game when, as a crew we didn't agree on what the down should be. The umpire and I had 4th down and we stopped the clock for change of possession. The two wing guys had 3rd down and tried to keep the clock going. The visiting team coach came running out on the field and began to raise a fit. It was a moment of chaos that I wished would not have happened. When the visiting team coach came out on the field the home team coach want me to flag him and back the team up, which I could have back him up 15 for unsportsmanlike conduct and 5 for delay of game. I chose not the throw the flag since it was our crew that had things screwed up. It was one of those nights that had me asking myself why do I put myself through all of this. The answer I steal from a movie with the same title, "I do it for the love of the game". So I will lick my wounds and jump back in there Thursday night!

You win some you lose some!

As most of you already know I am a big sports fan! You will also know that I am a big Razorback, Dallas Cowboys, and Texas Rangers fan. If you know that then you will also know that I was the roller-coaster ride from hell this weekend. It started out great with the Razorbacks, having a great first half of a game against SEC opponent Georgia Bulldogs. The second half I watched a huge lead dwindle down to nothing with seconds to go in the game. I thought for sure we were headed to OT in their house (not a good situation) this was how they beat us last year. Then our Heisman Candidate QB, Ryan Mallett hit our top receive Childs on a hitch rout for a game winning TD with 11 seconds to go in the game. After the game I watched the Texas Rangers drop their magic number to 6, life was good on Saturday!

Then came Sunday, I started the day out by watching my beloved Cowboys look like a high school team against a team we should have beat easily. I was upset with the play calling and the play in general of Tony Romo. I have been in Romo's corner up to this point, but I am feed up with the whole mess in Dallas right now. Part of the blame I point to Jerry Jones as well. An uncapped salary season and he did nothing to improve our team in the off season. Our offensive line has to be among the worse in the league. Jason Garrett, I loved as a back-up to Troy but he has got to go and I wish that JJ would go ahead and fire Phillips and hire Cower so he can get in here and motivate some folks before this season is a total loss! Finally, on Sunday, I watched the Ranger lose to the last place team in our division.

Sunday was not good, but when I woke up this morning the sun still shined and the birds still sang, looks like it's going to be a great week!! Go Razorbacks, beat Alabama!! Go Rangers, clinch your division!! Go Cowboys, beat Houston!! We live to fight another day!!

In the way of Stripes, I have three games to call this week. The first game is a Jr. Varsity game tonight, the second game is a Jr. High game at North Pulaski, which is less then a mile from my house and finally Friday the last of our long trips to call a game on the Oklahoma border. I love this time of year!!

Friday night blow-out!

Well Friday night we called a game in West Arkansas, the home team was ranked high in the state polls and the visitors haven't won a game in several years, kind of reminded me of the Electra Tigers teams of the mid-6o's to the early 70's, where victories were few and far between but we always showed alot of heart. The score for our game Friday night was 37-0 and we were on the "mercy clock" before the end of the first half. The second half was scoreless and was considered a victory by the losing team. Those boys showed a lot of heart and never just threw in the towel.

The home school knew how to take care of their referees and and the visiting school. When we arrived for the game they had steak, mIashed taters, green beans and they topped it off cake and from what I understand the visiting school was also fed by the home school; not bad for hospitality. The school was about 2 and a half hours away, which meant I didn't make it to the bed until around 1:30 a.m.. Which leads me to my next problem which was getting up early today in order to make it to the first of three grandchildren's soccer games.

Soccer went great today and cost PaPaw a total of $4.00 before the morning was done. Landry was first with 3 goals scored, followed by Skylar and 3 goals, and finished off with Dallas and 7 goals. Yep, it's not a typo 13 total goals scored by the Rowland grandbabies!! What a day!!

Why I do what I do!

I never was never anymore then an average athlete at best, with baseball being my best sport; however, I loved to play, when I got the chance, football. At a whopping 98 pounds and maybe 5 foot tall I played fullback and linebacker for the 2nd team Electra Tiger Cubs. I was back-up to Don Cook who was probably around 140 lbs and at least 5'6" tall and meaner than a snake on the football field. So you can see that unless Don was throwing up on the field, knocked out cold, had some bone protruding from his body, or we were up/down by 30 points, I was not going to see much playing time. Oh I almost forgot, I was on the first team kicking team, which in most cases meant again, very little playing time, (the team has to score to be able to kick more then once in a game). Once I realized that the Dallas Cowboys were probably not going to be looking to me to be their back-up fullback of the future, I turned my interest to other things. One interest that caught my eye early on and stuck with me was officiating sports. I started out officiating Little League baseball at 16 and from then until now I have been physically involved in sports either as an official or a coach. Even today I help my son coach my grandson's baseball team and for the last 13 going on 14 years I have refereed football and I love it. I feel like where God didn't bless me with size, speed, or ability, He did bless me with enough intelligence to understand the sports I love so much and the ability to be discerning in applying the rules of those games.

Officiating baseball became to difficult for my knees and back to take so I have turned all of my officiating attention to football, hence the name change to "Rowland Around and Friday Night Stripes". I started my 14th year of officiating football this year. The primary crew of Wesley Harville (Referee), Todd Self (Umpire), Chuck Winer (Line Judge), Mark Overman (Back Judge) and myself (Linesman), have been together for most of those 13 years. This is a group of Christian men that love the sport of football and I love calling with. On our crew we have three preachers, a minister of music and a deacon so instead of having men's prayer breakfast each week we have prayer football and fellowship a couple times a week. These gentlemen are like brothers to me and when the season has passed, I miss them and look forward to the next season. What I would like to do with my post in the coming weeks is write about some of our adventures on the gridiron. I might even throw out some "rules of the game" sort of stuff and inform you how we, as a crew, interpreted those rules. I left the "Rowland Around" part because I would still like to post some happenings within the Rowland Family adventures. Hope you enjoy what I write and I look forward to your feedback.