Mattoon- More Pictures

Three All-Tourney players.

Casey driving for big late basket vs. Salem.

First Year Coach

John Hanlon was captain of my first cross
country team in 1974. He was a ref at the
Mattoon Tourney this winter. 

My first coaching job at GHS was coaching boys cross country in the fall of 1974.

My understanding they had asked the last coach to leave over some conflicts. I was told one of three reasons was that he had chosen to purchase blue and gold sweats for the team, and blue and gold uniforms for the team. He was told if he wanted blue stuff to go coach at Quincy, Galesburg school colors were silver and gold with black.

You have to realize this was a different era, an era of great school pride, and of great dislike of Quincy. This was a time when we had pep rallies in the gym where the entire student body of 2200 kids jumped to their feet and started clapping when the band played Hi Yo Silver.

I was introduced to the returning runners one evening in late summer by the AD. It was nice of him to come and do this, but his intro was not what I had hoped for. He told the boys, "He has never run cross country, he doesn't know about it but he will work to learn." It was accurate but I wish it was not how I was introduced.

2 & 5 Start

Streaks started out 2-5 on the season. We lost games to Illini West, East Peoria, Springfield, Alleman, and Moline. On December 5 we lost to Moline 40-20. We only scored 7 points in the entire first half. We were totally dominated by Moline. That game left us at 2-5 overall and 0-2 in the WB6.

At that point there was no finger pointing by the players. There was no "poor, poor me", feeling sorry for themselves. The players continued to do what they had done all season- they practiced hard, they listened, and they got better and better.

The result has been an 8 gaming winning streak and a record of 10-5 now. The "streak" has included big wins at Dunlap, over Maine South at Galesburg, over Mattoon at Mattoon, and then wins over excellent Olney and Salem teams. We still have a long ways to go, but we are getting better.

The championship at Mattoon was so much more satisfying for all of us because we know the battles we have fought to get to this point!

We are headed in a VERY challenging part of our schedule with Rocky, Sterling, UT, Geneseo, IVC then Alleman, Morton, U-High, QND among others. So our upcoming schedule suggests there will be bumps in the road, but the key is to just keep working and improving.

Mattoon Pictures

We had a good weekend on and off the court at Mattoon. It resulted in a championship after going 5-0. The following are some pictures- some from Mr. Henning and from Kathy Boydstun.

Haley, Shayli, & Sabrina receiving all-tourney awards- and Sabrina
with MVP award!

Mattoon Tourney Preview

From the Mattoon newspaper....

MATTOON — The biggest school and the smallest – if you consider the IHSA’s multiplier for non-public school Effingham St. Anthony – are to meet in the first round of the Mattoon Girls’ Basketball Christmas Tournament.

Newcomer Galesburg, 5-5 with a four-game winning streak, brings a 1,320 enrollment to become an instant contender in this 35th annual event set for Thursday through Saturday.

Bill Allen's Christmas Eve Letter

Christmas Card sent by William Allen
to his little brother Ben. 

The following is a letter written by Bill Allen to his Aunt Mabel on Christmas Eve, 1944. This would be Bill Allen's last Christmas, and it was to be spent in Germany away from his family. Bill Allen was my wife's uncle.     

                                                                                Germany           

                                                                                    Christmas Eve, 1944

Dear Mabel,

   I should be writing home tonight, but my mood is not conducive to uplifting homefront morale.  Maybe you’ll understand; so I’ll spend the evening answering the several letters which I’ve received from you lately.

  I’m thinking of all the Christmases of the past and what the day has always meant to our family.  Partly because I’m sentimental and it’s such a hard time of the year to be so far away from all those I love and the prospects of ever returning seem so remote and partly because I needed the emotional release after living under so much tension of late; I took advantage of the opportunity a while ago and sneaked off by myself and shed a great many tears.  I’m good for another year now and do realize that I’ve been one of God’s favored.  To be alive and whole is all one can ask for these days, and that is my blessing.

Mattoon Tourney History

Mattoon is one of the oldest girls basketball tourneys in Illinois- it is on its 35th year...

From the Mattoon Newspaper...

MATTOON – Starting with a revamped field for what was going to be a Big 12 Conference tournament and living through roof damage to the high school gym, Mattoon’s Girls’ Basketball Christmas Tournament hits its 35^th year this week.

 In fact, in a time when some tourneys struggle to keep the field full of varsity teams, Mattoon doesn’t seem to have that worry.

“Every tournament that we host, we usually have one or two teams on a waiting list,” said Dave Vieth, the most recent of several athletic directors who have overseen this event.

He isn’t claiming this to be the school district’s accomplishment all by itself.

Streaks Over MS

From the Register- Mail....

By Aaron Frey
The Register-Mail 
Posted Dec. 14, 2013 @ 10:16 pm 

GALESBURG — Evan Massey called three timeouts in a span of 3 minutes, 32 seconds during the second quarter Saturday.

The Galesburg High School girls basketball team finally got its coach’s message after the last one.

“Coach Massey said we didn’t play like we were wanting to win,” Silver Streaks forward Sabrina Clay said. “We wanted to prove him wrong.”

They did just that, turning a six-point deficit into a six-point halftime lead en route to a 42-29 victory over Park Ridge Maine South at John Thiel Gymnasium.

Trailing 17-11 midway through the second, Galesburg closed the half on a 12-0 run and never trailed the rest of the way for its third straight win and fourth in five games.

Streaks over Quincy

From Whig...

Quincy High School girls basketball coach Demond Dade is always looking for the silver lining, even when it is tough to see.
"Every game, regardless of the score, we have gotten better in some aspect," Dade said.
Thursday night, the Blue Devils believe their defensive intensity improved. However, that didn't happen until the fourth quarter.
Quincy scored just 19 points over the first three quarters and suffered another humbling Western Big Six Conference loss, falling 69-31 to Galesburg at the QHS gym.
"We take away the little things that are positive," Quincy sophomore guard Casey Kelley said. "We can't build off of negative things."

Team Dinner

Team dinner night before Moline game at Wharton FH.

Championship Culture

The following is good article on the 6 Traits of a championship culture.

http://www.janssensportsleadership.com/resources/janssen-blog/6-key-components-of-a-championship-culture/

Tough First Week

Streaks went 1-3 during the first week of our tourney. We lost close games to Illini West and to East Peoria, beat Metamora, and then were blasted by state-power Springfield.

Vs. East Peoria, we were led by Shayli Florine who had 18 points and 16 rebounds. Casey Williams had 12 points and 7 rebounds, while Lexi Daniels added 8 points and 8 rebounds. We were down 16 points and came back to within 3 points but could not get the job done.

The game involved 55 fouls called, 5 players on both teams fouling out, 72 free throws shot, and a game that took over two hours to complete. The game also had technicals called on each coach for "being out of the box." The calls were by an official 60 feet from the coach. One coach while instructing his players had the toes of one foot over the coaching line- good vision from 60 feet. The most bizarre call was when the E. Peoria coach got a technical because "he left the box before another official had finished calling a time out." In other words a time out was being administered but evidently the 60 feet away thought he was a second too early getting ready for the time out.

Dunlap Win in OT

From Peoria Journal Star....

Two free throws with 0.7 seconds left in overtime cemented a victorious homecoming for Heather Cassady.

Dunlap rallied to beat Peoria Christian, 44-40 in overtime on Thursday night as a part of the Galesburg Thanksgiving Tournament. The Eagles (2-0) gave Cassady her first home coaching victory at her alma mater.

“If we’re going to win, it’s going to be as a team,” the 1998 Dunlap grad said. “We have a lot of depth. “It’s just learning what it takes to win.”

Streaks Defeat Metamora

Photo- Steve Davis

Streaks jumped to a large half-time lead and upped it to a 29 point lead in the early fourth quarter. Streaks then hung on to a 66-45 win. All the Streaks got to play. Katee Lingafelter and Macy Steck came off the bench in the fourth quarter and drained threes.

Shayli Florine led the Streaks in scoring with 17 points, also in double figures was Haley Kelso with 11. Casey Williams and Sabrina Clay each added 8 points. Sabrina and Shayli pulled down 7 rebounds apiece, while Kailyn Boydstun dished out 5 assists.

Galesburg improved in two critical areas- turnovers and fouls- but still have to get better. We turned the ball over 19 times and forced 23 turnovers. We committed 20 fouls which resulted in 20 ft attempts for Metamora.

Streaks Teams Collecting for Washington

The girls and boys basketball teams are going to be collecting cash donations to give to Washington High School for them to use for tornado relief. Money will be collected at this Friday's game, next Wednesday's boys game, and then at both boys and girls games on next Saturday.

Streaks Lose Opener

Sami Thompson (Steve Davis photo)

Streaks lost their season opener to Illini West 64-61 at Thiel Gym. Streaks led most of the game including a 58-51 lead with under 3:00 minutes to go.

Streaks were in a fouling mood. Despite being up, we fouled late in the game which allowed IW to score 7 of last 9 points from the foul line. Streaks committed 21 fouls which resulted in 24 ft attempts for IW.

Ball handling was a major problem for the Streaks as we turned the ball over 26 times.

On the bright side, Sabrina Clay and Shayli Florine were dominant inside. Both were in double figures with points, and Sabrina pulled down 18 rebounds. Clay's 16 defensive boards set a GHS single game record, breaking a record of 15 set by Sadee Hamilton.

Haley Kelso led the Streaks with 21 points on 50% shooting.

Next up for the Streaks will be Metamora on Thursday at 7:00pm in Thiel Gym.

Season Starts

Basketball officially got off to a start on Monday with our first practice at 6:30am. We greeted 17 players as candidates for the varsity. We had two good practices on Monday, followed by another 6:30am practice today. It is always exciting to see the energy and enthusiasm players bring to the beginning of the season.

We have right around 40 girls involved in basketball on all three levels.

Kevin Garnett- Creating Culture

The following is from ESPN....

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Kevin Garnett changed the culture in Boston, and the future Hall of Fame forward is already having the same impact in Brooklyn. 

“I’m a team player. I’m not a selfish guy. I have no ego,” Garnett said Tuesday. “My stats and my body of work speaks for itself. If someone does something incorrect, I’m quick to correct them, but I care about the next guy. 

“I’ve always cared about the guy who’s struggling or the guy who’s going through something, I’ve always tried to be a source of strength for anyone who’s on the team, and always leaned on guys for strength. I don’t know, it’s just who I am. It’s my makeup. If you ask my friends, they’ll tell you the same thing.” 

Humility

“Humility is not thinking

less of yourself but

thinking of yourself 

less.”

C.S. Lewis

Grow Up

The following from Proactive Coaching....

When tough times hit the immature, ineffective competitor (players or coaches), first there is self-pity and then come excuses. Grow up, toughen up, take responsibility, get better and compete!!!

Winning Culture

The following is from Proactive Coaching....

Watching the Vanderbilt fall baseball “Omaha Challenge”… when you watch great teams run gassers, they ALL touch the line EVERY time. Excellence is never an accident. They are an intentional “this is the way we do things” team culture.

Fighting Cancer- Great Story

This is one of those stories about good things in sports. Read this article and see if your eyes don't water up...

University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan’s arm was a little sore after spending five hours shaking hands and posing for pictures with the 2,090 students who showed up for Thursday’s “Shooting Down Cancer” event at the Kohl Center.

But Ryan wasn’t complaining, especially after a strong showing that led to he and his wife Kelly donating $66,130 to Coaches vs. Cancer/American Cancer Society

Proactive Coaching

As a coach I enjoy finding resources which help me better understand coaching from the mental and emotional side. Basically I am looking for material which helps me try to make the experience for the athlete more and more educational- help the athlete use sports to prepare for life.

The followong is from Proactive Coaching.....

What do your parents do at games that really make you feel great and proud to have them present?

• ·         Cheer for everyone on the team, not just certain players
• ·         Just having them there tells me that it was worth my time
• ·         Support us win or lose
• ·         Not getting on the refs, players or coaches
• ·         Support me even when I am not playing much
• ·         Cheering and encouraging at appropriate times in a civilized manner
• ·         Cheer for us, but not too much
• ·         Remember that we choose to play for fun and everybody is trying their best
• ·         Don’t be too hard on your kid – give them some room to grow, but stay by their side to help them grow up
  
  
  
  

  What do your parents or other parents do at games that make you feel embarrassed or uncomfortable?

• ·         Argue with the ref – it is annoying for everyone
• ·         Try to coach the coach
• ·         Discouraging comments to players
• ·         Yell at you when you are trying to concentrate
• ·         Criticizing athletes or coaches, calling them by name
• ·         Yelling advice makes me play worse
• ·         Cheering if the other team makes a mistake
• ·         When parents boo
• ·         Telling me what I need to do better when they don’t know how to play the game
• ·         I feel sorry for my teammates whose parents yell at them.  When I play, my job is to listen to the coach, not my parents.
• ·         When they don’t agree with a call, they yell, “come on” or “what was that?” etc.
• ·         Let me be who I am, let me enjoy myself out on the court and don’t try to improve my game with your negativity

Championship Practices

I believe how you practice will determine how you play. Teams who are inconsistent usually are teams who practice in an inconsistent fashion- work hard one practice but not another, or work hard one drill but coast the next.

I believe how you play in the first three minutes of a game reflects how you practice.

When good teams go to practice, you focus on basketball. Coaches don't have to focus on motivation, players are motivated. Coaches and teammates don't have to try to figure out moods, players are focused. I have been fortunate to have many good "practice teams", who won many games as a result. One of our absolute best was our 1995 team- as coaches we focused on basketball, the players took care of effort and motivation and chemistry.

"Old school" people say high school athletics have changed, it all about recruiting and transfers, not about communities anymore. Others say it is just old coaches complaining and not keeping up with the times. Read this article from the Sun- Times....   critics are saying there are 8 transfers going to Homewood-Flossmoor, the coach responds it is only "like 5 or 6."  If this happened at Rock Island, Moline, Alleman or Galesburg--- what would the IHSA do???

Do you want to give new Homewood-Flossmoor girls basketball coach Anthony Smith a good laugh? Ask him about the eight transfer students rumored to be practicing in his gym this summer.

‘‘Eight? Ha, ha, ha!’’ Smith said. ‘‘You got more than I heard. I heard it was more like five or six. .?? 

Component of Toughness- Trust

After reading Jay Bilas book, I was struck then as I read how one coach is building the foundation for toughness with the development of trust. This is an article from the Wisconsin State Journal by Tom Oates....

Trust is a big word in Gary Andersen’s personal dictionary.

After he was hired to coach the University of Wisconsin football team in December, Andersen knew nothing substantial would take place with the Badgers until a circle of trust could be built between himself and a group of players who have endured enough coaching turnover to be skeptical of the new guy.

Well, time’s up. With fall camp set to start Monday, the meet-and-greet session is over. From now on, the focus will switch to football and getting ready for a season the Badgers hope will end up with a fourth straight Big Ten Conference title.

Success & Failure

From Fitness Girls

Toughness by Jay Bilas (The Book)

Several years ago Jay Bilas wrote an article on toughness which went viral in the basketball world. High school and college coaches all reprinted the article and shared it with their players. (I have it reprinted on this blog.) Bilas said the motivation for writing the article was a reaction to how a commentator used the word "tough" to describe a physical and perhaps a dirty player. The basic premise of the article was "toughness" is more about an attitude and a self-discipline vs. a physical characteristic.

In his book on the same topic, Bilas looks at the characteristics of tough people. He seeks out people in sports and business who are tough in their approach to sport and life.

Toughness Can Be Learned
"Toughness isn't physical. It has nothing to do with size, physical strength, or athleticism. It's an intangible, an attitude, a philosophy. Some people may be born with the aptitude to be tougher than others, but I believe that true toughness is a skill that can be developed and improved in everyone."

One Word by Jon Gordon

Even Willow knows the concept of One Word.

One of the best courses I ever took was Behavior Modification at the U. of Wisconsin-Madison. It was one of the most practical courses I have had. As anyone who is familiar with operant conditioning can attest- a lot of behavior modification is pretty common sense. The course provided me as a young teacher with ideas to make my classroom, my teams, and myself better.

One of the topics was on self-modification. The professor claimed self-modification is much harder to accomplish than the modification of other people. He went on to claim the problem for most of us when it comes to self-modification is we start out wanting too much change in ourselves. We know the target we want to reach and we try to get there today. So we have not been reading but we want to get to where we are reading 100 pages a day- we start with a plan of reading 50 pages. We want to lose 30 pounds so we set out to lose 5 pounds per week. Usually with the plans we start out great but we cannot maintain. This is the problem with the classic New Year's resolutions. The lesson was keep it simple and be patient.

American Cemetery in Margraten Holland

Rubbing sand from Omaha Beach on William
Allen's stone. 

In World War II American military leaders made a promise that no American soldier would be buried on enemy soil. Most American soldiers were buried in cemeteries near the battle field where they were killed- many in France. As the War ended, American soldiers had invaded Germany and were fighting on German soil, in some cases approaching Berlin. The soldiers who died in Germany were all removed and taken back to Margraten Holland.

Each family of the fallen soldiers was given the choice to have the soldier buried in Margraten or to be returned to the United States to be buried in a private or national cemetery. Once the decision was made by the family, the decision was considered final and could not be changed.

At one time there were over 17,000 soldiers taken to Margraten. Today the cemetery holds only American soldiers, and it has over 8,000 fall US soldiers from WW2 buried there.

William Allen's grave.

My wife's uncle, William Allen was killed at the end of WW2 and is buried in Margraten. We had an opportunity this summer to visit the cemetery. The assistant supt. of the grounds took us to visit William Allen's grave and to also visit Bob Arnold's grave. Bob was Bill's brother in law. We were escorted by Frans and Pauline Roukins. Pauline's family has cared for Bill and Bob's graves for over 60 years.

We had the opportunity to place flowers on the grave. The Supt. then explained a special practice they do with families of the soldiers. The stones of white marble with engraving are very difficult to photograph. To help them be more photographed, they provide sand for the family members to rub over the name so it can be seen. The sand is shipped in from Normandy beach. The significance of the the sand is that the soldiers who are buried in Margraten all started their invasion of Europe at Normandy beaches in France.

Over 8,000 fallen US soldiers are
buried in Margraten.

Our visit was a very emotional experience. It certainly makes one appreciate the sacrifice made by these soldiers.

Massey Roots

This is a picture of Gun Inn as you get off the
bus in Hollingworth. 

One of the courses I have taught at Galesburg HS is Diversity Studies. We look at different groups in America and their history- Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans. One of the focuses of the course is to look at the immigration process and the lives of immigrants. Even as we studied immigration, I never looked at that process and how my family had been impacted by immigration.

When I went to grade school in a different era, one of our lessons had to do with our ancestors country of origin. The teacher would have you find the origin of your ancestors. Then we would do work with fractions, you were 1/4 Irish, 1/2 English, and 1/4 Welch. As we did the work, my ancestors might as well have come to America in 1612 for all I cared- it was a long time ago.

Summer Report

Our summer league wrapped up on July 2. We had 60+ Galesburg girls play in our summer league on 8 different teams.

Our number one priority of the summer was to work on the basic fundamentals of defense. Our feeling was our presses and traps the last couple years had become less effective because our players were not familiar with basic movement skills that are learned in man to man defense. While we did not become a great half court mm team this summer, we feel like our players improved in the skills of playing defense. It is our hope we can then become a better pressing team this winter.

Player Impact Estimate

Story on stat used to evaluate NBA and WNBA players....

PIE In the Sky

Anthony Oliva, WNBA.com

Tamika Catchings is the reigning WNBA MVP. She's a versatile forward that can score, rebound and distribute the basketball. LeBron James, the 2012 NBA MVP, can claim the very same.

And in the past, the comparisons between these two superstars would have stopped there.

For the 15-plus years that the WNBA has been in existence, drawing parallels between WNBA and NBA players ended up as an exercise in subjectivity. The styles were different. The rules were different. Maybe above all, thegame clocks were different (the NBA plays for 48 minutes and the W goes for 40). So, when you wanted to measure an NBA player against one in the WNBA (or vice-versa), you had to use some imagination. Until now.

NBA.com/stats has developed a new rating called the Player Impact Estimate, or PIE, that calculates a player’s impact on each individual game they play. Because the formula accounts for a player’s influence relative to each specific game, it eliminates statistical biases created by league, style of play or even era.

And now, thanks to PIE, we can make a definitive link between Catchings and James.

2003 State Finals

2003 State Finals-
Press conference
with 6 year old Allen.

Tony Bennett's Core Values

Coach Tony Bennett at the University of Virginia doesn’t believe in having a lot of team rules.

Instead his teams are taught 5 core values that must be constantly demonstrated both on and off the court.

These same values were used by Coach Bennett’s father, Coach Dick Bennett at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay for over 20 years.

1. Humility

Knowing who you are – not thinking too highly of yourself but not thinking too little of yourself either.

Culture of Me vs Culture of We

After the Chicago Black Hawks won the Stanley Cup, in the championship press conference Jonathon Toews used the word "we" 13 times, and the word "I" 0 times.

After the Miami Heat won the NBA title, LeBron James in the post game press conference used the word "we" 0 times and the word "I" 18 times.

We reveal so much with our language!!

Championship Practices

CHAMPIONSHIP PRACTICES

ABSOLUTE CONCENTRATION

- no lapses of focus, attention to detail, little things matter

AUTHENTIC ENTHUSIASM

- genuine excitement, honest encouragement, real joy

RECEPTIVE TO COACHING

- nothing is personal, respond to critique, two ears one mouth

METICULOUS PREPARATION

- prepared to practice, eat/sleep/study balance, training room on point

POSITIVE BODY LANGUAGE

- non-verbals scream excellence, visible confidence, police each other

EFFORTLESS MOTIVATION

- team provides energy, player driven, coaches never address

TEAMMATES FIRST

- team B4 me, help the helper, respect is earned and given

COMPETITIVE FAMILY

- make each other better, leave it in the tunnel, leave it on the “W”

This is from Coach Neighbor's at Washington.

Purdue Camp

Our experience at Purdue was a very good experience. All three teams worked hard, regardless if they were winning or losing. In the dorms and away from games, the players worked well and got along well.

Purdue camp is the 8th college campus we have taken teams to camps for. Our visits have included- DePaul, Michigan, Western Missouri, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and now Purdue.

Purdue Pictures

Team Building- untie the knot.

Team Building- helping each other stand up.

Salem Trip

This is a picture taken after the last game vs. Salem at the Salem Tourney. This was the group who played in the varsity division.

Matt Wheaton- Galesburg Summer League

The following is Matt Wheaton's article on Galesburg Summer League. It is the second longest running summer basketball league in Illinois (behind Maine West). It is the largest downstate league in Illinois.

It’s not really hard for Galesburg High School girls basketball coach Evan Massey to figure out how long he’s been organizing the Galesburg Summer League. 



“This is the 27th year we’ve done it,” said Massey, who is entering his 36th season at the helm of the Silver Streaks. “The only reason I know is you put it at the top of the sheet and the next year you change it.”

Massey started the league for a simple reason.

Another Night of Improvement

It was another good night at Summer League. We had over 60 Galesburg players from 7th thru 12th grade playing bb. Our JH team lost by one to a FS team. Our two Frosh teams battled in their games. Our FS level team defeated Illini West FS team and then beat a varsity team. It is very exciting to see the potential of our JH age and FS age players- if they continue to work, they can do some great things.

Our JV team defeated ROWVA's varsity and West Central's varsity. They have made so much progress in the 3 weeks of this summer. 

Streaks Going to Purdue

The Streaks this weekend will be going to Purdue and Mackey Arena for games. It will be a good experience for our young Streaks varsity vs. tough competition.

The varsity is scheduled to play West LaFayette HS. It is interested that former Streaks star, Molly Watson is an assistant coach with West LaFayette.

Trip to Salem

Salem gym was a neat old gym with balconies around it.
Veteran Streaks fan, Steve Bryant said it reminded him
of old Steele Gym in downtown Galesburg.

This past weekend we went to Salem to play basketball. It was one of the best run tourneys/camps we have been to. Very good facilities, on time, good competition, and well officiated- it was very worthwhile.

It is always nice to go some place where you play people you don't see. I think this enables players to be more focused on their game and their team vs. being worried about other teams. The competition level in southern Illinois is outstanding.

Jason Shay Works w/ Teams

Jason Shay was back in Galesburg for "vacation." He spent about 10 hours in Thiel Gym working with the Streaks varsity boys and girls basketball teams.

William Allen- Teacher & Soldier

The following is a sermon which was given at First Presbyterian Church in Galesburg on Memorial Day 2013 in honor of William Allen who gave his life for his country in WW2.

Time To Remember

I did not attend theology school but I will have you know, I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express. Some probably expect me to give a sermon connected to sports. I did think about a sermon entitled “Jump Shots and Jesus”, but my wife vetoed that. I even thought about one entitled “Wisconsin and Heaven- The Same Area Code”, but Carl Strauch warned I might be excommunicated.

I really appreciate the opportunity to speak this morning. I am going to share a story involving the death of a soldier in war. This week we saw a tremendous tragedy take place in Oklahoma. The story of my soldier and of the Oklahoma tornado, beg the question, ”Why?”  In the book, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” Harold Kushner states, “It is not because God intended it or planned it. Bad things happen to good and bad people because we live on earth, and earth is not a perfect place.”