The Death Penalty

Did I get your attention with that? No, not that one, I am thinking about the threat of the death penalty for Colleges that continue to break the rules. Remember SMU, Erik Dickerson and company!!! Here is what Wikipedia says about the death penalty concerning SMU and college football.

“The harshness of the penalty nearly destroyed SMU football. The Mustangs only had one winning season over the next 20 years, and failed to make another bowl until 2009. It was also one of several factors that led to the collapse of the Southwest Conference. To this day, it is the most severe penalty ever handed down to a major (Division I) athletic program.”

Even with this being handed out major colleges continue to break the rules. I guess I should clarify this by saying alumni and supporters of colleges and their sports programs continue to break the rules. I turned on ESPN and am hearing about “The U” (The University of Miami), the one in Florida, not Ohio, Quarterback U, the one that produces all those NFL players. Very similar to the Running Back U in California, you know the one I am talking about, Reggie Bush and company, USC, another producer of NFL players. Oh, and did I mention all the money these programs bring in to the colleges, the conferences they belong to and television networks. Yes I have read where only 14 of the 106 colleges in the FBS made money in 2009 and that was down from 25 the previous year. The thing is money is being generated. It comes in, it goes out. That is how the system works. The NCAA does not want another collapse of a conference and I am sure they do not or cannot afford to allow a major program to suffer the same fate.

So what would happen if “the death penalty” were to be enforced to these major colleges? I shutter to think of the repercussions that would come from it. So what does the NCAA governing body do? Slap a wrist here, swat a butt there. Threaten with this hand while reaching out the other for the money that is collected by the colleges. This is the way I see it anyways.

Where do I stand on this? I am going to give two sides of it. The first is to bring back the “Death Penalty”. Even though the NCAA would be hurting itself, bring on the penalty. Let’s get college sports back to the amateur status that it should be. Changes need to be made to the NCAA rules though because I feel that lots of the rules are plain stupid and out dated. I could research this and give you boring statistics but we have heard it all so I will leave that up to you to discover. Second is to make college sports a farm system for the pro sports. The rules again would have to be drastically changed to make it fair for all the tiers of colleges. I am sure that a restructuring of the schools would be made. Some colleges would become AAA Farm teams as producers of more professional athletes down to an A farm teams for others. Many schools would have to do away with sports programs with this format. This is just a guess but I do feel that this could happen.

As I have given two possibilities there are other ideas out there. My thought though is to bring back the “death penalty”. No one is being held accountable. Sure, an indication of accountability is scratched at with the scholarships being taken away, probations, no TV, and not allowing them to go to bowl games or tournaments, and so forth. But it is not a deterrent. It continues to happen and from the looks of it, will continue in the future. Revamp the rules NCAA and get your house in order. Fix the problems as there are many. I do not have the answers but there are those out there that can help to fix it. Just get it done before it is too late, or is it already too late? 

Religion or Christianity

What is the difference between the religious leaders during Jesus time on the Earth and the leaders of today’s churches?

I attend two churches, one on Sundays that has a praise team with guitars and drums, singing up beat songs with lots of jumping up and down, raising of hands, stomping of feet and otherwise just getting into the music. The preacher wears jeans or slacks with comfortable shirts and they do not have a problem if shorts are worn in church. The women don’t have to wear a dress and for men a suit and tie is definitely optional. Actually I don’t recall seeing too many suit and ties worn at all. The Bible is taught and the Gospel is preached each and every time a message is given.

The other church I go to, (I attend this church on Wednesdays but have attended on Sunday as well), is like the one I grew up attending as a young person. On Sundays the old fashioned hymns are sung with a pretty structured service. Yes, they do go out on a few songs but I don’t recall a lot of jumping up and down during the singing. The pastor preaches with his suit and tie on and most of the men that are “involved” are dressed the same. Women are in dresses and it is suggested that all the girls do the same. Exceptions are made but as a rule you know what the dress code is. It has been suggested that if someone were to come in to the church out of dress code that it would be handled respectfully. (They will not kick any one out of the service for under dressing.) But if the person or persons continue this practice and fail to conform they will be advised of the proper way things are done. The Bible is also taught (King James Version) and the Gospel is preached at every service as well.

I have listened to preachers talk about how the spiritual leaders during Jesus days of walking on Earth had many rules that were expected to be followed. Honor the Sabbath, no Healing on the Sabbath, do this, don’t do that, women cover your head, and you have all heard what they were. It was said that one reason for these rules was because the leaders needed to have a reason to be there. It was their way of maintaining rule over the Jews. Now Jesus talked about certain rules that were to be followed as well. The 10 Commandments were always brought up first but He spoke of others as well. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and Love thy neighbor as thyself. Most of us have heard this and we do believe this.

It is time to get to the point now. My opinion is that this is the difference between Religion and Christianity. Religion is man made with rules to follow and guidelines. If you do not follow these then you are not conforming to the religion. This is why there are so many religions out there because man needs to make up his own rules to follow. With Christianity all we have to do is look back at what Jesus did and follow His example. I have become so frustrated with Religion because of all these rules. Yes, to some these are standards and once we become Christians we should have a desire to follow certain standards in order to show our separation from Worldly living. I have heard all the arguments for following these rules but what bothers me is how important these rules have become in some Religions. When I read God’s Word and see how Christ spoke concerning the Religious leaders and the rules they have and how He lived His life I tend to compare the leadership in today’s churches with all the rules they have instituted for their religions. They actually justify the rules just as it was done back then.

Arguments can be used to justify following the rules but I feel that what is getting lost is the importance of following Jesus. With all the rules that have been made to follow while in church or as a part of a religion the world looks at the religious and calls them hypocrites because all the rules are nearly impossible to follow in our every day life. I will do my best to respect the rules of certain Religions but I do not agree with all of them. Though there is more to it, in the end what will be examined is not if I wore shorts to church or drank alcohol or smoked, it will be did I love the Lord my God and did I love my neighbor as myself.