Nogood-niks set bad example for our children

OK. I'm over it. It's time to move on.
When the Colts lost to The Evil no good-nik Boris Badenov Patriots and we learned that the Pats balls were under inflated I was incensed.
The Pats perhaps didn't do it intentionally but suspicion indicates someone in the organization was responsible, so I went to social media and expressed my outrage.
"Boycott the Super Bowl," I said.
A few in that Twitter/Facebook court of no appeal agreed with me.
"Make a dent in that god of TV sports, the ratings," I said. "That is the only way to say we don't condone cheating." 

I doubt it made any difference. A half dozen or so people retweeted what I wrote. About 20 people read it. Many others expressed similar outrage but what is that against millions of Super Bowl fans?

I did see one story that indicated last year's Super Bowl ratings had dipped slightly from the year before and I wonder why.

If you watched the Super Bowl this year I hope you had a good time. Linda and I watched Episodes III and IV of "Star Wars" in protest of #deflategate. 
I really don't care if you watched the Super Bowl. But we should care about the message we send our kids. There has been a lot of illegal drug use in professional sports. In more than one instance, players have beaten women and committed other crimes.

What are we teaching our kids and grandchildren about making wrong choices? I don't mean what we say. What are they learning from our example?

Being Frank: What a weekend!

By FRANK PHILLIPS
Monday, January 22, 2007 9:17 AM CST

frankphi@hotmail.com

January is about 3/4 over and this weekend we got our first snowfall, our first trip to the Super Bowl and our first chance to hear from our “freshman” state legislator (not necessarily in that order).

While I try to avoid “personal matters” in my columns (You have your own life, right?), I had to tell you about this weekend from my perspective.

It started Saturday morning at the Cory Firehouse with the Crackerbarrel meeting. You English teachers may debate whether Crackerbarrel should be one word or two — until the dust settles I will spell it as one.

Now, I love these political meetings. They are part of our heritage.

I understand the meetings get their name from the old cracker barrel that set in general stores across America in the 19th century. My grandfather had one in his store in Pulaski County, near Winamac.
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The guys would gather around the stove in the winter and sample the saltines in the barrel while talking and playing checkers. What an opportunity for the local politicians to share news and ideas with constituents!

This Crackerbarrel was better for me than past ones because our “freshman” state legislator, Amos Thomas, participated. So many of us in the 44th District (and elsewhere) called Amos “friend” before his election to the General Assembly.

It was great to hear him share his wit and wisdom as well as listen to his constituents on issues such as the corn check-off (a small portion of each load of corn is held by the elevator and used to promote ethanol) and full-day kindergarten.

From Cory, our exotic feline (our Mercury Sable) took me home to write my reports on what the legislators had to say during the previous two hours.

That task was completed about 3 p.m. (with time off for lunch). Then the cat headed north to see the kids and grandkids. We spent part of last Monday in Lafayette, where we met our daughter, Amanda’s, new boyfriend. Ed is a graduate student in mechanical engineering. I understood part of what he told me he did. I’m sure Amanda appreciated the fact that I listened.

Saturday night was Terry and ’Becca’s turn.

After a nice visit, we took them to Steak & Shake.

Logan sat across from me and Mammaw and Cailin was on my left.

Like her good Aunt Amanda, Cailin will keep me on my toes. If I didn’t pay enough attention to her, she tried pushing her china plate filled with chicken and fries on the floor.

After Mr. Logan finished most of his supper, we had strawberry shakes (mine made with yogurt). I shared with Miss Cailin, of course, and she kept me busy, doling out tiny spoonfuls of frozen bliss into her waiting mouth.

Sunday found our first “tracking snow” of the season. It precluded our Sunday morning trip to Alamo Christian Church, where I have been their interim preacher for about 12 years.

I have wanted to hear Gary Scroggins preach for a long time. We didn’t know how many people we would know at the Presbyterian Church, but found many of our friends there. The service was inspiring and I will remember Gary’s illustration about the man with dementia — the importance of forgotten treasure — for quite a while.

We were able to enjoy lunch at Pappy’s Bar-B-Cue. It’s great to have that restaurant in Brazil, though they may want to add employees.

Then, Sunday night — what can be added to that Colts game? WOW! I couldn’t watch the whole thing. The first two quarters were too depressing.

But switching back, the last 5:00 on the clock was so great!

Some 20 years ago, I followed the Bears march to the Super Bowl — and their victory over New England! How great will be this Super Bowl!

(By the way, here’s a quiz: Can you write out Super Bowl 41 using Roman numerals — without looking it up?)

The last line of “Christmas In Connecticut” is “What a Christmas!”

I can truthfully say, “What a weekend!”