Author: Robert

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Why We Chant S.E.C.

Right now I am watching the BCS Championship game and hoping that Auburn continues to win. Why?? Well becuse I am loyal to the S.E.C. Yes, Auburn is Bama’s biggest rival and losing to them screwed up Bama’s chance for a third consecutive nationl championship, but I want us to smash Auburn in the face, not some school from an inept conference. Yes as an Alabama fan I despise Auburn but I don’t even consider teams from other conferences, or even worse, teams who claim independence even though they are now scheduling 4-5 games a year with the ACC, as even worthy of being despised. They’re not good enough to hate. 🙂 Here’s an example of the SEC chant from Alabama stomping on Notre Dame at the 2013 BCS Championship game.

You can find some good articles that speculate on why the chant happens. Here are a few that I have enjoyed.

Good articles with interesting points that range from keeping it in the family to Southern exceptionalism. I think the answer centers around something you learn in one’s first economics class. People usually do things because there are incentives for them to do those things. SEC fans understand that the way college football is presently set up there is an incentive for us to want to other SEC teams to win and so we pull for other SEC teams when they play against other conferences. What is the incentive? Perceived strength of schedule.

Putting a photo of Bart Starr in this blog post if a double win!

If the SEC dominates NCAA football  it lifts up the perceived strength of all the teams in th SEC and perceived strength is important in the way the BCS era has been run. It will continue to be important during the new system. SEC fans realize that they gain when their rival beats a team from another conference and thus we cheer for our in conferenc rivals. The incentive produces the conference pride that leads to the chant.

The incentive and perceived strength of schedule is also why teams from other conferences get excited when they beat a team from the SEC. The other conferences may not admit it but their excitement proves it. Getting excited about beating a weak SEC team just points out that they perceive the SEC as strong too. I mean really, people from other conferences get excited about beating Kentucky in football. The only explanation for that is the perceived strength of SEC teams. So when you mock our SEC chant we realize that it just means you wish you were us. That jealousy helps us in the standings, so I am just fine with it.

I’ve heard people compare who don’t understand this compare the situation to the NFL. I am a Packers fan and have been since the 8th grade. I would never root for the Bears to win just because they are in the NFC North. Why? Incentives again are the reason. The things that matters in the NFL is the number of wins you have overall and the number of wins you have as compared to the rest of the teams in your division. The incentive here is actually for the other teams in your division to be weak. You can still make it to the playoffs if you are the best team in a weak division. Therefore, NFL fans want the other teams in their division to lose all the time. For an example of this consider the 2010 Seattle Seahawks who made the playoffs despite having a losing record. Their division-mates losing was almost as valuable as their own wins.

This just doesn’t work in NCAA football. If you are the best team in a weak division it works against you because the perceived strength of the majority of the teams you play is weak and therefore you are perceived as not as strong. In college football you need your conference to be strong. That’s why in college I cheer for my team’s bitterest rival … because we win something if they win.

I’m not sure that fans from other conferences understand this incentive. Otherwise they would pull and chant for their own conference against other conferences. Or maybe it is just that other conferences don’t have as easy of a name to chant.

SIDE NOTE – Well crud. I guess the silver lining is that Auburn lost. I just wish it had been to Bama instead of FSU.

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It's a Bit Nippy for this Southern Boy … but I'm Still Going Out

I didn’t go for a long run today because Pam and I have a deal (basically she gets to veto any obviously stupid ideas I have that might lead to her being a young widow). Still it was a run. Actual temp  -4°F and with the windchill it felt like -19°. I look forward to another short run tomorrow when the projected temp is expected to be just a wee bit nippier. 

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I didn’t run long so only a little of my breath froze on my balaclava

Being raised in Alabama I am not naturally used to low temps. When we moved up to Wisconsin some friends who were also transplants gave Pam and I some great advice. They said:

1. Find something to love about Winter in Wisconsin. Winter is coming (to quote the Starks from Winterfell) each year and there is nothing I can do about it. Therefore, I might as well try to make the best of it. My friends encouraged Pam and me to find something about Winter that we really enjoyed. We’ve met several other Southern transplants up here who have hated Winter and were desperate to head back South. When I would talk with them I usually discovered that they didn’t do anything during the Winter. No wonder they hated Wisconsin. If you don’t do anything during the Winter then there is a large portion of the year where you are merely holed up in your home.

2. Slowly buy good layers. Good Winter clothes can be expensive and when it gets relly cold you need quite a few layers of good clothing. Let me stress this. Layers are VERY important. Layers make the difference. Of course, buying all those layers at once can be expensive. So Pam and I bought good coats and layers as we found them. Also remember that “cotton kills.” Wicky layers are your best friends. Our outdoor gear improves a little bit each year.

3. Good socks and boots are incredibly important. To most of my friends this will be no surprise but I can be kind of cheap. I get this honest because it was passed down to me by genetics thanks to my dad. Cheap boots and socks aren’t a good purchase. They tend to lead to cold feet and cold feet tend to lead to miserable experiences. These socks and boots don’t have to be expensive, but they need to be good quality. Right now I am very partial to Fox River Work socks and  Darn Tough Vermont socks. They do a good job of keeping my sweaty feet from being awfully cold.

4. Get outside. This is pretty close to the 1st point but it is specifically related to being outside. It makes a difference. It is important that I get outside pretty frequently. If I don’t I tend to get a decent case of “cabin fever.” So I get out to run, cross country ski, or go ice fishing. It makes a big difference. Pam does the same thing by going snow shoeing and cross country skiing. It works for us.

Anyhow, stay warm.

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High Heels & Ice

I am the husband of a fashion concious woman. I say fashion concious because I consider the word “fashionista” derogatory in the sense that I picture someone who is always  buying and consuming clothes rather than someone who is developing a style. Anyhow this post isn’t about the wonders my wife does with her fashion style. Instead, I bring her up because she is a person who cares about the style of shoes she wears and whether or not they work with the outfit that she is wearing (I, on the other hand, have a couple of pairs of boots, black dress shoes, brown dress shoes, Chuck Taylor’s, and a closet full of old running shoes). It is because of her that I just noticed the shoes of the woman who just walked into Emy J’s. What did I notice about them? Not what brand (like I would even know), not what color, or what style. Nope what I noticed is that they were rather tall high heels with a decent amount of skin exposed, and it is icy and -9 degrees outside.

Woman you are crazy and in my opinion simply trying to hard. I understand, thanks to Pam, tht you want your shoes to look good with your outfit, but please go put some snow boots on and just carry your high heels until you get to where you are going. I promise there will be a place where ever you go for storing your snow boots. Pam can even point out some cute snow boots for you. That way your feet will be warm and I won’t have to worry about running into the parking lot because you just busted it and split your head open.

Remember this is Wisconsin.

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A Prison Letter

It is really strange to me that in 20ish years of ministry I have never done a sermon series on Paul’s letter to the Philippians. I say it is strange because quite possibly my favorite passage of scripture in the New Testament is found in the second chapter of the letter (I say “quite possibly” because I am also a pretty big fan of Matthew 25:31-46 as well as other passages). I think Pam was just as surprised that I had never done a series on the letter.

So Tapestry will start one this week. We will go 8ish weeks. I would encourage everyone to come prepared by reading through the letter before you get to Washington. I’m a slow reader and the 4 chapters of the letter takes me about 10 minutes to read straight through. Therefore you can easily read through it in the midst of your busy week. I am sure that reading through the letter each week before Sunday will be a great thing.

See you Sunday.

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2013 Christmas Card & Newsletter

Pam writes a Christmas/New Year newsletter each year to send out with our Christmas Cards (I say “Christmas/New Year” because it depends upon when we get them out). Below is the one she wrote this year.

New Year’s greetings to you and yours!

Being as the end of the university semester with all of the associated grading corresponds with the holiday season, my ambitions for Christmas cards turned into New Year’s cards and ultimately morphed into “I’ll get them in the mail sometime in January 2014” cards. And so it goes…

2013 brought about changes, excitement, and blessings. For starters, in addition to continuing as the pastor of Tapestry Church, Robert also began working 2 days a week for Corporate Chaplains of America, as (you guessed it!) a corporate chaplain. This is a perfect answer to prayer as it enables him to use his ministry, counseling, and chaplaincy education and training, as well as his background in business management. He has a territory in central Wisconsin that includes businesses such as a grocery store, software company, and pallet shop–blue and white collar. He provides spiritual counseling and support as an employee benefit and is given free reign to openly share his faith. He is enjoying the work, it is flexible and doesn’t interfere with pastoring and church responsibilities, and it meets a financial need with one kid in college and another headed that way in a year and a half. Robert also fills in occasionally for a friend at her chocolate shop/stationary store just because he likes interacting with the downtown community. Plus, he brings me home truffles! After many year of hard work, Robert also graduated in December with his Doctorate of Ministry (D. Min.) degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. It has been a banner year for him!

I have had a good year as well. I finally achieved tenure at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a promotion to Associate Professor. I will also be the new graduate coordinator starting this summer, a change in title only, plus a move to a bigger corner office with a real window. I am loving my job and am always challenged to think more deeply by my students and colleagues alike, plus they are all so much fun. We have had a exceptionally close, friendly, and wonderful 2012-2014 grad class and will all be sad when they graduate in May. In my spare time I have been crocheting, refashioning old clothes, completing various Pinterest projects, and working on simplifying life and stuff. I’m on my way to becoming n almost-minimalist. I have finally gotten Robert on board with downsizing square footage and lot size, so we will be spending the next several months preparing the house to sell. The plan is to buy a smaller, older, character-filled, (hopefully Craftsman-style) house in Stevens Point and live closer to the university and downtown so that we can walk and bike more.

Adam is now a sophomore in college and will be 20 in March. I’m not quite sure when or how this has happened. He finished his freshman year at Northland College, but since it is a very small (~600 students) environmental liberal arts college and he decided against an environmental type of major, he transferred this year to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is now majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders, much to the thrill of his mother’s heart. However, he is more interested in audiology right now, due to all of his experience with deaf and hard-of-hearing community through his summer job of the past 3 years with Minnesota Conservation Corps. This past summer, he was a crew leader, including a deaf crew. In college, he already knew so much American Sign Language through immersion that he was able to bypass ASL 1 and go to 2. His professor said that his grammar was good enough to skip to ASL 3, but his vocabulary was lacking. He could sign things like, “Go over to that trail and remove that invasive species,” but not “I live in a DORM and have a ROOMMATE.” Adam has also gotten very involved in his dorm and InterVarsity on campus and is playing bass and cajón in the worship band. Music is his life and he is looking forward to one concert/month for the first 6 months of the year.

Noah is a junior in high school and one of the tallest kids in school. We now have to special order his jeans and he is always getting asked if he plays basketball. He does, but he decided to play intramural this year rather than try out of the team, due to the time commitment. He spends much of his time hanging our with his posse, playing video games, and biking during the warmer months. Noah seems to be enjoying his current classes and he really gotten into reading again. He is especially interested in science right now and is thinking that he may focus on some kind of science-related major in college. We’ll start college tours this spring, which will include some schools around WI and MN, as well as the University of Missouri. Noah has also become interested in photography and putzing around with the camera and he amuses us with his spot-on impressions ranging from Obama to Sofia Vergara to Tim Gunn.

Our other baby, Tapestry Church, turned 5 years old this past September and is still going strong. We have developed a committed core of young adults who came as college students and have married and decided to stay in the area, much to our delight. 2012-2013 was the year of weddings and 2014 is shaping up to be the year of baby dedications. There are many ways to grow a church and procreation is one of them! Ironically, since we are a church primarily of college students and 20-somethings, we have been opposite of most churches in that we desired senior adults to offer diversity, wisdom, experience, and stability. Fortunately, we are growing in that direction too, with a new senior adult couple and a few more middle-aged folks.

We continue to love Wisconsin, from the glorious and temperate summers to the beautiful, frozen winters. The Packers and mass quantities of delicious cheese and ice cream don’t hurt either.

We hope that 2014 brings you just enough struggle to help you stretch, grow, and learn, but much more joy, contentment, peace, and love.

Much love and blessings of the new year!
Robert, Pam, Adam, and Noah Terrell

By the way the above image is the Christmas card we sent out this year. You can view the full image here.

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Sermon Irony

Saw this through a retweet from Lenoard Sweet and liked it. The artist behind the comic is Richard Jacobson. If I had seen it earlier I would have included it in my D.Min project report/diss.

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Tapestry 2013

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