Alejandro De Aza- "I Knew Him When..."

    Realizing that the last few blog posts have gotten intense, personal, and heavy in tone and focus, I want to send out a blog post reprieve-- one that focuses on the statistical side of baseball, that will be enjoyed by several (like, one or two?) of my loyal readers. Today and tomorrow will have baseball-related blog posts, followed by another discussion of my previous post, and then later next week I will begin to discuss some business-related topics. For now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the trip into the world of sabermetrics.

Comfort Zone Religion

    "Passion without action is pity." It is amazing how one sentence can rock your world. The quote was said during my time at Rockbridge, a week long camp for chapters of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and it profoundly changed my view on racial reconciliation and my tendencies towards classism. I want to devote several blog entries to my changing views on those issues, but I want this one to talk about one step I have taken and the ramifications on my view of the Church.

    To make a long and detailed story short, I left Rockbridge with a feeling of discontent. I knew change needed to happen in my life. From viewing the giving of money as an acceptable substitute for caring about those who are marginalized (passion without action?) to my horrible heart attitude on topics like diversity and the global church. The knowledge of my need for change had been a long time coming-- reading great books, such as Radical or Don't Waste Your Life, or having deep talks with friends had begun to show me the error in my ways. Rockbridge, however, drove all the points home. It was time for me to stop saying the right things, and start doing the right things.

The One Where I Celebrate My Mother

    If you know me at all, you know that I am a momma's boy. Always have been, always will be. Her loving guidance has made me into who I am (or, at least the good parts of me) and it is because of her that I have avoided a lot of potentially huge life mistakes. Do not get me wrong, my father is one of my two biggest heroes (my grandfather is the other, in case you actually care) and if I am 1/10th of the man and father he is when I am older, I will consider my life a smashing success. He is absolutely a driving force in my life, but this post is about my mother, so I will focus on her.

Beyond Unfair

  If there is one piece of advice I remember that my mother taught me growing up is that life is not fair. Sometimes 'things' happen. Sometimes life seems to spin out of control beyond our desires and reach. Baseball is not immune to the sad, depressing happenings of life.
   Unless you are totally in left field (wordplay!) you have heard of Mariano Rivera. Greatest closer of all time. "Enter Sandman." Cutter of death. Postseason hero. Simply put, as cliche as it sounds, there will never be another Mariano. Fans of all teams love his professionalism, his work ethic, and his devotion to baseball, family, faith and heritage. Opponents rave about how incredible his on-filed presence is, while also participating in his off-field charity work. Mr. Rivera has been the New York Yankees closer since 1996, wracking up save after save after save, not to mention all the World Series rings. He came into the 2012 season mentioning that it might be his last season. The Yankees were positioned as one of the best teams in Spring Training. Yankee fans began to dream; Could one of the Core Four (Derek Jeter, Andy Petite, Jorge Posada and Rivera) end his career at the pinnacle?