Driven To Succeed

My wife's most impressive quality is her never-ending attempts to improve herself. She, like the rest of us, has insecurities, however she uses those fragile feelings to drive her toward growth... she is driven to constantly look for ways to make herself better. The area in which she has most improved is in the area of apologetics.

For years she would tell me about religious conversations she had with family and/or friends and how she was unable to formulate her words to effectively state her view. Her emotions would take center stage and she would be unable to state her case. So, she looked for areas to better understand her faith.

She went to weekly bible classes, she also went to classes focusing on family and faith and we've been members of one of the small Christian communities at our church for the past few years. And through these experiences, through these opportunities to expand her understanding and deepen her faith has she been able to become one of the best apologist of our faith that I know... she trusts the Holy Spirit will fill her with the right words at the right time. Her confidence, knowlege and clarity are 180 degrees from where they were just a few short years ago.

Her faith is just one of the areas in which she seeks constant improvement. It is why she is a much better person than I and one of the special reasons why she's still my hero after 13 years of marriage.

Predictor Pete - Week Seven

This week the Bucs have a Bye Week, which comes at a perfect time. Griese is out for the year with a blown out knee, Cadillac and Dexter Jackson are on the mend and Chris Simms can use the time to lock himself into the starter role before the Bucs take on the 49ers next week.

I'm excited at having Simms take over as QB. Granted, losing Griese can really hurt our team if Simms doesn't work out, but, to be honest, Griese wasn't playing that well anyway. Yes, the Bucs are 5-1, but his play was pretty subpar. Our defense and running game have kept us in the game and was responsible for our victories. When we needed the QB to win the game against the Jets, he didn't.

I'm hoping Simms will establish himself as the long term starter of this offense and earn confidence in Gruden's mind. It would be great to see Cadillac, Simms and Clayton become the Bucs trio akin to the Cowboys' Aikmen, Smith and Irving. Simms is in his third year, Clayton his second and Cadillac his first... if they stay healthy and productive, they could be the cornerstone of great things to come.

I also think picking up Rattay from San Francisco was a great move. He's got a strong arm and has played on a very bad 49er team for the past few years. As Vinny, Doug Williams and Steve Young will tell you, a QB is only as good as the weapons around him. So, I'm hopeful that if Rattay is forced into action, that he will succeed here where he did not on the West Coast.

Heal up, Buccos. The toughest part of your schedule against division rivals is on tap the second half of the season.

Chastisement

I'm not one who is a big believer of a fundamental interpretation of Revelations nor am I a town crier that screams that the end of the world is at hand. However, being a parent, I am a believer in discipline and appropriate punishment. Messages from the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje have often contained warnings of impending punishment if the world did not change its ways and turn to prayer to Jesus.

And it seems to me that God has taken us behind the woodshed for a good whipping.

Over the past year we have seen the tsunami in Asia, killing thousands upon thousands, we've seen great earthquakes in the middle east and in Japan, we've seen the most active hurricane season on record with the strongest hurricanes ever. We've seen mudslides and fires and massive loss of life and property.

We're being punished.

I think God's trying to bring us back to him by stripping away all that we have put above him... material things, false idols, misinterpreted versions of His faith, moral relativism, the removal of God and a growing secular movement in Europe and the United States, continued oppression of religious freedoms in China and the extreme actions of terrorists under the guise of following God's Will.

After our homes are destroyed, our way of life damaged and, perhaps, even some of our loved ones taken from us... after all of that we can either turn to Him or from Him.

Are enough of us in tune with God to heed the warning, to learn from our societal mistakes? Or, like a frustrated parent, will He be forced to continue lay his firm hand of discipline upon our arrogant back sides?

I hope and pray that we have learned our lessons and move our focus away from the things of this world and on to those things in the next.

Vacant Vacations

My family and I have had the hardest time fulfilling our planned vacations. Last year we were supposed to go to Mount Rushmore, but work issues forced us to cancel that vacation.

This year we were supposed to spend a week in Washington, DC, but then Hurricane Katrina and Rita hit and gas prices put that vacation out of our financial reach this year. Determined to go SOMEWHERE this year, we decided I'd take a few days off and spend some time at the Kennedy Space Center...

And then there was Wilma. Now Wilma is scheduled to hit this weekend... the same weekend we were supposed to go to the Space Center.

Am I asking too much? A family vacation of some significance?

The hurricane winds of fate have been against us over the past two years. Now, we're not sure what we're going to do. If Wilma gives us a reprieve, we will attempt to make the drive and give our kids something to remember, other than promised vacations that never materialized.

Wiiillllmmmaaaa!

Just as Fred Flinstone used to scream in the opening of the cartoon classic The Flinstones, many o' Floridian will be screaming Wiiillllmmmaaaa if the current predicted 21st hurricane path of the season stays true.

If my humble little town of Safety Harbor were to be directly hit by a Hurricane 3 or higher, things would be very bad for my house. It's a frame house and like the Big Bad Wolf, a 3 or higher would blow my house down.

As we were scheduled to have our home theater project completed by the end of the week, it would royally stink if it were to be swept down to my foundation from Wilma's wrath. We plan on retiring in our current house, so we'd really appreciate it if it would remain standing for the next 40 years or so.

So, we'll just pray that the Lord guide this storm away from everyone and into the Atlantic ocean.

Stay tuned...

Monday Morning QB - 10/17

Well, I predicted the Bucs would lose this game and am happy to report that I was wrong. The defense was stifling and, the most important thing, we didn't commit any turnovers. Griese got knocked out of the game and Simms came in and converted key third downs. Michael Pittman came in and ran for 127 yards and a TD, taking a lot of the pressure off of Simms.

A pretty solid win at home.

My prediction: Dolphins 14, Bucs 12

Score: Bucs 27, Dolphins 13.

If Griese's injury ends up being as serious as everyone believes, this will now be Simms' team. Its about time that we learn whether he is our future QB or not.

Offense: B. Solid running game against a good defense. Clutch passing on 3rd down and we scored a TD on the opening drive.

Defense: A. Sacks, fumbles, a defense TD, shut down the Fins running game... a complete effort.

Special Teams: B+. Punting was, again, very good and no missed FGs.

Coaching: B+. Consistent and balanced, even when the running game was running into walls, they stuck with it to keep from being one-dimensional. This was instrumental in helping Simms and Pittman later in the game.

Outstanding Players: Shelton Quarles, Michael Pittman, Joey Galloway and all of the defense backups who came into the game and didn't miss a beat.

Things That Drove Me Nuts: Penalties... they still suck and, at this point in the season, should be eliminated or, at least, minimized.

Bucs Record: 5-1. Three quality wins, one ugly loss and two ugly wins as the Bucs enter the bye-week. As of today, the Bucs have the best record in the NFC. After six weeks of the season, I didn't think I'd be saying that.

Next Opponent: The Bucs have the week off, which is much needed to heal Cadillac Williams and the other dinged up players.

Pete's Game Of Life Circa 1995

When people first meet my family, most are taken aback by our sense of humor. We all joke around a lot and the basic rule of thumb for us is that we appreciate the quality of the insult more than the joke itself. The quality of the insult, such as the way the joke or comment is structured or how much thought and cleverness is put into the phrase is most valued. And, in the end, potentially the more painfully truthful and/or sometimes inappropriate, the more effective the joke may be. We are never offended by the joke itself, instead we just appreciated the work taken in creating it.

Pete, Charles, Steve and John as
See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil and Smell No Evil

This is best shown in the way my brothers handled my 30th birthday. For most people, their 30th birthday is a big celebration and a lot of fun. For me, my 30th occured during a tough time, personally. I was recovering from intestinal surgery, I was unemployed and I was living with my in-laws... not a proud moment, to be sure.

So, in line with our sense of humor, my brothers made a board game called "Pete's Game Of Life"... the game contained a couple of "players", a game board with a path to take, a spinning wheel, a single die and cards that you would use if you landed on certain spots on the game board.

• Each side of the die was whited out, with the exception of the One. So, the most you can roll is a One.
• When you spun the wheel you could land on two sections. One section, which covered 99% of the wheel, was labelled BANKRUPT. The second section, which contained 1% of the wheel, was labelled YOU'RE A WINNER, in which you had to pick a card.
  
• When you picked up one of the cards, about 80% were I.O.U.'s. Other cards that you could select were "Go Borrow Something From Your Family," "You Get To Live With Your In-Laws," and "Sorry, We Already Have Someone In Mind For That Position."

I believe most people would find such a gift at that time in my life offensive, but I found it very funny. It's a perfect symbol of our sense of humor... after all, no matter how truthful and brutal "Pete's Game Of Life" was, it was very clever, inventive and took a lot of work. Surprisingly, it is one of the only things that I look back on during that year of my life with fondness.

Yeah, I know... we're weird. But funny.

Collage O' Memories

Ever since 1977, I've saved almost every sports or concert ticket for events I've attended. For years my wife was wondering why in the world would I keep such things. Well, this year I finally put them all to use. We were repainting my son's room and so I made a collage of all of the sports tickets, autographs and some pictures, glued them and hung the collage on the wall.



It's pretty cool. It has Buc tickets from 1977 through last year, Bandit season tickets of the defunct USFL, Orlando Magic games, Lightning Playoff tickets, the 1979 KC/Buc game that secured their first playoff appearance, Devil Ray tickets, a ticket from the St. Pete Pelicans of the defunct Senior Baseball League and much more. It's fun to browse through and see what you may find. There's games against Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, Brett Favre, Jim Kelly and numerous other present and future hall of famers. It's a nice trip down memory lane.

It hangs next to Gabe's bed and every once and a while I walk in and see him just looking at it.

That alone makes the effort to save all of those tickets worth it.