Before there was Tiger Woods, there was Jack Nicklaus, and before there was Nicklaus, there was Arnold Palmer. Palmer brought golf into America’s living rooms via television in the early ’60s.

Once, a sportswriter was invited for dinner at Palmer’s residence. He arrived a bit early and Mrs. Palmer met him, invited him in and said her husband would be down in a moment.

The writer asked if, while he was waiting, he could see Palmer’s trophy room. She replied, “Oh, we don’t have such a room.” That night, the writer asked the golf pro, who had more than 60 tour victories, why he didn’t have all his trophies on display.

Palmer looked the columnist right in the eye and replied, “For what? That’s yesterday’s news!”

Then Palmer explained: “I have enjoyed every victory and cherished the memories. I have celebrated those tournaments. But come Monday morning of the next week, I’m no different from the man who missed the cut last week. In fact, he’s probably more hungry for a victory than I. So if I’m to be competitively ready, I must get my thoughts off yesterday and deal with today. There will be a day when I can take the time to look back. But as long as I want to stay competitive, I must never stop and marvel at what I have accomplished, only look forward to my next challenge at hand.”

—Author unknown (various Internet sites).

This will be my 1000 post since I started this blog. One Thousand.  How many keyboard taps does that mean?  Musing about life has an endless list of topics that wash up on my beach.  Saturday posts are usually my least read posts during the week.  But this 1000 mark just happens to be on a Saturday.  God’s way of keeping me humble.  No big deal.  There are better things to do than read blogs on such a wonderful sunny day in the summer here on the shores of Lake Michigan.

But today I want to stear you to a column by a guy who is a “son” of my church.  His dad, sister, and niece sing in our church choir. I like what he has to say about sports, family, and life.  Bill Gosse had a good column today in the press: “Success Must Be Earned.” Enjoy!

Now, I’m going outside to enjoy nature…

This news story makes me shake my head…

“Parents of girls on a Maryland soccer team have been banished to a distant hillside to watch games. The penalty was imposed after the parents crowded around a referee after a loss, complaining about his decisions, with one parent yelling at the ref’s daughter, “Your father should be fired!”

“For the parents to be shrieking on the sidelines,’’ said league official Kathie Diapoulis, “goes against everything we’re trying to do.”

Refereeing is a thankless job, especially at that level.  Just below coaching.  Parents scream at referees and bully coaches.  I once was a coach and decided “never again.”

So I became a pastor.  Spirtual referee and coach.  Sometimes it goes against everything God is trying to do.  I am crazy!   I have no whistle.

I am glad John Madden is  retiring.  The guy lost his fastball in the last years.  He could not comment with any new insights. He told us what we already saw in the game.  After watching this video spoof you can see why he needed to retire!

Anticipation, originally uploaded by pastor_steve_p.

Tuesday night from 9:30 PM to 11:30 PM some pastors took over the Bowling Alley in Lake Geneva. It was a fun time of competition, remorse, high fives, prayer, and counseling.  What do you think this ball thrown down by Andy did to those pins?  Guesses anyone?

Well,

It wasn’t the prettiest game with all the penalties but the Packers won!

“The train has left the station” and Rodgers is onboard and firing up the engine.  Good for him!

Very exciting night here in Packerland.  (And also for my buddy Skip in the great state of Ohio!)

While on vacation in early August I was able to watch in amazement as Michael Phelps pulled gold medals out of that Chinese, chlorine tank.

I was on the swim team in High School.  That was the last time I was in such good physical condition.  All I did was eat, sleep, swim and fall asleep in class. I fell asleep because my resting heart beat was so low I nodded off.  But I won a few medals in my day as well.  People who have never swam competitively don’t realize one thing the water teaches you – we are land creatures. Water is really not our element or friend – especially heavily chlorinated water.  That’s why swimmers wear goggles. And sometimes they get loose and the chlorine burns your eyes.  It is like looking through a windshield in a car wash.  That’s what happened to Phelps in one race with one eye filling up with water but he still won.  He’s is really a fish, an alien being from the planet Aquarius to be able to win that record amount of gold.  He may get his mug on cereal boxes and be a millionaire.  I just eat golden flakes of cereal and remember.

Let me tell you a true story about my genesis in aqua sport.

My first 50 meter race was not in my home pool but in Milwaukee.  It was an old pool with bad underwater lighting.  Made it hard to see when you were coming to the wall to do your flip turns.  The gun went off and I had a quick bolt of a start off the blockand was ahead already at half the pool length.  I knew I was going to take first until I came to something that looked like a wall…

I made my flip turn only to have both heals land on top of the edge of the pool.  Nothing to push off from and I hung there upside down like a pale trout flapping in the water.  (Stop chuckling).  Setting myself free I pushed off the wall and finished dead last.  My heals were inflamed and swelling.  When the meet was over and I went to the locker room I could not get my shoes on over my heals.  I walked gingerly to the yellow bus in socks  for a painful ride back to Racine.

“You had ‘em beat, Pedersen, until you decided to wave your toes at the crowd,” said coach Erickson.  “Next time we are in an unfamiliar pool just practice your flip turns before the meet begins.  I don’t think your heals will ever want to experience that again.”

They never did.  And I was never again a “heal” for the Park Panther swim team.

It was a bit cool – in the 40’s – as I dusted off my “city bike” to ride to church Monday morning.  But there was little wind resistance and in about ten minutes I had made the commute.  It felt good to be back on the bike again for this season.  It also felt good in my wallet for the good reason of not burning up expensive fuel.  Bike to Work Week is a good thing to get us moving and get us healthy.  This is promoted by the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.  With gas prices going up you will see more and more people getting on a bike to run errands and save fuel.

I ride a Specialized “Expedition” model which Bill Kohler personally built for me.  The bike rides smoothly and with comfort over the cracks and bumps of our city streets.  If you are considering purchasing a bicycle for yourself or your kids – by all means go see Bill at BICYCLE WORKS in Sheboygan Falls (467-4549) which is right off Highway 23 on Highway 32 by the McDonald’s.  You’ll get just the right bike for your needs and that wil fit you well.  Their moto is GREAT BIKES, GREAT SERVICE, GREAT GUYS!  Stay away from the K-Mart, Wal-Mart bikes – they don’t last and hold up.  In buying a bicycle remember – you get what you pay for! 

Go for a ride – hop a bicycle and feel young again!

Good for Brett!  Going out after a great past season of play and leaving behind these stats:

• He retires as the N.F.L. career leader in passing yards (61,655),
• touchdown passes (442),
• completions (5,377)
• and attempts (8,758).
• His 160 victories as a starting quarterback are also a record.

Much of his legacy rests on his durability. He played in his last 253 regular-season games, and 275 games including the postseason, records for quarterbacks.

What will he do now?  Mowing his Mississippi lawn, fishing and hunting won’t be enough.