Proud Of My City

Giants 21, Patriots 17. That, in itself is a great thing. A Manning won and a Brady lost, so Jupiter is still dutifully aligned with Mars. Wish it would've been Peyton and not Eli, but whatcha gonna do?

Indianapolis just hosted one of the best Super Bowl weeks ever held, with wonderful events, gorgeous pageantry, splendid organization, and shockingly great weather. It was a wonderful way to highlight my home of the past 25 years, and made me proud to be a Hoosier (where, as Steve Poe says, the state bird is, "Larry").

Tina and I traveled downtown on Saturday to see the Super Bowl Village and do the NFL Experience. We parked about a mile away and paid $20, but it was at a church, so I guess God will be pleased. High aspirations for star spotting were on our minds, as I fully intended to do a personal interview of Johnny Depp while posing for photos with Joe Montana, LMFAO, Deion Sanders and Cher (though she wasn't even in town!)

The town was totally abuzz with music, lights and decorations that screamed "SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL" from the highest rooftops. We walked through tens of thousands of folks to pose in front of the Monument Circle giant Roman numerals, then did the sardine squish through a myriad of folks to get to Miyagi's, for sushi and warm sake'. (Did I mention we passed an awesome rock band dressed as MUMMIES along the way?)

After dinner, it was off to the NFL EXPERIENCE, which welcomed us with a 10-story tall zipline over the throng of humanity. The exhibition was an absolute ZOO!! Excited kids, along with their testosterone-overdosed fathers ran hither and tither, bulldozing their way from 40-yard dash to sled-blocking course to the final point kick. Tina and I signed the waivers and decided we would do one challenge, mainly because each and every line was one hour long. The time had come for this man to kick his first 30-yard field goal!!

Armed with the determination and tenacity of,......well,.....ummm,........a 46-year old choreographer with a slight groin pull to begin with, we set our countenance on crushing the field goal. Who knows, there could've been scouts in the area. Scouts with clout, scouts with a keen eye for weathered talent, scouts with big contracts in their back pocket waiting for me to sign.

The time came after 70 minutes. I lined in up with the laser-precision of Morten Anderson, approached with the steely grit of Adam Vinateri, and swung my leg through the ball with the high-kicking prowess of a Radio City Rockette!! The ball took off and sailed a good,.....fifteen or sixteen,......maybe thirteen,........OK, twelve yards,.....before dribbling toward the goal post and coming to rest in front of a volunteer who looked at it and sent in flying back for the next wannabe to fail.

I have to say though, that all in all, it was a great weekend!! Madonna performed better than I've seen her in quite some time. Tasteful, adroit, calculated and technically flawless. Her show with LMFAO, CeeLo Green, Nikki Minaj and something called MIA (obviously stands for flick middle finger at audience in feeble attempt to resurrect dying rap career) was theatrical, beautifully choreographed, brilliantly lighted and had some of the best choreography and dancers I've ever seen in one of these shows!! Kelly Clarkson and the Indianapolis Children's Choir (directed by Henry Leck, whose daughter Gretchen is a former student!!) performed the national anthem with solemnity and honor that befitted our country's proudest song.

And it was simply a pleasure to watch the Patriots fail again, on our home turf!! The party we went to at the McKay's was a great setting to see it all unfold. The naked M&M commercial, the chili cook-off between Doug Johnson and myself, the making of new friends, and 7 guys all analyzing and breaking down plays as if we were suddenly experts on a game that none of us ever played worth a darn. THIS is what Super Bowl weekend is about!!

Great job Indy! Proud of the way you held the event and made the city shine,......but I'm still moving to Colorado in a year.

Time With Woo.

Although it was far too brief, I got to spend some wonderful time with Morgan the last couple days. Scurrying through HEAVY L.A. traffic and barely creeping in halfway through their first song, I drove to Loma Linda on Saturday night to watch UCO perform their new set at Campus Hills Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

The place was PACKED, and I spent the entire 90 minute concert standing to the side of the pews so I could be close enough to actually see what was going on. Some new songs, including "Untitled Hymm" and "Give It All Away" are some of my very favorites the group has ever done. The crowd was probably in the 800-900 area (in a church that probably seats about 800 normally!), and the reaction to Dr. Bonner and UCO was nothing short of amazing.

That night, I got the treat of going out to dinner with some of Morgan's best friends form school to a little place called Mimi's Cafe in San Bernardino. Morgan, Tiffany, Glenn, Aubree, and Aubree's boyfriend Jed laughed, ate muffins, and talked about the service and school for awhile before everybody headed back to campus.

Sunday morning, I drove 100 miles to Hemet to see Morgan's small group "Hope" perform at a tiny, poor church that I would've never noticed were it not the destination of my GPS. About 45-50 folks watched in awe, as this group of 7 singers and a pianist took over the service and shared testimony (some of which made me tear up) that brought each and every one of their songs to life. The highlights were Morgan's feature number "Not Guilty" and a beautiful piece called "The Promise", led by one of the group's other ladies. Papa Brown got choked up a number of times, and basked in every precious second of seeing his daughter serving Christ and bringing others closer to Him.

Lunch at La Fogata was surprisingly good (except for the need of queso dip on the menu!), and then it was time to find something interesting and unusual to,.....do,......in,.....Hemet,.......zzzzzzzz. Watch the local pool be drained?,.....nah. Walk around Wal-Mart trying to spot shoplifters?,......huh-uh. Go to the local beach?,.....isn't one. Get a tattoo?,......Doc doesn't allow them. Watch paint dry?,......couldn't find any. Well, at least we could always,......ummmm,.......the museu-,.....Indian artifa-,.......roadside produce sta-,.....ahem.

We did the greatest, most enticing activity available in Hemet since the advent of yelling "Run Forrest Run" at passing joggers. WE WENT BOWLING!!!! Actually, we had a blast playing as our new alter-egos "Skeeter and Flo". I bowled a 149 and a 144, while Woo kept it on the down-low with a 99 and a 76. We then stocked up on "college girl stuff" at Target, got Iced Caramel Macchiatos at Starbucks and drove off to Morgan's night concert in Hemet.

Another brilliant concert celebrating God's glory, a big hug and kiss good-bye, a 100-mile drive back to the Hilton Glendale, and my visit was over. Sad, but fulfilled. Proud, but missing her already. Already excited about the next chance to see her, hug her, laugh with her, and hold onto as many precious moments as I can with my princess.